gengwall

I’ll add one more just because those reading this will support it. There is mouch argument over Phoebe and whether or not she was a deacon. What is often lost in the argument is the more important word that Paul uses to describe her – prostatis Most versions translate it very poorly (and very gender biased). Strongs again gets it right in definition.

1) a woman set over others

Digging into this word reveals that it is the feminine form of the word proistemi which literally means and is most often translatede “to rule over”. The verb is used, most notably, in 1 Tim 5:17 where the elders are that rule well are to be commended, and in 1 Thes 5:12 where it is clearly stated that in the church there are those who are “over (proistemi) you in the Lord, and admonish you.”

It is a simple reality – Phoebe was a ruler in her church; a person in authority over others.