Two further qualities of deacons are mentioned, involving the deacons’ relationship with their families. These qualities have already been mentioned in relation to bishops; see 3.2 and 3.4. If a translation has “female church helpers” in the previous verse, verse 12 should have the equivalent of “male church helpers (or, male deacons).”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .