Someone inquired whether it is permissible to appoint as deacons men who do not have children. The sole list of qualifications for those who may be considered for appointment as deacons appears in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Everyone who reveres God and submits to His authority will make every effort to abide by what God stipulated in the Bible on any and about every subject. Anyone who does not revere God and refuses to submit to His authority need not bother visiting Scripture regarding any topic, because he or she is unconcerned about doing what God decreed or in the way God may have commanded; such a person will do what he or she desires, despite God and His Word.
First Timothy 3:12 answers the question as to whether candidates for appointment as deacons must have children. “Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well” (NKJV). This verse requires that a man being considered for appointment as a deacon to be married to “one wife.” He is not a polygamist. There is no less of a stipulation or an exceptive clause in the verse to excuse him from also having children. If the verse is authoritative, and it is, the deacon must be a married man with children. The likely reason is the same as to why God expects candidates for appointment to be elders to have children: “for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Timothy 3:5). Elders as well as deacons need the experience of managing their own families to prepare them to manage the local family of God.
