Joanna

To Agent Starling Post # 37

Two points for you to consider:

1). Let’s use Logic: 1 Tim 3:8-12 sets forth the qualifications for diakonos, one of which is “mias gunaikos andres”, traditionally translated as, “the husband of one wife”.

BUT Romans 16:1-3 says Phoebe was a diakonos, and Paul praised her and her work. Therefore, “mias gunaikos andres”, whatever it means, can NOT disqualify women from serving as diakonoi. For the same reason, “mias gunaikos andres” (andra, aner) can not disqualify women from serving as episkopoi or presbuteroi.

2) You have failed to consider that the phrase, “mias gunaikos andres” may be an idiom. An “idiom” is an expression to convey a certain thought which is not dependent upon the actual meanings of the words used. For example: During the Viet Nam war, we spoke of soldiers who “bought the farm”. That does not mean that after they were discharged from the service, they became farmers! It means they were killed in action! If we say John “dropped a dime” on Bob; it doesn’t mean that he physically dropped a dime on Bob – it means John called the police on Bob; “taking a power” is an idiom for leaving the area; and so on. English is full of idioms; so is Greek. Google “Greek idioms” – you will see!

IT IS ALWAYS AN ERROR TO TRANSLATE (or understand) IDIOMS LITERALLY!

I, for one, am going to try to track down the page from the French Bible TOB wherein French scholar Lucien Deiss said that “mias gunaikos andres” appears in Ephesus on the tombstones of woman. See Don Johnson’s posts.

Joanna