SATURDAY July 19, 2025
Bondservant
Paul, a bondservant of God....
Titus 1:1
After Paul was released from his first imprisonment in Rome, he wrote to Titus, who was on the island of Crete. Paul was writing from Nicopolis in Epirus, a region of ancient Greece. The approximate date of the letter was 66 AD. Titus had gone with Paul on his fourth missionary journey, and he had left Titus in charge to organize and lead the church.
In Paul’s letter to Titus, he placed his name first, this was common in Greek culture. So Paul, a bondservant of God, was written first, not at the end. The word bondservant is used at least five times in the greetings of his letters. The word bondservant is the Greek word doulos, and it literally means “a slave.”
The Vine’s Expository Dictionary gives us more insight into the word bondservant.
Originally, the lowest term in the scale of servitude. It also came to mean–– “one who gives himself up to the will of another.” Paul was formerly a “bondslave” of Satan, and that having been bought by Christ, he was now a willing slave bound to his new Master.
As a bondservant, Paul would be used to advance Christ’s cause among men. We see that Paul followed the example of Christ’s servanthood. Did you know the word bondservant is used to describe Christ in Philippians 2:5-7, when He humbled Himself to live among us as a Man?
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Jesus Christ became a Slave––a Servant to mankind! That is mindboggling! Forget your reputation, humble yourself, be like Jesus, be like Paul, and become a bondservant of God as you serve others.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
~Mark 10:45~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!
