The Diaconate, Part 2 (Deaconesses?)

Introduction to the Deaconess Question

0:02 Alright, now as I intimated, brethren, towards the close of the previous segment, I want to take up point seven in our lecture this morning, a postscript on the issue of deaconesses as a distinct office, or as sharers in the diaconate with equal office-bearing identity and function. That's the matter.

Focus of the Discussion: 1 Timothy 3:11 and Phoebe

0:27 All right, first of all, the focus of the discussion. The focus of the discussion is, number one, the women referred to in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 11. In the midst of dealing with the requirement for deacons, beginning in verse 8, you have this construction that harks back to verse 2. The bishop, therefore, must be.

0:53 Then verse 8.

0:58 The particle of necessity supplied must be grave. And then verse 11. Women, in like manner, must be grave. You see the construction?

1:13 That's the structure of the passage. Well, the focus of the discussion, then, is who are these women? And since the Greek word that designates the office is only found in the masculine, some suggest that people would not have understood if Paul said, deacons, referring to women, he would have had to say, women, deacons, in like manner, must be grave. And that would be an awkward and abnormal construction.

1:46 Hurley points this out in his book, Man and Woman in Biblical Perspective, pages 229 to 231. Some say, well, it's the word that's translated in other places, wives. And it refers to the wives of deacons. And some say, well, it refers not just to the wives of deacons, but while he's dealing with deacons' wives, he's dealing with elders' wives also.

2:10 Well, who are these women? Some kind of requirement is made for them and is parallel to the requirements set forth for bishops and for deacons. Deacons in like manner must be. Women in like manner must be.

2:27 So the focus of the discussion... The focus of the discussion comes down upon the women of 1 Timothy 3.11.

2:33 Secondly, the focus has to do with the title given to Phoebe in Romans 16.

2:43 Paul urges the church at Philippi to receive Phoebe, Romans 16, verse 2, receiver in the Lord, worthily of the saints, a sister. How is she described? I commend to you Phoebe. Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant.

3:03 And you'll notice the Old American Standard has as a marginal reading, a deaconess of the church that is in cenchri. And it is the word used to describe one who has the office of a deacon. And you know it comes from that whole family of words, to serve, to be a servant, to be a table waiter. So the focus of the discussion is not only the women of 1 Timothy 3.11,

3:27 but secondly, the title given to Phoebe. The descriptive title in Romans 16.1. And then thirdly, the witness of the church fathers and respected commentators.

The Witness of Church Fathers and Commentators: A Warning

3:41 The witness of the church fathers and respected commentators. Now at this point, I want to give you a warning. When reading secondary sources about what the church fathers said and what the commentators said and meant, you better be very, very careful. For example, there is an article in Reformation Today, number 51, on deaconesses by Herbert Carson.

4:15 Now Herbert Carson is no mean scholar. He did the commentary on Colossians for the New International Commentary. He was still a pedobaptist then, so his treatment of chapter 2 is not what he would desire to have embalmed in printer's ink in terms of his present conviction. But be that as it may, in setting forth a case for deaconesses as a distinct office, as sharing the office of service in the same way that deacons do, he quotes Fairbairn.

4:52 Now if you were just reading this article, you'd get the impression that Fairbairn took that position. Let me quote, first of all, Herbert Carson, and then quote Fairbairn himself. Fairbairn makes some important points. Fairbairn makes some important points in dealing with the verse and comes to the conclusion, that's 3.11,

5:10 that Paul has women deacons rather than deacons' wives in view. Thus the verse is introduced in the same way as verse 8, 1 Timothy 2.9, Titus 2.3-6, with the word likewise.

5:25 In each of the other cases cited, he is turning to a new class. Then again, there's neither article nor possessive pronoun in front of the word women. The authorized verse. The authorized version translates their wives, but by the italics it uses for the pronoun their, it indicates that this word is absent from the original.

5:45 Fairbairn makes the further observation that the qualifications refer more to ministry than to domestic duties. This is reinforced by a comparison of the qualifications with those required of deacons and of elders. So you would get the impression that Fairbairn believed that deaconesses were, a God-appointed office, as deacons are. However, when I took down Fairbairn and read all of his comments on the disputed passages and on the particular significance, this is what I found.

6:21 On page 149 of Fairbairn, he says this. There is a difference of opinion among commentators how this verse should be understood. Verse 11. Whether of women in the sense...

6:37 Of wives, the wives of deacons mentioned immediately before, or of women holding much the same relative position in the church as deacons. Women called to do active service for the community. He does not say there is a distinct office. Notice his language.

7:00 It's very careful. Women holding much the same relative position in the church as deacons. Women called to do active service for the community. Then as he goes on to deal with some of the exegetical concerns, he says on page 150, it still is somewhat strange, however, that the general term women, gunaikas, is employed, not the specific deaconesses, tas diaconus, all right, which would have excluded all uncertainty as to the meaning.

7:39 If he had said, the deacons, and because the word is found only in the masculine, we would know that it was referring then to these women deacons, possibly the matter was so put as intentionally to include women of both classes. At once wives to the deacons who occasionally shared with their husbands in diaconal ministrations, now notice, and women who were themselves charged by the church with such ministrations, it doesn't say with office. Anyhow, it ought to be understood of women who in the one character or another were actively engaged in the kind of work which was proper to deacons.

8:24 They're engaging in a work which is properly assigned to deacons. Therefore, they must not be functioning as deacons or it would be proper to them. But he says in a work that is properly assigned to deacons, and considering the great separation which then existed between the sexes and the extreme jealousy which guarded the approaches to female society, it was a manner indispensable that women with some sort of delegated authority should often be entrusted with various kinds of diaconal service. But I read in vain any indication that he held the view that there was a specific office assigned to them.

9:07 Likewise, Calvin is quoted in his comments on Romans 16.1, but when I turn to Calvin's commentary on 1 Timothy chapter 3, Calvin takes the position that this refers to wives, not a hint of suggestion that it refers to an office. And when I read all that Calvin said in the Institutes or that I could find under Battles Index in the Institutes, the issue is not that clear-cut at all. So, brethren, I urge you in assessing the so-called witness of the church fathers and respecters, respected commentators, beware of secondary sources and take the time to check the sources themselves.

9:43 Well, that's the focus of the discussion. The women of 1 Timothy 3.11, the title given to Phoebe, and the witness of church fathers and respected guides. All right?

Fundamental Issues Involved in the Deaconess Debate

9:53 Secondly, the fundamental issue involved.

9:57 In this matter of whether or not we should have deaconesses as specific office bearers in the church, what are the fundamental issues involved? Well, number one, was Phoebe a servant sent on a specific task, or was she an officer acting out a dimension of her office in the accomplishment of her task? That's the issue that has to be resolved. Second issue that has to be resolved is, why does Paul introduce women in 1 Timothy 3.11?

10:32 If wives of deacons, why not wives of elders also? And the whole context is bounded by concerns relative to deacons. And the whole context is bounded by concerns relative to deacons. So it seems to be a bit artificial to refer this to wives of deacons.

10:48 Isn't it important that an elder's wife meet some standard?

10:53 If deaconesses are envisioned, why no clear identification? Since the word is only found in the masculine and is used of Phoebe, why, as Fairbairn suggests, does Paul not put the issue out of question by some qualifying word which would have identified those of the fairer sex? So as you wrestle through the issue, or the issues, these are matters that you need to come to grips with. Well, let me set before you in the third place the suggested resolution.

Suggested Resolution: Interpreting 1 Timothy 3 and Phoebe

11:29 First of all, of the 1 Timothy 3 passage, then of Phoebe, and then four reasons why I'm convinced a deaconess is not an instituted office in the Church of Christ. In 1 Timothy 3, I believe the position taken by Hendrickson is the proper one. That Paul envisions that in the carrying out of their assigned task under direction of the elders that the deacons would need female assistants. And these women who would function as their assistants

12:11 must be women whose character would be commensurate with the tasks they are asked to perform in the name of Christ and on behalf of the official office bearers of Christ, the deacons. For a detailed opening up of that, I suggest that you read Hendrickson's commentary on the passage. And then as far as Phoebe is concerned, it's evident that she was a woman of some stature, could have been the very one who bore the letter to Paul. She was sent on a specific mission by the Church, one in which there was no violation of any of the general categories assigned to women in terms of service in the Church of Christ.

12:56 And I think it is artificial to import into that terminology a servant of the Church that she actually was an officer of the Church. I think it's special pleading. And no violation is done to the term servant nor to what is revealed about her in the immediate context. All right?

Four Reasons Against the Office of Deaconess

13:25 Now then let me give you as my resolution of this moot question four reasons why I believe it is unscriptural, though I wouldn't throw stones at people and put this in the same level with other matters, I still believe it is unscriptural to ordain women to the office of a deaconess. Number one has to do with the historic origin of the diaconate. Now it was women's needs that precipitated the ordination of the seven, wasn't it? And it was in a cultural and religious climate

14:08 in which there was a great separation of the sexes. But isn't it interesting, if ever, ever you had a situation where you'd have to have women ministering only to women, it was in the original historic situation in which the diaconate is born. And yet they said, look out among you seven men. See, often people bring forward the argument, well, in the society of that day, because of the cultural factors, it's unthinkable that certain things could be performed by men.

14:38 Therefore, there must have been a distinct office of deaconess. No, I believe the answer is given to us by putting together Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 3.11. There would be certain things that would be inexpedient in the actual administration of them for a man to do.

14:53 But the deacons were free to secure assistance, female assistance, to carry out that particular ministry. And so the historic circumstances of the institution of the office of a diaconate points away from women holding this office. Number two, the explicit requirements and the explicit promises attached to this office are limited to men. The explicit requirements and the explicit promises are limited to men.

15:29 I've already underscored that with regard to deacons must be husbands of one wife. And then thirdly, the administration of diaconal responsibilities of necessity, of necessity involves a dimension of rule, a dimension of rule. Though the deacons are ultimately answerable to the elders in their decisions,

16:13 some of those decisions which are made and approved by the elders are decisions that affect the entire congregation. And the fine distinction between service and rule many times breaks down in the actual outworking of those responsibilities. And you're getting dangerously close to a situation in which there will be a violation of what is explicit in 1 Timothy chapter 2, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man. What about those times when of necessity for efficient rule elders and deacons

16:56 meet in one court pertaining to decisions that affect the spiritual direction as well as the monetary commitment of the church for years to come? Allah, shall we get into a deep and extensive building program? And as all of these things are being wrestled, weighty decisions are being made that affect the rule and the government of Christ's church. I would find it very, very difficult in my own conscience to have women involved in that kind of rule.

17:29 And then, fourthly, since all the good secured since all the good secured by female assistance can be realized without the institution of an office, why open the door to confusing of roles

18:02 and creating a climate that may come around and horse-kick you? You see, it's interesting to have followed what happened in the CRC. They had this woman agitating to become an elder, this Wienstra. She agitated, agitated, agitated.

18:29 Well, it's sort of like the communists, you know, you go for broke, you go for a hundred things and yet you're satisfied if you come away with 25. You got 25 more than before you began to agitate. Well, then the thing shifted to having women deacons. But you know, in the CRC situation, the consistory, when it sits down, is the court of all the office bearers.

18:54 And if the woman can begin to manifest, you see, their efficiency and grace and everything else, I'm saying that in quotation marks, then why not shove them up to the office of an elder? So it's getting the foot in the door. And I would say, particularly in our day, particularly in our day, if this is an area which in the judgment of some is even gray, why not, for the sake of making it plain that we're committed to Biblical norms, back away from that gray area because any good that can come from securing the services of a phoebe can be realized without designating an office for a phoebe. And if God gives you a hundred phoebes, use them.

19:33 Use them. But use them without assigning to them an office. So that's my little postscript on the issue of deaconesses as a distinct office. I'm sure some will not find it convincing.

Concluding Remarks and Recommended Resources

19:46 But, it's convincing enough to me that if anyone starts rumblings around here to have deaconesses, they're going to find me snarling. All right. Now, any postscripts that you'd like to add in the light of having just come down this ground, over this ground in ecclesiology, Pastor Nichols? Yes, questions.

20:14 Reggie? You might want to recommend your tapes on the first ten or so rolls and then, wouldn't you? You see, I had that postscript on the back on my last page of the lecture. Bibliography.

20:29 First of all, some tapes. Pastor Nichols, The Office of a Deacon, GN 11 is the code number on that, I believe. Then I have a sermon that I preached on the occasion of installing a deacon several years ago called An Overview of the Diaconate. An Overview of the Diaconate.

20:52 And I don't know what the code number is on that. And then on this whole subject of the roles of men and women in the church, the expositions of 1 Timothy 2 verses 8 through 15 that are available from the Trinity Pulpit. Now, in terms of literature, a book entitled Who Will Lead Us by Leonard Koppes, C-O-P-P-E-S, Who Will Lead Us, Leonard Koppes, Pilgrim Publishing Company. Pilgrim Publishing Company.

21:21 The subtitle, you don't need to write this down, the study is The Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate of the Diaconate There is a lot of Biblical Theological material, some of it perhaps a bit questionable, not in terms of its orthodoxy, but we may question the validity of some of the Old Testament roots of the diaconate and other offices in the church, but there's identification of the diaconate

22:04 and their function some good material and then Bannerman the scripture doctrine of the church the scripture doctrine of the church and you'll find a couple of sections helpful on the subject of deacons and you can just look at them in the table of contents and also in the index and then I've already mentioned the glorious body of Christ by R.B. Kuiper K-U-I-P-E-R glorious body of Christ by Kuiper and he has a chapter number 24 the office of the deacon

22:48 some very good material for some of the exegetical problems that I mentioned earlier man and woman in biblical perspective by James Hurley man and woman in biblical perspective by James Hurley published by InterVarsity and then I come back to my esteemed mentor and guide in the things of God John Owen volume 15 pages 506 to 508 volume 15 506 to 508

23:33 and then volume 16 I made reference to this earlier but I'll give it to you again volume 16 page 143 to 151 143 to 151 and then a couple of articles in Reformation Today I mentioned the one by Herbert Carson on deaconesses at least you ought to be aware of what the polemic is for having deaconesses though I've made it plain I don't agree with his thesis that's number 51 number 51 and then in numbers 39 and 50 you have two articles by Errol Hulse

24:17 one called Elders, Deacons and Women Workers the other one The Role of Deacons by Herbert Carson I'm sorry one is by Herbert Carson The Role of Deacons the other one by Errol Hulse Elders, Deacons and Women's Workers so that's Reformation Today numbers 50, 51 and 39 well those are some of the materials that I found helpful in thinking through this whole matter again alright are there questions that you'd like to raise comments