Is it possible for one who is married but without children to be ordained as a deacon, and also if they … must how old should the children be? ~ Joshua Mukusha
Two New Testament passages address deacons in the sense of official servants of the Lord’s church. “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3:8-13).
It appears certain from 1 Timothy 3:12 that a deacon must be married and have children. “There is no article in the Greek, ‘ruling children’; implying that he regarded the having children to rule as a qualification” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary). “This implies that he must be a man of family. … He must be a father with obedient children.” (People’s New Testament). After all, the passage in which 1 Timothy 3:12 appears is the only list of stated qualifications for those who would serve as deacons (adjacent to a list of qualifications for elders, 1 Timothy 3:1-7). Therefore, we must rely heavily on the qualifications to ascertain how the church ought to proceed in the appointment of deacons.
It is more difficult to address the relative minimum age of the children of candidates for appointment to be deacons. Though there necessarily is a degree of subjectivity as to the age of these children since no specific age respecting those children appears in the qualifications for deacons, the phrase “ruling their children” implies a sufficient age (whatever that is) that the children can be directed and responsive to that direction. The word for “ruling” means “to stand before, i.e. (in rank)” (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary.) I would not propose to dictate the age of children pertaining to those who may be considered for appointment as deacons, but I could see myself having an opinion (non-binding, of course) as to whether one’s children were too young to conform to the spirit of 1 Timothy 3:12 and the part of the passage respecting “first be proved.”
