Hi Jeff,<\/p>\n
In Acts 6:3, some translations say brethren, some say brothers, and some say brothers and sisters. Which one is correct? Did the men of the congregation choose the seven or was it the whole congregation?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
Like many languages, the male gender of words is used when talking about a group of people where the gender of the group is undefined. This is true in both Greek and English, though I’m aware of the attempts of people to change the English language.<\/p>\n
The Greek word\u00a0adelphoi<\/em>\u00a0is in the plural masculine form. It can refer to physical brothers (Matthew 12:46), or a spiritual brotherhood, such as fellow countrymen (Acts 13:26) or fellow believers (Acts 15:3). But as I stated earlier the word can be used both for a group of men, a mixed group of men and women, or a group where the gender is not defined. It is the context that has to determine which is the appropriate meaning. For example, in James 2:14-15, “brethren” refers to both male and female Christians.<\/p>\n In this case, notice in Acts 6:5, “And the saying pleased the whole multitude.<\/em>” This makes it clear that it was the entire church, both men and women who were involved in the process of finding deacons for the church.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi Jeff, In Acts 6:3, some translations say brethren, some say brothers, and some say brothers and sisters. Which one is correct? Did the men of the congregation choose the seven or was it the whole congregation? Thank you. Answer: Like many languages, the male gender of words is used when talking about a…<\/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,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[76,190],"class_list":["post-52862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-terminology","tag-translation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-quiet\/","url_meta":{"origin":52862,"position":0},"title":"How Quiet?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier In addition to addressing competition between men and women, Paul addresses decorum in congregational work. Paul provides a fantastic permission, but also a limitation. My understanding is that many in Paul's day did not think women should be educated. There was no need to teach them and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95290,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/euodia-and-syntyche\/","url_meta":{"origin":52862,"position":1},"title":"Euodia and Syntyche","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier In one little paragraph, we find the rubber hitting the road for Paul's letter to the Philippians: \"I entreat Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-have-brothers\/","url_meta":{"origin":52862,"position":2},"title":"Did Jesus have brothers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff! Did Jesus have brothers? How can we explain that a word such as \"wine\" has so many meanings depending on the context and root of the word in Greek, but that the word \"brother\" means just that? 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Would you please reply to the following question: Does your congregation currently have an organized 'Hospitality Team' (or similar group) that is tasked by the church with planning, coordinating, promoting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52862","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=52862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}