3:10 first be proved. Deacons, as well as bishops, should not be new Christians. There may be a temptation to give an office to a new convert immediately if he happens to be wealthy or influential, but this is a dangerous mistake.

3:10 deacon. Both the pastorate and the diaconate are “offices,” to which qualified men are to be carefully selected and ordained. The Greek for “deacon” is diakonos, also translated “servant” and “minister.” A related word, diakonia, is frequently translated “service” or “ministrations.” Thus a deacon is one who performs necessary services other than the responsibilities of the pastors for the church. The seven appointed in the church at Jerusalem to handle “the daily ministration” (Acts 6:1) and the “business” (Acts 6:3) were apparently the first deacons. Note that they also were to be “of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.”

3:11 wives. It is interesting that no requirements are specified for the wives of bishops, just for those of deacons, even though it was certainly as important for the one as for the other. Possibly this was because various services for the church were needed by godly women, as well as men, and it would be natural and appropriate for them to be wives of the deacons; thus they could serve together when so needed. They may have been considered “deaconesses,” even though this is not said to have been a specific office. In Romans 16:1, “Phebe, our sister” is called “a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea,” and the Greek word is diakonos, the same word as translated “deacons” in I Timothy 3:12. She could, just as properly, be called a deaconess of the church, and had even been entrusted with carrying Paul’s epistle to the church at Rome. Note especially Romans 16:2.