Envoys and ambassadors

An ambassador represented one state to another. In this period the word was used mostly for the emperor's legates in the East. Heralds, ambassadors and other representatives were supposed to have diplomatic immunity, and how one treated them honored or shamed the sender. A representative was received with the honor due to the one he represented. Behind the picture stood the Old Testament prophets, God's messengers. They often spoke in the form of a covenant lawsuit, or in the words a great king's messengers used to vassal rulers. Keener adds that "emperors normally took action against unrepentant client states that had offended them"; the ESV Study Bible speaks of God's peace treaty. The word apostle means one who is sent and could be used of an ambassador or official delegate (Wright's glossary). The ESV Study Bible adds that the Greek Old Testament used the related verb for those commissioned to act in the sender's name. Communities sent envoys too. Those appointed by the churches may have been elected by a show of hands, as in Greek administration. Diaspora synagogues sent respected representatives with their temple tax to Jerusalem, and honorary inscriptions praised benefactors for sending honorable representatives. Chaining or insulting another country's envoy normally invited war. The office is far older than Rome. Podany describes the envoys of the kings of Egypt, Babylonia, Mittani and Hatti in the fourteenth century BC, known from the Amarna letters. These experienced diplomats visited an ally's court at least once a year with a letter and greeting gifts, and were to be welcomed with banquets and personal gifts. One king wrote that he had "exalted like gods" two Egyptian envoys.

Because an envoy carried his sender's word and honor, the ambassadors for Christ of 2 Corinthians 5:20 bring a king's terms of peace, and refusing them refuses him. Ephesians 6:20 has an ambassador in chains, and in Luke 14:32 a weaker king sends a delegation to ask for terms.