This is a word study I did a while back for Daddy on the NT usage of the word diakonoi, specifically it’s root – to cover different parts of speech, etc. I wish I could say that I combed through every verse in the NT, perusing the Greek myself, but I utilized a search tool in my Logos software (which is a very handy and powerful tool).
The beauty of this study is that one can get a clearer picture of what it is to serve; after all, that is what the word Deacon means – servant. Often it is easy to get sidetracked by titles, but seeing how this word is used elsewhere in Scripture, “breathed out by God”, gives us a clearer understanding of the depth of the word that became the title for that office.
Here it is:
Matthew 20:26: “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister [servant]….”
20:28: “…even as the Son of man came not to be ministered [served] unto, but to minister [serve], and to give his life a ransom for many.”
22:13: “Then the king said to the servants [attendants], bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
23:11: “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.”
27:55: “And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him….”
Mark 9:35: “And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, ‘If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.’”
10:43: “But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister [servant]….”
10:45: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto [served], but to minister [serve], and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Luke 10:40: “But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, ‘Lord, dost thou care not that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.’”
12:37: “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”
17:8: “And will not rather say unto him, ‘Make ready therewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?’”
22:26-27: “But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and that he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.”
John 2:5: “His mother saith unto the servants, ‘Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.’”
2:9: “When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom….”
12:26: “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.”
Acts 6:1-2: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration [distribution or service]. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, ‘It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.’”
6:4: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
12:25: “And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.”
19:22: “So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him [helpers], Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.”
20:24: “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
21:19: “And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.”
Romans 11:13: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office [ministry]….”
12:7: “…or ministry [service], let us wait on our ministering [in our serving]: or he that teacheth, on teaching….”
13:4: “For he is the minister [servant] of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister [servant] of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”
15:8: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [servant to the circumcised] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers….”
16:1: “I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea….”
1 Corinthians 3:5: “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers [servants] by who ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?”
12:5: “…and there are differences of administrations [varieties of service], but the same Lord.”
16:15: “I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry [service] of the saints)….”
2 Corinthians 3:3: “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered [delivered] by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”
3:6-9: “…who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament [covenant]; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration [ministry] of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall the ministration [ministry] of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration [ministry] of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.”
4:1: “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not….”
5:18: “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation….”
6:3-4: “Giving no officen in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers [servants] of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses….”
8:19-20: “…and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with this grace, which is administered [grace that is being ministered] by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind: avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us….”
9:1: “For as touching the ministering [ministry for the] to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you….”
9:12-13: “For the administration [ministry] of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; whiles by the experiment of this ministration [service] they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and all men….”
11:8: “I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service [to serve you].
11:15: “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [servants] also be transformed as the ministers [servants] of righteousness; whose end shall be their works.”
11:23: “Are they ministers [servants] of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.”
Galatians 2:17: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister [servant] of sin? God forbid.”
Ephesians 3:7: “Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.”
6:21: “But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things….”
Philippians 1:1: “Paul and Timotheus, the servants [different word for servant -- mistranslated as servant, actually means slave/bondslave] of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians 1:7: “…as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ….”
1:23: “…if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven: whereof I Paul am made a minister….”
1:25: “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God….”
4:7: “All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord….”
4:17: “And say to Archippus, ‘Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.’”
1 Timothy 1:12: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry [appointing me to his service]….”
3:8: “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre….”
3:10: “And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of [serve as] a deacon, being found blameless.”
3:12-13: “Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of [serve well as] a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
4:6: “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister [servant] of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”
2 Timothy 4:5: “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
4:11: “Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.”
Philemon 13: “…who I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me [that he might serve me] in the bonds of the gospel….”
Hebrews 1:14: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for [serve for the sake of] them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
6:10: “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister [in serving the saints, as you still do].”
1 Peter 4:10-11: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister [serve] the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister [serves], let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Revelation 2:19: “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.”
pastorkeithharris
