”Favor I am having to the [One] having strengthened me, Christ Jesus the Lord of us, because faithful He counted me, having put into service...”
-We usually translate this word, charis, as “grace” (specifically meaning undeserved favor, 122 of 159 times in NT), or just “favor” (11x). But we also render it as “gratitude” or “thanks” 12 times. The root word is chairo, meaning joy. And charis is that which causes joy, about which one rejoices. Hence some kind of a favor which made you joyful - and thankful. And the Greeks do use this word for (undeserved) favor to say thank you. They literally say, “Good favor”. Eu-charis-to. Which in modern times they have modified to “ef-haris-to”. What they are doing is acknowledging and returning a favor. You did me a good favor - and I'm expressing that back to you. And it gives us our word Eucharist. The Eucharist is our traditional term for the Christian Sacrament otherwise referred to as Communion. The Lord’s Supper. It is the remembrance of the time when Jesus took the bread and gave thanks as He broke it and distributed it and directed His disciples to do the same thing as a way to remember Him and to recognize that the bread was a symbol of His body which was (about to be) broken (as a favor) for them. For us. He did likewise with the wine, which was a symbol of His blood which was poured out for forgiveness of sins. But this act of gratitude (and of course the sacrifice which was to follow) was also a [huge] favor for us, and we now acknowledge and return this good favor, eu-charis - in the Christian Sacrement referred to as the Eucharist. We are speaking Greek - “efharisto” - every time we give thanks in the Eucharist. But in essence it is like us asking someone to do us a solid, and when they come through we acknowledge that by saying, solid. That’s exactly what Paul is saying here. Solid. Favor.
-But in this verse, Paul is thinking about a double favor, one which in Paul’s mind was user-specific for him. He is returning favor to Jesus Who did him a favor, a HUGE solid, not only dying for him on the Cross but also giving him strength and putting him into service. Paul will expound upon this in the next verse, but is this not true for every last one of us who believe in Jesus? That in Christ we enjoy the blessings not only of forgiveness and salvation, but also of sanctification, of life-transformation, and of purpose and glorious participation in the worldwide rescue mission of the Gospel? He gives us grace, favor, strength each day, all that we need (and more) for all we must do. Solid.
-Interesting to note the sequence here. Faithfulness preceded service. Or did it? But it was not demonstrated faithfulness per se. Usually we want to see a new believer demonstrate faithfulness in the little things before we put them in charge of bigger things, right? That tends to be the divine pattern (cf Luke 19.17). But God had a specific service, a ministry picked out for Paul - then Saul - before he had even been converted (cf Acts 9.15-16). This faithfulness was rather more anticipated. It was divine foresight, prescience, no doubt. God counted Paul faithful. It is the decree of a ruler, and that makes it so. It was the God-factor. It was this good favor - even Paul’s future faithfulness was (going to be) put in by the Lord. God would make it so.
-Of course the word for service is diakonos, where we get our word “deacon” - but we need to picture the job of waiting on tables. The first deacons were quite literally the guys who were in charge of serving food to the believers. We’re talking a dirty, thankless job, one which somebody has to step up and do, perhaps one which nobody wants to do, probably not going to be a lot of recognition, not a lot of strokes for doing this. But this is ministry, is it not? It is not some glamorous, cushy gig where you’ll get lots of strokes and lots of money. It is long hours, never finished, overworked and underpaid (or unpaid). The needs are endless, constant, not always convenient. Such is the job of caring for sheep. A high calling, to be sure, but not one to which most would aspire, nor last very long. Hence the requisite faithfulness. Now at a certain level, no believer is exempt from SOME form of service - we are ALL called to share in it at some level (cf Ephesians 4.12). We all, each one of us, have a part, a role to fulfill, a ministry which is to help build up the body of Christ. God will make it so! Paul, for his part, is thanking God for the FAVOR of putting him IN to service, into the game. Put me in, Coach!
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