1:1 To whom do the terms "bishops" and "deacons" refer and what is their role in the New Testament church?
1:1 To whom do the terms "bishops" and "deacons" refer and what is their role in the New Testament church?
Bishops is simply another name for the ruling body of elders to whom God has committed the oversight of the New Testament church (cp 1Ti 3:1-7; Tit 1:4-9 with Ac 20:17, 28; 1Pe 5:1-3). The word overseers in Ac 20:28 also means bishops. They are both derived from the same Greek word, episkopos. (For more detailed studies on this subject see comments also on Ac 1:15-17, 20:17, 1Ti 3:1-7 and 1Pe 5:1-3).
The term deacon primarily denotes a servant - one who ministers to the needs of others - without reference to the character of the work. In the New Testament, diakonos, the Greek word for deacon is used to refer to domestic servants (cp Jn 2:5,9); civil rulers (cp Ro 13:3-4); Christ (cp Ro 15:8; Ga 2:17); the followers of Christ in relation to their Lord (cp Jn 12:26; Eph 6:21; Col 1:7; 4:7); the followers of Christ in relation to one another (cp Mt 20:26; 23:11; Mk 9:35; 10:43); the servants of Christ in relation to preaching and teaching (cp 1Cor 3:5; 2Cor 3:6; 6:4; 11:23; Eph 3:7; Col 1:23,25; 1Th 3:2; 1Ti 4:6); a servant of the church (cp Ro 16:1); servants in the church (cp Php 1:1; 1Ti 3:8,12), and false apostles - servants of Satan (cp 2Cor 11:15).
We can see from those scriptures that the term deacon has a much broader application than most Christians in the contemporary church realise. The general conception of deacons among Christians in the contemporary church is that they do most of the menial tasks in the church - they open the hall up for meetings, switch on the lights, arrange the seating, distribute the emblems for communion, and take up the collection, etc, but as is seen here scriptures do not teach that.
The confusion surrounding deacons in the contemporary church emanates from the teaching that the role of deacons in the New Testament church is defined in Ac 6:1-6, yet scriptures do not designate the seven men in Ac 6:1-6 who were chosen to distribute the alms and minister to the material needs of the Greek widows in the church at Jerusalem as deacons (cp Ac 6:1-6 with 1Ti 3:1-13).
It is obvious from 1Ti 3:8-13 that the office of deacon in the New Testament church is more than dealing with temporal things as distinct from spiritual things. Temporal things have to be dealt with, but to limit the office of a deacon to just dealing with temporal things is to limit the effectiveness of the church in God's eternal purpose. In the context of 1Ti 3:1-13 it is significant that the term deacons is used side by side with bishops, or elders.
This indicates that deacons are assistant ministers or that they assist the ruling elders in the performance of their duties. They are the scriptural counterparts to the non-scriptural assistant pastors and elders in the contemporary church (cp Php 1:1). The qualifications for deacons, like bishops, and their role in the New Testament church, are defined in 1Ti 3:8-13 not in Ac 6:1-6 as so many Christians in the contemporary church have been taught.
It should be noted here also that although deacons assist the elders in the performance of their duties they have no ruling authority in the New Testament church. Their ministry office as 1Ti 3:13 clearly teaches is a proving ground leading to greater responsibilities, but it is not a leadership position to start with, and for any local New Testament church to be under the authority of a "board of deacons" is totally unscriptural. We cannot supplant God's order for the church and replace it with another. He has decreed the church to be under the authority of ruling elders, not deacons. (See also comments on Ac 6:1-6, Ro 16:1-2, 1Ti 3:8-13).