Does the Bible Support Deaconesses?

The Greek word in 1 Tim 3:11 γυναῖκας (gunaikos) can mean either "women" or "wives" depending on context. For instance, in 1 Timothy 2:9, we read, "...likewise also that women (γυναῖκας) should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire." It is up to the reader to understand whether "wife" or "woman" is implied. So, when Bible translations differ, they are revealing an interpretation decision made by the translation committee. 

Admittedly, this is a difficult issue to be definitive on, and there are very good arguments on both sides. Nevertheless, I am inclined to see the arguments in favor of female deacons (deaconessess) to be more persuasive. Briefly, here they are: 

1. The possessive pronoun "their" in the ESV, KJV and other similar translations, as in, "Their wives likewise must be dignified," doesn't actually exist in the original Greek. Translated woodenly, the sentence reads: "Women/wives likewise dignified." Paul often ellides certain words, assuming you the reader will fill in what is obvious. The translators of the ESV and KJV have supplied the possessive pronoun "their" because they think it is what Paul intended. But it is just as likely--I would argue more likely--that Paul didn't intend that.
   
   
2. The word "likewise" in 1 Tim 3:11 makes a comparison with the office of deacon that was just described in 1 Tim 3:8-10, just as it was used in 1 Tim 3:8, "Deacons likewise must be dignified..." There Paul was comparing the office of male-deacons to that of the office of elders. Just as elders are an office in the church that require qualifications, likewise, deacons are an office that require qualifications. But because Paul again uses "likewise" in verse 11 it seems to imply that just as an office was introduced with the "likewise" in 1 Tim 3:8, so too another office (female-deacons) is being introduced in 1 Tim 3:11. 
   
   
3. If verse 11 is introducing qualifications for a deacon's wife, why are qualifications for an elder's wife not mentioned in 1 Tim 3:1-7? The office of elder certainly carries more consequences than the office of a deacon, so it seems odd for there to be a more stringent qualification for deacons than for elders. Some claim that the wives of deacons serve as assistants to their husbands as they perform their diaconal work, therefore they need qualifications. But Tom Schreiner helpfully explains, "That is a very interesting argument, but it begins to sound like the wives are deacons along with their husbands since they serve as their husbands do and the wives must meet the same kind of character qualifications as their husbands. Instead of solving the problem for those who don’t think women are deacons, it makes it worse."
   
   
4. In Romans 16:1-2, we are told of Phoebe who is described as a "a servant of the church at Cenchreae." The word for "servant" in Greek is just the word διάκονος (diakonos), the same word for "deacon."
   
   
5. The moral qualifications for elders and male-deacons and female-deacons (or deacons' wives) are very similar. Both male and female deacons must be "worthy of respect" (1 Tim 3:8, 11) and elders must be "respectable" (1 Tim 3:2). Both elders and female-deacons must be "sober-minded" (1 Tim 3:2, 11). Female-deacons must also be "faithful in all things" and "not slanderers," which corresponds with male-deacons' requirement of being "not double-tongued" and "blameless" (1 Tim 3:10).
   
   
6. Most people who are hesitant to affirm female-deacons do so out of a desire to honor Paul's teaching in 1 Tim 2:11-12, where Paul forbids women from teaching or exercising authority over men in the church. However, teaching and exercising authority in the church are exclusivley restricted to the office of elders (1 Tim 3:1-7). Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians commanded to submit to deacons, thus this concern is never materialized when deacons are functioning Biblically (i.e. not acting like elders).
   
   
7. Proponents of the deacons' wives position point out the awkward structure of the paragraph: 3:8-10, qualifications for male deacons; 3:11, qualifications for female deacons; 3:12, qualifications for male deacons. It makes much more sense, they argue, for Paul to not interrupt his thought by presenting a new office of female-deacons, only to then return to male-deacons in verse 12. This is a good point, but even according to their own position, Paul interrupts his explanations of the qualifications for a deacon by inserting the qualifications of a deacon's wife! Either way, Paul's structure seems jumbled.