The triplets connected with 5oCXos and Bepdrav are somewhat closely allied. The 5o5\os, ' slave ' or ' bondservant,' is in a permanent condition of servitude to the person whom he serves, and he cannot free himself from it. The Bepairav renders temporary and voluntary service. Botli words may be used of man's relation to God : Moses is called the eepairoiv (He 3^ the only place in the NT in which the word occurs) and the ooDXos (Rev 15^) of God ; and in the LXX both words are used to translate the same Hebrew word (ehed) : e.g. Nu 12', Jg 2'. Bepairda is used (abstract for concrete) of a body of domestic servants (Lk 12''^), and of the special service of healing (Lk 9", Rev 22^). depar- eveiv means ' to serve ' in any way, and also ' to treat medically' and 'to heal.' The verb is very frequent in the writings of the beloved physician, and, except Ac 17^, always in the medical sense. Except indirectly in the metaphor of the healing leaves (Rev 22-), this triplet is not used of spiritual ministry by man to man ; and neither Sepairda. nor $(paTreveiy is found in any Epistle. Nor is the SoCXos triplet used of man's spiritual ministry to his fel- lows. Both SoOXos and dovXevav are used of service to God or to Christ, but the nearest approach to spiritual service to man is Ph 2*^, where Timothy js saw! to ' serve ' with St. Paul ' in furtherance of tlli^,i;uijjel.'
It is probal)ly correct to say much the same of vn^piT-qi and vir-npfTuv. They indicate a more dig- nified kind of service than iliat of the ooDXos, but they are commonly used of attendance to physical needs or external (luties rather than of ministration to souls. The 'attendant' m Lk 4-» is one who looks after the fabric and the books, not one who preaches in the synagogue. Ac 13'> probably means that John waited on Paul and Barnabas, attend- ing to their bodily wants, so as to leave them free to preach. He had not been set apart for missionary work as they had been (Ac 13-). The exceptions are Lk V, Ac 26", and 1 Co 4', where the idea of spiritual ministration is prominent. But in none of these three passages is there any allusion to the derivation of the word (' under-rower'), as if it meant a rower in a ship of which Christ was captain. The three remaining triplets are different, for all of them are frequently connected with the idea of religious service. In the art. Deacon, Deacon- ESS it has been pointed out that Siokokos, which in classical Greek commonly implies ignoble service, such as waiting at table, in Christian language has high associations. We find the nobler use of the term in the teaching of that aninia naturaliter Christiana, Epictetus. ' The philosopher should without distraction be employed only on the service of God.' ' I think that what God chooses is better than what / choose : I will attach myself as a servant to Him.' ' I obey, assenting to the words of the Commander and praising His acts; for I came into the world when it pleased Him, and I will also depart when it pleases Him.' ' I depart as Thy servant, as one who has known Thy com- mands and Thy prohibitions ' {Diss. III. xxii. 69, xxiv. 65, xxvi. 28, IV. vii. 20). In the LXX SiaKovos and SiaKovla are rare (ten times in all), and SiaKoveiv does not occur. St. Paul calls heathen magistrates 'servants {SiaKovoi) ol God'(Ro IS"") ; and all idea of ignoble service is excluded when apostles are called SiiKovoi (1 Co 3^ 2 Co Z\ Eph 3', Col 1=^). The whole triplet has for its root-icfea the supply- ing of serviceable labour, whether to the body or the soul. SMKovla is used often of the sending of money to help the poor brethren in Judfea (Ac 11^' 1225, 2 Co S'' 9'- "• '5, Ro 15^')- Archippus is told to take heed to the mini.stry (SicKovia) which he had received in the Lord (Col 4") for work in the Church of Colossse, but we are not told what kind of ministry it was.
There are several passages in which the oiaKovot trijdet seems to be used of personal service to St. Paul rather than of ministerial service in the Church : SidKOTOS (of Tychicus, Eph 6-', Col 4'), SiaKovia (of Mark, 2 Ti 4"), OMKoviXi/ (of Timothy and Erastus, Ac \%-^ ; of Onesimus, Philera '^ ; and of Onesi- phorus, 2 Ti 1"). SiaKovdv is clearly used of supply, ing bodily needs in Ac 6^- ', where the Seven are elected ' to serve tables.' But the Seven are not called SiaKovoi, and there is no evidence in the NT which can connect them with the ' deacons ' at Philippi or Ephesus. To call the Seven the first deacons is a conjecture which can be neither proved nor disproved.
It may be mere accident that eepairda and Bepa- ireiieii' are never used in the NT in the classical sense of Divine worship, although both are used in this sense in the LXX (Jl 1" 2'^ Is 54", Dn 7'", Jth 11"). For Divine worship, the NT writers use either Xarpe/a and XarpeuEiv or \ei.Tovpyla and Xeirovp- yeiv, words which may signify adoration of God in general and sometimes sacrifice in particular. Xar- pela or XarpeOeif is used of heathen worship (Ro P^), of Jewish worship (Ac 7', Ro 9', He 8' 9' 13'"), of Christian worship (Ro 12', Ph 3"), and of worship in heaven (Rev 7" 22^). In Apost. Const, viii. 15, ad Jin., 'mystical Xarpeia' is used of the eucharist. But in the LXX, in connexion with religious wor-