Does 1 Timothy 3:11 give the qualifications for women elders(aka overseers or pastors) and deacons? Or just women deacons? Or just the wives of deacons?

The KJV translates 1 Timothy 3:11 as “Even so must THEIR WIVES be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” But the NASB translates it as “WOMEN must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.”   So, which is right?

The original Greek language that the Bible was written in does not have a word for wife.  1 Timothy 3:11 uses the word “gunaikas” which is the plural form of “gune” which means woman.  So “women” could be a correct translation depending on the context.

So lets look at 1 Timothy 3:8-12 in the KJV within its larger context:

“8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.  10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. 11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”

The argument that gunaikas in 1 Timothy 3:11 refers to women pastors falls apart quickly unless you want to argue that women pastors don’t need to be “apt to teach” – which is missing from the qualifications of these women. Also, the argument that gunaikas refers to female deacons also falls apart because there is no marital qualifications for these women like there is for both male pastors (vs 2) and male deacons (vs 12).

A person’s marriage history was so important to God that not just church officers, but even widows who were taken into the care of the church had to be “the wife of one man” (1 Tim 5:9) – not divorced.

Because 1 Timothy 3:11 is missing any reference to the ability to teach we know it is not referring to women pastors.  And we also know it is not even referring to women pastors or deacons because it lacks qualifications regarding their marital history.  

Once we eliminate women pastors and women deacons as the women 1 Timothy 3:11 is referring to – we are left with only one possible group of women that it refers to.

The wives of deacons.