The Deacons Acts 6:1-7
“Brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”
READ ACTS 6:1-7
Have you ever been overlooked in the distribution of something you needed or wanted? Perhaps you at one point or another felt like the "red-headed-step child." The others always seemed to get a large portion of food, more M&Ms in their snack cup, more expensive Christmas presents, more attention, more appreciation.
At first you don't say anything, then you try to make yourself more visible, then you pout hoping the distributor will notice. When these don't work, you complain. But that complaint is not simply,
"Hey, I didn't get any and I am hungry."
It is accompanied with thoughts, even if never voiced, such as,
“They don't care about me. They don't love me as much as they love the other kids. I am less than. They are not concerned with me. Not only am I still hungry, but I have been rejected. I am second class."
Acts 6:1-7 leads us to believe that a group inside the very first church experienced these same thoughts in their own hearts after being overlooked. A “complaint... arose" by the "Hellenist" or the Greek-speaking Jews. (Acts 6:1). There was division at least festering under the surface. A certain segment was being "over-looked" when food was being handed out to those in need. The end result added up to more than empty hands and growling stomachs. The opportunity for fragmentation in the body of Christ was real.
It is in the first church’s response to this complaint that we find the appointment of the first deacons.[1] And it is in their appointment that we find three intuitions within the leadership and church that shape their response.
Physical Needs Matter
Once made aware, the leaders of the church did not ignore, downplay, or delay. Instead, they
"summoned the full number of the disciples" (6:2).
Why did they gather everyone? So that they might
"appoint [men] to this duty" (6:3).
When the church heard the physical need, they rallied together, organized their efforts and saw to it that those in need no longer remained. They mobilized to meet the need.
Is this not how you wish others would respond to your needs when you make them known? Is not your heart warmed and cared for when after you raise your hand to say,
"Hey, I feel neglected!"
When those who hear respond,
"Come hear let me take care of that for you” -
Are you not endeared to them? Do you not feel loved and embraced? Yes, your physical need is met, but also, much more is done in the heart.
Is this not how Jesus responds to our needs? When Jesus saw the crowd of thousands with growling stomachs, he was moved with compassion before organizing the disciples to feed them (Mt. 14:13-21). Moved with love and compassion Jesus touched the physical eyes of a blind beggar and he was healed (Lu. 18:35-43). With compassion Jesus reached out and touched the real, physically afflicted leper (Mt. 8:3), and with care and concern Jesus assured his disciples,
"Do not be anxious about what physical food you will eat or what clothes you will put on your physical body, for your Father knows your need and cares for you." (Mt. 6:25-34, author’s paraphrase)
When made aware of a need, the early church responded with the same love, care, and concern possessed by the Jesus they proclaimed. They acted like their heavenly Father. Further neglect of the physical need would have misrepresented Jesus to both the Helenist inside the church and to the world watching.
Men Are Limited
I often meet my wife Jess at the driveway to unload groceries. I could let her help, call one of our four daughters, or make two easy trips. Instead I try to carry everything at once: a box of Spindrift under each arm, plastic bags looped over my fingers, items wedged in my forearms, and cheese under my chin. I move slowly up the porch so nothing falls. After a few slips, I always give the eggs priority—if things start to go, I’ll lose cucumbers before eggs.
Before you commend the wisdom demonstrated in my commitment to prioritize the eggs over the cucumber, note first that neither would ever be lost if only I acknowledged my limitations and adjusted accordingly. If I’d recognize my own limitations, I could humbly ask for help, work with those who could assist and together we’d get both the eggs and the rest into the house safely.
When we come to Acts 6, we get the sense that the church kept growing. They were learning, fellowshipping, meeting each other’s needs, and witnessing God do wondrous works. Times were good and exciting in the church of Jerusalem, but the complaint arising from the overlooked widows highlighted an important reality - the 12 apostles could not oversee it all (Acts 6:2).
The needs of an 85 member church are many. Can you imagine the needs of a church running well over 3,000 members? In our little church we have three widows. In a church the size of the church at Jerusalem there would have been a couple hundred if the ratio stayed the same.
Many factors could have led to the overlooking of these women, but we are not told the specific reason. What we do see is that the apostles and the church both recognized that the apostles could not manage it all (Acts 6:5). They could give their time and energy to see to it that the widows received their food, OR they could give sufficient time to the ministries of teaching and prayer (Acts 6:4). They could not meet the need of both. They were limited.
Their limitation did not become an excuse for continued neglect; instead, acknowledging their limitations opened the door for the recognition, elevation, and appointment of others to contribute to the work (Acts 6:5-6). In quick order, the work of 12 men became the work of 19 men.
We would be wrong to conclude that the service of tables for widows was beneath the apostles or in our case the elders. Nor should we conclude that one of these tasks is of greater value than the other. The ministry of the word and prayer is not set against the meeting of needs. The caring of people’s needs is not a distraction from the important work of preaching and teaching.
Rather, the wise church recognizes that though men are limited; Jesus our head is not. In the body of Christ, some of us are ears, some hands, some feet, some eyes. Each desperately needed. Each designed for a function and a role, and each reliant on the others. It is God who by His grace through the ministry of the Spirit raises up a variety of individuals to serve in different ways. The church that foolishly places the responsibility of all the needs of the church on one man or a few men will soon find that he or they cannot meet all the real needs of the sheep. By God’s design, He limited man and made him dependent. Humble recognition of man’s limitations in the face of real needs led to what I believe was the first diaconate consisting of 7 men.
Qualified, Male Authority
I chose each of the words in this point carefully. Consider each one for a moment.
Authority
These seven were set in a position of authority. They were appointed to a seat (Acts 6:3). We generally use the term "office.” When we say authority we claim that they were authorized to take action, and they assumed responsibility. There is good reason to conclude this.
They were selected by the whole church (6:3, 5)
They had to meet qualifications (6:3)
They were appointed by the apostles (6:3a)
They were to see to it that the church no longer overlooked the Hellenist widows (6:1-3)
The only two undisputed texts in the Scriptures which explicitly mention deacons support that deacons held an office or a seat of authority.
In Philippians 1:1, Paul addressed not only elders but also the deacons suggesting that two offices existed within that church.
In I Timothy 3, Paul speaking about authority within the church (I Tim 2:1, 12) laid out qualifications for both elders and deacons (1 Tim 3:1-13). As many have pointed out, the qualifications for both are nearly identical. The main distinction between the elders and deacons is the requirement that elders must prove themselves able to teach.
We know from the Scriptures that the pastors are given authority to shepherd, oversee, and lead the church (Heb. 13:7-17), and we also see that deacons are elevated to assist the pastors in their caring for the needs of the people. Together they ensure that the truth of God and the gospel of God are upheld within the church as they work to teach, pray, and see to it that needs are met. How did the apostles in Acts 6 and the elders of the early church and of today’s church manage to faithfully preach and pray while overseeing the real needs of the church? They did so through the help of those appointed by the church to assist them.
Qualified
What kind of individual did the apostles ask the church to find? They were to pick from themselves men of
"good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3).
That is, they were to be men whose lives testified to the Spirit's control over them. The church was to prioritize their character over their skillset. Not everyone in the church should be set into the office of deacon. There is a standard of quality that must be met, for unqualified men of low character set in authority will bring ruin to those under their care (Eccl. 10:16-20).
Male
Interestingly, when the apostles approached the church, they limited their search to qualified men (Acts 6:3). Luke does not tell us why. He also does not explicitly prohibit women from serving in a similar way. All we can say from Acts 6 is that in this instance the apostles called upon the men to serve and the church to place them in this office.
Some accuse the apostles of being sexist and bigoted. They judge their motives claiming that the exclusion of women here and elsewhere is a patriarchal attempt to preserve power in the control of men through the oppression of women. I suppose this is one possibility; certainly, men have in fact used their strength to grab power and hurt the vulnerable women and children under their care. At the same time, I believe there is another more biblical explanation.
God made Adam (man) first and then he made Eve (woman) (Gen. 1-2). He made them separate and distinct. They are equal, yet God designed each uniquely for different roles. God made Adam and gave him dominion over creation. He set him up in the garden with authority to work and to cultivate all God created (Gen. 2:15-17). Then God crafted Eve in all her beauty to help Adam (Gen. 2:18). Together, Adam and Eve would labor to cultivate the earth and multiply image bearers of God through the raising of families (Gen. 1:28). Adam served as the head of the home. God authorized him to act and to lead his bride and his children. He built Adam for this role (Eph. 5:22-32).
Sometime after Adam and Eve flourished in their roles, Satan approached Eve. He lied to her. He tempted her, and he did all of this while Adam sat with her. Adam did not step in to guard Eve, the woman. He did not exercise his dominion over the garden and those in it. He did not use his strength to defend. Instead, he sat passively while death entered his home through the action and decision of Eve (Gen. 3:1-7).
Many jokes have been told about Eve and her sin - making her the one to blame, but God did not come for Eve first when it was time to judge. Do you remember who God called out for when looking for the guilty party? He called out, “Adam, where are you?” ( see Gen. 3:9).
Do you see? God made and placed Adam. He gave him dominion, and with such came responsibility and accountability. Eve took the lead and Adam passively followed, but in the end God held Adam accountable because he was the head.
The church's inclination to select male leaders in the church (Acts 6:1-7) and the apostle's prohibition of women from holding authority in the church over men (1 Tim. 2:12) were not bigoted attempts to suppress women and preserve power. They were calls to men and women to step into the roles God designed them for.
If widows are being neglected men must not sit idly by and hope a women's ministry takes care of it. If the church needs a place to gather for worship, the burden and responsibility should not fall onto the shoulders of our ladies. If faithfulness to the gospel leads to fierce opposition it is not for the ladies to stand on the front lines and take the arrows. God calls and equips men to step into the needed spaces and give themselves for the good of the women and children.
If authority is seen as the power and authorization to do whatever you please, then yes, reserving authority within the church for men may be seen as a power grab. A threat to women. But if stepping into authority means death to self in the service of others, women are honored and served by faithful men who do not shrink back from authority and responsibility.
This is exactly what we see in the gospel. Christ the chief shepherd and head of our church does not love us by handing over his authority and getting out of the way so that we might do what we please according to what is best in our own eyes. Instead, Jesus gently, lovingly, patiently, and sacrificially serves us until we grow up into a flourishing mature tree. We are His bride, and though He is our head - our authority - He washes us, strengthens us, purifies us, and beautifies us through His constant love and service.
Conclusion
The church knows many needs. Thankfully God provides his church with sufficient qualified and gifted elders to oversee and exercise authority for the good and benefit of His people. These elders are assisted by the office of deacon. Both the elders and deacons are examined, selected, and appointed by the church, and when they serve faithfully, the needs are met, the truth is proclaimed, prayer is not neglected, Jesus is seen and the church flourishes.
[1] The church from the very beginning understood Acts 6 in close connection with the office of deacon. For a defense of this claim check out “Deacons in the Post Apostolic Writings” by Biblical Eldership.
