Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 16 verses 1 and 2:
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon[a] of the church at Cenchreae, 2 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.
Phoebe was a deacon.
And Phoebe was also a woman.
That was hard for a lot of people to accept, so translators like those of the King James Version chose to replace "deacon" with the word "servant" instead. Now, in fairness, deacon does also mean servant; but it's telling how and where that was done. When the translators for KJV and most other translations are referring to men they use the term 'deacon', but when they refer to women they use the term "servant".
And it makes a big difference in the interpretation. With this in mind, go back and read the verses above using both terms. In the servant sense it implies Phoebe being a helper -- nice and necessary, but not having her own authority. But then go back and read it as deacon and combine it with the word "require" in verse 2. Now we see that Phoebe is a deacon with authority -- even authority over men.
Like I said, that was hard for a lot of people to accept. And it still is for many. But apparently it wasn't for Paul. Paul recognized Phoebe's gifts, her authority, and he called upon others to recognize them also.
And he still does. Paul's words in Romans are still calling us to recognize Phoebe's call as a deacon, and all the other women who have been called with her . . .
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow we will go back to Acts, chapters 20-23.
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