Traditionally, many Baptist churches have spurned the idea of female deacons. Their position on this subject is due, at least in part, to their ecclesiology. In a typical Baptist congregation, the pastor serves as sole elder and the deacons share spiritual authority with him.[i] When this is the case, the deacons must be only men because the Bible clearly teaches that women are not to have spiritual authority over men: “I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man” (1 Tim 2:12; cf. 3:2, 12; 5:9).[ii] To determine whether or not a woman can be considered for deaconship, this article will offer a short overview of use of the term deacon in Scripture followed some discussion on the role of deacons before finally providing a biblically based argument that addresses the biblical support for the female deacon.
In New Testament (NT) Greek, the term translated as deacon (along with its variants) is a general reference to a servant who may perform any number and types of service. Generally, the NT employs this term to refer to serving food (cf. John 2:5, 9; 12:2; Luke 4:39; 10:40; 17:8), general service (cf. Luke 22:27; John 12:26; Rom 13:3-4), and spiritual service (cf. Acts 20:19; Rom 15:25; 1 Cor 12:5; 2 Cor 8:3-4).
Among the many references to deacons in the NT, only one passage, 1 Timothy 3:8-13, seems to point to the Ecclesiastical Office of the Deacon.[iii] In this passage, Paul employs the term “likewise” in v.8 to connect to his mentions of those aspiring for a church office in v.1. In addition to this indicator, the special characteristics used to identify the deacon are presented in the same way that the marks of an elder are presented.
Given that the deaconship is biblically mandated role, one must consider whether or not the Bible supports the vestment of spiritual leadership in the deacon body. Based on the qualifications mentioned in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, the deacons share the same spiritual qualifications required of those called to be elders in regard to their character. With these credentials, deacons are certainly spiritually enabled to serve God’s people in church administration and shepherding ministries. That being said, Paul’s description of elders in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 demonstrates that elders are tasked specifically with the teaching ministry. While this certainly does not preclude the possibility of deacons engaging in the teaching ministry, it does suggest that the elder should focus more heavily in this area while deacons assist in the many other duties of the church.
Throughout the NT, deacons are never portrayed as having any special authority over the church. Unlike the office of deacon, the role of the elder is grounded in the Old Testament role occupied by a Jewish elder who was required to be a man and share the same qualities listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 (cf. Ex. 12:21; 18:20-21; Nu 11:16-17; Deut 1:13-17). This office is mentioned throughout Acts as the Early Church is forming. In Acts 11:29-30, the elders are tasked with distributing the donation brought by Paul and Barnabas. Both of these Godly men also appeared before the apostles and elders at the Church in Jerusalem to discuss the efficacy of circumcision (Acts 15:2).
As churches were being established, the NT repeatedly demonstrates that selecting elders was an essential task needing to be addressed from the very beginning: “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23). Similarly, Paul directs Titus to “appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1:5).
The office of elder seems to have been common to all churches throughout the Apostolic era to the extent that even Peter addresses elders across a wide diaspora and gives them directions concerning caring for God’s people (1 Peter 5:1-2). This care, according to Peter, involved oversight among other things. Paul, likewise, specifically points to elders as those who are called to “take care of the church” (1 Tim 3:5). This call to primary responsibility coincides with the elder’s task of ruling over the church by teaching God’s Word, applying it to all aspects of church life and life in general, and demonstrating it by the quality of his life (1 Tim 3:4, 5, 12; 5:17; 1 Thess 5:12; Heb 13:7).[iv]
With the overwhelming NT evidence supporting the vestment of spiritual authority in the office of elder and the complete silence of the NT in regard to the office of deacon maintaining such authority, one could certainly make the case that deacons lack spiritual authority within the church. This absence of authority allows for consideration of the role of the female deacon. With this in view, the proper place to ascertain whether or not a biblical argument for a deaconess can be made would be in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 where Paul discusses the office of deacon.
In this passage, Paul seems to be saying that women can be deacons. Since he does not employ a personal possessive pronoun along with women, he must be referring to women in general as opposed to the wives of deacons. The appearance of ‘likewise’ is also a very strong indicator that Paul has a third group in mind along with male elders and deacons. Along with this, Paul never mentions elders’ wives in this chapter on leadership, so it would appear odd for him to mention deacons’ wives only. Some may object because Paul fails to refer to these women as deaconesses, but his calling them ‘women’ makes sense since ‘deaconesses’ was not a word in New Testament Greek. Finally, these women have essentially the same qualifications as their male counterparts.
To help those who still struggle with the subject of female deacons, some brief responses will now be offered to some points raised by those in opposition. Some argue that Paul is quite clear when he says, “Deacons must be husbands of only one wife” (1 Tim 3:12). With this one phrase, they may resolutely affirm what they feel to be a firm biblical stance of the necessity of deacons being male only. Nevertheless, the literal Greek translation means one-woman man and suggests that Paul may have the characteristic of sexual purity in mind. This seems more likely in part because Scripture does allow for divorce and remarriages. Moreover, Paul, a bachelor, would be excluding himself if this phrase is interpreted as “husband of only one wife” because the same qualification is listed for elders in 1 Timothy 3:2. Another potential reason to object to the interpretation which uses the phrase, “husband of one wife” as support for a male-only diaconate is that Paul seems to be listing characteristics that would be associated with the proper biblically assigned role of a man as the head of household. In the same verse (1 Timothy 3:12), he also states that deacons are to be good managers of their families. Obviously, no woman could ever be expected to fulfill such qualifications because doing so would violate her biblically assigned role. Paul’s listing of such qualifications for male deacons does not by default exclude the potential for female deacons if the case can be made from other biblical evidence to support such. That argument has indeed been made in the earlier discussion.
[i]Sadly, the deacons of some Baptist churches maintain all spiritual authority and decision-making, while the sole elder exists to bear the responsibility and take the fall. In my experience, almost every Baptist pastor has a story related to this kind of ungodly and unbiblical treatment at the hands of those who are supposedly deemed “beyond reproach” (1 Tim 3:10).
[ii]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.
[iii]Some may disagree with this statement especially in the case of Philippians 1:1. For a more in-depth discussion on some passages where the meaning of ‘deacon’ is debated, John Macarthur offers an excellent overview which is available at https://www.gty.org/library/articles/451020/answering-the-key-questions-about-deacons.
[iv]At this point, the discussion is focused acutely on the elder’s rulership. No attention will be given to the other tasks assigned to the elder in the NT.