“Use the office of a deacon” or “Serve as deacons” 1 Timothy 3:10 et al.?

"And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless." (1 Timothy 3:10, KJV)

Some well-meaning critics of the institutional church allege that the KJV translators employed High Church jargon to render διακονειτωσαν as “use the office of a deacon” rather than “serve as deacons” in order to promote the institutional hierarchy of the High Church. However, “office” simply means “work.” The Latin derivative, “officium,” means "service, duty, function, business” (Online Etymological Dictionary). The meaning of "office" as simply "work" still remains in the idiom "kind offices" (e.g. "I was served well by his kind offices”). Thus, to “use the office of a deacon” is to put on the responsibility of a deacon – i.e. serving, being a good role model, etc.

Read more articles from: The King James Version is Demonstrably Inerrant