Once more, Scripture clearly defines the matter of who can hold church offices: godly men: 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Corinthians 14:34, and 1 Timothy 2:12.
There is no support in Scripture for female church officers. Yes, in 1 Timothy 3:11, in the middle of teaching on church officers, Paul writes about certain women (gunaikas). And, yes, in Romans 16:1-2, Phoebe is called a deaconess or helper.
Neither of these passages give any warrant for ordaining women as church office holders.
In 1 Timothy 3, if Paul was referring to women deacons, it would be reasonable to assume he would have concluded his list of the qualifications for men deacons prior to discussing this so-assumed new office of female deacons in 1 Timothy 3:11. Yet, from Scripture we clearly see Paul further speaking in the next two verses of the qualifications of the men. In 1 Timothy 3:11, the women mentioned are the wives of the church officers, the wives of deacons and bishops (elders), aiding their husbands in their office, said women must having behaviors that are exemplary if they are to be aids to their husbands that are deacons and bishops (elders).
In Romans 16:1-2, Phoebe is described as diakonon, that is servant. There is no doubt and no argument that there were deaconesses in the early church. These women held no church office, were not ordained, rather these women served as an order of helpers, per 1 Timothy 5:3-16, performing functions such as ministering to the needy, the poor, or visiting the sick.
Both men and women are of equal value, made in the image of God. Neither is ontologically greater than the other. That said, the matter here is the natural structure of authority God has decreed in accordance with His good, perfect, and pleasing (to the redeemed) will. Scripture teaches that in marriage, the wife is to be subject to her husband, exhorted to seek out activities related to home and family, and to remain silent in the assembly of the church. We also find didactic teachings in Scripture, including qualification lists for those who are in authority, excluding women. Given all that we in front of us from Scripture, how can anyone argue that a woman, who is to be subject to her husband’s authority, can be lawfully ordained to any church office and thereby have authority over him? As I have stated earlier, such things are acts of rebellion against God.
AMR