1:1
Ok, I guess I can’t go to the bible part or else I lose all that I have written. So, I will go to the Bible part first, copy, and then come back and paste. I will make sure I don’t leave this page until I am done writing everything I want to.
1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Hannah just sent me an email saying I can open a new window for the bible part.
Bishop is interchangable with elders. I had a discussion this past week among some fellow Texas pastors about the term elder. Does it have anything to do with physical age? Would we appoint a 15 year old pastor (elder)? Were all the apostles young? Nothing in Scripture indicates any age of the apostles. Wasn’t Timothy young? It was 17 years after timothy joined the apostolic team when he was exhorted to have no one look down on his youthfulness! So, he had to be at least in his 30′s when Paul encouraged him to be careful of ones looking down on his “youth”. So, what was considered youth in regard to leadership?
The term Elder undoubtedly comes from a Jewish heritage which would certainly refer to someone older in age. 1Pet. 5:5 – “you younger men likewise be subject to your elders” – it seems strained to say this verse is all about spiritual maturity (age) and not giving a plain meaning referrring to physical age.
The OT gave minimum age requirements for certain positions to serve in the temple. So, how old should an elder be? That question can not be answered, but I simply want to say that in the term elder it seems to contain a qualification for the office. This is radical, especially in GC circles. Don’t quote me on any of this – I could be labeled a heretic 
Ok, one thing I noticed about the church officers - there is no mention of deaconesses. Why is this? I don’t want to open a “can of worms” regarding whether women should be in church leadership or not, but I am simply saying if there was a place to make a case for deaconesses, I think this would be the place.
Richard Venable
Hannah Venable
Heidi
kristin
derek
mark
David V
karina
natalie
Carolyn Anne Venable
Dad, These are some good thoughts. I had to reply about the deaconess idea!
I am not a Greek scholar but from my understanding, the Greek word used there “diakonos” (according to Stong’s dictionary) can be masculine or feminine. Just like in Spanish, when you say “hermanos” this refers to siblings – brothers and sisters. So, here it could be referring to male and female deacons. Now, whether there were female deacons or not at Philippi, I don’t know.
But the same word “diakonos” is used for Phoebe in Romans 16:1. So it seems to not be a specifically male term.
Hannah
Hannah Venable
5 Oct 08 at 1:31 pm
Dad, if you have other thoughts about this, you should put them up as a comment under your post so everyone else can read them.
Hannah
Hannah Venable
5 Oct 08 at 1:32 pm
Thanks Hannah for the clarification on the greek word “diakonos” being gender neutral.
mark
6 Oct 08 at 6:24 am
Mark, you’re so funny! (I’m referring to the first part of your post.) I’m glad you got it all figured out.
karina
9 Oct 08 at 5:19 am