WWUTT 622 Can Women Serve as Deacons?

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Whether or not a woman can serve as a pastor, she cannot, is a topic we're going to continue to debate until Jesus comes.

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Whether or not she can be a deacon is also a debatable topic, and there's an answer to that one, when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

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Find videos and more at our website, www .wwutt .com. Now here's our host,

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue in 1 Timothy 3, verses 8 -13, where Paul lists the qualifications for deacons in the church.

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Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double -tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

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They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let them also be tested first, then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

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Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober -minded, faithful in all things.

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Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

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For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

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So as we talked about yesterday, a deacon must be dignified, just as an overseer desires a noble task.

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He must not be double -tongued, but he is consistent in his speech. Paul talks about this also in Titus 2, where he talks about how the men must be consistent in their speech so that no one can bring any accusation against us.

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Well he says one thing, he does something else, or he said this to this person and something completely different to this person, he must be consistent in his speech.

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I had an incident that happened recently with a particular teacher who likes to disparage me and my ministry every once in a while.

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He said of me that I constantly misunderstand the things that he says.

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And I tried to show him, well one of the reasons why it might appear that way is because you're inconsistent with what you say.

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And I showed him in print where he said one thing and then showed him how he said a completely different thing somewhere else.

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And he simply was incorrectable, said that it was my fault and that I misunderstood.

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And so this would be an example of a person who's double -tongued. Another way this is put in James, James 1 .8,

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he's a double -minded man, unstable in all of his ways. That's a pretty serious charge, because we read in Psalm 119,

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I hate the double -minded, but I love your law. So a person who is steadfast in the faith, holds firm to the trustworthy word as taught, is a person who is not going to be double -tongued.

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They are consistent in their speech, which reveals the consistency of the faith that they cling to in their hearts.

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So deacons as a witness to the church and a witness to others even outside the church must not be double -tongued.

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They must be true to their faith and consistent in their speech. They must not be addicted to much wine.

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I think that one is pretty self -explanatory, must not be a drunkard, must not be given over easily into physical appetites, but is well -disciplined even in his own body.

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He must not be greedy for dishonest gain. He's not doing what it is that he does for personal benefit, but he desires to be a service to others and a service to the church.

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They must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Now that's where I stopped yesterday.

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What does this mean, mystery of the faith? Well, it's simply talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Paul refers to the gospel as a mystery in other places.

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In Ephesians, there's a couple of spots, I think in chapter one, and then there's a large section there at the start of chapter three, also refers to the gospel as a mystery several times to the

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Colossians. I think the best explanation of this, though, is in Romans 16, right at the end of Paul's letter to the

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Romans. He says the following, now to him, to God, who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal

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God to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise

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God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen. So there you go.

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There's our definition of what we're reading about here in 1 Timothy 3, 9, where it says that a deacon must hold the mystery of the faith.

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It's just another way of saying the gospel. He must do this with a clear conscience, meaning that he's never misrepresented the gospel or whatever he does as Peter instructed in 1

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Peter 3, 15, always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, but do this with gentleness and respect.

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Even though a deacon doesn't have to have a skill as a teacher, he still must be able to do that, to give an answer for the hope that lies within him.

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And when he does that, he is able to articulate and represent the gospel properly.

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So not to bring reproach upon himself and the ministry that he represents, even though primarily the ministry that a deacon does is a mercy ministry.

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He still must know how to articulate the gospel. So he believes the gospel.

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He believes the truth about the scriptures. He is even sound in his doctrine, though he doesn't have to know how to teach it, doesn't have to have that skill.

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He's still sound in what it is that he believes, believing the faith with a clear conscience.

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So not to bring reproach upon himself or the church that he represents, that he serves and also represents.

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And so then in verse 10, and let them, let the deacons also be tested first.

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So remember, the elders are tested, but the deacons must also be tested.

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How do we know that this man holds to the mystery of the gospel of the faith with a clear conscience?

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Well, you have to ask him. And his answers should be sound in judgment and what he articulates about the gospel.

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Now, the way that you test a deacon isn't going to be the same way that you test an elder. You know, you're not going to ask a deacon, give me a definition of super lapsarianism.

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Tell me what that is. You probably wouldn't even ask an elder that either. I don't know what

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I can't remember what kind of testing questions I was asked when when I was interviewed in front of my ordination panel.

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Well, I actually can tell you that was one of the questions is one of the guys on that panel. I knew and he was trying to I don't know if he was trying to stump me or if he was trying to show off, but the question he asked me was give me a definition of super lapsarianism.

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I've never forgotten that. So that word is always the one that comes to mind for me whenever I am asking somebody else to to prove their faith, their knowledge of the scriptures.

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That's a word you won't find in the Bible, by the way. So anyway, a deacon must be tested first and not just in his understanding of the gospel, but he's tested in his service.

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Is he somebody that has shown himself dedicated to the church that he is going to serve, caring for those members, all of the deacons that we have as part of our deacons at First Southern Baptist Church, they were all observed serving before they were asked to serve.

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And we actually have it as a requirement that that a person be recommended for eldership or a position of deacon.

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So it comes from the church body. Someone in the church observes them working, serving, representing the church well, caring for the members of the church and then saying, you know what,

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I think that person would make a great deacon. And so that recommendation comes from the body.

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He is tested not just in what it is that he believes, but also in demonstrating that he understands the job that is before him, what it is that he's being asked to do as a representative of the church, serving in this mercy mission and then let them serve as deacons.

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Let them serve. Don't hinder them from doing this, but give them opportunity to do more than they've already been doing for the church.

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Let them be tested first, then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless and proving themselves blameless basically means they're free from any scandalous sin, anything that would bring a reproach against them.

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So just as in First Timothy three to an overseer must be above reproach. So it must be the same way with the deacon as well.

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He must be above reproach, showing himself to be blameless yesterday as we finished up talking about these qualifications for deacons.

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One of the things that I said that we were going to talk about today was whether or not women can be deacons.

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So we go to this next part here, verse 11, where it says their wives likewise must be undignified, not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things.

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Now, my understanding is that their wives can be translated literally as women.

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So it doesn't necessarily have to mean the wives of the deacons who are therefore husbands and their wives must also show themselves faithful in this work.

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But rather, verse 11 could be translated very generally as women. So women could either be the wives of the deacons or they could just be female assistants to the deacons, or they could be women who themselves are qualified to serve as deacons.

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And in that argument that women can be deacons, oftentimes we go to Romans chapter 16.

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So it's a second time in this lesson, I'm going to go to Romans 16 here. So right at the start of that chapter, it says,

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I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Syncriae, that you may welcome her in the

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Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.

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Now that word there for servant that describes Phoebe is the feminine form of the word deacon, because that's simply what a deacon is.

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A deacon is a servant. So in this case, Phoebe often gets used as a, as an example of, well, a female deacon right here.

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She's being described as a deaconess. However, I think this is a very informal use of the word deacon, just like the word apostle can be used formally or informally when we're talking about the apostle

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Paul, or we're talking about, you know, the apostle Peter, where Paul identifies himself as an apostle.

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Then you're talking about the formal form of apostle. There are other places where the word apostle is used simply to describe one who is sent, but not describing that person as an apostle holding the office of the apostle of, of an apostle of Jesus Christ.

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So I think that that is the same application of the word deacon here, which is why when it's translated into English, we don't have her described as being a deacon.

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I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Syncriae. Women do great service to the church and they are necessary to the church.

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Paul goes through Romans 16 here, thanking several women for the great service that they have provided to the advancement of the gospel of Christ, caring for the apostles, caring for other missionaries.

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They are instrumental to the work of the church and the church would simply be dysfunctional without the work that women provide.

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However, I'm going to argue here that this instruction that we have in first Timothy three related to the office of deacon is limited strictly to men.

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Why is it that I provide that argument? Well, once again, coming back to verse 11, it says their wives likewise must be dignified.

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Yes, that can be translated as literally women must be dignified if they are to be qualified for the office of deacon.

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But if that's the argument you're going to make, then you are ignoring verse 12 where it says, let deacons each be the husband of one wife.

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Just as we had that instruction for the overseer. So it also applies to the deacon.

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Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

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For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

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So while a woman absolutely can be a servant to the church and should serve the church in a variety and in a multitude of ways, even in ways that men cannot be of service in the church, read

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Titus chapter two. For an example of that, I don't believe that a woman is meant to hold the office of deacon.

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Now, unlike the position of elder, however, if a church does have women appointed in the role of deacon,

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I don't think that's the same kind of disregard for an instruction in the scriptures as a church that would appoint a woman to the position of pastor.

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That's a clear violation of scripture. Whereas if you have a church that has women as deacons,

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I mean, there there are going to be women who are going to serve anyway. I don't think they should hold the formal office of deacon, but they're going to be servants and we do even have that instruction right here related to deacons that the women are going to serve.

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The wives of deacons will serve alongside their husbands. That's why it says their wives likewise must be dignified.

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Why did we not have anything mentioned about the wives in the qualifications for overseers? It just says that he's supposed to be the husband of one wife, but it didn't say anything about his wife's qualifications.

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Well, that's because the overseer's job is to teach and his wife cannot assist him in that because she is not supposed to have any teaching authority over the flock of God.

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Remember what we read in chapter two, verses 11 and 12, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

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I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

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Rather, she is to remain quiet. And then Paul gives his reasoning for that in the verses that follow.

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So an overseer's wife is not going to assist or help in the teaching that is done in the overseeing of the church, nor is she expected to have an ability to teach.

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But when it comes to the mercy work of the church, being a servant, serving with hands and feet, a woman is going to do that regardless of whether or not she holds the office of deacon.

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There are women who will serve in that way in the church. So a deacon's wife can be that kind of assistance for the church.

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An overseer's wife can't help with the teaching, but a deacon's wife can help with the hands and feet work and service in in a body of believers.

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Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things.

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The church is going to see her working, providing this mercy effort alongside her husband.

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Therefore, she must also have the same sort of servant's heart that her husband should have.

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Now, I believe whether you're interviewing a person for overseer or you're interviewing a man for the role of deacon, in both instances, their families should be interviewed.

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For the elder, it's for a different reason, though. It's to see that he qualifies based on being a man who manages his own household well.

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Is that displayed in the testimony of his wife and from his children? So the families need to be interviewed before a person serves in that role of elder.

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What do we know about the way that he disciples his wife and his children? Because that's very much going to have to do with how we know he will disciple the members of this church.

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For a deacon, his wife should be interviewed, but for a different reason than the elder's wife would be interviewed.

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Not to see that a deacon disciples his wife in the same way that he's going to disciple the church, but to see that she's also qualified for this role of providing this service to the church.

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So wives of deacons must likewise be dignified and not slanderers, but sober minded.

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They don't gossip. They don't speak evil of others or falsely of others behind one another's back, but they are sober minded.

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Remember what we said about temperance, about sober mindedness as it applied to elders in verse two, somebody who's not given over to crazy thoughts and wild ideas or the way it's translated in the new

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American standard in second Timothy, uh, old wives tales that would certainly apply as, uh, as it pertains to the wife of a deacon.

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So she is sober minded in her thinking, not crazy in her thoughts and ideas and making up stories and gossiping and speaking behind one another's backs.

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But she is faithful in all things. She is true to the mystery of the faith.

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The gospel of Jesus Christ and the work and service to the church of God.

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Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, a one woman, man, just as we talked about with the elders managing their children in their own households well.

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So just as it would apply to the elders, if you have a deacon that has unruly kids, kids that aren't believers, teenagers that grow up and are breaking the law and some of those kinds of things, he's going to end up being disqualified for representing the church in that particular role of service because he's not caring for tending for his own household first.

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Then he likewise cannot show that kind of compassion and attentiveness for the house of God if he's not caring for his own house.

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For those who serve well as deacons, verse 13 gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

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Remember what we read at the very start of chapter three, very first verse. The saying is trustworthy.

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If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. We begin the qualifications for an overseer that way.

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We conclude the qualifications for deacons the same way. Those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

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What does that mean that a deacon as a servant is going to gain great confidence in the faith?

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Well, the more you work for the purpose of of the faith, the ministry of the church, the more focused you're going to be on the work of God and not as easily susceptible to paying attention to the temptations of your own flesh.

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The more you are around people, the more that you are ministering with other Christians, the less likely you're going to be to be tempted by any of the things of this world.

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That makes your love for God, for Christ and the work that he has done, the labor that we are to do for one another, putting others needs ahead of our own.

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These things are going to build our confidence in our hearts and in our minds for the faith that we believe in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord, who came not to be served, but to serve and lay his life down as a ransom for many.

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So we should do for one another not to be served. We don't go to church to be served, but to serve one another and likewise lay our lives down for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in the

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Lord. So these are the two offices of the church, the elder and the deacon.

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And I think with both of those offices, there should be a plurality. We don't seem to argue that related to deacons, but I don't know, for whatever reason, in most

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Southern Baptists and Baptist churches, it's that it's that pastor deacon model pastor, a single pastor and then a deacon board or there might be an associate pastor.

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But even then, the associate pastor doesn't have the same kind of authority that the senior pastor does. So you can really call that a plurality of elders.

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I don't think that eldership, that the overseeing of the church is something that is meant to be left to one man, that it's something that is done alone.

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And it's an authority that cannot be questioned or cannot be challenged or has no equal accountability.

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The eldership is supposed to be a plurality of elders. And as we had reviewed from chapter two, it's an office that is supposed to be held by a man.

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Now, even though I present the argument that the office of deacon should likewise be filled by a man, that doesn't mean

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I think that a church that has women as deacons is equally as disobedient as a church that has a woman as a pastor.

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Not the same thing, because the instruction that we have it explicitly stated in chapter two says,

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I do not permit a woman to teach. Doesn't say I don't permit a woman to serve. In fact, the women should serve.

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And in the qualifications for deacons, it says that a deacon's wife will aid him in that service to the church.

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So I think this is simply a matter of difference of convictions. I do think that a church that has women deacons is misunderstanding what is being said here.

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The instructions that are being given in chapter three and is probably also misinterpreted Roman 16 and some other places.

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But that doesn't mean that I think that they're equally as disobedient as a church that that is appointed a woman as a pastor.

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But anyway, so that's that's it. That's our list of qualifications for elders and deacons. We went through the deacon list a lot faster than we went through the one for elders.

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But let us all look up to those who have taught us and led us in the faith and imitate their example and let us all likewise hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience and let us pray.

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Our Lord God, we thank you for your word. What a wonder it is to come to this and be taught by you over and over again.

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Every time we come to the scriptures, living and breathing and active is the word of God and the

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Holy Spirit helping us to discern spiritual things. So let us be submissive to the authority of this word and obey it in everything that we do, especially in church governance, the way that the church is supposed to be structured, but also the way that we apply this to our lives as we go from here into the world, exercising the instructions we've been given in the scripture, growing in maturity and godliness and in holiness, continue to counsel us in our minds and in our hearts by your spirit as we go.

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And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.