STRONGS G1203:
δεσπότης,
-ου,
ὁ, [from Pindar down],
a master, lord (as of
δοῦλοι,
οἰκέται): 1 Timothy 6:1, [2];
2 Timothy 2:21;
Titus 2:9;
1 Peter 2:18; God is thus addressed by one who calls himself his
δοῦλος:
Luke 2:29, cf.
Acts 4:24,
29 (
δεσπότης τῶν πάντων,
Job 5:8; Wis. 6:8); Christ is so called, as one who has bought his servants,
2 Peter 2:1; rules over his church,
Jude 1:4 [some take
δ. here as designating God; cf.
R. V. marginal reading]; and whose prerogative it is to take vengeance on those who persecute his followers,
Revelation 6:10.
[Synonyms: δεσπότης κύριος: δ. was strictly the correlative of slave, δοῦλος, and hence denoted absolute ownership and uncontrolled power; κύριος had a wider meaning, applicable to the various ranks and relations of life, and not suggestive either of poperty or of absolutism. Ammonius under the word δεσπότης says δ. ὁ τῶν ἀργυρωνήτων· κύριος δὲ καὶ πατὴρ υἱοῦ καὶ αὐτός τις ἑαυτοῦ. So Philo, quis rer. div. heres § 6 ὥστε τὸν δεσπότην κύριον εῖναι καὶ ἔτι ὡσανεὶ φοβερὸν κύριον οὐ μόνον τὸ κῦρος καὶ τὸ κράτος ἁπάντων ἀνημμένον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δέος καὶ φόβον ἱκανὸν ἑμποιῆσαι. Cf. Trench § 28; Woolsey, in Bib. Sacr. for 1861, p. 599f; Schmidt ch. 161, 5.]
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