Greek Geeks - Servant and Apostle

In continuing with looking at Pastor Nick's sermon, I wanted to check out 2 of the important words mentioned servant and apostle.

So here goes

Original Word δοῦλος		Transliterated Word doulos	Parts of Speech Noun
Definition		a slave, bondman, man of servile condition a slave metaph., one who gives himself up to another's will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests a servant, attendant
Usage		Over 100 times (KJV and NASB)
Original Word ἀπόστολος		Transliterated Word apostolos	Part of Speech Noun
Definition		a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers of Barnabas of Timothy and Silvanus Pastor Nick's sermon --> the above + all believers
Usage		Around 80 times (KJV and NASB)

 As we can see, using the word servant is rather gentle, literally, it (doulos) is the word for slave, and perhaps was changed only for delicate ears more than for than accuracy. The point remains the same as we saw from the Sermon Reflection yesterday and continuing today. It is interesting that in the New Testament it is used over 100 times, and interestingly it isn't Paul who used the term most often (1 Corinthians, Galatians and Colossians came in first for Paul at 4x each). Most of the time, it seems Paul used it to describe himself in the introduction and perhaps one other time. The most common places to find "doulos" are in Matthew, Luke and the book of Revelation (30, 26 and 13 respectively). I have not had enough time to explore how each was used (meaning, was slave used by Jesus to describe himself, to describe the disciples, a parable, or are they largely in reference to a narrative where a slave is encountered in the story). Anyone want to do more digging?

Apostolos, - very interesting in that except for Luke, it is rarely encountered (Luke uses it 6 times, while the other apostles used it one time each). The most common place to find the word is in Acts where it is used about 30 times and in the Corinthian letters. As Acts was written by Luke, it is odd, that he chooses to use the word apostle in Acts but not in the gospel account, I would have to track down the verses themselves to see the context of the word, but seems clear that Luke makes a very clear distinction of pre-Pentecost, and post-Pentecost believers. Paul used the word more in his letters, though rarely, than other epistle writers (John doesn't use the word at all) but not all of Paul's letters use it. It is missing from 2^nd Thessalonians and Philemon.

I don't know if this helps or makes things more confusing. Please let me know if there is more about these words you would like to know, or if you have a Greek or Hebrew question, feel free to stick it in the comment section, perhaps someone else can pick up the ball.

Lastly, I need to say, I am not a Greek scholar. I am an English teacher with some training in Biblical Greek. There may be some mistakes in the above and if so, please let me know.