True Leadership (2)

he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.  Romans 12:8  NASB

With diligence – Paul adds a significant prepositional adjective to his description of a leader.  The Zone 6 person is not simply ho proistamenos but rather ho proistamenos en spoudei.  This final phrase is usually translated something like “with zeal,” or “diligently,” or “seriously.”  While these are all possible choices for a one-word translation, none captures the full meaning of spoudei or its root spoudazo.  Once we understanding the wider range of meaning, we see why Paul chooses a word most at home in its Greek context rather than its Hebrew background.

In the LXX, spoude translates Hebrew words that have two distinct meanings; one being “haste,” the other “terror” or “dread.”  The connection between these two meanings is understandable if we think of the shock and surprise of sudden and unexpected trauma.  While things done in haste are not always negative, the LXX connects spoudazo with those events and actions that startle or confuse, a simple extension of the possibilities of being in a hurry.  But this isn’t the context of the Hellenistic background.  Harder notes:

One cannot speak of a true equivalent for the group in the OT and later Judaism.  The thought of moral exertion along the lines of Hell. Philosophy, along with the idea of self-determination and self-perfecting . . . is quite alien to Jewish thinking.”[1]

Paul is not interested in the Hebrew background here.  He wants the reader to see the Greek connotation – “zealous concern,” “active engagement,” “moral seriousness.”  He wants the reader to connect this word with the Greek idea of care.  Paul does not embrace the Greek connection with self-determination or self-perfection, but he does lean on the Greek idea of intense effort.  However, as is typical, Paul’s direction is toward the community, not the individual.  For Paul, the proper exercise of leadership is a function of allowing the Spirit to guide.  In other words, the true leader is not merely someone who is naturally equipped to motivate others toward a goal.  He or she is not someone who is only a visionary, someone whose charisma drives an organization to accomplish great things.  A true leader is someone equipped by God to care for His people as God’s purposes are fulfilled.  Such a leader is recognized by the characteristic of domesticated power.  Any leader is capable of marshalling others to achieve a goal, but to do so without the guidance of the Spirit, without zeal for compassionate care, is to misuse what God has graciously provided.  A true leader must be the servant of all.  Now we see why Paul’s expression proistemi must be modified with en spoude.  Just as proistemi is not about rank but about service, so spoude is not about power but about submission.  In the end, true leadership is to be like Yeshua – “not my will but Yours.”  The world is filled with those God equipped for leadership.  But it is startlingly empty of those who understand leadership as the opportunity to serve others.

Topical Index:  leader, Romans 12:8, spoude, care