Phoebe Was a Deacon, Not Just a Servant As we saw earlier, Paul begins greeting the Roman church with a specific commendation:   I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant [diakonos] of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. (Rom. 16:1–2) Though many interpret diakonos informally (e.g., a servant-hearted person), there are better reasons to believe that the word signals the formal position of deacon. First, the ending of the word is masculine, not feminine. This would have been an odd way for Paul to refer to a woman—unless, of course, he’s not describing her character but designating her office. Second, it is significant that Phoebe is called a diakonos of a specific church. Throughout the New Testament this term is often used in a general sense—and rightly translated “servant” or “minister”—since the person’s labo...

  DEACONESSES IN CHURCH HISTORY The presence of women deacons or deaconesses throughout Christian history has not been uniform, nor always even common. Nevertheless, they have always existed in the church, and so the practice cannot fairly be dismissed as a recent trend. Here is a historical sampling. Pliny the Younger, Governor of Bithynia, Letter to the Emperor Trajan (AD 111–113):   Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition. Clement of Alexandria (AD 150–215):   We are also aware of all the things that the noble Paul prescribed on the subject of female deacons in one of the two Epistles to Timothy. Origen of Alexandria (AD 184–253):   [Romans 16:1] teaches … two things: that there are … women deacons in the church, and that women, who have given assistance to so many people and who by their good works d...

  Jesus’ authority pervades Mark’s Gospel. He calls disciples to follow him (1:16–20), casts out demons with a word, declares that the paralytic is forgiven of his sins (2:1–12), identifies himself as the end-time bridegroom (2:19–20), claims to be the Lord of the Sabbath (2:23–28), says that those who do God’s will are part of his family (3:31–35), stills a storm with his words (4:35–41), sends others out to preach the kingdom (6:7–13), feeds crowds of five thousand and four thousand (6:30–44; 8:1–10), functions as the interpreter of the law (7:1–23), demands that people follow him (1:17; 2:14; 8:34; 10:21), warns that those who are ashamed of him and his words will be punished (8:38), teaches that children should be received in his name (9:37), cleanses the temple (11:15–17), identifies himself as the last and the most important of God’s messengers (12:1–12), triumphs in controversy with religious leaders (11:27–12:44), predicts the destruction of the temple (13:1–37), calls on ...

  Mark 7 v 21-23 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”  In his words, Jesus calls us to humbly admit that the biggest danger to each of us is not the sin that lurks outside us, but the iniquity that still resides in our hearts. Once you admit this, you begin to get excited about God’s grace in Jesus Christ. If your biggest problem lives outside of you, you don’t really need grace, you just need situational or relational change.  I understand why many people who call themselves Christians are not excited about grace. If you think your environment is your problem, you won’t esteem grace, but once you admit that you’re your biggest problem, you will celebrate the grace that rescues you ...

  Listen to the hard-to-hear words of Mark 7:20–23 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”  Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey guys, it’s very simple. The problem is, you live in this broken and evil world that isn’t functioning as I intended. It’s populated with sinful people who will seduce you into doing what’s wrong. So if you want to live a godly life, you have to determine to separate yourself from both.” But that’s how we tend to think. I’ve heard adulterous husbands say to me, “Paul, if you lived with my wife, you would understand why I did what I did.” I’ve heard adulterous women blame the seductive power of the man. I’ve heard parents of a pregnant teenager blame TV, YouTube, and ...

  The Deeper Problem     For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts,  sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice,  deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. MARK 7:21–22 Few words of Jesus were more blunt—and few were less likely to win Him the affection and praise of those who opposed him. They saw themselves as holy and pure, but Jesus cut through their veneer of “righteousness” to reveal the inner pride and evil that actually motivated them—and not only them, but every human being. Why, over twenty centuries later, is our world still filled with conflict and war, turmoil and insecurity? Jesus said the basic problem is in our hearts —and the reason is because we are alienated from our Creator. Instead of giving God His rightful place at the center of our lives, we have substituted the “god” of Self. Only Christ can change our hearts—and through us begin to change our world. Does this mean we can never make any prog...

  When Jesus had finished probing the hearts of the people with whom He came in contact, He said: “Out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21–22). Jesus taught that the human heart was far from God: darkened, unbelieving, blind, proud, rebellious, idolatrous, and stony. He taught that the human heart in its natural state is capable of any wickedness and any crime. A teenage boy was arrested in New York for having committed one of the most vicious murders of our time. His mother exclaimed, “But he is a good boy!” She had not stopped to realize that an unregenerate human heart is potentially capable of any crime. A certain poet has written: Quicken my conscience till it feels  The loathsomeness of sin. That is the reason why many of the peace treaties which have been signed in human history have not been kept and war has ensued....

  Men, Are You Submissive? TGC Link SEPTEMBER 30, 2021   |    MICHAEL J. KRUGER Submission. Of all the words in the Bible, this may be one of the least popular. After all, our cultural moment is not one that values a posture of submission to authorities. On the contrary, our world insists we should challenge and critique those over us. The classic bumper sticker captures it well: “Question Authority.” And if submission is already an unpopular concept, it only grows more unpopular in verses like  Ephesians 5:22 : “Wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord.” Indeed, this passage (and its counterpart in  1 Pet. 3:1 ) has been ground zero in the submission wars, both in our churches and the broader culture. But letting these verses take center stage can give the mistaken impression that the Bible teaches that only women submit. In reality, Scripture has a more comprehensive view. Everybody Submits to Somebody The Bible is clear that everybody submits ...