What is said and done behind a pulpit is serious business to the average churcher. Sometimes you might hear someone say, “Can you believe what he said behind the pulpit?” [1] Another may believe that the pulpit is a ministry that is “absolutely essential to the vitality and health of the church as a whole. ” [2] Some even believe that a pulpit shows our dependence on God and his Scriptures. [3, 4] I could go on and on about what people see the pulpit as; or believe what the pulpit means.

Usually at this point on this series, I would discuss the various mistranslations from the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures or the obvious transliterations. However, I cannot do this for the word “pulpit.” Why? Because there is no word in Scripture, whether old or new, that equates to pulpit. Not a single word, either translated or transliterated, will bring you to our current practice of using a pulpit.

Believe it or not, I have actually heard a “biblical” defense of the pulpit before. There is a single verse in  Scripture, Nehemiah 8:4-8, which reads:

Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. . . . Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. . . . Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with {their} faces to the ground. . . . They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

I do not believe this is a biblical defense for pulpits though… that’s like saying that we should all use nets because in scripture John used a net.

I’m going to ask you; how did a piece of furniture get so highly elevated in our faith that we frown upon people who misuse (or don’t use) it?

A couple weeks ago Arthur Sido posted about Academic Responsibility. His post was about a popular Christian History textbook’s misuse of Scripture regarding the description of a “Deacon”. I spent a few moments gathering some data for a comment on his post and felt like “Deacon” should be my next, “Words Not Found in Scripture.”

Deacon is a really good word for this series because it is more than just a meaningless word. In Christendom we have whole theologies built around the idea of the deacon office. But do we really understand what a deacon is? The word “deacon” occurs five times in the NKJV (Philemon 1:1 & 1 Timothy 3:8,10,12,13). However, the word itself is a transliteration of the Greek word, “διακονος”. διακονος (and it’s verb version διακονεω) occur in the New Testament a total of 66 times. Basically, around 7% of the time, the word is transliterated (or added to the translation)… obfuscating the true definition of the word. According to BDAG the meaning of διακονος is:

1. one who serves as an intermediary in a transaction, agent, intermediary, courier
2. one who gets somethign done, at the behest of a superior, assistant

and the meaning of διακονεω (the verb form) is:

1. to function as an intermediary, act as go-between/agent, be at one’s service
2. to perform obligations,
2a. perform duties, render assistance, serve
2b. wait on someone at table
3. to meet an immediate need, help
4. to carry out official duties, minister
5. care for, take care of

The Facts

1. διακονος (n.) occurs in the Greek New Testament 29 times
   • Translated “servant” (and it’s derivatives) 18 times – NKJV.
   • Translated “minister” (and it’s derivatives) 8 times – NKJV.
   • Transliterated “deacon” (and it’s derivatives) 3 times – NKJV.
2. διακονεω (v.) occurs in the Greek New Testament 37 times.
   • Translated “serve” (and it’s derivatives) 20 times – NKJV.
   • Translated “ministered” (and its derivatives) 14 times – NKJV.
   • Translated “administered” twice (2 Corinthians 8:19,20) – NKJV.
   • Translated “provided” once (Luke 8:3) – NKJV.
3. 1 Timothy 3 has the word διακονος twice, in 3:8 and 3:12.
   • Both times it is transliterated as “deacon”, but in 4:6, it is translated as “servant” or “minister”.
4. 1 Timothy 3 has the word διακονεω twice, in 3:10, 3:13.
   • In 3:10, the word διακονος is not in the Greek at all, yet the translators felt it was necessary to add “as deacons” after “let them serve”. Where “serve” is the actual translation of the word διακονεω.
   • Similarly with 3:13, the word διακονος is not in the Greek at all. The translators add “as deacons” after the “for those who served.”
5. Jesus was called a διακονος (Romans 15:8).
6. Paul was called a διακονος (1 Corinthians 3:5, 6; Ephesians 3:7; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:23,25).
7. Jesus came to διακονεω (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27).

Conclusion

Based on my research and studies, I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a “deacon” in the traditional sense of the word. A “deacon” is merely a servant, not an office to hold. The noun and verb in the Greek is translated “serve” 38 times, “minister” at least 22 times (25 if you count “administered” and “provided”). Only 3 times is it transliterated as “deacon” and twice it is added to the English text. So why did the translators believe that they should not translate the word in those places? Frankly, I find this very disturbing.

So, for all of you churchers who argue about deacons during business meetings. I’m sorry to tell you, you’ve wasted a lot of time. A “deacon” is not an office, it’s not someone who is voted on, a deacon is the person next to you who has been serving you and ministering to your needs. A deacon is the person who does not care about the title “deacon” as much as they care about the needs of those around them.

A couple months ago I received a copy of Mega Belt by Nick May to review for Energion Publications. May’s goal in this writing is to write a believable fictional account of a young man named Gil. Gil’s life reflects the experiences Mays’ has had in the Bible Belt and with Mega Churches. May uses irony and satire to engage his reader throughout his recounting of Gil’s memories.

Each chapter in Mega Belt covers various life experiences an average churcher1 would have in the Bible Belt. The chapters cover things like our Easter Sunday traditions, Ice Cream socials, Youth Group, Mega Churches, hitting Rock Bottom, and more. If you are from the North (as I am) you may find it difficult to relate to many of Gil’s experiences. However, there are times when a lot of these traditions and questions posed by Gil will reflect some of your own experiences, regardless of where you call home.

For me the first few chapters of this book were slow and fairly dry. It started to get more interesting around halfway through the book. I really felt like the last two chapters were the best chapters. May admits in his foreword that most of his readers will “hate how it ends.” [XI] Frankly, I thought the end was fine. I didn’t expect a huge conclusion to Gil’s thoughts, I felt like this book represented the beginning for Gil. I think most people on a journey with Jesus will share some of Gil’s frustrations and are probably around the same place spiritually that May left us with him.

I give this book 3 out of 5 Circus Peanuts. It is a fairly short and easy read. I did not think there was much insight was given, but May was just trying to tell a story, so you shouldn’t expect much insight.

Since tomorrow is the popular Christian celebrated holiday called Christmas I decided that it would be a good time to talk about the word “Christ” and perhaps take “Christ” out of Christmas. The word “Christ” is similar to “Baptize,” in the sense that the word is found in our English translations because it is a transliteration of a Greek word. In this case, Christ is a transliteration of “Χριστος.” In my opinion this is not as damaging as transliterating a word like Baptize because there is no real debate as to what “Christ” means. But still, I have the same complaint, how does anyone know what “Christ” means?

I wonder how many untrained newcomers to follow Jesus believe that Christ was his last name. Before I was a follower, I always treated it as his last name and did not think about it. For those of you who do not know, “Christ” or “Χριστος” translates to “the Anointed One or the Messiah.” Some translations switch between Messiah and Christ as translations, most of them stick with Christ.

The Facts

1. The NASB translates Χριστος as “the Messiah” 4 times. (Matthew 1:1,16,17; 2:4)
2. The NASB translates Χριστος as “Christ” 528 times in the New Testament.
3. Χριστιανος occurs 3 times in the New Testament and the NASB translates  as “Christian” each time.
4. Χριστος occurs 529 times in the New Testament (an additional 11 times in the Septuagint — Greek translation of the Old Testament).
5. There is a discrepancy 3 times where the word Christ appears in the NASB but Χριστος is not found in the Greek manuscripts for those verses (Acts 8:37, 20:21; Romans 16:24). NOTE: In Romans 16:24 Χριστος appears in the Byzantine manuscripts, which are not generally used by the NASB.
6. There is also a Greek word Μεσσιας which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word for Messiah. It occurs twice in the New Testament. (John 1:41, 4:25)

Conclusion

As I already said, this transliteration really does not lead to any major conflicts. Although some people probably do not know what “Christ” means, it is fairly easy to find out. Generally when someone is talking about Jesus Christ we know who they are referring to and what people believe he is. However, I would still like to see the word translated properly, to something like “the Messiah” or “the anointed One”. But even those translations could be confusing. Also, in the spirit of Christmas, we should take Christ out and replace it with Messiah.

So, Happy Messiahmas everyone!

I will continue my series on Words Not Found in Scripture with the word “baptize”. Technically you will find “baptize” (and it’s derivatives) throughout your English translations. In fact, technically you will find “baptize” in the original Greek. The actual word though is “baptizo” (βαπτιζω). And that is exactly the problem.

You see, the word “baptize” is not actually a real English word. It is a transliterated word and like “church” was used by King James as a form of deception. When you use a word that has no meaning, you can assign any meaning you want to it. Then you require a professionally trained individual to tell you what it means. Of course, the word “baptize” for 1500 years has been twisted and distorted and even today, there are people who misuse or mistranslate it.

According to Merriam Webster, baptize means:

1 : to administer baptism to
2 a : to purify or cleanse spiritually especially by a purging experience or ordeal b : initiate
3 : to give a name to (as at baptism) : christen

And, baptism means:

1 a : a Christian sacrament marked by ritual use of water and admitting the recipient to the Christian community b : a non-Christian rite using water for ritual purification c Christian Science : purification by or submergence in Spirit
2 : an act, experience, or ordeal by which one is purified, sanctified, initiated, or named

βαπτιζω in the Greek means literally the “act of immersion or dipping”. It does not mean, “to immerse in water”. It only means “to immerse,” however, in the context of water, it would mean that you immerse in water. Similar, in the context of fire, it would mean that you immerse in fire. It can be used to describe a ship sinking, washing your hands, or even washing your dishes.

The Facts

1. The word “baptize” (and it’s derivatives, including baptism, baptist, etc.) occurs 106 times in the NASB.
2. βαπτιστης (the noun form for Baptist or “Baptizer”) occurs 14 times in the Greek and is always in reference to John the “Baptist”.
3. βαπτιζω (the verb form for “Baptize”) occurs 77 times in the Greek New Testament. In Mark 7:4 it is referring to ceremonial washing; Luke 3:16 “he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire”; Luke 11:38 refers to ceremonial washing of hands before dinner; and more.
4. βαπτισμα (the noun form for “Baptism”) occurs 22 times in the New Testament and is always transliterated as “baptism”.
5. βαπτισμος (another noun form for “Baptism”) occurs 4 times in the New Testament, is transliterated as “baptism” once in Col 2:12; and refers to ceremonial washing or other washing in Mark 7:4, Hebrews 6:2, 9:10.

Conclusion

I have a pretty big problem with transliterations. Mainly because they do not mean anything to the reader. Actually, they mean a great deal to the reader. For instance, to a Catholic the transliteration of “baptize” means, “an infant who had water poured on its head to wash away its original sin so that if it dies it will spend less time in purgatory.” But baptize, literally means “immerse”. Now, this post is not about which modes of baptism are acceptable in God’s eyes, frankly, just because the word means “immersion” does not mean (to me) that people who are “sprinkled” are not real Christians. Why? Well because there is a ceremonial definition to the word Baptism. It is a symbolic act done as a proclamation of your acceptance of Jesus’ gift and acknowledgment that he has purified your soul.

I believe “immersion”, “dipping”, or “washing” are suitable translations in replacement of our current transliterations. As BDAG puts it, “the transliteration ‘baptize’ signifies the ceremonial character that NT narratives accord such cleansing, but the need of qualifying statements or contextual coloring in the documents indicates that the term ‘baptize’ was not nearly so technical as the transliteration suggests.”

As it turns out, I was talking to Alan Knox about this post and he reminded me of some research he posted on his blog about the word βαπτιζω. Here are some links to his series on Baptism:

• Baptism in the LXX
• Baptism in Philo
• Baptism in Josephus
• Water baptism in the New Testament
• Other Baptism in the New Testament
• Ambiguous Baptism in the New Testament

As Alan’s research shows “we must recognize the importance of context in understanding the meaning of the verb. The verb does not always mean ‘to submerge under water’.”