Kay

Mark,

Let’s talk about context, context, context for 1 Timothy 5. Does your church congregation/denomination “Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. But refuse to enroll younger widows” and instruct them to remarry? If not, why doesn’t your fellowship uphold these?
And if your congregation does uphold to these instructions, who performs this ministry?

Please look at the context. At the beginning of 1 Timothy 5:1-2 presbutiro is used as an adjective for both men and women. Followed immediately by instructions for dealing with an established order of ministry within the church of enrolling widows. Who do you think was performing the ministry to these widows? Might it be the elders just mentioned in the previous sentence? Or do you think it is someone Paul never even mentions who is doing this ministering to widows? Paul then after giving all the instructions is still speaking about the presbutiro in verses 17-20. Or do you think Paul just lost his train of thought and wandered off writing about widows and then went back to writing about the presbutiro?

Please look at the context, the society and people being addressed as well in 1 Timothy and the other epistles. We know false teachers had infiltrated the church. False teachers made their teaching a matter of friction and battling over words (1 Tim.6:3-5) and they are driven by greed (6:5-10). Religions in the Roman Empire included the mystery religions that claimed to give secret knowledge to those who went through their initiations and became members. For instance, in Crete young, married women tended to be left on their own after marriage. A woman would leave her father’s home and move into her husband and his family’s home. There she was never quite trusted because she was brought into the family, and could still have more loyalty to her birth family. These women were separated from the women they grew up with, and thrown into houses with women who never trusted them, let alone helped them learn how to be wives and mothers. Alcoholism was rampant among young women in Crete who could not handle the pressures and stress of married life. These women were also easy victims for religious charlatans. Secret sects along with the priests of Cybele would insinuate themselves into the domestic sphere through these women, and several made a good living ripping these women off. I’m sure you’ve read in history class that Crete was known for its lack of morals in all areas of life.

In Titus 2:3 Paul instructs Titus, the pastor of Crete: “Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good.” The Greek word used for these older women is ‘presbutidas’.
These elders are instructed “to teach what is good.”Teach is from ‘didaskolos’ which is the word Paul uses to describe teaching the Gospel. Although the instruction goes on to tell them to train the younger women to love their husbands and children, besides presuposition, there is no reason to believe that the younger women are the only ones in Titus congregation they taught. But the young women who were now part of the church had no teaching in morality or how to be wives and mothers. So Paul encouraged the female elders to focus their teaching on helping these younger women learn how to cope with all the responsibilities of being a wife and mother in Crete. This teaching probably included how to fend off the charalatans that preyed on them and their families. Paul wanted these young women to know the truth of the Gospel.
The presbutidas would likely have been older since the Jews would not consider someone to be an elder until the age of 60. After menopause a women had more freedom in the religious and public sphere she was no longer unclean, and she was considered wise because of the many years she had lived. We see this in Anna at the temple in Luke 2 she lived at the temple and prayed everyday. She was probably also a teacher there as well. “Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” vs.38. Notice that Anna “spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption” All, includes men. But you insist that after the Resurrection she would be in sin for doing this? But, why? Mary Magdalene was told by Jesus Himself to preach the Good News to males after the Resurrection.

Mark wrote:”On top of that why should we translate that gunaikos means ‘deaconess’ rather than women or wives?”

Now please consider Phoebe.
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well” (Romans 16:1-2).
Paul highly commended and respected Phoebe. He called her a “sister,” “deacon,” and “benefactor” to the church at Cenchreae as well as a sister and benefactor to Paul. The notable thing about diakonos or “deacon” being used to describe Phoebe is that it is the masculine form of the word used to describe a woman. It is the SAME word Paul uses when he calls Timothy and Titus “servants” or “deacons” of their respective churches. Another thing that makes this phrase odd is that Phoebe is called the “deacon of the church of Cenchreae.” This is the only place in the New Testament where ‘diakonos’ is followed by the name of a specific congregation. This is the only place linking a specific person’s ministry with a specific church.