My USB interlinear Greek is quite clear that in a passage on deacons, 1 Tim 3:11 refers to "deaconesses." These are tough translational issues, for sure. But considering Phoebe is called a "deacon" In Romans 16:1:
"Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν, οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,"
it gives much credence to the fact that Paul was talking about all people who SERVE in the church. Which is what diakonos (διάκονον) means - men or women.
The Message actually puts it the best. Sorry if you don't like this translation.
"The same goes for those who want to be servants in the church: serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it. They must be reverent before the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on. No exceptions are to be made for women—same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overfond of wine. Servants in the church are to be committed to their spouses, attentive to their own children, and diligent in looking after their own affairs. Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith." 1 Tim. 3:14-16
The whole chapter is on leadership. So read it in context!
And the context includes the culture. Paul is not talking to us, but to Timothy in the 1st century church. While there are universal principles, please remember that Paul was writing a letter to a specific person, within the context of a specific situation. However, I think when you remember grammar and rules of Greek, this passage really supports women in leadership.
As for 1 Cor. 14, and the command for women to keep silent in the church, this directly contradicts Paul's instructions only 2 chapters before that woman are to pray or prophesy with their heads covered. We know the dress code is cultural, so women are ALLOWED to speak in the church if they adhere to the dress code.
Punctation and Greek syntax are very important in verses 33 and 34. Because all of the early Greek manuscripts had no punctuation marks, does the "As in all the congregations of the saints, belong to verse 33 or verse 34? Well, it is up to the bias of the translator.
"For God is not a God of confusion but of peace,as in all the churches of the saints."
OR
"As in all the churches of the saints, [SUP]34 [/SUP]the women should keep silent in the churches."
It is interesting that the part about "all the churches of the saints is contained in verse 33, and the instructions to women continue in verse 34. So King James, with a definite bias against women, along with his male translators, put the period in the wrong place. And many versions after KJ.
As for the supposed contradiction with Paul's writings in 1 Cor. 12, the structure of the passage is vital to understand. Paul blended particularization and chiasm. Paul makes a general statement placing it at the beginning (A v 26), the middle (D v 33) and the end of the passage (A' v 40) The main idea was that since God is a God of order, all should participate in Christian worship in an orderly and edifying way.
Paul then proceeds to illustrate the principle by examples of those who speak tongues in the church, and the women of the church.
So a chiasm looks like this.
A
B
C
D
C'
B'
A'
The main idea is found in the middle. So verse 33 says "For God is not a God of confusion, as in all the churches of the saints." That is the main idea! The use of chiasm is very foreign to our English minds, but used all the time in both Greek and Hebrew. Once I learned the idea, I found it all over the Psalms and in the New Testament.
Further, there is a little word in Greek, which appears 49 times in 1 Corinthians. It is the word ἢ which Paul uses in various ways as an emotional rebuttal, to "express disapproval of existing situations". The closest equivalent in English would be "What?" or "Nonsense!" or "No way!" That is what Paul meant if he put it at the beginning of a question. He also used it if he was quoting a slogan of the Corinthian believers which he disagreed with.
So getting back to the chiasm, the first A, B, C are Paul correcting chaos, which these formerly pagan believers have brought into the church. C', B', and A' are the second half, where Paul prohibits prohibitions, correcting those who would silence the women outright! So these verses, if properly read with quotations, because Paul is likely quoting those who would silence women, are to be a protection from all those who would restrict or totally do away with the freedom for all to minister.
Poor Paul, it was all so clear in Greek, and English and English traditions muddled it to death and made it say the opposite!!
As for 1 Cor. 14:26, the word "brothers" in Greek is adephoi (ἀδελφοί). In Greek plural, the male INCLUDES the female. Actually, it was the same in English until recently, when the politically correct feminist movement decided that women being included in the male was not good enough, and our rules of grammar changed. But Koine Greek does not change, and even my ESV always, which is very complementarian, always includes notes that the male plural includes the female plural.
