Does the Bible Support Female Deacons? No.
Does Scripture permit women to hold the office of deacon? In addressing this important question, we must bear a couple of things in mind. First, Reformed pastors and theologians, fully committed to the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, have disagreed about what the Bible teaches concerning women and the diaconate. This state of affairs calls for particular humility in discussing this question. Second, all sides recognize that women in some way have served in the diaconate in various periods of church history. Believers who argue for women in the diaconate, then, should not be automatically accused of sneaking the Trojan horse of modernity into the church.We must be clear as to what the question is and is not. The question is not whether the Spirit gifts women to serve in the church. He manifestly does, a point the New Testament underscores by way of principle (1 Cor. 12:7; Eph. 4:7) and example (e.g., Rom. 16:1–5, 6, 12). The question is not whether women may actively participate in the church’s service ministries. The New Testament highlights the hospitality of the women mentioned in Luke 8:1–3, of John Mark’s mother (Acts 12:12), and of Lydia (Acts 16:14–15), even as it commends the charitable service of Dorcas (Acts 9:36). The question is whether the Bible permits women to serve in the office of deacon. The Bible opens the office of diaconate to men only.
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Don’t forget to post Schreiner’s article, too!
Here is the link to Schreiner’s article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/bible-support-female-deacons-yes/
While Schreiner does make some good arguments, he is arguing for a positive identification of the “women” of 1 Tim 3.11 as necessarily deacons, but the argument is rather thin. Some Baptists in our fellowship do have deaconesses, probably similar to the ideas of “non-teaching, non-leading” that Schreiner teaches. However, due to the thinness of the argument, I personally have a problem with mandating deaconnesses as a biblical office. Within the autonomy of a local church, then, I would think that at best a non-teaching, non-leading deaconess is a biblical possibility, but not a church-wide requirement. The mixed practice in church history argues for that as well.
However, we know that some will want to argue one side or the other more for the sake of arguing than anything else. We don’t want to degenerate into that here!
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3