Deacons — Anton Bosch

Acts chapter 6,. Acts chapter 6, and I want to speak with you this evening about deacons. We spoke about elders in the last two sessions, and this evening we speak about deacons. Now when we read from Acts chapter 6, these men are not expressly called deacons here in this passage or anywhere else, but we deduce and theologians are divided as to whether they were deacons or were not deacons.

I believe that they were deacons, that they were the first seven deacons that were appointed, and I have various reasons for that, and if you want to know the technical reasons then you can read it in the paper.

And so I do believe that these men were the first deacons, and they are, this is an important passage because it gives us a lot of information about the operation of deacons which we don't have elsewhere.

Acts chapter 6 verse 1, now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, or the Greeks, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Chapter 6 verse 3, therefore brethren seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Brachorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed they laid hands on them.

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Now if we keep your finger there, because we'll come back there, let's go to the book of Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy chapter 3, and 1 Timothy 3 contains the qualifications for elders or overseers as we looked at last week, but it also contains the qualifications for deacons. 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 8.

Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given too much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But let these first be tested, then let them serve as deacons being found blameless.

Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husband of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who serve well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

And so here we have the word deacon, the word deacon in the Greek is translated or transliterated from the Greek diakonos, so it's just been anglicized so that we have the word deacon. It appears many times in the New Testament, but the word literally means a servant, somebody who serves at tables.

It is particularly in classical Greek connected to those who serve tables like a waitress or a waiter, but it is generally used of a servant. Now in the New Testament there are times, most of the time when this word appears in the New Testament, it is used in the general sense of a servant and it is translated into the English by the word servant.

But there are a few times when the word is translated, when the word refers not to general, because we're all servants of the Lord, we all should be servants of one another. But there are those who are specifically called to the missionary, to the mission or the purpose or the ministry of the deacon, the office of a deacon.

I don't like that word office, but it does describe, so it's a job, a ministry within the church of deacon. And the word is sometimes, when it refers to those people who hold that position, the word is translated deacon in the English New Testament.

So you have the same Greek word and only the context will tell you whether he is referring to servants in general or deacons in particular, same word. And there is one particular incident which we'll come back to in Romans chapter 16, where the word is translated servant, when in fact it probably should be translated deacon.

So it's a very difficult word to deal with from that point of view. It's an easy word to understand. It literally means a servant, but there are times when it means a servant in general. There are times when it means a deacon in the sense of somebody who has the job of a deacon in the local church.

Now here clearly he is referring to somebody who has this particular function here in 1 Timothy chapter 3, because he speaks about a bishop or an elder and then he says the deacons. Now obviously he's not meaning everybody.

Everybody is a servant, but he's obviously not speaking here of a special group of people who have the specific ministry of a deacon. And if we go to the book of Philippians and we'll come back to Timothy, but in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 1, Paul and Timothy bond servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons, the elders and the deacons.

So he's addressing the church with the elders and the deacons. So you can see that they are a clearly defined group of men or people who are those who are the elders and those who are the deacons. And they obviously have a ministry and so they are addressed as the leaders of the church.

Now what then is the function of a deacon? Because again we have a problem with the language because in some churches deacons fulfill the responsibility of elders, what the scripture would refer to as elders.

I think many Baptist churches are run by deacons or the deaconate or the deacons board and they really are fulfilling the responsibility of elders that the Bible describes as elders. And so we have a problem with the language again, the way that we use that that word in English.

Now the name or the title tells us what these people are. They are servants but they are servants in a specific way, not in the sense that we are all servants, we should all be serving one another, we should all be helping one another, we should all be helping the church, we should all be helping those who are in leadership in the church.

But some are called specifically to this ministry of helping. Now when you go to Timothy and 1 Timothy chapter 3 again and we're going to go back and forth between these scriptures in Timothy and in Ephesians essentially, sorry in Acts, Acts 6 and 1 Timothy chapter 3.

When you look at the list of the qualifications here and I'm not dealing with qualifications but I want to highlight something and that is that you'll see that one of the things that an elder must be able to do is in verse 2 they must be able to teach, able to teach.

But when you come to the list of the qualifications of the deacons which is almost the identical list to that of the elders but it does not include the ability to teach. So what you're looking at are two men who are the same in terms of their qualifications, in terms of their fact that they are blameless, that they are not double-tongued, that they are not greedy for money, all of these things.

The qualifications are almost identical for the two. The difference is that one is able to teach and the other one is not required to be able to teach. That does not mean that deacons are not involved in spiritual ministry at all.

When you look at Acts chapter 6 you'll find that the two first two men that are named were Stephen and Philip. Stephen was a preacher and he was the first martyr and he died because of the message which he preached.

He was a very able preacher. Philip was an evangelist. He is named Philip the Evangelist. And so at least two of those seven men had a preaching ministry. Whether that ministry came a little bit later than they became deacons or whether it ran at the same time that we're not sure and doesn't really matter.

But the fact is that deacons are and may be and can be involved in spiritual ministry but it is not their prime focus. Go back to Acts chapter 6 because in this we get really the summary of what it's about.

And the issue was between the Greek and the Hebrew widows. And obviously they had a feeding scheme and they were feeding them and there was a dispute because the Greek women were saying that we don't get a fair share.

And so the 12 in verse 2 that obviously the apostles summoned the multitude of the disciples and said it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Now there is nothing wrong with serving tables.

And I don't want anyone to go from here this evening with this impression that a deacon's ministry is inferior to an elder's ministry. As we've said before no ministry is inferior to any other ministry.

No ministry is superior or more important than any other ministry. All ministries are important. All ministries are necessary. But at the same time there are not that many who are called and gifted to teach and to preach the word.

Every one of us if we apply ourselves can be a good deacon. I'm sure of that. But not everyone can be a preacher. I'm sure of that also. And so the emphasis here is that if God has called certain brothers to teach or preach the word it is not right that they neglect the teaching or the preaching of the word and prayer.

Those two things go together. The word of God to serve tables. And you'll see further down it says but we verse 4 will give ourselves we'll appoint them over this business verse 3 verse 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

So the function of deacons then in this context is to relieve the preachers of the day-to-day affairs in this particular case of feeding the women of running the benevolent scheme of the church so that the preachers can get on with their business of praying and preaching.

That is the essential function of a deacon. It is there to help those who are preaching so that they don't have to neglect their preaching and their praying in order to do administrative things day-to-day tasks.

That is the situation where we're at in this church. Preaching is a minor add-on to my ministry in this church. I spend all my time running administration, fixing things, doing day-to-day tasks. I have not enough time to pray.

I do not have enough time to study the word. Most of the time I get into the pulpit and I say this quite bluntly with less than one hour's preparation. It's all I have. It's not right but that's the way it is.

That was the problem these guys had. That is the problem many churches have. And so the function of the deacons is to relieve those who should be spending their time focused on the word and on prayer of the responsibilities and the burden of doing things that everybody else can do.

But as we said not everybody else can preach. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 we have another insight into this ministry and this verse is not very clear simply because it doesn't refer directly to deacons and elders.

But it does contain a list of ministries. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 28. And God has appointed these in the church. 1 Corinthians 12 28. God has appointed these in the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers.

After that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings?

Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts and yet I show you a more excellent way. Now you'll see that he is giving you a list of ministries. Apostles, prophets, and teachers.

Now if you go to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11, you remember there's a list of ministries. Five ministries. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. So three of that list of five is in here.

Apostles, prophets, and teachers. What is not mentioned here is pastors or elders and evangelists. Then he says after that miracles, gifts of healings. Now what are these? These are spiritual gifts from in fact this chapter.

Nine spiritual gifts. Tongues, interpretation, prophecy, and so on. And so he lists two of those gifts. Then he speaks about helps and administrations or helps and governments and then varieties of tongues.

What is varieties of tongues? One of the nine in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So you can see that he is he is speaking about these prominent ministries. Now in between and gifts that they're operating in the church.

Now in between are these two ministries that are not mentioned elsewhere. Helps and governments or administrations. Now you can see from the list that governments, who is the government, and obviously we use that word carefully, of the church?

The elders. It's the elders. So he's using this as another word for the elders, the overseers. And so by deduction, and that is all it is because as I said it's not explicitly stated here, the helps refer to the deacons.

Because that's what the deacons did in Ephesians 6. They helped. They helped the apostles to do the work in order that the apostles could get on with the work that God had called them to do. Now that is a very important little aspect or truth that helps us to understand this ministry.

It is helps. It helps. Because people say but you know there is no list of ministries or help a list of things that deacons do in the New Testament. Remember last week we looked at elders and we we have endless lists of jobs that the elders do.

From Psalm 23, from Ezekiel chapter 34, the things that the elders didn't do. From the New Testament we have many many scriptures that tell us exactly what is required, what elders are supposed to do.

Their job description. But we do not have the same job description for deacons. And I think there's a reason for that. Because the responsibility of elders never changes. The responsibility for elders in the first church is still the same today.

To care, to shepherd, to protect all of those things are still the same today. But what deacons did in the first century and what deacons do today is very different in terms of the actual jobs that they do.

Here they ran a feeding scheme. We don't know that they ran a similar scheme in any of the other churches. Today deacons would do other things like bookkeeping or high-tech work like run the sound system, run the web sites.

Some churches have very big and complex websites. The technological side of the church. The care of the building. They didn't have buildings in those days. So the details that you do today is different to the details that they did then.

The details we would do in this church, that deacons would do in this church, is very different to the details that the deacons in a church in Central Africa would do. Because there they would not have technology, they would not have bookkeeping, they would not have telephones, they would not have a sound system in a building.

But they would have other needs. And that's why the scripture doesn't give us the details, but it gives us this word helps. And anything that helps the church falls under the responsibility in the category of deacons.

Now let me make this clear again. That all of us help. Some count the money. Some run the sound system. Some do this, some do that. It doesn't mean that everybody that helps is a deacon automatically.

The same way as we all preach the gospel. We should all be preaching the gospel. But we are not all evangelists. Some are specifically called to the function of evangelists. We should all be able to teach, whether we're teaching our children or whether we're teaching publicly, but we're not all teachers.

We should all be shepherds. We should be shepherding our families. We should be shepherding the people around us and pastoring those people around us. All of us should be pastoring. But not all of us are elders in the official sense of the word.

And so we should all be helping. But some people have a specific ministry. That is what they do. That is their life. Their calling is to be a deacon, to serve the church. And that is a very, very important function.

Because if we go back to Acts, if the apostles were bogged down with the administration, who knows what would have happened to the word? Maybe the message would never have got out. If they had to end up running that local church and doing all the stuff that's involved in running the local church.

And so God gives them helps to help them deal with that. Now, does every church have deacons? Remember, we saw very clearly that every church has elders. There are a number of scriptures that teach us that every church has elders, must have elders.

But we don't have the same instruction concerning deacons. Not every church has deacons. The church in the beginning, the church in Acts, did not have deacons. But let's go back to Acts chapter 6. It tells us when they appointed these men.

Verse 1. Now, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose this problem. When the church was small, it didn't need deacons. It needed elders. And we know that the apostles in this case were functioning as elders.

But when the church began to grow, the need for helps began to grow also. So if you have a small church in a home that doesn't have a building, or in a hired hall like our church in South Africa, we did not have deacons because we had no paperwork.

We had no technology to run. We ran tapes and that was it. We had no need for that sort of ministry. But if that church was to grow and now had greater responsibilities, and a greater budget, and a building, and all sorts of other things, the need and the requirement for deacons would come into play.

And obviously at that time God would then raise up the men that are necessary, or the people that are necessary to do that particular work. So not every church needs or does have deacons. I think many times churches feel themselves under pressure and they say, well, you know, we're not a biblical New Testament church because we have elders and we don't have deacons.

No, not all churches need to have deacons. It was only when the numbers multiplied and when the need arose, the numbers had been multiplying, but there was no problem, there was no issue. But suddenly an issue came up, a situation arose, a need came that needed to be met, and that was when they appointed the deacons.

And you'll see that these deacons here, these men here, were appointed for this specific task. They didn't give the responsibility of running all the mundane affairs of the church. It was for a specific function.

And so deacons from this, we would conclude that deacons would have very specific functions, very specific areas of responsibility within the operation of the church. All right, now the qualifications.

We need to go back to that list in 1 Corinthians, sorry, in 1 Timothy chapter 3. And you'll see, as we've said, that the requirements here are as stringent as for as for elders. Verse 8, likewise deacons, the word likewise in the same way as elders, have this high standard, in the same way deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given too much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

Let them first be tested or proven, the same issue that we had with elders, don't, they should, we should not lay hands on anyone suddenly. As far as elders were concerned, they were not to be novices, so they need to be tested first.

Then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless, because they are operating as representatives of the church, and they need to be found as blameless. Again, that high standard. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, sorry, where are we?

Verse 11, likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in all things. I'm saying that deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well, so they have leadership abilities and they know how to run their homes.

Then in verse 13 he says, for those who have served well as deacons obtained for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus. So he's saying that those who function as deacons well, obtained for themselves a good standing.

Now some people mean, interpret that to mean that they can be promoted to becoming elders. I don't believe that there is a natural progression necessarily from deacons to elders. Yes, deacons can become elders, deacons can become something else as they grow and develop in their ministries, but this is not, we don't, the scripture doesn't promote this idea of you start off as a deacon and then you work your way to an elder and then you work your way to a teacher, you know, and then to an apostle.

That's the world's way of doing things. Some may begin as deacons and they will die as deacons and they have been faithful in that and if they've been faithful, he says, they will have obtained for themselves a good standing.

In other words, they are worthy of respect. Now we're going to go back to Romans 16 in a minute, but you'll see there a person who has such good standing, so that Paul says, help this person with any business because they are of a good standing.

So it's an honorable job. In some churches there is a stigma to the deacons. It's the guys who do all the lousy jobs, fix the toilets and that sort of stuff. There is no stigma to this ministry. It is an important ministry and as we've said, out of these first seven men came two of the most important figures of the New Testament, of the early New Testament church, the first martyr and Philip the evangelist who brought about a great revival, was used by God in a mighty way in Samaria and in other parts of the world.

So the qualifications are strict. If we go back to to Acts chapter 6, you'll find that although the list is different, the standard is still equally high. Verse 3, Acts 6 verse 3. Therefore brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom that we may appoint over this business.

These are not carnal guys who happen to have a skill at running the accounts. These are men who are full of the Holy Spirit, who have a good reputation and have wisdom. So this is not a cast off job. This is a serious job and it's a spiritual job.

We don't want to draw the line between elders and deacons. It is very difficult to understand where the one begins and the other ends. Clearly deacons do not just handle material things. Otherwise, why do they need to be full of wisdom?

And well, they probably need wisdom to deal with the money, but it goes deeper than that. Why do they need to be full of the Holy Spirit? To deal with the accounts or to run the website or whatever. Why do you need to be full of the Holy Spirit to do that?

No, clearly these men had a spiritual dimension to their ministry also. As we saw, two of them were preachers. I have no doubt that in their dealing with the Hebrews and with the widows, they were dealing with spiritual issues all the time.

Because what was the heart of the problem? It wasn't that some were getting more than others. The heart of the problem was a spiritual problem. Because we're Spanish, the English guys don't look after us or the other way around.

The heart of the problem was not an administrative problem. It was a spiritual problem. It had an administrative component, but it was a spiritual problem. There was no doubt that they would go around and they would feed and serve at the tables and whatever.

Sister Maria would come up and say, I have this problem. My boy is rebellious and he doesn't want to listen to me. His father is dead. What do I do? They would help. They would take the burden. Remember the principle that God or Jethro gave to Moses.

Don't you decide on every matter. But let's put men over hundreds and fifties and so on. And if they can't sort it out, then let them come to you. And I'm reasonably sure, although the scripture doesn't tell us expressly, but I'm reasonably sure that that's the way it happened here in the situation.

They would deal with the situations as they fed the women, as they handed out the food and the money and clothing, whatever they did. They would deal with the issues as best as they could. When an issue came up that was really a problem they couldn't deal with, they would refer it to the apostles.

That's the way I understand it. Remember that we have a church here of 8 ,000 people. There was no way those 12 apostles could have contact with everybody. And so there is no doubt in my mind that there is a very important spiritual dimension to the ministry of the deacons.

So there's an overlap. There's an area where their ministry overlaps. But on the one extreme of the elders' ministry is the responsibility for oversight and for teaching. And on the other extreme of the deacons' ministry is responsibility for the administration.

And in the middle, the two overlap in the area of the day-to-day visitation and spiritual care of the folk in the church. And so that's why there is a very high standard required of these people. It gives, again, no technical skills.

It doesn't say that he must have a degree in accounting. But in fact, his qualifications are spiritual. Those are more important than his material or his technical qualifications. Again, these men, hands were laid on them.

We assume that that would be the pattern, that hands would be laid on them in the other cases also. But there is a difference, and we've highlighted this difference, as to how these men are selected. And you remember that elders are appointed by the apostles.

They are not elected, but they are appointed because they represent God in the local church. So God appoints them through the apostolic ministry. Here, these seven are elected by the people because, remember, that their responsibility is to represent the people.

They are dealing with the people's issues, not so much God's issues. Again, there's an overlap between both of those ministries. And so the principle that is established here is, it says in verse three, And they give the qualifications.

Then verse five, the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose, the multitude chose these men. And then verse six, whom they said before the apostles, And when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.

So the appointment comes by the hands of the apostles. The selection comes by the people. And I believe that this is the first time these men are appointed, and I believe that that is a pattern that is now established, and that it doesn't tell us any further about that because I believe that the principle had been established.

And so there's a big difference between those two. Now let me just touch on this issue. This does not allow for electioneering and politicking. And if we ever came to a place or a time that we would need to appoint deacons, and I'm not sure how we develop as far as this is concerned right now, but if we ever came to that place, if anybody, if I found, if I was in a church and anyone was found to be electioneering, he would be disqualified immediately, because this is not a political seeking for favors to get into some kind of political office.

The fact that a man displays that kind of thing disqualifies him. The appointment is not a year-to-year thing. Some churches, elders or deacons are re-elected every year, every three years, every five years, or whatever it is.

The scripture gives us no indication. All of these ministries are for life. An elder is for life. A deacon is for life until God moves him on to some other ministry or to heaven. But it's not a kind of thing that changes every now and then.

All right, let's go to Romans chapter 16. I see I only have nine minutes left, and I need to give some time to these two. And we're going to get a little bit technical here, and I'm not going to get too technical.

You can get the details from the paper, but I do need to get a little bit technical, because it's important to establish this point. Romans chapter 16, verse 1. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Sancria, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of.

For indeed she has been a helper of many, and of myself also. Now, this woman is listed as a servant of the church in Sancria. And you remember that I said that there was this problem because we have one Greek word describing two different things.

The Greek word diakonos, servant, which sometimes refers to those who are servants, the way it is translated here, and sometimes translated as those who hold the office of a deacon. Now, was this woman, and I know that there are some translations that actually translate this verse, I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a deacon of the church in Sancria.

I believe that is the way it should have been translated. The reasons why I believe that is because, first of all, he says, I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church. Not a servant in the church.

We're all servants in the church, but there are only some who are deacons of the church. You see the difference? So the fact that he says that she is a servant, not in, but of. She's a deacon of the church.

To me, and to many other commentators, it defines that as meaning that she held this office of a deaconess, or a deacon, in the church. Verse two, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints.

Remember we spoke about they receive, or they, those who serve faithfully, receive for themselves a good report. And here you'll see somebody with a good report. Receive her in a manner worthy of the saints.

In other words, treat her with respect, and assist her in whatever business she has need of. What is she doing here? She's acting in an official capacity. She has, she has come to Rome to deal with church business.

That's very clear from that passage, from those words. And he says, you guys help her in her business. I don't believe that if she had come to sell jewelry, that Paul would have said, help her in her business.

She was on official church business, which seems to indicate to me that she had a official capacity, or role, in the church. Assist her in whatever business she has need of, for indeed she has been a helper, see that word, of me, and of many.

So this woman was officially recognized as a helper, as a deacon in the church. Go with me to, and as I said we, I deal with this in much more detail in the paper, so if you're struggling with that concept, you're welcome to ask for a copy of that Ephesians chapter, sorry, 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3.

And this one gets a little bit more difficult. In 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 7, stay with me now, we only have five minutes left, and I'm going to get a little bit more complex. Verses 1 to 7, he deals with the office of a bishop.

Verse 8, he says, likewise, deacons must be reverent, and he deals with that ministry. Then verse 11, you have the next word, the place where you find that word, likewise. Here is a list of ministries that he is dealing with.

The problem here is in the translation. If you look at your English version, you'll see, or even in the Spanish probably, you'll see likewise there is in italics. You see that? It's slanted. There is, in other words, it's not in the original.

The original reads like this, likewise, wives, reverent. Those are the only words that are there in the Greek. Likewise, wives must be reverent. He's not speaking about their wives. The translator inserted the word, their wives.

Now we have the next problem. That word, wives, in the Greek, the word gwene, is normally can be translated as a wife or as a woman. All right? Now, the bottom line, let me just cut to the chase, because I'm going to lose you on this.

The bottom line is that the way I understand this verse and many, many other commentators and translators, the verse should read the women deacons, the women who serve as deacons. Let me read for you from Wust, and he is a very well respected teacher.

He says, the word used in reference to the marriage relation means a wife. Here, it should be translated woman. In this verse, it should be translated woman. It does not necessarily refer to the wives or the deacons, and for the following reasons.

First, the words, even so, or likewise, are the translation of hosotos, which is used in introducing a second or a third in a series. So, he's saying bishops number one, deacons number two, women deacons number three.

That's the way that word is being used. The series here is of church officials. Second, there is no possessive pronoun in the Greek, which would be needed if the women were the wives of the deacons. So, it's not saying the wives or the deacons, it's saying woman.

Clearly, he's not referring to women in general, because he's dealing here with church officials. Third, the four qualifications which follow correspond with appropriate variations to the first four required for deacons as regards demeanor, government of the tongue, use of wine, and trustworthiness.

So, it's the same requirements for deacons and for elders and for women deacons. And fourth, this is a section dealing wholly with church officials. Deacons' wives have got nothing to do with this. The only place where deacons' wives come into the issue is whether he is running his home well.

That's the only issue. If a deacon's wife is a drunkard and the brother has applied himself well, he is not disqualified from deacons, from deaconship. This is not the intent of this passage. So, clearly, what he is saying here is he is speaking about women as deacons.

And so, fourth, the section is dealing wholly with church officials. The reference here is to women who hold the office of deaconess as Phoebe, and that's what was said. So, after all of that, bottom line is, and I know that there are some people who see this differently, but I've looked at this very, very carefully, and I'm convinced that there are male deacons and female deacons.

And it is not a problem because, remember, the things that a woman is barred from, according to Paul to Timothy, is teaching and usurping authority over men. Now, a deacon does not have to teach, particularly not has to teach men, and a deacon does not have to wield authority over men.

They are helping. What does a wife do in the home? How was Eve made? To be a helpmate, a helper. Now, I want to get in the whole marriage thing again, but you see the point. There is no problem, scripturally, as I understand it, for a sister to be a deacon in the local church.