Can Women Be Deacons?

Q: After listening to your episode on women in pastoral leadership (which I completely agreed with), I was wondering if you could answer another question from the same passage… Scripture seems a little unclear on the service position of a deacon, at least compared to the office of an overseer/elder. So, were deacons an actual “office” in the first church, or were they simply servants/volunteers as the word denotes? Does verse 11 actually mean “women“ instead of “their wives“? If it does mean “their wives,” why would elders’ wives not have any parameters also? In short, can women be deacons?

Resources Mentioned:

1 Timothy 3:11, Acts 6, Philippians 1:1, 1 Timothy 3:12, Romans 16:1, Mark 10:43-45

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