diakonia

At its heart this word names work that someone has been given to do for another. It is not a feeling or a rank but an actual task carried out on a charge received from someone in authority. That is why the same word can cover:

• the lifelong commission of an apostle
• the delivery of a large gift between churches
• the errand an angel runs at God's command

In every case the work is assigned, and it is done for someone else's sake.

Its most common use in the New Testament is for a commission received from God. Writers speak of receiving this work, being placed into it, and fulfilling it, the way an envoy is handed an assignment. Paul above all uses it for his own charge, the work of reconciliation he was given by the Lord, and for his role as an authorized go-between through whom God's new covenant reaches people.

The word also names concrete undertakings done for others:

• the organized collection Paul carried from Gentile churches to the poor believers in Jerusalem
• the daily provision for widows in the early church
• ordinary serving
• service as one of the gifts God gives the church

What ties the whole range together is not that the work is lowly but that it is entrusted: it answers to a charge and is done on behalf of another.

For a long time readers assumed the core of the word was humble, self-giving care for people in need. A close look at how Greek writers actually used it has shifted that picture: the center is being commissioned to act for someone, and practical care for the needy is one setting among many rather than the heart of the word.