From: Carlton L. Winbery (winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net)
Date: Tue Jul 09 1996 - 10:45:57 EDT
Graeme Codrington wrote;
>
>I am a second year seminary student, battling through two things - Greek
>and Systematic Theology. I hope I am not going over any old ground here -
>forgive me if I am.
>
>My request is simple. The reference to Phoebe as a DIAKONON (masc. sing)
>in Rom. 16:1 would seem to indicate that DIAKONON was a technical title
>for a position in the early church. It should thus be translated "deacon"
>and not "servant". However, DIAKONON is a second declension noun, which
>takes masculine endings in the feminine. Would this indicate that
>"servant" is the better translation?
>
>I hope we can avoid the obvious theoloigcal debate and stick to what this
>partcular sentence is saying.
>
Perry and Eric called attention to the use of the word in a technical sense
in the letter of Pliny to Trajan. This shows that women surely occupied
the office early in the second century. The context of Romans 16 is
important here. Help is asked for her should she need it and the reason
given is that that she has become a helper for many others. The word for
helper is PROSTATIS, a guardian, a protectress, a patroness. She seems to
have rendered significant service in an official capacity in Cenchrea. I
would say that if the word DIAKONON is not the office, we probably do not
have the office in the NT.
Carlton L. Winbery
Prof. Religion
LA College, Pineville, La
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
winbery@andria.lacollege.edu
winbrow@aol.com
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