The Doulos of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ

In this week’s submission for your reflection, I’d like to begin by quoting a portion of the first verse of the epistle of James, “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ . .” Of the eleven words quoted, I would like to focus upon the word “bondservant.”

In Greek, the word bondservant is “doulos”. It is a word that could also be translated as “slave.” From a scriptural point of view James in citing the word for bondservant or slave is telling his audience where he is coming from in what follows in the epistle. He is telling his audience that he is a slave of God and of Jesus Christ.

What does James mean by this term? A few verses give us some insight into the meaning.

Matthew 8:9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

• From this we can see that a doulos is under authority and what it means to be under authority.

Matthew 20:27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave —

• Those who will be first in the Kingdom of Heaven must be doulos, bondservants, to the others in the group.
• We might say that the doulos of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ will approach life as a willing servant of God in all situations.

Matthew 24:45-47 "Who then is a faithful and wise servant (doulos), whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.

• The doulos of God must be actively serving his master—an ongoing mode of conduct.
• Being a doulos means that we are actively serving our Master every day in all we do.

Romans 6:16-17 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

To whom are we a doulos?
o Sin-disobedience
o Righteous—obedient
o Are we obedient from the heart? That is the doulos of God.
o To obey from the heart is not enslavement, but deliverance from sin and death.

Not only James, but Jude (1:1), Paul and Timothy (Philippians 1:1), Moses (1 Kings 8:53; Daniel 9:11; Malachi 4:4), Joshua and Caleb (Joshua 24:29; Numbers 14:24), Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 9:27), Job (Job 1:8) and Isaiah (Isaiah 20:3). Doulos is distinctively the title by which the prophets were known (Amos 3:7; Zechariah 1:6; Jeremiah 7:25).

William Barclay in his commentary on the book of James summarizes doulos well, “By taking the title doulos James sets himself in the great succession of those who found their freedom and their peace and their glory in perfect submission to the will of God. The only greatness to which the Christian can ever aspire is that of being the slave of God.” (From The Daily Study Bible, by William Barclay: First Edition. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2015 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

As we take time to reflect this Sabbath consider, “If I were writing a letter to offer instruction to others, would I even consider using the approach of James?” Might I say, “(Your name) a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ?” It is a worthy title to consider?

Gary Smith