Women Serving the Church as Deacons: What Could Qualifications for the Position of Elder and Deacon Say about the Two Offices?

The next few posts I will be breaking up my one huge post that considered if women ought to serve the church as ordained Deacons into seven smaller posts.

----------------

The one passage we need to consider is 1 Timothy 3:1 - 13 because this passage explains the qualifications for both Overseers and Deacons. The passage can further be divided into two lists; verses 1 - 7, and 8 - 13. Paul produced another parallel list for the office of Overseers, but Paul calls the office Elder, in his letter to Titus that is in Titus 1:5 - 16. Paul is giving these lists of qualifications to the second generation of leaders in the church after Christ's first coming. An important side point is that Paul is addressing us in these verses, he is passing on the instructions about how the church ought to function in the inter-advent age between Christ's two comings. In verse 1 and verse 8 we should notice how Paul introduces each list. Verse 1 says:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Verse 8 says:

 Deacons likewise ...

There are similarities between the qualifications for both offices, but there are also some differences. Paul lists 15 qualifications, and reasons for some of those qualifications, for anyone who desires the office of Overseer. Paul lists 11 qualifications for those desiring to be Deacons.

Here are the 15 qualifications for Overseers:

1. Must be above reproach (v. 2).
2. The husband of one wife (v. 2).
3. Sober-minded (v. 2).
4. Self-controlled (v. 2).
5. Respectable (v. 2).
6. Hospitable (v. 2).
7. Able to teach (v. 2).
8. Not a drunkard (v. 3).
9. Not violent but gentle (v. 3).
10. Not quarrelsome (v. 3).
11. Not a lover of money (v. 3).
12. He must manage his own household well (v. 4).
13. With all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church (vv. 4 - 5)?
14. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil (v. 6).
15. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil (v. 7).

Here are the 11 qualifications for Deacons:

1. Must be dignified (v. 8).
2. Not double-tongued (v. 8).
3. Not addicted to much wine (v. 8).
4. Not greedy for dishonest gain (v. 8).
5. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience (v. 9).
6. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless (v. 10).
7. Their wives likewise must be dignified (v. 11).
8. Not slanderers (v. 11).
9. But sober-minded (v. 11).
10. Faithful in all things (v. 11).
11. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 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. (vv. 12 - 13).

I do want to consider two points of difference between these lists. First, let us consider verse 11. Verse 11 lists four qualifications; however, unlike the list for Elders, this list is directed to the wives of deacons. The translation of verse 11 as directed towards wives, as opposed to women, is an instance of the translation committee choosing to add their interpretation to Paul's word beyond the interpretation that is required when translating a text into another language. The word, gunaikas, may mean either "women" or "wives".

Dr. Strimple's minority report makes it clear that the majority of the OPC committee wanted to consider the translation choice to be "an exegetical stand-off" but Dr. Strimple makes an argument that this conclusion is reached too quickly and shows why Paul's use of language must mean that verse 11 is directed to women without reference to their marital status. One of Dr. Strimple's arguments is that, while English translations either use an article ("the") or a possessive pronoun ("their"), the use of either an article or pronoun is not justified by the Greek text of 1 Timothy 3:11 in any known manuscripts.

Why are women even being considered by Paul in verse 11, with reference to Deacons, but Paul does not consider traits of a Elder's wife? Many of the qualifications directed towards women in verse 11 are repeated earlier with respect towards the qualifications for Elder, but they are not directed towards a specific gender. I know that Elder's wives share, in as much, of the ministry as Deacon's wives merely on the level of providing support and encouragement behind closed doors.

Therefore, I agree with Dr. Strimple when he says in the New Horizons article,

The [majority] Committee suggests that the wives of the deacons had a part in the work of their husbands in a way in which the wives of the overseers did not.... [This] concedes the crucial point which I believe must be emphasized concerning the important difference between the office of overseer and the office of deacon, and how the difference makes it appropriate that the office of deacon (but not the office of elder) be open to qualified women as well as to qualified men!

While I do agree with Dr. Strimple's interpretation of 1 Tim. 8 - 12 as referring to men and women Deacons, I do disagree with Dr. Strimple's particular outline of Paul's thought. Dr. Strimple says that the structure of the passage can be broken up into three categories of Deacons:

1. The teaching in verses 8 - 10 is directed towards both male and female Deacons.
2. Verse 11 is particular to female Deacons.
3. Verse 12 is particular to male Deacons.

My own outline of verses 11 - 12 is that both these verses are using the analogy of how family life in a home ought to look for the purpose of teaching both candidates and voters in a congregation what a Deacon should look like based on what situation God has placed them in at a current point in a candidate's life. The advantage that my interpretation has is, against Dr. Strimple's outline, is that my outline allows single people to still apply Paul's teaching to their situation in their lives — if they are running for a church office, and it does not limit the teaching in verse 11 to only females and verse 12 for male candidates for office. See the Report of the Committee to Respond to Communication #01 - 3 in RPCNA Synod minutes 2002 for more information.

The second point of difference between both lists is verse 2; particularly that Elders must be able to teach. Paul's instruction in 1 Tim. 3:2 comes after Paul's teaching in 1 Tim. 2:12 about how are not women to teach men. The context of Paul's letter is important to remember — an older pastor passing on instruction to a younger pastor about qualifications for two church offices in the following years after Paul dies. Paul does not list a qualification for a Deacon as being able to teach.

Paul is not addressing Timothy about home life or general schooling methods. If Paul were addressing general schooling concerns, outside of the church, I must ask the question why Paul commends Timothy for the faith that both Timothy's grandmother and mother had if they did not actually teach their faith to young Timothy (2 Tim. 1:5)? Paul should have berated Timothy's education, or simply remained silent on the issue, if Paul thought, under the inspiration of the Spirit, that women ought never to teach men under any circumstances the Scriptures.

Two additional passages that also show women being involved in teaching outside of the context of public worship - Titus 2:3 - 5, and Acts 18:24 - 26. While the Titus 2 passage ought not be controversial, because almost all men do not object to women teaching other women the Bible, the point is that women should be encouraged to teach, at the very least, other women. Acts 18, however, is where both Priscilla and Aquila instruct Apollos in the way of God more accurately. Apollos's instruction was probably done in private, but involved both a wife and husband.

The office of Deacon does involve teaching, but it does not confer the same teaching responsibilities as the office of Elder. If a Deacon preaches on a Lord's Day without being, at least, under the care of presbytery to teach I would object to the sermon, because Paul teaches that preaching responsibilities only are a part of the office of Elder. It would not matter if the Deacon were male or female. The person is "out of their bounds" because their current office does not include teaching as a qualification and responsibility of the office of Deacon.

I also, therefore, agree with Dr. Strimple when he makes the following observation in his New Horizons article,

The leading cause of this loss [of women deacons] of the N.T. understanding has been "colored by the work of the overseer" in the thinking of the church ... [t]he solution to all such derailed thinking is to seek a more accurate biblical understanding of the deacon. The important difference with regard to the nature of the authority exercised between the elders and the deacons would seem to be underscored in the greeting of Philippians 1:1 by the use of the, not merely different, but contrasting titles: "the overseers" and "the servants."

The RP Testimony in chapter 25 articles 9 and 11 also makes this distinction between the office of Elder and Deacon:

The responsibility of the elders is in teaching and ruling. Although all elders are to be able to teach, the Scripture recognizes a distinction in these functions. All elders are equal in the government of the Church. This office is referred to in Scripture by two terms used synonymously: elder, and bishop or overseer.
1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9; 1 Tim. 5:17; Acts 20:28; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:28; Titus 1:7.

The diaconate is a spiritual office subordinate to the session and is not a teaching or ruling office. The deacons have responsibility for the ministry of mercy, the finances and property of the congregation, and such other tasks as are assigned to them by the session. Other officers mentioned in the New Testament were commissioned uniquely during the apostolic age for the establishment of the Church.
Acts 6:1-7; 1 Tim. 3:8-13.

I may have a disagreement with the Testimony's use of Acts 6:1 - 7 as a proof-text. If the intention of the Testimony is to teach that Acts 6:1 - 7 shows the establishment of the office of the Diaconate then I must disagree with the reference. There is, however, another possibility. Acts 6:1-7 can be understood, in the words of Dr. Strimple, to be "the record of the first official appointment of those who would oversee the distribution of that which was given to help meet the physical needs of the church's poor, which record quite properly guided the church 'analogically' in the later development of the Diaconate." For more on this view read the section of Dr. Strimple's minority report about Acts 6.