A Case for Female Deacons

Since the earliest days of the church, men and women have served alongside each other in the
life of the church as members of the one body. The one limitation God placed on women is
found in 1 Timothy 2:12, where the Apostle Paul says,

‘I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain
quiet.’

Then, after grounding this principle as a timeless and universal rule by anchoring it in the
creation of Adam in relation to Eve (verses 13–14), Paul goes on to speak about the
qualifications of the men who will lead the church as overseers /elders/pastors in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

There is, therefore, no debate from scripture that only biblically qualified men can serve as
elders in the church. Since the role of the elder is primarily a teaching role that carries with it the
authority to lead (e.g. 1 Timothy 5:17; Hebrews 13:17), it is clear that women are not permitted
to hold this office in the church.

But what about the role of a Deacon?

We have seven reasons why we believe women can serve as deacons in the church.

1. The structure of 1 Timothy 3:1–13
In verses 1–7, Paul deals with Elders, and having made the point in 2:12 that women are not to
teach or have authority over a man, Paul doesn’t address women at all in this section because
the role of elder is an authoritative role with teaching as a major component, so it’s only for
Christ-like men.

In verses 8–13, Paul deals with Deacons. Within those verses, we see Paul address two kinds
of people within the category of Deacon – men and women. See the structure below:

Verses 8–10 : General instructions for Deacons
Verse 11 : Specific instructions for women
Verse 12 : Specific instructions for men
Verse 13 : General instructions for Deacons

2. The Phrase ‘In the same way’ (or ‘likewise’ in some other translations)
Verse 8 and 11 both begin with the phrase, ‘In the same way’ / ‘likewise’, showing us that we’re
coming to a different category to the one before. Verses 1–7 were about Elders. Verses 8–10
introduce a new category of Deacons. Verse 11 is about another new category of people, still
within the role of Deacon, but a different category of Deacon, who Paul describes as ‘women’.
We believe these women serve the church as Deacons.

3. It’s more likely Paul is referring to female Deacons, not deacons’ wives
Related to point 2, in verse 11, we have to work out if the category of people Paul is referring to
is ‘women who are deacons’ or the ‘wives of deacons’. The word “deaconess” didn’t exist in the
Greek language at that time, so all Paul had to work with is the Greek word γυναικας (gyn-ai-
kas), which can mean ‘women’ or ‘wife’.

We prefer ‘women who are deacons’ because if Paul wanted to refer to Deacons’ wives here,
he would have put the pronoun ‘their’ before the word γυναικας, to say, ‘their wives’, but the
pronoun isn’t there in the original text. It simply says, ‘In the same way, γυναικας…’ And we
believe the absence of the pronoun is good evidence that Paul isn’t referring to Deacons’ wives
but ‘women who are deacons.

If you’re reading the ESV or KJV you’ll notice the pronoun ‘their’ has been added to the text
along with the translation of the word γυναικας as ‘wives’ so that it reads, ‘their wives’. But as I
said above, that pronoun is not there in the original Greek text, so the translators have made a
decision to add it in. We prefer the NIV and NASB translation of verse 11 that does not add the
pronoun where it is not in the original texts, and as a result translates γυναικας simply as
‘women’.

4. Why the qualification for Deacons’ wives but not the wives of Elders?
Again related – if Paul was referring to Deacons’ wives in verse 11, it seems odd that he would
require qualifications for the wives of deacons but say nothing at all about the wives of the
elders in verses 1–7, especially since the role of the elder carries more responsibility. This
indicates that Paul was not referring to the wives of deacons but women who serve as deacons.

5. There is nothing inherent in the role of a biblical Deacon that would disqualify women
from it
We see a clear command for women not to teach or have authority over men in the church back
in 1 Timothy 2:12, which is part of the reason why women don’t serve as Elders. But since the
position of Deacon is not an authoritative role and nor is it one of teaching, there’s nothing
inherent in the role of a Deacon that prohibits women from serving in this capacity.

We do see churches apply the title of ‘Deacon’ to men who do carry authority in the life of the
church, particularly in contexts where these men are the solo Pastor’s right hand men, and so
they must guard the ‘male only’ qualification for that particular role. But in these cases we
believe it’s the misinterpretation of the role of the Deacon that is the problem, affecting how this
passage of scripture is interpreted.

6. Church history 
As we look through the history of the church we see evidence of women serving as Deacons
from as early as 112 AD.

‘Pliny the Younger’ was a senator who was appointed governor of Bithynia (modern day Turkey)
by the Roman Emperor Trajan (Emperor from AD 98 to 117). Pliny reported some of the
practices of the early church to the emperor, saying, ‘… they were accustomed to meet on a
fixed day before dawn and sing in choir a hymn to Christ as to a god. They bind themselves,
they said, by oath, not to commit some crime, but rather to abstain from fraud, theft, or adultery,
and not to default on their trust, nor to refuse to return a loan when called upon to do so. […] it
was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food but ordinary and innocent
food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance
with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations.’

And then Pliny writes, ‘Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth
was by torturing two female slaves who were called ‘deacons’. But I discovered nothing more
than depraved and excessive superstition.’

(You can find this letter easily online by searching for ‘Pliny the Younger’s letter to Emperor
Trajan, 112AD, concerning female deacons’.)

Although we don’t rely on Church History as the basis for our doctrine since we believe scripture
alone to be the all-sufficient source of truth for the life of the believer, it is a helpful piece of
evidence to support our interpretation and practice.

7. Phoebe
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, we meet Phoebe in this way:

‘I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae’ – Romans 16:1.

The word διάκονος (diakonos) can be translated as ‘deacon’ or ‘servant’, but the NIV translators
have gone for the word ‘Deacon’ in Romans 16:1 because apart from this verse, that same
sentence structure is only ever used for people who hold an office in a particular local church.

E.g. Acts 20:17 where we are told, ‘Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.’

By describing Phoebe as a ‘διάκονος of the church in Cenchreae’, it seems to indicate that Paul
is talking about a role or office that Phoebe held in that church and not simply referring to her as
a ‘servant’, in general terms. There was no word for ‘deaconess’ in the Greek language at that
time, so Phoebe stands as an example of a woman who served as a Deacon.

In all this, we respect other churches that see this point differently, but these seven points form
the basis for why we have taken the position that we have.