SLAVE — the ordinary Greek word for chattel property, a person owned by another; not a hired servant (that is diakonos or misthios). Paul opens Romans by calling himself 'a slave of Christ Jesus', and puts the word BEFORE 'apostle' — the title he leads with is the one carrying no status at all. ⚠ KJV, ASV and NIV all soften it to 'servant'; NWT reads 'slave', and is tighter. The softening has an uncomfortable history: 'servant' makes the metaphor comfortable for people who owned slaves. In a city where perhaps a third of the population was enslaved, the first readers heard the harder word. → first discussed at Rom 1:1