These small group Bible studies of Acts 6 contain commentary, discussion questions, and practical application. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.
Acts 6 Bible Study Guide – Choosing Seven Deacons
I. Seven deacons chosen to serve (1-7)
Discussion Questions
• Who were the Hellenists?
• What was the daily distribution mentioned?
• What is the problem that comes up in this passage?
• Why might the Hellenists have been ignored in the distribution?
• What was the apostles’ solution?
• What kind of men were chosen? Why was it important to choose men of such high caliber even though this was not exactly a spiritual duty?
• What can we learn from this passage about how the church functions?
• What can we learn about the role of deacons? Was their role important, or was it a minor role? Why?
• What does their ordination show us about the importance of this role?
• What other Biblical passages talk about the role of the deacon?
• What can we see in verse 7 about the spread of the gospel?
• Does your church have deacons and elders? What is the role of each?
• What are some differences between this model in Acts 6 compared to the “mega-pastor” model?
• If you are not a deacon or elder, what is your role in the church?
Cross-References
1 Timothy 3:8-13 – Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
John 12:26 – If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. The Hellenists – These were Jewish Christians who spoke Greek. They were part of the diaspora of Jews living abroad who had come back to visit or live in Jerusalem. The Hellenists were generally born in areas heavily influenced by Greek and Roman culture and they themselves were also influenced by Greek culture and philosophy. Sometimes, these were looked down on by the more strict and conservative sects. While they were not wholly Greek or Roman, they were not always 100% pure in their Judaism either. Because of this, they had their own synagogues where they worshiped.
Many of the Hellenist Jews were some of the first to become believers. But it appears that even in the church they were being discriminated against. The complaint was that the Hellenist widows were being ignored in the daily distribution.
The church was not immune to the sin of partiality. Friction between Jews and Greeks (and in this case Hellenists) was common in the early church. Apostles often addressed these tensions in their epistles, including Galatians and James.
Galatians 3:28 – There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:14 – For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.
James 2:1 – My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Application – There is no room for partiality in the church. Ethnic and socioeconomic divisions are not biblical. In God’s kingdom, we have one body because we have one Lord and one faith.
Reflect – Is there any people group you have negative feelings or prejudice toward? Remember that Jesus gave His life for their salvation and we are called to love them as our brothers (1 John 4:8-9)
2. The daily distribution – We have seen in the first several chapters of Acts that the believers gave their money to a common pool. This was then used to disperse to the believers and to make sure that no one was in need (Acts 4:34-35). It seems that some of this money went towards a daily food allotment to feed all who needed it.
Here, we see some of the problems with this type of system. Sadly, sin was derailing it. In this case, it seems to be prejudice. Favoritism was shown toward some groups, and the result was others didn’t receive what they needed.
3. The apostles direct that seven upstanding men be chosen to help serve –
The issue was brought to the attention of the apostles. They wisely solve it. From their solution, we can learn several things about church, deacons, and elders,
A. The role of elders and deacons is different –
In this passage, we see many important truths about a healthy church. A healthy church has a plurality of leaders. However, the leaders are not all doing the same thing. The role of elders and deacons is different.
We see this truth in many areas of the Christian life. The role of parents and children is different. Parents are called to teach and train their kids, and kids are called to honor and obey their parents. This does not mean that parents are more valuable.
The role of husband and wife is different. The husband is called to be the head. He is supposed to lovingly serve and nurture his wife. He is to selflessly lead. She is to honor, respect, support, and follow her husband. This does not mean that husbands have greater worth than their wives. Both man and woman are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26) and have great worth in His sight.
A difference in function does not equal a difference in worth. The Bible clearly teaches complementarianism. That is the teaching that though people have equal worth in God’s sight, they do not always have the same role or function. These roles are complementarian, not clones.
The apostles correctly believe that their role is different from other members of the church.
Today, the Holy Spirit also gives different gifts and roles to different people (1 Corinthians 12:11, Ephesians 5:23-31).
Application – As we move forward in this passage, consider what role God has given you and whether you are fulfilling it or instead coveting someone else’s role.
B. The role of elders is primarily focused on spiritual duties of preaching and prayer –
Acts 6:2, 4 – And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
When you look at the qualifications of elders and deacons in 1 Timothy 3, the key difference is that elders are required to be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). That is because elders are the spiritual leaders of the church. At this point in church history, apostles were functioning in that role. They were to focus on preaching, teaching, and prayer. They rightly conclude that they should not stop these important roles to wait on tables. That does not demean waiting on tables. The physical care of widows was a very important job (1 Timothy 5) and they sowed their seriousness toward that job by appointing seven very godly men to do it.
A healthy church needs deacons and volunteers to help with many practical day-to-day issues so that the elders can focus on spiritually taking care of the sheep. Here are some spiritual duties an elder should focus on.
• Preaching
• Teaching
• Discipleship
• Counseling
• Evangelism
• Prayer
• Training and equipping people in any of the above
C. The role of deacons is primarily focused on physical duties within the church –
While the word “deacon” is not used in this passage, Acts 6 is a description of the type of work deacons are to do in the church. In this case, they were to take care of the needs of the widows while overseeing the daily distribution of food to the poor. A lot would go into that.
• Receiving donations
• Handling finances
• Purchasing ingredients and tools for cooking
• Cooking
• Distribution and serving
• Clean up
The deacons were not necessarily required to do all of these things themselves. Rather, they were in charge of overseeing these things to make sure they got done. Likely, many volunteers helped as well.
In today’s church, deacons are likewise tasked with handling physical day-to-day matters of the church. Their support is important so that the elders can focus on caring for the spiritual needs of the sheep. Here are some types of things deacons can and should be doing.
• Greeting and ushering
• Church upkeep and maintenance
• Visiting the sick
• Helping with communion
• Serving food
• Lawn care
• Administrative tasks
The list above is not exhaustive. There are many more things a deacon can help with. We should also note that while the roles of elders and deacons are different, there is a lot of overlap. Elders can help with physical things, and deacons can help with spiritual things. A deacon could preach, teach Sunday School, lead a Bible study, and lead prayer in church, etc. We will see in Acts 7 that Stephen, a deacon, preached an incredible Spirit-filled sermon. It was certainly not inferior to the sermons that Peter preached.
D. The leadership team should be supporting each other and going in the same direction, but not everyone is doing the same thing –
A healthy church leadership team is a lot like a basketball team. Every member of the team has the same goal: score more points than the opposition. Though they are working toward the same goal, each team member is not doing the same thing. Some are better defenders. Some are better passers. Some are tasked to shoot three-point shots. The coaches might forbid others on the team from even attempting a three-pointer. The point guard is the quick and shift field commander who manages the offense and sets up his teams to score. The heavy, taller players are in the center and never bring the ball up the floor themselves. If the center wanted the spotlight of bringing the ball up the floor, it would be ugly. At the same time, if the point guard wanted to play center and try to post up under the basket, it would be ugly. On a good team, each player knows his role. He knows his strengths and weaknesses. One player’s strengths cover another’s weaknesses. By working together in harmony, they can achieve far more than five lone rangers on the court trying to do their own thing and maximize their own glory.
Application – Are you on a team, perhaps at church, the office, or the home? Are you supporting your team members? Are you practicing good communication? How can you better support the others on the team and make them more successful at what they do? Come up with three things you can do to be a better teammate.
E. The qualification for deacons is also high –
Just because the deacons were not in charge of preaching and praying does not mean that the qualifications for deacons were low.
Acts 6:3 – Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
They were to be men of “good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” Paul also laid out the qualifications for deacons and they are almost identical to the criteria for elders (1 Timothy 3:8-13).
In addition, the deacons were publicly ordained.
Acts 6:6 – These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
The high qualifications and public ordaining show that the role of deacon was very important.
Therefore, those serving in physical ways in the church should not consider that their role is not important.
There is a lovely family from India serving in our local church. Every Sunday, they arrive early. The husband makes sure the seats are ready, materials are put out for distribution, and all the offering bags and ushering name tags are ready. On communion Sunday, he helps prepare those. While he is doing that, his wife is taking all of the Sunday School materials to their respective rooms. Their twelve-year-old son helps with those tasks.
While many people attending church never see their service, God sees. It is a vital service to the body that helps ensure everything is well-prepared and running smoothly.
The Lord sees every act of service that is done for Him, even if it is in secret.
Hebrews 6:10 – For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
F. A healthy church grows –
Acts 6:7 – And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
The church was healthy and it was growing quickly. A healthy and properly functioning leadership team is important to the foundational health and growth of a church. Division generally breeds discouragement, discontent, and tension. Divided churches often lead to decay and even the backsliding of some members.
However, a strong leadership team working together overflows unity, vision, and strength to the whole church.
It’s important for leadership to quickly identify problems and solve them before they grow and cause cracks to form. That is what we see happening in the early New Testament church. The apostles were wise leaders.
Proverbs 29:18 – Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
Application – Is your church healthy? Is anything hindering its growth? Besides prayer, is there anything you can do about it? How can you better support your church’s leadership team?
4. What is your role in the church?
Every person has a role in their local church.
Ephesians 4:11-14 – And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
The verse is clear. The saints are the ones doing the works of service. Every single believer is to be involved in using his or her own gifts to build God’s kingdom. There is more than enough work to go around. God has a job for you (Ephesians 2:10).
• It is not the responsibility of the pastor or leader to do all the work.
• It is not the responsibility of the pastor or leader to share the gospel with your friends and family.
• The saint’s role is not simply passively attending a church service and listening to a sermon.
• The work of the kingdom is “bottom-up” and not “top-down.”
• A healthy church consists of volunteers who are prepared by their leaders to do the job God has called them to do. That means sharing responsibility, sharing vision, and sharing the load.
Too many Christians show up late, sit in the back, listen to the sermon, and then leave right afterward. Some put money in the plate or say, “Good sermon.” Some are good listeners. But being a good listener is not enough.
I have been privileged to be part of a church where everyone is actively encouraged to serve. There are no paid staff. At one point, over 200 out of about 450 total attendees volunteered to serve in some capacity on a regular basis. It was a beautiful thing. And yet, it still fell short of the goal. The goal should be for 100% of believers to be participating in the works of service!
Is your church there? Are you there?
Application – How about you? Are you doing the works of service? Are you using your gifts in your local church? If not, you need to fix the situation. This Sunday, go up and ask what you can do to help or volunteer for a specific ministry.
If they say there is no need, tell them what you learned from this verse and ask them to really think about what you can do. Leaders of a church may say “no” the first time out of politeness so don’t stop there.
Whatever they give you to do, do with all your heart. Do not consider it is below you. Eventually as you serve, your special gifting will become apparent.
And once you start service, begin intentionally equipping others to train yourself out of a job! If you do this, then your ministry can continue long after you are gone.
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