1 Timothy 3:8

Likewise must the deacons. — We possess scattered and at the same time casual notices of this lower order of deacons dating from the very first days of the faith. The order clearly sprang out of the needs of the rapidly increasing church. Some two years after the Ascension (A.D. 34-35) the seven deacons were appointed to assist the Apostles as almoners of the brethren; as the Church’s life developed, the functions of these primitive subordinate ecclesiastical officers were enlarged. The history of the career of Stephen and Philip supply ample evidence of this. Out of his first apostolic appointment in the year 34-35, no doubt, was developed that great inferior order in the Church, respecting which these definite rules and authoritative regulations were laid down by the Apostle Paul in his instructions to Timothy in the matter of church government and order. These primitive deacons were evidently assistants to and probably in many cases supplied the place of the presbyters. The great similarity of the directions of St. Paul respecting the qualifications to be looked for in both, implies this; still their original employment as administrators of the Church’s funds and distribution of her alms remained to them. We can trace the existence of the order through and beyond the Apostle’s time: —

Jerusalem

...

A.D.

34-35.

Original foundation of order by the Apostles at Jerusalem. Acts 4:1.

Corinth

...

A.D.

55.

1 Corinthians 12:28.

Rome

...

A.D.

58-9.

Romans 12:7.

Philippi

...

A.D.

63.

Philippians 1:1.

Ephesus

...

A.D.

66.

1 Timothy 3:8; 1 Timothy 3:13.

Asia Minor

...

A.D.

63-69

1 Peter 4:11.

...

A.D.

138-40

Justin Martyr. Apology, i. 65, “Those with us who are called deacons,” and Apology, i. 67.

Corinth. — Deacons apparently alluded to under ἀντιλήψεις — “helps” (1 Corinthians 12:28). See also 1 Timothy 3:5 of same chapter: διαιρέσεις διακονιῶν.

Rome. — είτε διακονίαν, ἐν, τῆ διακονία. Reference lost in English translation, “or ministry, (let us wait) on our ministering” (Romans 12:7).

Asia Minor. — εί τις διακονεῖ. Reference lost in English translation, “if any man minister” (1 Peter 4:11).

Thus in the first half of the second century we find the order regularly and apparently universally established, constituting an acknowledged part of the Christian system of ecclesiastical government. The scattered notices of the diaconate in the New Testament, dating almost from the Ascension — over a period exceeding thirty years — show us how, out of the needs of the Church, arose this subordinate order, which was rapidly developed as the Catholic Church increased. The differences between the deacon of the Pastoral Epistles, and the deacon of the writings of Justin Martyr, are exactly what we should expect would result from the seventy years of gradual but progressive organisation under men like St. John and his disciples and the immediate successors of the Apostles.

Be grave. — St. Paul again repeats the need for this feature of character being found in the lower order of ecclesiastical officers. The reverent decorum, the quiet gravity, which never interferes with the innocent, childlike happiness (see Note on 1 Timothy 3:4), is especially to be looked for in a deacon, who ought to show an example of every-day Christian life.

Not doubletongued. — Bengel well paraphrases it, ad alios alia loquentes. The deacon would have in his duties connected with the administration of the Church’s alms, and also in his more directly spiritual work, much opportunity of meeting with and talking to the various families of the flock of his Master. He must be watchful, in these visits, of his words, not suiting them to the occasion, and then unsaying in one house what he had affirmed in another. Such a grave fault — not an uncommon one — would, in the long run, deeply injure his influence abroad, and would inflict a deadly wound on his own spiritual life.

Not given to much wine. — The professed minister — the advocate for the cause of the poor and needy — must show an example of the strictest sobriety, must be pointed at as one caring little for the pleasures of the table. How well and nobly the young lieutenant of St. Paul aimed at showing in himself a self-denying example to the flock, we see from 1 Timothy 5:23, when the old master deemed it requisite to warn his earnest, brave disciple from an asceticism which was positively weakening his power of work and endurance.

Not greedy of filthy lucre. — Those entrusted with the care of the Church’s alms surely must be especially careful of their reputation in the matter of covetousness — among the “chosen” of Timothy there must be no Judas.