Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
One could continue reading in 1 Timothy 3 to verse 11, which speaks of "the women" and seems to be talking about what kind of women should be deacons. (The other meaning would be that Paul is referring to deacon's wives, but that doesn't really fit contextually.) Then there's the case of Romans 16:1, where Paul specifically refers to Phoebe as a deacon. True, the word diakonos, from which we get the English "deacon" literally means "servant" or "one who waits on others," so Paul could simply be calling her a servant of the church. But what, then, do we make of the fact that Paul used the masculine diakonos rather than the feminine diakona? It would seem that if he simply meant "servant" he would have used the later. His use of the masculine in reference to a women could suggest that he did indeed mean it as a title or designation, not simply as a description. Literally, he says "I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, she is deacon (ousan diakonon) of the assembly (church/ekklesia) at Cenchrea."
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I second this (studying Classical Greek currently). Paul could also have potentially used another word for "servant"
o doulos (yes, it is a masculine/neuter noun, but it can be used with the feminine form of "autos" for emphasis). That's pretty much my contribution, as small as it is.
