Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Then why does the N.T. record Phoebe a deaconess (Rm 16.1), Prisca a female worker (Rm 16.3), and Junia a female apostle (Rm 16.7)?
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This is thoroughly addressed by a Greek NT expert:
https://bible.org/article/may-women-...elude-dialogue
It is lengthy and deserving of a full read, but I just submit two of the 5 arguments as a taste:
in 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a DIAKONOS—and Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus. But he obviously was not a deacon. So, why then should we call Phoebe a ‘deacon’? The term is thus rather flexible and it seems gratuitous to call Phoebe a deacon in Rom 16:7.
In response are five arguments: (1) If women deacons are in view in v. 11, it seems rather strange that they should be discussed right in the middle of the qualifications for male deacons, rather than by themselves; (2) Paul indeed seems to go out of his way to indicate that women are NOT deacons in the very next verse, for he says “Deacons must be husbands of one wife”