Lexicon :: Strong's G1249 - diakonos

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. ἐγκονεῖν; for α in the preposition διά is short, in διάκονος, long. Buttmann 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 servant, 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 διάκ. μου, my follower, John 12:26; τοῦ Σατανᾶ, whom Satan uses as a servant, 2 Corinthians 11:15; [ἁμαρτίας, Galatians 2:17]; διάκ. 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., Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Schaff-Herzog under the word Deacon; Bp. Lightfoot's Commentary on Philippians, dissert. i. § i.; Julius Mϋller, 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 Deaconess; Lightfoot as above, p. 191; B. D. under the word Phœbe].
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 -νία, 5; [also Wetstein on Matthew 4:11].

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