Deaconesses??
Mainly Two Passages
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Romans 16:1-2 (ESV)—I commend to you
our sister Phoebe, a servant of the
church at Cenchreae, that you may
welcome her in the 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.
1 Tim. 3:11 (RSV)—The women likewise
must be serious, no slanderers, but
temperate, faithful in all things.
Phoebe: servant or deaconess?
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The Greek word diakonos has the same form in
masculine and feminine.
All Christians are to be servants.
The reason that some think Phoebe was a
deacon/deaconess is that she is called “a servant
of the church at Cenchreae.”
“Servant” is found in KJV, ASV, NASV, ESV, NIV
text, HCSB, NKJV
“Deaconess” is found in RSV, NIV footnote, New
Jerusalem Bible
“Deacon” is found in NRSV, NLT, God’s Word
“Leader” in CEV
“Minister” in NAB, NRSV footnote
Deacons’ wives
or Women Deacons?
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1 Tim. 3:11 gives qualifications, but for
whom? Deacons’ wives or women deacons?
“Their wives” is found in KJV, NKJV, ESV text,
NIV text, LB, NLB text, God’s Word, NRSV
footnote (‘there’ is not in the Greek text)
“Women” is found in ASV, NASV, RSV, ESV
footnote, NRSV text, HCSB, NJB
“Deaconesses” is found in NIV footnote
“Women Deacons” is found in NRSV footnote,
NLB footnote
Deacons’ wives
or Women Deacons?
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Evidence favoring “wives”:
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The word “deacon” is not used in the verse.
The Greek word gune can mean “wife” as well
as “woman.”
Evidence favoring “women deacons”:
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No qualifications are given for elders’ wives.
The verse starts with “Likewise” just like verse
8 which introduces deacons.
Second Century Deaconesses
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Letter from Pliny, governor of Bithynia, to
Trajan, the Roman emperor (AD 111-113):
“Accordingly, I judged it all the more
necessary to find out what the truth was
by torturing two female slaves who were
called deaconesses. But I discovered
nothing else but depraved, excessive
superstition.”
The Restoration Movement
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Those favoring deaconesses include
most restoration leaders in the early
1800’s.
Those opposing deaconesses include
J. W. McGarvey and the people who
followed him.
Ministry Leaders
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There is a new fad, to appoint “ministry
leaders” either in place of or in addition to
deacons.
 This way they do not have to meet the
scriptural qualifications.
 Women can be appointed as such,
especially for leading women’s ministries
or heading up the décor committee.
However, the title sounds a lot like
deacons (ministers, servants) except it
adds “leaders.”
Women as Servants
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All Christians, women included, are to be
servants.
There are some jobs men can and should not do.
Women currently serve in women’s ministries and
often as church secretaries.
Like the seven in Acts 6, they are appointed to
these tasks to make sure that someone is
responsible to do the job.
If deacons are seen as junior elders, it would not
be proper to appoint women as deacons.
Resource for More Study
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Steve Sandifer’s Deacons: Male and
Female