{"id":51404,"date":"2017-09-15T20:17:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T01:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=51404"},"modified":"2022-08-09T20:20:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T01:20:24","slug":"does-i-timothy-311-refer-to-both-elders-and-deacons-wives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-timothy-311-refer-to-both-elders-and-deacons-wives\/","title":{"rendered":"Does I Timothy 3:11 refer to both elders and deacons&#8217; wives?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>In I Timothy 3:11, where it says &#8220;Likewise their wives,&#8221; do you think the word &#8220;their&#8221; means both elder and deacons wives? Or is this word a specific reference to deacons&#8217; wives? I ask this because in context this verse falls under the qualification of a deacon.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Actually, in Greek, it just says &#8220;wives&#8221; or &#8220;women.&#8221; The word &#8220;their&#8221; was added by some translators for clarity. The difficulty is that Greek has one word for both a wife and a woman. It is the context that determines what is meant. Since the next verse talks about a deacon being the husband of one wife, the context would dictate that &#8220;wives&#8221; is the proper translation.<\/p>\n<p>Typically the argument is that since the wife of a deacon must meet certain qualifications, those same qualifications ought to also be applied to the wives of elders since they are also being discussed in the same section.<\/p>\n<p>It has often been noted that the qualifications for both elders and deacons are mostly what you would expect from all Christians. It is no different for the wives, they are to be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>dignified &#8211; honorable, grave (Philippians 4:8; Titus 2:2)<\/li>\n<li>not malicious gossips &#8211; false accusers, slanders (Titus 2:3)<\/li>\n<li>temperate &#8211; sober, not a drinker (Titus 2:2)<\/li>\n<li>faithful (trustworthy) in all things<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are qualities all Christians, both men and women are to display. For instance, would anyone argue that a deacon&#8217;s wife must not be a gossip, but an elder&#8217;s wife can be?<\/p>\n<p>From the qualifications of the elders, we know that an elder&#8217;s wife is to be married to one man (I Timothy 3:2), have raised two or more children (I Timothy 3:4), and that those children are to be faithful (Titus 1:6), which indicates she has taught them well (I Timothy 2:15). Both the elder and the deacon&#8217;s wife is a partner with her husband in the work that he does, so she must show similar qualities in order to aid him in his work.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: In I Timothy 3:11, where it says &#8220;Likewise their wives,&#8221; do you think the word &#8220;their&#8221; means both elder and deacons wives? Or is this word a specific reference to deacons&#8217; wives? I ask this because in context this verse falls under the qualification of a deacon. Answer: Actually, in Greek, it just says&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1568,123,1132],"class_list":["post-51404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-deacons","tag-elders","tag-i-timothy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2007,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-if-an-elders-wife-dies\/","url_meta":{"origin":51404,"position":0},"title":"What happens if an elder&#8217;s wife dies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man is qualified to serve as an elder but his wife dies before he is installed, can he still become an elder? If an elder's wife dies may he continue to serve? Answer: In looking for qualified men to be elders, we put so much emphasis on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-deacons-have-multiple-wives-and-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":51404,"position":1},"title":"Can deacons have multiple wives and homes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if polygamy is wrong because a Christan polygamy site states this: \"mia\u00a0doesn't mean one, it means first in\u00a0I Timothy 3:2,12; Titus 1:6\" Regarding\u00a0idios\u00a0they are saying \"The word \"idios\" signifies actual or potential corporate possession, or \"ownership\" (although sometimes the two words may be synonymous, the change\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29249,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/servants-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":51404,"position":2},"title":"Servants of the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 6:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Early in the church\u2019s history, the number of brethren increased dramatically. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With that increase came \u201cgrowing pains.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Circumstances caused the church in Jerusalem to have a large number of widows who needed care. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some felt that preference was being given to native\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4009,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-country-permits-polygamy-is-there-a-biblical-reason-not-to-have-multiple-wives\/","url_meta":{"origin":51404,"position":3},"title":"If a country permits polygamy, is there a biblical reason not to have multiple wives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When I read the Old Testament, I find many passages glorifying men who had multiple wives, and, in fact, glorifying the possession of multiple wives. When I read the New Testament, I find nothing telling me, a man who doesn't seek to become an elder or a deacon, from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32018,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-any-scriptural-evidence-of-deaconesses\/","url_meta":{"origin":51404,"position":4},"title":"Is there any scriptural evidence of deaconesses?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is there\u00a0any scriptural evidence of\u00a0deaconesses? Answer: The word \"deacon\" is a derivative transliteration of the Greek word\u00a0diakonos. The word is means a servant and it can be translated as servant, minister, deacon, or waiter. Typically translators try to use \"minister\" when\u00a0diakonos\u00a0is being applied to a preacher. \"Who then is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43615,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-havent-married-yet-can-i-still-be-a-deacon\/","url_meta":{"origin":51404,"position":5},"title":"If I haven&#8217;t married yet, can I still be a deacon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Bro. Jeffrey, I write this email in order to seek a mature answer and guidance from a well-rounded spiritual leader. Our local church here wants to appoint deacons since we don't have formally appointed ones. We already studied the apostle Paul's teachings on appointing deacons based on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}