Women Deacons?

Most churches do not allow women officials. My own church disallows that. Many churches which allow women to officiate in some manner are Methodists, Pentecostals, Episcopalian and a few others. Many independent churches also use their skills. Of all those, with the exception of the Pentecostal, those are the liberal churches. Some of those also allow homosexuals as leaders. It seems that feminism, the acceptance of homosexuality, and heresy seem to always be part of this.

However, I don't look to my own desires or bias for spiritual leadership. At first look, it appears that women are to remain quiet in church.

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 34  Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. ³⁵ And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.

This notion of confusion surely came from Eve who was deceived by the serpent. Mankind was to have dominion over the animals but Eve elected herself to represent mankind to the wily snake. As a result of this confusion since the serpent did so, Eve received a penalty:

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: ... Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.

This agrees substantially with 1 Corinthians 14:33. Essentially, it would appear that women not be in  a position to Lord it over men. However, that doesn't mean that they can't serve the Lord. Their service must be done tastefully, humbly, and reverently.

Paul was the one who wrote that women are to keep quiet in the church. He said that to the Corinthian Church, so apparently, there was a problem there with know-it-all belligerent women.  In that letter, Paul was correcting the erroneous teachings of the church. We don't know what the problem was with women, but he taught that they should remain silent in the church body, discussing later their own questions to their husbands. It would appear that they may have been an argumentative group, and men were having trouble harnessing the tongues of their wives.

First off, God is not a feminist! His own words were "He (your husband) will rule over you (the wife). That's the Designer's intent folks, but the world is endeavoring to altar God's design. However, it is for their own purposes. Autocrats can only control men if they control their women, so feminism is a means of gaining control. Marx was a big proponent of that!

On the other hand, God is just. He has no reason to allow the husband to walk all over the wife. They are not to expose their differences in church but get together at home. This was to keep individual disputes out of the church, and certainly to avoid women humiliating men. Nowhere does it say that men are allowed to humiliate the women either.  The man's role is to nourish the woman, and guide her toward truth.

On the other hand, there were women "deacons" in the apostolic church. Paul even wrote the qualifications for deaconesses:

1 Timothy 3:11 Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; 13 for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Since there were qualifications for women deacons, it can be assumed that there were women deacons. Their standards were the same as for the men deacons, but since they were addressed apart from the men, their service must have had some differences. It would appear that the men possibly were more visible in the church, perhaps being deacons over men and women, whereas women deacons likely ministered to the women. In fact, other scripture tells the older women how to bring up the younger.

Titus 2:3 ... the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Paul also wrote that letter. It would appear that Paul was providing the job responsibilities of women deacons. It seems, as I said, that their ministry was to the younger women, and not the men. Their teachings are on how to provide a domestic household, and reverence for husbands and God.

Who were these women? Paul mentioned only one of them.

Romans 16:1 (RSV) I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cen′chre-ae, 2  that you may receive her in the Lord as befits the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a helper of many and of myself as well. 

I used the Revised Standard Version since it has the most accurate representation of the Greek words. Deaconess comes from the Greek diakonos which is what the deacons were called in 1 Timothy.

The word "helper" comes from the Greek word prostatis, meaning a woman set over others. Therefore, Phoebe was a woman with official responsibilities to serve over others, and as a deacon ministered to others. That ministry is fairly clear-cut from Titus 2 above.

You see, churches can have deaconesses, and should have. There are certain things which men should not teach young girls. Those teachings should be reserved for women. Disallowing women from serving according to Holy Scripture, is adding to scripture.

We are missing much by disallowing women from teaching other women. I am not a feminist and far from it, but this would allow women to serve as deaconesses just like the men with one exception: men can minister to all, but women only to women.