Doctrine of Deacons
As the Early Church grew, various functions were identified and given names. Those named functions were later re-defined to support a growing idea that Selected Saints were ‘Ordained’ into an Authoritarian Structure. We will consider how the word ‘Deacon’ was used to support such thinking.
©Bill Hillebrenner & Rich Traver, May, 2011 [ DD ] www.goldensheaves.org
The New Testament was written in Greek. The word deacon used in the King James translation of the bible (KJV) is not a true translation of the Greek. It is a tran“sliteration -- taking a word from one language into another as it sounds without translation“. (Elohim is an example of Hebrew to English transliteration. The translation of Elohim (a Hebrew plural word) in the KJV is God or Gods.) The Greek word “deakonos” (Strong’s Concordance #1249) in the KJV is transliterated deacon only five times *. It is correctly translated “servant” three or more times. Servant is actually the most accurate translation. It is translated as “minister” over a dozen times.
But, the word ‘minister’ in our time conveys a different meaning than did ‘deaconos’ in the first century.
What Does ‘Deacon’ Mean?
Read the rest here.
