Ordained Ministers in the New Testament

 Most Christian churches make clear distinctions between ordained ministers and lay Christians. It is impossible to find this in the New Testament.

In the Acts and the letters of Paul, we find many names of Christians with significant ministries, but what were their titles?

The eleven original apostles are named. In Acts chapter 1, Matthias was added to the list.
Later, Paul is identified as an apostle.

In Acts chapter 6, the first seven deacons were appointed. It is clear that they were ordained to be ministers of the Gospel.

They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. Acts 6:6 NIV

These seven men were supposed to “wait on tables” but that meant, in reality, that they were supposed to administer the finances and income redistribution for a rapidly growing mega church with thousands of members.

They were also powerful anointed preachers, but in Acts 6 Luke tells us what they did but does not give them ministry titles. Only in Acts 21, Philip is identified as an evangelist.

Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. Acts 21:8 NIV

What about other prominent ministers?
Luke, Mark, Titus, Priscilla and Aquila? What were their ministry titles, if any?

We see that Titus functioned with much greater responsibility and authority than most pastors of local congregations, yet he is not identified explicitly as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher.

Apollos was also a very prominent preacher, but he is only once referred to as a DIAKONOS, which can mean Deacon or a generic term used by Paul for a minister of the Gospel. Paul used the same word to refer to Phoebe in Romans 16:1.

But we are often told that a woman cannot occupy the office of Pastor or Teacher.

Why? Because no woman in the NT is identified as a Pastor or Teacher. But neither is any man in the NT designated as a Pastor or Teacher.

Yet Priscilla and Lydia functioned as important leaders. But they are not explicitly identified as ordained ministers. Neither are  Luke or Titus.

In the Gospels, the word DIAKONOS is used to refer to household servants, but in Paul’s letters, the same word refers to ministers of the Gospel.

In Romans 16:1-2 Paul refers to Phoebe as a DIAKONOS. Why would Paul use a grammatically masculine word to refer to a woman? The only reasonable explanation is that it was a ministry title, and that she was an ordained minister of the Gospel.