Recently while selling my books at a Christian educators conference, I had a man approach my book table. I started up a conversation with him in my typical fashion and very quickly the conversation turned from the Christian books I was trying to sell, to him telling me about the ministries he was involved in. At first I was nodding along and engaged listing, but then he made a side comment that took me by surprise.
He was talking about doing street evangelism and made a comment about how the woman who was with him, of course because she was a woman, couldn’t preach or teach. She could however obviously evangelize, so it was okay that she was sharing the gospel.
I was so stunned by his comment, it actually took me a moment to circle back and ask him more about this. Now, don’t get me wrong, this was not the first time I’d heard this ideology. But it was the first time I’d encountered it spoken so flippantly by someone who clearly had no idea who his audience was.
Ironically, I was not just selling books at this conference; I was also a speaker (you know, teaching my fellow Christian brethren, both women and men).
I gently tried to inform him of my own perspective on female roles in Christianity, and he of course respond the way any man that believes women shouldn’t teach or speak would. He informed me I was wrong and continued to try to tell me that nothing I knew of Scripture was accurate. Like when I mentioned that Phoebe is noted in Scripture as being a deaconess, he immediately informed me that when you go to the Greek word in that passage it isn’t actually that she’s a deacon. It’s just that she serves in the church and the word actually means servant.
Now, I would love to say I had some great responses that finally stumped him. But I didn’t. I had never before had to debate the Greek word for deacon. Thus I stood there countering his statements with my English knowledge of Scripture on this topic, only to have him continually re-interpret my referenced Scriptures to match his ideology.
Now, being the person I am, if I don’t have the answer to something that someone has thrown at me, that something tends to be the next thing I study.
So I spent today digging into the verses that are often used to support the ideology this man was speaking. This included, obviously, the passage in Romans about Phoebe, a female deacon. (Side note: Just after talking about Phoebe, Paul goes on in his letter to the Romans to mention/greet three other women in prominent roles of ministry: Priscilla, Mary, and Junia). Lets take a look at that Greek word used to describe Phoebe.
“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a [diakonos] of the church in Cenchrea,” ~Romans 16:1~
Diakonos is the Greek word Paul uses in Romans 16:1, and this word is translated as “servant” by the KJV, NKJV, ESV, NASB20, NASB95. It’s translated as “deacon” by the NLT, NIV, and it’s translated as “deaconess” by the RSV. (Now, I don’t typically read the RSV, but obviously at some point I’ve heard Phoebe references as a deaconess.)
Now, obviously looking at the way these different English translations have dealt with this passage doesn’t really help clarify the issue of whether or not she really is a deacon and not just a servant. However, when we look more into the Greek word diakonos things get quite interesting.
For instances, this same Greek word is also translated as “minister” when Paul refers to himself in Colossians 1:23 (see verse below).
“…if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister (diakonos).” ~Colossians 1:23~
In Philippians 1:1 we also again find this word diakonos. It’s in the greeting of one of Paul’s letters, this time translated as “deacons” (Um, yeah, like perhaps fellow servants or ministers of the gospel)(see verse below).
“Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons (diakonos):” ~Philippians 1:1~
In other words, when Paul’s references bishops and deacons along with all the saints in Philipp, the word translated as deacon is diakonos (the same word Paul uses when describing the female Phoebe).
Interesting to note: according to Blue Letter Bible Lexicon :: Strong’s G1249 – diakonos is a masculine/feminine noun.
Further more and perhaps most conclusively, when we look at 1 Timothy where Paul is actually instructing Timothy in what kind of character traits a church deacon ought to have we again find, yup, the Greek word diakonos (see verse below).
“Let deacons (diakonos) be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons (diakoneō) obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.” ~1Timothy 3:12-13~
Note: the second reference to deacon in this passage is not exactly the same Greek word. That’s because diakoneō is a verb.
Want to know what the verb means? Keep reading.
Strong’s Definitions (From Blue Letter Bible)
διακονέω diakonéō, dee-ak-on-eh’-o; from G1249; to be an attendant, i.e. wait upon (menially or as a host, friend, or (figuratively) teacher); technically, to act as a Christian deacon:—(ad-)minister (unto), serve, use the office of a deacon.
Looking at this, there is only one way to argue that Phoebe is not a deacon, and that would be by saying that because Paul instructs Timothy that deacons must be “the husband of one wife,” that this then means that deacons can only be male. Thus, saying when Paul references Phoebe he couldn’t possibly have actually meant that she was a deacon.
But, if that was the case and only men could be deacons, why in the world would Paul refer to Phoebe by the word diakonos? Of anyone, Paul would have obviously known not to call her this, since he IS the person who wrote to Timothy defining the character traits of a deacon.
Also, if Paul really just meant that Phoebe served or was a faithful servant in the church, there were other words in Greek he could have used to describe Phoebe. In fact, Paul uses these other Greek words to describe himself as a servant and another fellow believer as a servant and bondservant, but not to describe Phoebe. (see the verses below).
“For though I [Paul] am free from all men, I have made myself a servant (douloō) to all…” ~1Corinthians 9:19~
“…as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant (syndoulos), who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf…” ~Colossians 1:7~
Note: Syndoulos is actually a soon’-doo-los a co-slave (a.k.a “fellow servant”).
And if we stick with Epaphras in the book of Colossians we find Paul actually uses a third Greek word similar to the word he used in Corinthians, when he talk again about Epaphras.
“Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant (doulos) of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” ~Colossians 4:12~
So obviously, Paul had other Greek words he easily could have used to talk about Phoebe, but he didn’t. Paul called Phoebe a diakonos. A word he used for himself, for deacons, and for faithful ministers.
So there you go, if any person tries to tell you that Phoebe wasn’t actually a deacon, because she was a woman and the Greek word “diakonos” just means servant, you now have an answer for them.
Challenge, specifically for my female readers: Women, don’t let foolish ideology based on mis-interpreted Scripture keep you from speaking and teaching the Word of our God!
If you could use some encouraging stories about women in the Bible, you should check out this Crosswalk article about women in the Bible.
When the rocks speak 