Bible Lexicons

διάκονος, διακονου, ὁ, ἡ (of uncertain origin, but by no means, as was formerly thought, compounded of διά and κόνις, so as to mean, properly, 'raising dust by hastening'; cf. ἐγκόνειν; for the alpha in the preposition διά is short, in διάκονος, long. Alexander Buttmann (1873) Lexil. i., p. 218ff (English translation, p. 231f) thinks it is derived from the obsolete διάκω equivalent to διήκω (allied with διώκω; cf. Vanicek, p. 363)); one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master; a sergeant, attendant, minister;

1. universally: of the servant of a king, Matthew 22:13; with the genitive of the person served, Matthew 20:26; Matthew 23:11; Mark 9:35; Mark 10:43 (in which passage it is used figuratively of those who advance others' interests even at the sacrifice of their own); τῆς ἐκκλησίας, of one who does what promotes the welfare and prosperity of the church, Colossians 1:25; διάκονοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, those through whom God carries on his administration on earth, as magistrates, Romans 13:4; teachers of the Christian religion, 1 Corinthians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 6:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:2 R T Tr WH text L marginal reading; the same are called διάκονοι (τοῦ) Χριστοῦ, 2 Corinthians 11:23; Colossians 1:7; 1 Timothy 4:6; ἐν κυρίῳ, in the cause of the Lord, Colossians 4:7; (Ephesians 6:21); ὁ διάκονος μου, my follower, John 12:26; τοῦ Σατανᾶ, whom Satan uses as a servant, 2 Corinthians 11:15; (ἁμαρτίας, Galatians 2:17); διάκονος περιτομῆς (abstract for concrete), of Christ, who labored for the salvation of the circumcised, i. e. the Jews, Romans 15:8; with the genitive of the thing to which service is rendered, i. e. to which one is devoted: καινῆς διαθήκης, 2 Corinthians 3:6; τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23; δικαιοσύνης, 2 Corinthians 11:15.

2. a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use (cf. BB. DD., Dict. of Christ. Antiq., Schaff-Herzog under the word ; Lightfoot's Commentary on Philippians, dissert. i. § i.; Julius Muller, Dogmatische Abhandlungen, p. 560ff): Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:8, 12, cf. Acts 6:3ff; ἡ διάκονος, a deaconess (ministra, Pliny, epistles 10, 97), a woman to whom the care of either poor or sick women was entrusted, Romans 16:1 (cf. Dictionaries as above, under the word ; Lightfoot as above, p. 191; B. D. under the word ).

3. a waiter, one who serves food and drink: John 2:5, 9, as in Xenophon, mem. 1, 5, 2; Hier. 3, 11 (4, 2); Polybius 31, 4, 5; Lucian, de merced. cond. § 26; Athen. 7, p. 291 a.; 10, 420 e.; see διακονέω, 2 and διακονία, 5; (also Wetstein (1752) on Matthew 4:11). [SYNONYMS: διάκονος, δοῦλος, θεράπων, ὑπηρέτης: "διάκονος represents the servant in his activity for the work; not in his relation, either servile, as that of the δοῦλος, or more voluntary, as in the case of the θεράπων, to a person" Trench; yet cf. e. g. Romans 13:4; 2 Corinthians 6:4 etc.). δοῦλος opposed to ἐλεύθερος, and correlate to δεσπότης or κύριος, denotes a bondman, one who sustains a permanent servile relation to another. θεράπων is the voluntary performer of services, whether as a freeman or a slave; it is a nobler, tenderer word than δοῦλος. ὑπηρέτης according to its etymol. suggests subordination. Cf. Trench, § ix.; B. D. under the word ; Meyer on Ephesians 3:7; Schmidt, chapter 164.]