Exploring the Meaning of Chouzas in Greek

Chouzas refers to “Chuza” and appears in the Gospel narrative only in Luke 8:3. The name is introduced within a short list of women associated with Jesus’ ministry and the practical support that accompanied it.

Occurrences

“and Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others; who served them from their possessions.” (Luke 8:3)

Here Chouzas functions as a personal identifier inside a relational description: “Joanna, the wife of Chuzas.” The name anchors Joanna in a recognizable household connection, and then that household connection is further specified by a role: “Herod’s steward.” Within the sentence, the mention of Chouzas does not stand alone as a character entering the scene with his own actions; instead it operates as a point of reference by which another participant—Joanna—is situated socially and narratively.

The structure of the line is list-like, moving from Joanna’s identification to a second named woman (“Susanna”), then widening to “many others.” In that flow, Chouzas serves as a stabilizing detail that gives the list texture: the women are not presented as a faceless group but as people with names, family ties, and connections to established administrative life. The phrase “Herod’s steward” attaches to Chuzas, so his name becomes the hinge between Joanna’s family relationship (“wife of Chuzas”) and a courtly or managerial post (“Herod’s steward”). In the immediate context of “who served them from their possessions,” this linkage places Joanna’s support alongside a household connected to stewardship, suggesting that the service described can include support from women whose circumstances and networks are substantial enough to be noticed and named.

The sentence also draws attention to the way identification works in narrative: Joanna is not introduced with a patronymic or location in this verse but through marriage to Chuzas. Chouzas therefore contributes to the verse as a marker of household identity, and his administrative association (“Herod’s steward”) gives that household identity a public-facing dimension. The mention is brief, but it enriches the portrayal of the circle around Jesus as including individuals linked (through family and service roles) to prominent structures of authority.

Sense and Usage

As a proper name, Chouzas is used to point to a specific individual, and its force in Luke 8:3 lies in how a single name can carry relational and social information within a compressed narrative list. The verse uses the name to define Joanna by association: she is “the wife of Chuzas,” and the added descriptor “Herod’s steward” locates Chuzas in a role of oversight or management within Herod’s household. The name thus functions as more than a label; it provides an identifying connection that helps the reader understand the kind of background from which Joanna comes.

In the same breath, Luke 8:3 ties personal identification to material action: the named women and “many others” are described as those “who served them from their possessions.” Chouzas is not one of the serving subjects in the grammar of the line, but his name frames the presentation of one of the servers. The implied household behind “the wife of Chuzas” stands adjacent to the phrase “from their possessions,” and so the name participates indirectly in the verse’s theme: tangible support for ministry coming from real people with real resources and real social locations.

The placement of Chouzas inside a list also shapes the name’s narrative effect. Lists can flatten characters into mere entries, but the inclusion of both a spouse-relationship and an office-title resists that flattening. “Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward” is compact but layered: it tells the reader who Joanna is in relation to Chuzas, and who Chuzas is in relation to Herod. The name therefore functions as a connector between spheres—home (“wife of”) and governance (“steward”)—within a single identifying phrase.

Because the occurrence is singular, the usage is focused: Chouzas is not developed through repeated appearances, dialogue, or action. Instead, its semantic contribution is concentrated in identification. It supplies specificity—naming a household and linking that household to stewardship—within a verse that is otherwise moving quickly from one person to the next. In that way, the name helps the reader perceive the breadth of the community being described: named women, unnamed “many others,” and the diverse ties that stand behind them.

Imagery and Setting

Luke 8:3 evokes a scene of provision and accompaniment: a group is characterized by service “from their possessions,” and the naming of Joanna alongside her husband’s courtly role hints at resources moving from established households into the needs of an itinerant ministry. The name Chouzas, attached to “Herod’s steward,” subtly colors the setting with administrative proximity—storerooms, accounts, and the ordered life of a managed household—now intersecting with the simple statement that these people “served them.”

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).