Deaconesses??

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Deaconesses??
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Mainly Two Passages

• Romans 161-2 (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. 311 (RSV)The women likewise must be
  serious, no slanderers, but temperate, faithful
  in all things.

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Phoebe servant or deaconess?

• 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, Gods Word
• Leader in CEV
• Minister in NAB, NRSV footnote

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Deacons wives or Women Deacons?

• 1 Tim. 311 gives qualifications, but for whom?
  Deacons wives or women deacons?
• Their wives is found in KJV, NKJV, ESV text,
  NIV text, LB, NLB text, Gods 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

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Deacons wives or Women Deacons?

• Evidence favoring wives
• The word deacon is not used in the verse.
• The Greek word gune can mean wife as well as
  woman.
• Evidence favoring women deacons
• No qualifications are given for elders wives.
• The verse starts with Likewise just like verse
  8 which introduces deacons.

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Second Century Deaconesses

• 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.

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The Restoration Movement

• Those favoring deaconesses include most
  restoration leaders in the early 1800s.
• Those opposing deaconesses include J. W. McGarvey
  and the people who followed him.

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Ministry Leaders

• 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 womens ministries or heading up the
  décor committee.
• However, the title sounds a lot like deacons
  (ministers, servants) except it adds leaders.

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Women as Servants

• All Christians, women included, are to be
  servants.
• There are some jobs men can and should not do.
• Women currently serve in womens 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.

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Resource for More Study

• Steve Sandifers Deacons Male and Female