Acts 6:2

And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God and serve tables.

The twelve ... "shows that Matthias was one of the apostles, for it would take him to complete the list of the twelve."[5]

It is not fit that we should ... Many commentators read this as if it said, "It is not fit that we should CONTINUE to serve tables," assuming that until this incident the twelve had personally distributed the food to the needy; but such is not stated here, nor is it likely that the twelve had been doing such work, except perhaps, occasionally, volunteers, in all probability, having done the most of it.

Serve tables ... The word "serve" has the meaning of "minister to," and is rendered from the Greek word [@diakonia], a derivative from [@diakonos], the latter term being rendered "by three English words in our version: MINISTER; SERVANT, and DEACON."[6] It is upon this rather precarious basis that the men here appointed are often called "deacons." Significantly, the record here does not so name them, nor is there very much similarity between their status and that of the deacons Paul commanded Timothy to appoint. The men here were not assistants to elders of the church, but to the Twelve; and, furthermore, they were endowed by a laying on of the hands of the apostles. Perhaps the best name for them is the Seven, as Luke himself called them (Acts 21:8).

[5] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on Acts (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1953, p. 95.

[6] Ibid.