An Assignment⤒🔗

Here is an interesting assignment for catechism students. Give them instructions to survey or investigate the churches in their communities and find out just how many of these churches have deacons among their office bearers? Oh, and if some of these churches say that they have deacons, the students are to ask them “what do they do? What kind of a task do they have in the congregation?” For you see, in some churches the name “deacons” is used for men (and women) who take care of matters that have to do with church finances and property. They do the work of a committee of administration or a board of management.

All in all it will not take these students long to discover that the office of deacons, at least as the Bible describes it, is almost extinct today. Only in certain Presbyterian and Reformed churches does this office still exist and function. In others it has either never existed or it has been lost along the way.

How Sad←⤒🔗

And that is a sad development for a number of reasons. For what is it that keeps the church and its members in tune with the awareness that the material side of life calls for diligent Christian stewardship? What highlights the fact that the Christian community has to be a charitable and caring community? In addition, what insures that the members of the church need not worry about whether or not they will have bread on their tables? Also, what illustrates more beautifully that our God is Lord of all of life and ministers not just to the needs of the soul but also to those of the body?

A Needed Office←⤒🔗

The church needs this office. It needs it for the sake of its health and wellbeing. It also needs it for the sake of it’s reputation. For what is one of the most common and distressing accusations made against the church? It is that the church is money hungry. How often have I not been told over the years that the only thing that church wants from people is their money? Indeed, many think that the church has made a specialty out of finding ways of getting older widows and other lonely and vulnerable people to part with their money. The church, therefore, needs this office to counteract the popular impression that it is a greedy institution.

Still, there is more at stake here than reputation. There is also the matter of biblical vision. How is it possible that even churches that pride themselves on their commitment to the Bible and its teachings appear to be blind when it comes to this office?

Biblically-Speaking←⤒🔗

Now, of course, I realize that Acts 6 remains in dispute when it comes to the office of deacon. The traditional interpretation is that here we find the origin of this office. A more recent view stumbles over the fact the actual word for “deacon” is not used here and thus prefers to speak about some sort of precursor to this office. In the end whatever approach one takes no one denies that Acts 6 describes the fact that the early Christian church set aside seven men to take care of the daily distribution of food. In other words, these men were designated as diaconal workers.

But then if Acts 6 speaks about the rise of this office in one way or another, it is also readily apparent that in 1 Timothy 3 the Apostle Paul speaks about its qualifications. There he refers to men who are “worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine and not pursuing dishonest gain” (v 8). He also describes them as men who “must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience” (v 9) and urges that they be tested men. In addition, Paul also has something to say about their wives being “women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers, but temperate and trustworthy in everything” (v 11).

It should perhaps be added that some see the reference to “wives” in 1 Timothy 3:11 as not really referring to the wives of deacons but rather to female deacons. Hence they render the text as,

In the same way, deaconesses are to be women worthy of respect...

So did they have both male and female deacons in biblical times? We shall leave that debate to another time. The point to be made here is that in 1 Timothy 3 we come across the qualifications of a particular office, an office that had the concern of the Apostle Paul. Why would he bother to list these qualifications and pass them along to Timothy and all the churches if he was merely describing something peculiar and limited to a particular time and place?

The proof that these qualifications are not limited but have a bearing on church life elsewhere is also to be found in Philippians 1:1. For there in his opening words, Paul states that his letter is addressed “to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.” Surely, the impression that we receive in this form of address is that the apostle is simply mentioning one common office and two special offices in the church. In Philippi and elsewhere the church was noted for the fact that it not only had “saints” but also “elders and deacons.”

A Job Description←⤒🔗

Yet the question may also be asked, “Where is the job description for these men? Why does the Apostle Paul not supply that as well?” In all honesty, we have to say that we do not have answers to these questions, except to say that in some ways the entire Old Testament gives us a diaconal job description. If a deacon went back to the Old Testament and studied how God wanted his people then to deal with the widows, the needy, and the refugee in their midst, he would have lots to go by. If, in addition, he studied the various Old Testament laws having to do with reaping and harvesting, as well as the regulations governing the sabbatical year, and the Year of Jubilee, he would find more principles to implement.

Furthermore, if a deacon paid attention to the ministry of the Lord Jesus, he would discover all sorts of instructions about how to treat the down and out, as well as a vivid illustration of what it means to serve and to be a servant.

Add to all of that any number of apostolic instructions and injunctions and the stage is set. It is set for a full-orbed office and a task that reaches far and wide in the church.

But it reaches not just into the church; it also extends into the world. If the references to sojourners in the Old Testament and the parable of the Good Samaritan mean anything in the New Testament, then they underline the fact that mercy and charity are to be shown not just to the household of God. True, these qualities are to be exhibited first to “the family of believers,” but they are also not to exclude doing “good to all people” (Galatians 6:10).

In a most striking manner the Form for the Ordination of Elders and Deacons used in our churches describes the task of both the deacons and the diaconal congregation when it says, “Also today the Lord calls on us to show hospitality, generosity and mercy, so that the weak and needy may share abundantly in the joy of God’s people. No one in the congregation of Christ may live uncomforted under the pressure of sickness, loneliness and poverty” (Book of Praise, p 631).

A Final Appeal←⤒🔗

Suffice it to say then, there is ample reason for us to maintain the office of deacon today, to pray for those who have been invested with it, and to encourage churches everywhere to give serious consideration to the creation and promotion of this most beautiful biblical office.