Wives of Deacons 1 Timothy 3:11

As Paul the apostle continued to give instructions to Timothy his “son in the faith” concerning deacons in the church, he told him they must “first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.” In chapter three and verse eleven, Paul adds qualifications which are required of the “wives” of deacons where we read:

Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

The verse begins, “Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers,...” Paul began this verse with the words, “Even so” which means “likewise or in the same manner” and goes on to add four requirements for deacons' wives. He wrote, “must their wives” which refers to women who are married to deacons at any age “be grave” or “august, venerable, reverend, venerated for character, honorable in words and deeds” “not slanderers” which refers to people who are “prone to slander, slanderous, false accusers and calumniators”. Paul knew deacons' wives who were irreverent, dishonorable, and prone to falsely accuse others in the church were going to bring a reproach not only upon the deacon himself, but also upon the church as well.

The verse continues, “...sober, faithful in all things.” Paul continued his list of requirements for deacons' wives with “sober” or “temperate, abstaining from wine, either entirely or at least from its immoderate use, of things free from all wine, as vessels and offerings”, and “faithful” which means “one who kept his plighted faith, worthy of trust and one that can be relied on” “in all things” or “each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, everything both individually and collectively”. If a deacon's wife was known to be drunk, disorderly and unfaithful with things in her life, she would not only bring a reproach upon her husband, but upon the church in which he works.

As we think upon these words of Paul, it might be good to review the four characteristics which are to be found in the wives of deacons: First, she must be grave which means august, reverend and honorable. Second, she must not be a slanderer who is prone to speak falsely about people accuse them wrongly. Third, she must be sober which means not prone to getting inebriated, and Fourthly she must be faithful in everything she does both inside and outside the church. These four requirements are not only good for the wives of deacons, but they should be motivators for ourselves as well. The idea behind all of them is to not bring shame, reprimand and disgrace upon the church, and those who follow Jesus Christ should know that people who do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior are always watching their lives. If lack of gravity, slander, drunkenness and unfaithfulness are part of our lives, what kind of witnesses for Jesus Christ will we be? May the Lord bring us all to the truth of His word.

Next time Paul shares about deacons being the husband of one wife, their children and their home, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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