David Lim wrote:Eduardo Ortega wrote:David Lim wrote:I also don't think "μορφη θεου" is referring to "the same glorious appearance as God" but is wider than that. "μορφη" can mean "outward form" or "outward fashion", thus "μορφην δουλου λαβων" would mean "having become a slave outwardly" (though he actually "was not" a slave).
δοῦλος means "slave" but also means someone that serves. The people that serve God are not slaves of God, but servants. (Mat 20:27, Rom 1:1, 2 Co 4:5, Gal 1:10, Tit 1:1, Isa 53:11 about Jesus, to be a servant by own will: Exo 21:5-6)
"δουλος" really means "slave" / "bond-servant". (
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/mor ... s&la=greek) The verses you cite do not actually support your claim. The more generic term "servant" would be better represented by "παις". Slaves may have been enslaved or may have chosen to be in bondage. (See John 8:34, Rom 6:19, 1 Cor 12:13, Gal 3:28.)
My guess here is that a significant nuance in usage is being ignored here and that a dubious distinction is being suggested.
(1) Although
ebhed in Hebrew and δοῦλος in Greek do in essence originally mean "bond-servant," a key conceptual ingredient of Israel's exodus experience is that Israel has been delivered from involuntary servitude as
abhdim of Pharaoh and has become a nation of voluntary servants
abhdim of Yahweh. That distinction has shaped the religious language of Israel such that
ebedh-YHWH becomes a standard term for an Israelite who takes the covenant with YHWH seriously, and the distinction has carried over into NT Greek usage of the word δοῦλος. That distinction finds beautiful expression in the phrase in the old English Book of Common Prayer, "Whose service is perfect freedom." Cf. BDAG s.v. δοῦλος §2.b.
(2) The word παῖς does not carry the essential sense of "servant" but rather of "boy." It is used as an appellation of servant in the same way as English "boy" or French
garçon to refer to a servant who may,, in antebellum plantations, have been an 80-year old domestic bond-servant of his "Massa" -- or may, in a good restaurant, be a young or elderly waiter on tables working for a wage. It is true that παῖς in the LXX and the GNT may be used in the same sense as δοῦλος, but it originates more as an appellation of a servant. See BDAG s.v. παῖς §3.
one who is committed in total obedience to another, slave, servant.