"So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them."
Nowhere does all the disciples = whole congregation.
From the HCSB...
Then the Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, "It would not be right for us to give up preaching about God to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, (C) full of the Spirit (D) and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the preaching ministry." 5 The proposal pleased the whole company.
(of what? of the disciples)
"In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews [a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together..."
I guess the disciples who were increasing were only men and not women.
And I guess the widows were not among the disciples who were increasing in number.
And I guess the NT use of adelphoi, "brothers," excludes women from the NT church.
Since 1 Timothy doesn't allow for a woman to exercise authority over a man (which is the case if the fate of who leads the church is left in their hands, I believe those who chose the 7 were men.
Strawman.
I never claimed the church didn't consist of both men and women.
According to many translators...and in context, yes.
You never did answer.... you believe 5000+ people voted on 7 people to wait tables and serve the widows?
That's not what I was referring to. I'm referring to "...whole company of the disciples..."
Men are excluded from voting,too. We're an elder led church, remember?
Yes. Is singing leading in your church :confused:
Are you looking for names? :) KJV, HCSB, LITV, ASV, etc...
You compare voting for the leader of the free world...to who will wait the Grecian widows' tables :laugh:
Scripture makes perfect sense to me. 5000+ people voting on 7 people to wait tables of widows does not.
"Whole company OF..." is speaking of a sublet of the whole (a group within a group)...not the whole.
It depends on the occasion. Selecting leadership would assume some leadership responsibility.
Non sequiter. We are not discussing the many applications of adelphos.
I have problem with 5000 people voting for waiters. It defies logic, and would make no sense coming from the apostles. If it was such a monumental task of great importance...why didn't they just do it?