Report of the Committee on Women in Church Office
Submitted to the Fifty-fifth General Assembly (1988)
[Note: General Assembly reports (whether from a committee or its minority) are thoughtful treatises but they do not have the force of constitutional documents—the Westminster Standards or the Book of Church Order. They should not be construed as the official position of the OPC.]
- INTRODUCTION
- FOUNDATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
- The Regulative Principle
- The Nature of Woman as Created and Redeemed
- The Order of Authority and Subordination to Which Men and Women Are Subject
- WOMEN AND SPECIAL OFFICE
- The Nature of Ordination and Special Office
- The Office of Elder
- The Office of Deacon
- WOMEN AND GENERAL OFFICE
- Biblical Teaching on the Identity of Women
- Women in the Life of the Early Church
- CONCLUSION
- RECOMMENDATIONS
APPENDIX: WOMEN DEACONS? FOCUSING THE ISSUE
MINORITY REPORT
I. INTRODUCTION
A. History of the Committee
In response to an overture from the Presbytery of the Midwest the 51st General Assembly (1984) established a committee of three members (Messrs. Cottenden, Conn and Silva) "to consider the hermeneutical aspects of the debate over the role of women in ordained office and to report to the 52nd General Assembly with specific applications to this issue." This Committee presented a preliminary report which discussed some of the hermeneutical tensions involved in such a study and provided a series of hermeneutical guidelines. It quoted extensively from the 1978 report of a similar committee of the Christian Reformed Church.
The 52nd General Assembly (1985) recommitted the whole matter, including the preliminary report with its recommendations and the report of the advisory committee, to the Committee, which it enlarged by the addition of two members (Messrs. Gaffin and Knudsen). Two alternates (Messrs. Strimple and I. Davis) were elected. They became members shortly after the assembly due to the resignation of two of the original members (Messrs. Conn and Silva). The recommittal motion further instructed that "an exegesis of passages relevant to the debate over the role of women in ordained office be included in the Committee's report to the 53rd General Assembly." The Committee determined, in the light of this addition to the mandate, not to attempt another systematic treatment of hermeneutical principles. Rather, it sought to identify the texts of Scripture which appear to have the most bearing on the matter and to exegete them raising particular hermeneutical questions as they occurred.
The 53rd General Assembly (1986) continued the committee in order that it might complete the section of women and the diaconate. An alternate (Mr. Reynolds) was elected. He became a member shortly thereafter due to the resignation of Mr. Cottenden. The Committee did not complete the section on the diaconate, but decided to present the partial report which it had prepared for the 53rd General Assembly to the 54th General Assembly.
The 54th General Assembly (1987) recommitted the entire report with the recommendations of the advisory committee to revise and expand the report in order to present a completed report to the 55th General Assembly (1988).
B. The Present Report
The present report is restructured to include additions recommended by the advisory committee of the 54th General Assembly. The title has been changed to state the exact nature of the report. There is a new section on the Biblical idea of ordination (III,A.). Exegesis of 1 Timothy 2:15 has been added. The section on Priscilla and Aquila has been rewritten (IV,B.1.). The exhortation to sessions has been rewritten as a conclusion to the entire report.
Beyond these recommendations the Committee has included considerable church historical material (II,A.2.; III,A.3. & C.2.). The Committee also decided to begin the report with a section on hermeneutics, part of which is based on the work of the original committee (II,A.). Material has also been added to the section on the role of women in the N.T. (IV,B.3.).
II. FOUNDATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Care must be taken in applying sound hermeneutical principles to the subject of women and church office such that the church does not adopt extracanonical norms for Christian conduct and take patterns from modern society and use them to control the interpretation of Scripture. The Bible is God's complete and final revelation to man and in its light all disputes ought to be settled (WCF l:X.). In considering the question of women in office we need to be especially careful not to yield to the Zeitgeist of either feminism or male chauvinism which dominate our humanistic age.
A. The Regulative Principle
1. Historical background
It is one of the hallmarks of the Reformed church that it has developed a self-conscious hermeneutic especially in the area of church government and worship. This has variously been denoted as the "Regulative Principle," "The Puritan Principle" or "prescriptive principle."
The clear formulation of this principle as found in the Westminster Confession was the result of a century of controversy in England over the question of the extent of the Reformation in the area of ecclesiology: church government and worship. In fact the initial parliamentary mandate for the Westminster Assembly concerned only these matters.
It should be noted that the specific formulation of the regulative principle in the era of Church history was a specific application of the broader principle of sola scriptura or the sufficiency of Scripture as it is expressed in WCF I:VI. from the very outset of the Reformation.
By the time of the Reformation the British and Continental Reformers were forced to formulate a specific doctrine of the relationship between Scripture and tradition. "The Reformers did recognize a Christian tradition, but only a Christian tradition based on, and derived from, Scripture, and not one that equaled or surpassed it in authority." (Louis Berkhof, Introduction to Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979 [1932], p. 169).
In the areas of church government and worship, Luther, along with the Anglican Reformers, allowed practices not warranted by Scripture as long as they were not expressly prohibited, placing the onus probandi upon those who would oppose such unwarranted practices.
But it is with Calvin that the regulative principle begins to emerge explicitly. In government and worship Calvin demanded positive warrant from Scripture, and thus introduced what English Calvinists promoted as the jus divinum theory of church government (cf. William Cunningham, "The Reformers and the Regulative Principle," in The Reformation of the Church, pp. 38, 43).
In his treatise, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, written to be delivered at the Diet of Spires in 1543, Calvin makes his position quite clear (Selected Works: Tracts and Letters, Baker Reprint of Calvin Transl. Soc. ed. 1844): "I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by his Word" (p. 128; emphasis added). He goes on to quote 1 Sam. 15:22 and Matt. 15:9.
This view of the regulative principle held sway in Scottish Presbyterianism and traveled to America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In America the regulative principle came to clear expression in writers such as John Girardeau, a southern Presbyterian professor of the nineteenth century. In his treatise Instrumental Music In Public Worship (1888) he spends the first part of the book asserting and proving the Biblical authority for the regulative principle. "...A divine warrant is required for everything in the faith and practice of the church" (p. 23).
Girardeau divides his Scripture proof into "didactic statements" and "concrete instances." Under the former he lists: Numbers 15:39, 40; Exodus 25:40; Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:5, 6; Isaiah 8:20; Daniel 2:44; Matthew 15:6; 28:19, 20; Colossians 2:20-23; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 and Revelation 22:18, 19. Under concrete examples of the application of this teaching he cites: Cain and his offering (Gen. 4); the strange fire of Nadab and Abihu (Numb. 16); Moses' smiting the rock at Kadesh (Numb. 20); Saul's offering at Gilgal (1 Sam. 13); Uzza's mishandling of the ark (1 Chron. 13:7, 8; 15:11-15); King Uzziah's usurpation of the priesthood (2 Chron. 26:16-21); King Ahaz's usurpation of the priesthood (2 Chron. 28:3-5).
2. Church standards
The Westminster Standards are clear in setting forth the regulative principle with a full galaxy of proof texts. WCF I:VI; XX:II; XXI:I; LC Q. 3.
It should be noted that the word "worship" for the Puritan authors of the Confession often included matters of government and discipline. Hence in Ch. XX,II, "in matters of faith, or worship" is the limit of what may bind the Christian conscience. In Ch. I,VI, "the government of the church" is included under what must be "either expressly set forth in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture."
Our Form of Government is likewise clear in applying the regulative principle to government as well as worship along the lines of historical jus divinum Presbyterianism.
Chapter I -- Christ the King and Head of the Church
2. Jesus Christ, who rules in his church by his Word and Spirit.
3. Christ orders his church by the rule of his Word; the pattern of officers, ordinances, government, and discipline set forth in Scripture is therefore to be observed as the instruction of the Lord. Church government must conform to the scriptural pattern and follow the specific provisions revealed in the New Testament (p. 2; emphasis added).
Chapter III -- The Nature and Exercise of Church Power
3. All church power is only ministerial and declarative, for the Holy Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. No church judicatory may presume to bind the conscience by making laws on the basis of its own authority; all its decisions should be founded upon the Word of God (p. 6; emphasis added).
Girardeau sums up the regulative principle: "A divine warrant is necessary for every element of doctrine, government and worship in the church; that is, whatsoever in these spheres is not commanded in the Scriptures, either expressly or by good and necessary consequence from their statements is forbidden" (op. cit., p. 1).
3. The principle as it relates to the question of the ordination of women The answer to the question of whether or not women may be ordained to the New Testament offices of elder or deacon depends entirely upon the establishment of positive Scriptural warrant. Scripture and our confession require positive warrant by express statement or valid inference. The onus probandi rests upon those who would establish the practice of ordaining women. Thus the exegesis of relevant passages of Scripture is incumbent upon those who would answer such a question to the satisfaction of our church.
The care with which we consider the application of the regulative principle to this question should be enjoined upon us by the warning of Principal Cunningham: "When this general truth (i.e., the regulative principle) is denied, there is no limit that can be put to the introduction of the inventions of men into the government and worship of Christ's house" (Historical Theology, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 72).
B. The Nature of Woman as Created and Redeemed
1. The identity of woman by virtue of creation
a. The generic unity and the individuality of man and woman
The early chapters of Genesis speak of man and woman as a unity and also as individuals. As they relate the story of creation, they speak, on the one hand, generically. God created man, both male and female. With a slight change of focus, they speak, on the other hand, of man and woman individually.
These two perspectives are joined in a striking way. It is said that God created "man" (Gen. 1:27). God counsels with himself, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). This reference is to man generically; but immediately thereafter, as reference is made to man's rule over the creatures, the attention shifts to man distributively. God counsels with himself, "They shall rule ..." (Gen. 1:26). The same pattern occurs in the next two verses. "Man" is used generically, "And God created man ..." (Gen. 1:27); but this generic word "man" refers to both male and female, "male and female he created them." It is interesting that both the singular pronoun "him" (otho) and the plural "them" (otham) appear in this sentence. "Man" is used generically, including both male and female; but, with a slight shift of focus, male and female are considered individually and the plural is used. God's blessing is pronounced on male and female, "God blessed them and male and female are charged to fill the earth and to rule over it. Later, the man, Adam, is clearly distinguished from the woman, Eve. For instance, it is the woman, not the man, who first sins (1 Tim. 2:14).
The generic unity of man and woman is further indicated in that woman is taken out of man (Gen. 2:23). She is taken from man's side; she is fashioned from man's "rib" (Gen. 2:21, 22). God could have created man and woman separately and then brought them together. According to the record, he did not: he created man and then formed woman out of man. Eve is called woman, because she is taken out of man.
It has been ascertained that human beings have both masculine and feminine qualities. Whether one is male or female depends on the predominancy of one set of qualities over the other. There are rare cases where feminine characteristics predominate in one who has a male body, and vice versa. We regard such confusion as abnormal; but its possibility emphasizes the generic relatedness of male and female, who are both referred to in the generic term "man."
b. The complementarity of man and woman in their difference
In their unity, man and woman also differ, and in their difference they complement each other. This is brought out clearly in the Genesis account. The Lord says that it is not good for man to be alone and counsels with himself to make a "fitting helper for him" (Gen. 2:18). God brought the birds and the wild animals to man, to see what he would call them (Gen. 2:19). Adam gave names to the cattle, the birds, and the wild beasts; but, as the record says, "for Adam no fitting helper was found" (Gen. 2:20). We need not think that we are presented here with a series of experiments and failures. Our attention is focused on the inability of man to find in the lower creation anything with which he could identify in such a way as to fulfill his deep-seated need. It is only as woman is formed out of what has been taken from his side that Adam can name or identify one to whom he can relate in this satisfying way. In Adam's response there is a jubilation of recognition. He names or identifies her thus: "Then the man said, 'This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman, for from man was she taken' " (Gen. 2:23). In recognizing and naming Eve thus, Adam sets her apart from all the rest of creation.
The generic unity and complementarity of man and woman is sometimes explained in terms of the Androgyne theory. According to this theory, man and woman are originally one. They are then separated and after their separation are involved in a continual search until they find each other again. This theory indeed teaches the generic unity of man and woman. It thinks of the original man/woman unity, however, as a complete whole. It is only when the two parts are separated that they seek each other out to be reunited. The book of Genesis also teaches the generic unity of man and woman. But is speaks of Adam as seeking for something that will complement him, even before Eve has been taken out of his body. He has a need that only the formation of the woman will satisfy. When Eve is formed, the kind of creature with whom he can have satisfying fellowship has appeared on the scene, and he recognizes her and names her appropriately. Even though the Bible speaks of man generically, as male and female, it is clear that its teaching does not square with that of the Androgyne theory.
The Bible teaches that there is a diversity between man and woman, between male and female; but with this difference there is a unity. In his created estate, before woman was taken from his body, man needed woman. According to the Bible, male and female complement or "round out" each other. This cannot be understood simply in physiological terms; the unity-in-diversity of male and female must be understood in terms of what makes man man and the full individuality of man and woman.
c. The high standing of woman as the complement of man
The Genesis account ascribes to woman an exalted standing. As Adam names her, he recognizes something in her that clearly distinguishes her and sets her apart from the other creatures and that constitutes her a fitting helper for him. She has in common with these creatures and with the man, that she has been taken from the ground. Together with them she is an "earthling." Nevertheless, she has been taken out of man. She shares with Adam his having become a living being by virtue of God's breathing into him the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). When God counsels to make man in his image and likeness, he is also speaking of her. God also speaks of woman individually when he gives man and woman the place of dominion over the creation. It is she whom Adam recognizes as the one who can properly complement him.
The appropriateness of Eve did not reside simply in the fact that she could offer Adam "social" or even "spiritual" fellowship. There is an inner bond between the man and the woman that is expressed in Adam's excited declaration, "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23). What immediately follows is the description of the marriage bond that we call "the institution of marriage."
d. The complementarity of man and woman expressed in the marriage bond
It is difficult to escape the conclusion, that the complementarity of man and woman, which is an expression of a unity in their difference, is brought to quintessential expression in the marriage bond. The Bible strongly suggests that it is in marriage that the mutual complementation of man and woman comes to its fullest expression.
In this context, it is possible to understand why in the marriage relationship man and woman are said to become "one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). We rightly associate becoming one flesh with sexual union. The believer is forbidden to join himself with a harlot, because he thereby becomes "one flesh" with her (1 Cor. 6:16). Sexual union, however, cannot exhaust the meaning of "becoming one flesh." In view of the biblical teaching on the subject as a whole, it is better to think of sexual union as an integral part, but only as a part of becoming one flesh. The apostle Paul expresses the depth of the relationship when, as he speaks of the institution of marriage, he refers to a mystery and says that he is speaking of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32). The bond between man and woman in marriage is like that of Christ and the church.
2. The identity of woman in Christ
a. As Stephen B. Clark notes: "Nowadays many assume that Galatians 3:28 is the place in which we find the heart of scriptural teaching about the roles of men and women. Moreover, many interpret Galatians 3:28 to mean that ideally in Christ there are no role differences between men and women, an interpretation which opposes Galatians 3:28 to all the other texts which assert such a difference. According to this line of interpretation, this tension should be resolved by giving a preference to Galatians 3:28" (Man and Woman in Christ, p. 138).
A recent exponent of this approach is F. F. Bruce, who writes in his commentary on Galatians in The New International Greek Testament Commentary (p. 190): "...if a Gentile may exercise spiritual leadership in church as freely as a Jew, or a slave as freely as a citizen, why not a woman as freely as a man? Paul states the basic principle here; if restrictions on it are found elsewhere in the Pauline corpus as in 1 Corinthians 14:34ff. or 1 Timothy 2:11ff. they are to be understood in relation to Galatians 3:28, and not vice versa."
It is your Committee's judgment that the context in which this verse appears supports Clark's conclusion as the more accurate one (pp. 138-9):
While Galatians 3:28 does provide a helpful perspective on men's and women's role in the New Testament, it is hardly the locus classicus on men's and women's roles. It does not even properly qualify as a key text since it does not explicitly address the subject of the roles of men and women ... For a key statement on men's and women's roles, one should look at the passages on personal relationships and social order that are directly concerned with the matter.
b. The fact is that there seems to be general agreement among those appealing to Galatians 3:28 in the current discussions as to Paul's basic teaching in this text. There are certainly differences of opinion regarding the precise force of the apostle's references to the law (verses 21, 23, 24), the pedagogue (24, 25), baptism (27), et al.: but it must be clear to all that these closing verses of chapter 3 are part of his impassioned argument for the gospel of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, a promise which the addition of the Law four hundred and thirty years later could not nullify. The same Scripture that reveals that all are sinners announces the good news that salvation is promised to all who believe, whatever their race, social status, or sex.
The basic thrust of verse 28 is expressed in various ways in the recent literature, but there is essential agreement that it speaks of the oneness of male and female as beneficiaries of God's grace in Christ. Everyone who believes, without distinction is God's child and an heir to the promises of the covenant made with Abraham.
c. Since the theme of the rest of the epistle focuses on the distinction between Jew and Gentile, it has been asked why Paul here adds the contrasting pairs slave/free and male/female. And it has become common to suggest that he is consciously rejecting the Jewish thanksgiving of his time that God had not created him a Gentile, a slave or a woman. The earliest written source for such a Jewish prayer seems to be the second century A.D., but the maxim is found earlier among the Greeks; and it is assumed that such a prayer was part of Paul's Jewish training.
The basis for such a thanksgiving was not disparagement of Gentiles, slaves, or women as such but rather recognition of the fact that significant religious privileges and responsibilities were open only to free Jewish males. Woman, proselytes, and slaves were not fully responsible members of the worshiping community. Women did not have equal access to God's presence with men. They were allowed only as far as the Court of Women.
It may be that Paul was aware of such a Jewish prayer and that a recognition of this fact can deepen our appreciation of his affirmation that believing Gentiles, slaves and women are all full and equal members of Christ's body; but it is not at all clear how a recognition of a possible allusion to such a prayer necessitates the conclusion that Galatians 3:28 requires a denial of all role differentiation in the church.
d. Another popular suggestion is that Galatians 3:28, like I Corinthians 12:13 and Colossians 3:11 (and Rom. 10:12), represents an early Christian baptismal formula. Again, this may be the case. Baptism is certainly prominent in all these contexts. And in such a setting the reference to sex would take on special significance since the Old Covenant sign (circumcision) was applied to males only. But again this would underscore the soteriological thrust of Galatians 3:28. "The woman ... comes into the covenant relation of God's people through her own faith and baptism, and is fully part of the covenant relationship with God" (Clark, p. 141).
e. Attention is often called to the change in construction when Paul states the third pair in Galatians 3:28. After the two references to ouk eni...oude, Paul adds ouk eni...kai. The most likely suggestion is that Paul is here influenced by the LXX rendering of Genesis 1:27 (arsen kai thelu epoiesen autois - cf. Mark 10:6), but more by way of natural reminiscence than purposeful allusion. Bruce points out (p. 189) that the "slight change of construction" makes "no substantial change in meaning."
f. Certainly it would be a mistake to imagine that Paul is suggesting that in Christ the original created male-female relationship is negated. Redemption does not destroy but rather renews creation. Redemption does not destroy the creation ordinances of God. Contemporary rhetoric often seems to obscure this, however. Howard Keir, for example, writes that: "Paul states unequivocally that for those 'in Christ' natural distinctions no longer exist ... the old Adam has been manifestly dissolved in Christ and the new humanity, free from distinctions of the old world, takes its place" (Evangelical Quarterly, LV [1983], 31). Whether Keir is calling for some new androgynous order in the church is not made clear.
g. Actually the evidence that the apostle is employing the "New you are all one (New Man?) in Christ Adam" imagery when he says here that Jesus" is not totally compelling. Appeal can be made to the echo of Genesis 1:27 in "male and female." Appeal is also made to Genesis 2:24 as the background of "you are all one" in Galatians 3:28 (though Paul does not follow the LXX "sarka mian"). And the strongest argument perhaps is the fact that in the similar text, Colossians 3:10, reference to renewal in the image of the One who created the first Adam is clear. But, again, renewal in the Second Adam is just that -- renewal, not destruction, of the created order.
h. As we shall stress again below (c.2.), Galatians 3:28 certainly does have social implications regarding the interrelations of men and women. It should be evident, however, to those who affirm the absolute authority of the whole Bible as our rule of faith and life that our own conclusion regarding such "implications" must not be allowed to set aside the clear teaching of the Scripture when it addresses such a question as the qualifications for special offices in the church, but rather our fallible and unauthoritative conclusions must be judged and revised in the light of Scripture. But for many contemporary Christians there's the rub. "It is a fairly common assumption in current interpretation that unity and equality in Christ, coram Deo, if consistently understood, implies both functional interchangeability in all social groups, including the Church, and strictly egalitarian, non-hierarchical patterns of authority" (John Jefferson Davis, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 19 [1976], 7).
There are in general three possible answers to the question of how the texts we will consider under II,B. & C. relate to the teaching of Galatians 3:28 regarding the positions of men and women in the church.
(1) The teaching of these other texts contradicts the teaching of Galatians 3:28, and so a choice has to be made as to which is truly Christian, truly in line with the gospel of Christ; and the choice obviously must be for Galatians 3:28. In its bald form (Paul was correct in Galatians 3:28; Paul was wrong in those other texts) this view may appeal to few. But with certain refinements in the interest of preserving respect for Paul as a teacher, this view is very popular today. Krister Stendahl speaks in the same sentence (The Bible and the Role of Women, p. 35) both of Paul's understandably gradual transcendence of "the inherited fundamental view" and of the special "circumstances at Corinth" (see option 2 below). Howard Keir suggests that in 1 Corinthians 11:13-17 "the argument ... is tortuous to say the least and uncharacteristically Pauline;" and therefore may well be an interpolation (p. 33 of work cited above). In dealing with the Corinthian text, William Klassen can speak of the way Paul accommodates or compromises the freedom he had spelled out so clearly in Galatians 3:28 when writing to a church which "found this freedom too threatening." But regarding 1 Timothy 2:9-15 Klassen concludes:
The whole of this section has to be rejected as so blatantly contradicting Paul's clear teaching ... that it cannot be seen as normative for early Christianity. To argue on the basis of God's creative sequence for the submissive role of women is out of character for Paul ... We have, therefore, no other option but to treat 1 Timothy 2:9-15 as the work of someone in the early church who could not come to terms with the freedom of Jesus and Paul on this matter ... It is hard to measure the damage it has done in the history of the church. Responsible exegesis demands that we come to terms with it" (From Jesus to Paul, ed. by Peter Richardson and John C. Hurd, pp. 203, 204).
Though they differ among themselves as to how they do it, all such views may be seen as various ways to "come to terms with" the perceived contradiction between Galatians 3:28 and these other texts.
(2) Perhaps this second "answer" to the relationship between Galatians 3:28 and the texts dealing explicitly with women in the church situation should be considered but another variety of answer (1). (The fact that a writer like Stendahl combines both answers points in that direction.) But here the exegetes do not speak at all of contradiction but rather of a basic harmony. The harmony, however, is achieved by asserting that the women-in-the-church texts are all so conditioned by the culture and the time that they are no longer normative. Keir says that 1 Corinthians 14:34 addressed "clearly a local problem" (Keir, p. 38). Osborne says that the teaching of 1 Timothy 2:8-15 is based on the implications of women teaching men in the first century. Since those implications are not present in our time, the teaching is no longer authoritative (Grant Osborne, "Hermeneutics and Women in the Church," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 20 (1977), 337-352). F. F. Bruce seems to suggest a similar approach, though his comment is very brief.
We will examine the "culturally-conditioned, therefore not normative" interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15 (below III,B1.) and reject it. In an interesting article in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly CXXXI (1969), 50-58, Madeleine Boucher insists that to a first-century Jewish mind like Paul's, there was no tension between two apparently different views of the role of women, "a theory of subordination and a theory of equality." She appeals to Peter 3:7 as evidence for this and suggests that Judaism and Christianity "were alike in teaching at once the religious equality and the social subordination of women, and that no break occurred between the rabbis and Paul on this matter." She herself agrees with Stendahl that we today must choose between Galatians 3:28 and Paul's view that the creation order grounds a certain subordination, but she insists that we be clear that "the tension arises from modern man's inability to hold these two ideas together" -- and that we find no support in the Bible for choosing the one idea and rejecting the other.
(3) There is but one answer to the question of the relationship between Galatians 3:28 and the texts we shall consider below under III,B. & C., that is open to the Bible-believing Christian, if he is not convinced that the teaching of 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 is so culturally conditioned as to be no longer normative for the church; namely, that full equality and oneness for male and female in the Lord and role differentiation in the church are compatible and are both a part of God's authoritative revelation to his church today.
Clark suggests that "unless we assume that Paul is normally incoherent, it would make more sense to begin with the view that Paul had some way of putting together passages like Galatians 3:28 and 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, which were probably written within a year or two of one another;" and that Galatians 3:28 "is not directed against those differences of social role for men and women which other Scripture passages indicate are based upon the way God created the human race" (p. 150).
Clark stresses that according to the Pauline perspective, reflected most clearly in the so-called household codes, "As long as a certain relationship exists, it needs an order." This is where he finds Paul King Jewett's position so clearly untenable. "No one can arrive at the combination of exalting the sexual relationship and eliminating role differences on the basis of scripture. The whole position can only be explained as an attempt to find a basis in scripture for some favorite opinions of our contemporary society" (pp. 159-160).
And this is where the insistence that the church must achieve consistency in eliminating all distinction based upon any of the three coordinate contrasts in Galatians 3:28 founders. Clearly the comparison among the Jew-Greek, slave-free, and male-female relationships does not apply in all respects. "In Galatians 3:28 Paul compares these relationships according to one common quality. All three involve status distinctions in one's relationship with God according to the Mosaic Law. In other respects the three relationships are very different, and Paul's approach to them differs" (Clark, p. 158). Slavery is a man-made institution, a sinful one at that, and it is rightfully abolished altogether. But male-female relationships are ordained by the Creator. They are not abolished, and they are still governed by role relationships in accord with God's created order. Those are perhaps correct who translate 1 Corinthians 7:21, "if you can gain your freedom, do so" (N.I.V.). Paul would never give such advice to marriage partners or to children. In 1 Peter 3:1-7 there is reflection upon the full equality and oneness of the wife with the husband "as a fellow-heir of the grace of life."
It is perhaps worth noting, also, in response to such biblical feminists as Jewett, that the revealed life of the Trinity demonstrates that functional subordination for creative or redemptive purpose in no way demeans essential personhood (see Davis article, p. 208).
In conclusion the apostle Paul teaches in Galatians 3:28 that in terms of the believer's relation to God in Christ there is absolutely no distinction between male and female, each is viewed as child and heir with full covenant rights and privileges.
C. The Order of Authority and Subordination to Which Men and Women are Subject
1. Authority and subordination as expressed in the marriage bond
The Bible is clear that together with the generic unity of man and woman and their mutual complementation, there is a definite order between them in the marriage relationship. Woman was taken out of man. The New Testament interprets this to mean that woman was created for man and not man for woman (1 Cor. 11:9). Carrying through the analogy between Christ, the head, and the church, his body, it teaches that the man is the head of the wife (Eph. 5:23). Wives, therefore, are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord (Eph. 5:22), even as the church submits to Christ (Eph. 5:24). This relationship should not be misunderstood. Scripture teaches that the husband is to cherish and nurture his wife as Christ cares for his body, the church (Eph. 5:25), and as a man naturally cares for his own body (Eph. 5:28). The natural authority he has with his wife gives the husband opportunity to make room for her and to let her come to herself in the fullest way. In doing this he asserts his place of headship and leadership, but in such a manner that the mutual complementation of himself and his wife comes to expression. Conversely, the manner in which he and his wife complement each other is molded by the particular relation of the authority and subordination that holds between them in their marriage, on the analogy of the relationship between Christ and the church.
2. Is the relationship of man and woman in marriage paradigmatic of the relationships in general?
Clearly since they speak of the one man and of the One woman, the first two chapters of Genesis focus attention on the marriage bond. Are the relationships that pertain there typical of an order that holds between man and woman in general, or are they restricted to marriage? This is by no means an easy question to answer. But we remember that God called man and woman, individually, to do more than enter into marriage, procreate, and fill the earth. God gave the dominion over the earth to both man and woman, individually, and called them to subdue it. That the terms of the cultural mandate extend beyond marriage gives us warrant to believe that there is a broad terrain of society on which man and woman relate to each other in such a way that the order between them is determined only by their individual ability and training, and not by a typical relationship of authority and subordination, as in the family. Their relationship as man and woman in other connections, such as that of the church, would then depend on whether this particular grouping is characterized by a typical authority/subordination relation between men and women, or whether it is composed of a free association in which men and women relate as individuals.
3. The effects of the fall on the identity of woman (Gen. 3)
a. A hermeneutical principle
The Bible teaches that there has been a distortion of the relationship between man and woman, male and female, because of the fall. We take it as an established principle of interpretation that the relationships between man and woman in the form that they take after the fall are more or less distorted forms of what they were in the pristine created order. Even though the distortion is at times grotesque, we may understand that the created order was not destroyed by the fall but only distorted by it. The above principle may be deduced from a consideration of the terms as a whole of the curse that fell on man and woman. God's curse did not remove the ground from man, nor did it prevent man from tilling it; the curse declared that man would till the ground and obtain its fruits with difficulty. God's curse did not prevent the woman from bearing children nor from enjoying the children she bore; it declared that the woman would bear children with difficulty and pain.
b. The distortion of the relationship between man and woman
The curse that was pronounced on woman suggests that the natural relationship between husband and wife had been disturbed by sin. It suggests, further, that this disturbance affected the relationship of authority and subordination that pertained between them. We read, "Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you" (Gen. 3:16). As we saw, the complementarity of man and woman comes to quintessential expression in the marriage bond. This complementarity can exist only on the foundation of difference between man and woman, male and female. In marriage there is a natural order, of authority and subordination. The terms of the curse of the woman, however, suggest that these natural relationships have been disturbed. The order involved is still there; but it has been distorted, so that it is often obscured almost beyond recognition.
c. What this distortion entails
It is difficult to interpret Genesis 3:16 and to discover just what is meant by the woman's "urge" being to her husband and by her husband's ruling over her. Employing the above hermeneutical principle, however, we may infer that as a consequence of sin there is a distortion of the natural desire of the woman for her husband. In addition, the statement that her husband will rule over her suggests that the natural authority of the husband has been distorted so as to become coercive. It has also been suggested that Genesis 3:16 has in mind an effort on the part of the woman to wrest authority from her husband. On the part of some women, on the contrary, there is a slavish dependence on men. Whatever may be involved, we have here a distortion of the created order, in which the true identity of the woman is obscured.
That there is a distortion of the natural order only brings more firmly to our attention the fact that there is a relationship of authority/subordination in marriage and a mutual need of the marriage partners for each other.
III. WOMEN AND SPECIAL OFFICE
A. The Nature of Ordination and Special Office
1. Biblical
The idea of office is tightly woven into the fabric of Scripture. It is closely related to the idea of calling. These ideas are prominent in the New Testament; but they also have an important place in the Old Testament, relating even to God's establishing man as his vicegerent in the world.
In the Old Testament, the idea of office comes to clear expression in the Levitical priesthood. This priesthood was established by way of redeeming the firstborn males of Israel. By reason of their being spared when the angel of death passed over the households in Egypt, these firstborn became dedicated to the Lord. The tribe of Levi then took their place and was set apart for the priestly service of God. Aaron was given the office of high priest, and the entire tribe of Levi had priestly office and functions in their courses.
Moses too had office. God chose him as His instrument to redeem the Israelite people from Egypt, freeing them from this alien dominion and restoring them to Himself, who had claimed them as His own and had placed His seal on them. Moses had a supreme position, exercising functions as prophet, priest, and king. God spoke to him in a way superior to that of the ordinary prophet (Num. 12:6-8). Moses interceded for Miriam, at the behest of Aaron, the high priest (Num. 12:11-13). He ruled the people, first alone and then with the 70 elders (Exod. 18:l3ff.). God sustained Moses in his position, in the face of challenges, like those of Levitical priests (Num. 16) and of Aaron and Miriam (Num. 12).
In the New Testament, the idea of office is clearly expressed in the apostolate. The apostles were called to a special position, to perform special functions. Their office brought with it overriding authority in doctrine (teaching), church order, and discipline. There were clear requirements for office. Prominent among them was that they had seen the risen Christ. When Judas lost his place among the apostles (Acts 1:17, 20 quoting Psalm 69:25) because he betrayed Jesus, another was chosen to take part of the ministry and apostleship, from which Judas fell, that he might go to his own place (Acts 1:22, 25). It was Matthias who was chosen by lot to be numbered with the eleven apostles (Acts 1:26), taking Judas' place.
The Seven also had office. The need for their office arose because the apostles were unable to fulfill all the responsibilities that were thrust on them. A place, a position, opened up, and men were chosen to fill it. These were chosen from among good men who were filled with the Holy Ghost; but they were chosen to fill an office that corresponded to a need in the church.
The above instances clearly illustrate the idea of office in the Old and New Testaments. The idea is more deeply rooted, however. It pertains to the place God gave man from the beginning. As Adam is formed from the ground, he is made in God's image and likeness and is given dominion over the creation (Gen. 1:26-28). He has a place that carries with it an office; he is God's vicegerent. This position carries with it the calling to love and serve God with all his heart and to subdue the creation to God's glory. This calling relates to man generically, to both male and female. Further, it is with man, both male and female, that God enters into covenant, saying that He will be their God and that they will be His People. To understand the relation of man to God and to the creation as a whole, one must include the idea of office.
Scripture as a whole teaches that man, with his talents and abilities, has been called by God and has been set in a position of authority and responsibility. In each case, the offices and functions are not simply reflexes of subjective talents and abilities ("gifts"). Indeed, the gifts are important. It is reasonable, furthermore, that there should be a congruence between any particular office and the gifts that are required to perform the functions of that office. Nevertheless, Scripture does not teach that office flows out of these subjective talents and abilities. Nor does it teach that there must be a congruence of office and gifts in any particular case.
Throughout, our attention is focused on the office, its functions, and calling to it. Gifts are in order to fill the office; the office does not exist because of the gifts. And the relation between office and gifts is not always uniform. It might be expected that there would be a congruity between office and gifts; but Scripture often focuses on the unexpected. One may well have an office with its corresponding functions but also be strongly impressed by the fact that he has these not because of the adequacy of his own gifts but because of God's grace. The Levitical priesthood was drawn from a particular tribe. It does not follow, however, that this tribe had more natural ability than the others to serve in this capacity. Moses himself complained that he lacked the qualities to serve as God's redeemer and to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, and Aaron was sent along as a spokesman. For Moses, governing the people was a great burden. Seeing his predicament, his father-in-law, Jethro, suggested that elders be appointed. Further, Moses gave way to impulsive and disobedient action, which resulted in his not being able to enter the land of promise. The apostles were men of authority; but they were by and large simple men, without the wealth of talent one might expect of leaders (Acts. 4:13). The apostle Paul was a man of ability and was well-educated; nevertheless, he himself details his own lack of qualifications to be an apostle, calling himself a miscarriage (1 Car. 15:8). The tenor of Scripture teaching is that office is prior. One may be impressed by the lack of proportion between his own qualifications and the requirements of the office he holds. Even if he has an abundance of talent, one must still channel these talents and abilities (gifts) according to the office he holds. An abundance of gifts does not mean an abundance of callings and offices. The man of few gifts who faithfully carries out the responsibilities of his office is better than the man of many gifts who scatters his efforts or who in any way shirks his responsibilities. One is judged by his faithfulness. But whatever the proportion may be between gifts and calling -- whether they coalesce or stand in a paradoxical relationship -- office is prior. It does not flow out of endowment with talent and ability.
There are instances in Scripture, however, where the possession of a gift appears to bring with it an office and calling. We may think of the special gifts of the Spirit that were given at Pentecost. The gift of prophecy carried with it the right and the responsibility to exercise this gift in the congregation. The same may be said of the gift of tongues and gift of healing. This indeed was the case; but it does not follow that these instances are paradigmatic of the relationship of gifts and calling in general, nor does it follow, even in regard to these special gifts, that the office simply flowed out of the gift. The Scriptures teach that these special gifts were apportioned by the Holy Spirit to satisfy certain needs. These special gifts were given as a witness especially to those who were outside of the church, to demonstrate God's presence and power. Indeed, the possession of such a gift brought with it the right and the responsibility of using it -- thus the possession of such a gift endowed one with an office -- but the very speciality of these gifts militates against the idea that the pattern here holds for the relationship in general of gift and office. The Scriptures present this relationship as a whole in a different way. Further, even in regard to the special gifts, it by no means follows that the office simply flows from the gift. Before the gifts were apportioned, there was already a clear need for them; there were definite functions for them to fulfill. The Scripture testimony suggests that the gifts were given for these definite purposes. Thus, the accent again falls on office and function. One receiving a particular gift would have the office and fulfill the function; but it does not follow that the office would flow out of the gift.
Some Christians, however, have indeed taken the special gifts as paradigmatic of the relation of gift and office. The New Testament age, they say, is the age of the Spirit. The Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to men. Empowerment with such spiritual gifts imparts to one a place of authority and a function akin to office. It is often thought that the presence of such gifts is a reflection of personal piety. On the surface, this thinking is democratic. Spiritual leadership belongs to anyone in the congregation who displays spiritual gifts. Each may possess gifts of the Spirit through prayer and other spiritual exercises. In this way of thinking, office and the authority flowing from it are thought to be a reflex of the spiritual gifts given to individuals in the church. This thinking involves an interpretation of the idea of office that differs markedly from that presented above. Office as spoken of above, it is said, belongs to a legalistic era, as in the Old Testament, or to temporary arrangements, such as one finds in the New Testament apostolate. When the age of the Spirit has fully come, such an idea of office falls away; "office" then depends on the subjective possession of spiritual gifts. There are some who regard any idea of the priority of office as an attempt to rationalize the Spirit, to "corral" the Spirit and spiritual gifts in the interests of order.
The above pattern of thought is more than an emphasis on the Holy Spirit; it involves an interpretation of the Spirit and spiritual gifts, as well as of the order in the church, that stands in opposition to Scriptural teaching. In Scripture, the Spirit and His work do not stand in antithesis to order. In fact, Spiritual gifts and their use are for the upbuilding of the church and are subject to the order that God has ordained for His church. They must be seen in the context of calling and office, and of the functions related to these. The above pattern of thought, which is called "spiritualistic," often results in disorder, as men, convinced that they are endowed with the Spirit and spiritual gifts, arrogate authority to themselves and even suppress the exercise of spiritual gifts on the part of others in the congregation. Indeed, spiritual gifts are important; the church should seek to maximize their use. Nevertheless, office does not flow from them, and those who have them -- even those who have many spiritual gifts -- must still assume a servant role in their leadership, channeling the use of their gifts according to their calling, for the edifying of the church.
The importance of office in the teaching of Scripture comes out clearly, when office is honored, even when subjective qualifications are lacking. A case in point is the apostle Paul's apology for his remark concerning the high priest Ananias, when the latter ordered him struck on the mouth (Acts 23:5). In answer to the question, "You dare to insult God's high priest?" Paul replied, quoting Exod. 22:28, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.' " In criticism of those who "reject authority and slander celestial beings," Jude cites an extreme example, "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!' " (Jude 8, 9). Such passages do not deny the importance of proper qualification for office; they simply highlight the importance of office and the respect that should be given to it.
Understanding the Biblical idea of office does not of itself give one a criterion as to whether women may be ordained to office in the church. It relates very clearly, however, to reasons that might be given for such ordination. It militates against the idea that women have a claim on office because of apparent gifts for ruling or serving. It especially militates against the idea that the church is unjust to women in not giving them office, because certain women display gifts and it is unfair to them not to give them the offices in which these gifts may be used. An understanding of the Scriptural teaching about office in its relationship to gifts will draw our attention to the office and qualifications for it and not to the gifts first of all. One must decide, on Scriptural grounds, whether this or that office in the church is open to women. If it is indeed open to women, then they have the responsibility to use their gifts there in fulfilling their calling. If it is not open, the church should make it possible for the women in the church to use their often outstanding gifts, in other, appropriate ways.
2. Church historical
It is the particular burden of this section to look at ordination only in terms of its nature with reference to authority in the history of the church. While all of the offices are essentially a special service in the church, the question before us is the question of whether or not authoritative leadership is implied in ordination and special office. This special emphasis should not be allowed to eclipse the accent on servanthood which attaches to all offices in the church of Christ.
Though the major emphasis of the Reformers was in the area of soteriology, concern for ecclesiology grew as the Reformation progressed. Luther reacted strongly to the sacerdotal view of office and ordination and therefore rejected the character indelebilis idea of ordination. Calvin sought to define and organize the offices of the ministry according to the New Testament. It remained for the later Reformers and Puritans to clarify and define a Biblical doctrine of ordination.
Both Calvin and Luther reacted strongly to the Radical Reformation's perversion of the "priesthood of all believers." The Anabaptists denounced all government, both civil and ecclesiastical (Clark, in Scripture Twisting in the Seminaries, John Robbins, The Trinity Foundation, 1985, Appendix A -- "The Ordination of Women," p. 67; cf. C.R.C. Report 44, p. 681). For the Reformers, the priesthood of all believers and the necessity of special office in the church were not contradictory but complementary in nature. Luther and Calvin were not simply reacting to Anabaptist extremes, as the Christian Reformed Church's Report 44 seems to imply (pp. 681ff., cf. Clark, op. cit., p. 106). They were responding to unbiblical error by searching the Scripture for a proper view of office.
As with many ecclesiological matters, it remained for the British Puritans to explicate the principles of the Continental Reformers. The great John Owen (1616-1683) gives a lucid definition: "Ordination in Scripture compriseth the whole authoritative translation of a man from among the number of his brethren into the state of an officer in the church" (Works, Vol. XIII, p. 219).
It was with Owen's contemporary, George Gillespie (1613-1649), that the nature of ordination in its relationship to authority became explicit. In Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming he refuted the Erastians who maintained that church elders have no authority to govern (Clark, in Scripture Twisting, op. cit., Appendix B -- "The Presbyterian Doctrine of Ordination," p. 87). Gillespie maintained that the Scriptures, in Hebrews 13:7 and 1 Timothy 3:4-6, 12; 5:17, give elders the clear authority to rule (ibid., p. 88). Scripture makes clear references to the ordination and election of church officers in Acts 1:15, 23; 6:2,3; 14:23.
This ordination, Gillespie insisted, "standeth in the mission of the deputation of a man to an ecclesiastical function with power and authority (emphasis added) to perform the same; and thus are pastors ordained when they are sent to a people with power to preach the Word, minister the sacraments and exercise ecclesiastical discipline among them" (ibid., p. 91). He goes on to say "the essential act of ordination [is] a simple deputation and application of a minister to his ministerial function with power to perform it" (emphasis added, ibid., pp. 92, 93).
Gillespie clearly refutes the view which sees ordination as merely "the church's recognition that an individual has the gifts for a particular service," and "does not confer authority" (emphasis added, cf. Foh, Women and The Word of God, pp. 235 and 233).
Dr. Samuel Miller (1769-1850), professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in Princeton Seminary, in his An Essay on the Warrant, Nature and Duties of the Office of the Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church (1831) defined ordination: "That solemn rite, or act, by which a candidate for any office in the Church of Christ, is authoritatively designated to that office, by those who are clothed with power for the purpose" (p. 275). Those who ordain have the power to ordain others to the same office. Just like a civil judge, the elder is clothed with power to execute his office. "They are fully invested with the office, and with all the powers and privileges which it includes (emphasis added, p. 291). "Ordination is an act not only official, but also authoritative" (emphasis in original, p. 292).
In the contemporary Reformed churches, Christ's transmission of delegated authority through ordination is reflected in the vows of officers and the congregational vows of submission to the officers. This is true of deacons' as well as elders' vows in the CRC (Report 44, p. 690).
In the OPC Form of Government in Chapter XXV, 6.c. (p. 81) in the prescribed form for the ordination of ruling elders and deacons, the congregation is asked to "promise and yield him all that honor, encouragement and obedience in the Lord, to which his office, according to the Word of God and the constitution of this church, entitles him" (emphasis added; the RPCES form was identical, cf. Clark, op. cit., pp. 66-67; cf. FG, XX,2.,3.,6.).
It is just at this point that the question of the ordination of women especially to the diaconate becomes germane. Dr. Gordon H. Clark has concluded that in every instance of Biblical ordination (cf. Saul and Uzziah in light of Exod. 30:30-33), ordination confers authority to act in a particular capacity, whether priest, king, elder or deacon (Clark, op. cit., Appendix B, p. 86). "Ordination is induction into an authoritative order" (ibid., Appendix A, p. 67). Since the form "deaconess" in Roman. 16:1 gives no evidence of ordination or office (ibid., pp.77, 78); and since "Scripture explicitly forbids women to teach or exercise authority, it is a violation of divine law to ordain a woman" (ibid., Appendix B, p. 108).
B. The Office of Elder
Since the nature of ordination and special office has just been discussed, in this section we will focus on those passages that bear most directly on the issue of the ordination of women to the office of elder.
1. 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:33b-36; 1 Timothy 2:8-3:7 (cf. Titus 1:5-9)
a. These three passages are the major New Testament texts on the relationship between men and women and their respective roles in the corporate or communal life of the church. Consequently, they, especially 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2, have become crucial in the debate over the role of women in ordained office, especially the office of elder. They are perceived as addressing that issue more directly than any other texts in Scripture. Those who argue against women elders find the most explicit support for their position in these passages; those who argue the contrary usually expend a great deal of effort in trying to show that they do not exclude women elders.
b. In current treatment of these passages, particularly 1 Timothy 2, there are three basic positions: (A) Paul, the man, intends an absolute, perpetual exclusion of women from the office of elder, but Paul is wrong and therefore to be disregarded. (B) Paul, the inspired apostle, intends, and therefore God intends, to exclude women from the office of elder, but that exclusion is necessitated by circumstances (cultural and/or religious-ecclesiastical) unique to the time and place of his original readers or at least other than our own. The exclusion, then, is limited in its applicability and temporary; by God's design it is not relevant today, at least directly, and therefore is no longer binding. (C) Paul, the inspired apostle, intends, and therefore God intends, an absolute, perpetual exclusion that is binding until Christ's return. On the assumption of the divinely inspired origin and authority of these passages, only (B) and (C) merit consideration; is the exclusion in view temporary or permanent? localized or universal?
c. Particularly in the last decade or so, these passages, especially 1 Timothy 2, have been scrutinized intensively in relation to the issue of women's ordination. The result is a bewildering, almost overwhelming, array of interpretive details and hypotheses, of exegetical claim and counterclaim. That gives rise to the great danger of getting stuck in a morass of conflicting interpretive opinion and so of losing sight of the "forest." So it is all the more important to strive for balance and to lay hold of what these passages clearly teach in the midst of much that is admittedly imponderable and uncertain. The discussion that follows, then, does not attempt exhaustive exegesis, but seeks to grasp that clarity, primarily by identifying boundaries or parameters for properly understanding these passages.
d. All three passages are expressly didactic in character and include legislative elements. At the same time they, like all Scripture, are historically conditioned; they are "occasional," that is, addressed to specific problems in a particular time and place. That "occasional" factor in no way prevents these passages from containing teaching of enduring validity, but it can be a source of some difficulty in trying to identify that validity. How are we to distinguish within these passages between abiding norms and what may be temporary, localized expressions of those norms? (Clear examples of the latter are the specific form of head "covering" in 1 Corinthians 11 and the "braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes" in 1 Timothy 2:9). It needs to be stressed, then, that to pose this question is not a sure sign of weakened or abandoned confidence in the authority of Scripture, but is prompted by the text itself. Everyone has to wrestle with this question.
e. In fact, none of these passages explicitly addresses the question of women's ordination. In 1 Corinthians 11 the issue is women praying and prophesying, apparently in public; nothing is said about office or ordination. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 the issue is women speaking/ teaching "in church" ("in God's household," 1 Timothy 3:15); "it is the publicity, not the formality of it, which is the point" (Warfield, The Presbyterian, October 30, 1919; emphasis added). The time-honored conclusion that the latter two passages exclude women from ordained office is an (apparently unavoidable) a fortiori inference: because women are prohibited from speaking in public gatherings of the church they are therefore necessarily excluded from the ordained office of teaching in the church.
f. How are we to understand the references to women praying and prophesying in 1 Corinthians 11:5, 13? Charles Hodge, following Calvin, believes that Paul is making a concession for the sake of argument: although he does not approve of women speaking in church meetings, as 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 plainly show, he grants that practice here in the interest of highlighting his main point, namely, the impropriety of women praying and prophesying with uncovered heads. Warfield, on the other hand, stresses the lack of clarity in 1 Corinthians 11:5, holding at the same time that "there is no reason whatever for believing that 'praying and prophesying' in church is meant."
But there are several substantial objections to this understanding. First, if the passage is read on its own terms, its plain suggestion is that women praying and women prophesying in public meetings of the church are recognized and accepted practices; nothing in the passage even intimates disapproval, and it is even more unlikely (see the third objection below) that the passage is concerned with private activities. It seems fair to say that Hodge and others reject this suggestion only because of the resulting contradiction with what they believe 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 plainly teach. Second, the fact that Paul repeats his reference to women praying at a different point in his argument (verse 13) counts against the idea that the reference is concessive and points instead to an established practice. Third, Hodge recognizes that verse 5 takes for granted that women receive and exercise the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians, p. 305); so, since in his view the public exercise of the gift is prohibited, presumably he is left with its private exercise for women. But what can that mean? In the light of the overriding emphasis in chapters 12-14 that all spiritual gifts are given "for the common good" (12:7) and "for the edification of the church" (14:12) as well as the stress in chapter 14 on the special, heightened value of prophecy just in this respect, such a notion of "private prophecy" is a virtual contradiction in terms and certainly an artificial abstraction.
Our conclusion, then, is that 1 Corinthians 11:5, 13 imply that in some form public prayer and prophecy by women was an accepted practice in the churches known to Paul (see verse 16; cf. the four daughters of Philip the evangelist at Caesarea who were known by the fact that they prophesied, Acts 21:9).
g. 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36 is not decisive for the question of women's ordination.
(1) It is not as clear as some think exactly what Paul intends to forbid. Within the passage itself a sweeping prohibition on women speaking (publicly) in church would seem to be undeniable. With 1 Timothy 2:11ff. also in view, Warfield, for instance, speaks of "these two absolutely plain and emphatic passages" (that establish the exclusion of women from "specifically the functions of preaching and ruling elders"). But he can assert such clarity about 1 Corinthians 14 only because, as we noted above, he considers 1 Corinthians 11:3ff. to be so unclear as to present nothing counterindicative. As we have tried to show, however, 1 Corinthians 11 clearly implies that some women were praying and prophesying publicly with Paul's tacit approval.
On that assumption, then, and on the further assumptions (1) that Paul is not contradicting himself and (2) that 14:33ff. is not a non-Pauline gloss, it follows that 11 3ff. limits the apparently absolute sweep of the prohibitions in 14:34 in some way. How? Several explanations have been offered (see J. Hurley, Man and Woman In Biblical Perspective, pp. 186-188). While in our judgment none is entirely convincing, most satisfying perhaps is the view that in the light of the immediately surrounding context, 14:33ff. prohibits women specifically from participating in the (authoritative) judging or evaluation of prophetic utterances. How exactly the prohibition is limited is not so easy to answer; that it is not absolute, however, seems clear in the light of 11:5, 13.
(2) 1 Corinthians 14 deals with the specific matter of prophecy and tongues and their exercise. The chapter as a whole is structured by a comparison between these two gifts in the interest of showing the relatively greater value of prophecy. That contrast runs like a backbone down the body of almost the entire argument, beginning with verses 2 and 3 and culminating in the concluding declaration of verse 39. Now it is certainly possible that in verses 33b-36 Paul could momentarily digress from his central argument to address another matter. But that is not likely, given the structure just noted, nor is there anything in the passage that demands such a parenthetical excursion. This confirms that verses 33b-36, whatever their precise meaning, are related in some way to the exercise of prophecy. But then, on the assumption that prophecy and tongues are revelatory gifts that were confined to the apostolic, foundational period of the Church's history and do not continue today, we are brought to the conclusion that 1 Corinthians 14, including verses 33b-36 with their prohibition on women speaking, addresses a particular set of issues in a church situation that by God's design no longer exists; what is said about the exercise of prophecy and tongues is not directly applicable to the Church today.
For the foregoing reasons, then, we conclude that 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36 has no direct bearing on the issue of women elders.
h. The situation in 1 Timothy 2 differs significantly
(1) Numerous efforts have been made (in some cases, we should not hesitate to recognize, by those fully committed to the inspired authority and integrity of Scripture as God's Word) to show that the commands of verses 11, 12 are no longer applicable today. Those efforts, by now sustained and repeated, have nonetheless been unsuccessful. They are unconvincing in handling some of the details of the passage (e.g., in trying to show that "quietness" [verses 11, 12] is somehow not intended to exclude women from the teaching or exercise of authority in view, or in maintaining that authentein [verse 12] means the rebellious abuse or some other misuse of authority). Unconvincing as well are efforts to reconstruct the background at Ephesus that allegedly limits the applicability of Paul's commands to that time and place. No doubt his prohibition is occasioned by the particular circumstances of his original readers (what statement in Scripture isn't?), but an accurate profile of the opposition he is concerned about has not been demonstrated persuasively. Nor in all likelihood can it be, given the limitations of the biblical and existing nonbiblical data. Probably it was some form of Judaism or Jewish Christianity with syncretistic, Gnosticizing tendencies, but if and, if so, how far and in what manner it had penetrated the Ephesian church remains unclear. It is an extremely questionable hermeneutical procedure to attempt to limit the current applicability of biblical teaching, especially a command, on the basis of an historical reconstruction that necessarily is largely speculative. It is risky indeed, as many today are doing, to view the prohibition in verse 12 "as based primarily on a situation for which we have no clear evidence" (D. Moo, Trinity Journal, 2 [1981]:217).
(2) There are certainly a number of exegetical uncertainties in this passage (e.g., what exactly is the analogy between men and women in verses 8-10? are women's prayers in view in verse 9? how are we to understand the use of Genesis 2-3 in verses 13, 14? the reference to childbearing in verse 15?). But it is thoroughly wrongheaded to hold that because of these difficulties in the surrounding context it is arbitrary in principle and therefore not permissible to draw firm conclusions about the commands of verses 11-13, especially to conclude that they are still binding today. The extension of such an hermeneutical approach to Scripture as a whole would mean that because it contains "some things that are hard to understand" (2 Pet. 3:16) therefore nothing it teaches is clear.
In fact, with all that remains imponderable about Paul's argument, it is hard to deny that he is plainly basing the commands of verses 12, 13 (1) on an order established in creation at the beginning and (2) on the fact of the sinful malfunction of that order at the Fall, and that he therefore intends that as long as the present creation order exists the commands continue in force.
Several broader contextual considerations reinforce this conclusion.
(a) We need always to be on guard against our tendency to treat the Pastoral Epistles as a kind of first Book of Church Order, which they are obviously not. Still, the Pastorals have a unique role in the New Testament canon. They embody apostolic provision for the postapostolic future of the church, particularly as they order aspects of church life for that coming time, "until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Tim. 6:14).
(b) The controlling concern in the section 1 Timothy 2:1-3:16 is "how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God" (3:15). This means that 2:8-15, despite some puzzling elements (e.g., the reference to childbearing in verse 15) addresses (permanent) relationships in the church community as a whole, not just between husbands and wives.
(c) Within the section 2:1-3:16 Paul goes on immediately, connecting directly with 2:8-15, to deal with the permanent offices in the church, beginning with the qualifications of the overseer/elder (3:1-7, cf. Titus 1:5-9). In other words, in 3:lff., Paul orders and makes positive provision for the teaching and rule he has just prohibited to women.
(3) This last observation, (c), provides an important qualification of the commands in 2:11, 12. We have already seen [g,(1), above] that 1 Corinthians 11:3ff. limits the apparently absolute imposition of silence on women found in 14:34, 35. In keeping with that limitation, 1 Timothy 3:1-7 suggest that 2:12, 13 prohibits women specifically from exercising the teaching and ruling functions reserved to the office of elder. Warfield's statement quoted above, then, needs to be modified. In the case of 1 Timothy 2:11, 12 the point is not only "publicity" but also "formality," formal (official), public teaching and ruling; women are not to be (ordained as) elders.
(4) An important substructure of Paul's argument in this passage, explaining in part his use of Genesis 2 and 3, is the unique analogy that exists between the church and the family. The basic form and role relationships established in the home (cf. Eph. 5:22ff.; Col. 3:18-21) have a carryover into the church: the elders are to the rest of the church as the husband/father is to the wife/children in the family. This substructure, rooted primarily in the biblical doctrine of the covenant, reflects the parallel found throughout Scripture between the family and the church (the covenant community as a whole), a parallel unlike that between any other human institutions. This unique correspondence, we believe, is one that only a Reformed doctrine of the church, in distinction from the various ecclesiologies of non-Reformed evangelicalism, is able truly to appreciate and capitalize on in trying to identify and articulate a genuinely biblical rationale for defining the role of women in the church. A fundamental reason why women are not to be ordained as elders is that the church is not an aggregate body of individual believers but families (believers together with their children) in covenant with God. As Paul says, the church is "God's household." In our judgment there can be little doubt that an unbiblical individualism, present in many who are otherwise fully committed to the authority of Scripture, is a source of considerable confusion in current debates about women's ordination.
C. The Office of Deacon
1. Biblical
Is the office of deacon open to women? Admittedly this is a difficult question to settle exegetically but not, we think, impossible. Therefore we offer the following considerations in support of the position that Scripture does not authorize the ordination of women deacons.
a. Acts 6:1-6 records the first official appointment, not of deacons in the sense of that office mentioned in 1 Timothy 3:8ff., but of those who were to oversee the distribution of what was given to meet the needs of the church's poor in Jerusalem. The difference between the Seven and the later deacons appears from the fact that at least two of the former (Stephen, 6:7ff., and Philip, 8:5ff., 26ff., 21:8) continued to carry on substantial word-ministries, the kind of ministry apparently excluded from the activity assigned to the latter. The apostolic appointment of the Seven seems to have been a temporary, ad hoc arrangement, which nonetheless quite properly guided the church "analogically" in the later development of the diaconate.
In the light of the preceding paragraph it would be precarious to draw a conclusion from the exclusively male character of the Seven to the exclusion of women from the diaconate. At the same time, however, we should not overlook or minimize the authority vested in the Seven (and hence, eventually, in the diaconate). Specifically, they were entrusted with authoritative oversight of distributing to the poor; in that sense they were overseers (v. 3 "appoint over" A.V.).
b. Philippians 1:1 ("the overseers and deacons") -- the only New Testament passage where the two offices are paired in a single phrase -- says nothing directly about the issue of women deacons. It is worth noting, though, that no conclusions ought to be drawn from either this pairing or the respective designations concerning the authority of each office, either absolutely or relative to the other. There is to be sure, no New Testament instance of elders being called "minister" or "servant" (diakonos), but Christ himself is so designated (Rom. 15:8; cf. Matt. 20:28) as is Paul, as an apostle, repeatedly (e.g., 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23, 25). Conversely, as we noted, in the light of Acts 6 deacons can be viewed as overseers. Certainly the eldership, in view of its assigned responsibility for the ministry of the word, has a certain priority or leading function in relation to the deed/mercy ministry of the diaconate. But, we submit, it would have been entirely in keeping with New Testament teaching for the elder also to have been called a diakonos (after all, "minister of the word" has become a customary description of some who occupy this office, cf. Acts 6:4); nor would there have been anything inappropriate in the occupant of the office of mercy being designated by episkopos. An element of authority resides in the office of deacon; authority, oversight, in that sense, "rule" is at issue for the office of deacon as well as the office of elder.
c. Romans 16:1, 2 and 1 Timothy 3:11 are the two passages usually appealed to as referring specifically to (official or ordained) women deacons. Careful exegesis of the two passages in context, however, shows that such a reference is by no means certain nor, in the case of 1 Timothy 3:11, more likely; the result in each case is an exegetical standoff.
In the case of the Romans 16:1, 2, taken by itself, diakonon, applied to Phoebe, is naturally, perhaps even more likely read as a fixed or official designation. (To observe that such a reading would hardly be questioned if the person referred to were a male is gratuitous -- male deacons are clearly mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, while this would be the only reference, without any other New Testament support, to a woman deacon.)
But there is nothing in the passage that demands an official sense. Nor is there anything -- in either the syntax or the reference to Phoebe as prostasis - that makes it unnatural to take diakonos here in the less specific, nonofficial sense it has elsewhere in the New Testament. The view of Cranfield, for instance, that a general reference here is "perhaps just conceivable" is too grudging as well as exegetically unwarranted; such a reference is quite natural. It should be noted that in only three out of thirty New Testament uses of diakonos is the official sense clearly warranted (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8, 12).
In 1 Timothy 3:11 the perennial debate, going back at least to the Greek Fathers, is whether "women" (gunaikas) refers to (a) women deacons (deaconesses) or (b) deacons' wives. That all the women in the congregation are in view, as sometimes proposed, can be dismissed, since the immediate context is concerned with special or particular groups within the church.
In favor of (a), apparently the view inclined to, more or less decisively, by the majority of modern scholars, and against (b) are the following arguments:
(1) the adverb "likewise," "similarly" (hosautos) repeated from verse 8, points to a new category or class of officials, as does the list of qualities parallel to those in verses 8-10;
(2) if deacons' wives were in view, we should expect an article (tas) before "women," or at least the pronoun "their" (auton);
(3) to single out deacons' wives while making no mention of overseers wives would be very strange;
(4) although the New Testament does not know the technical term "deaconess" (diakonissa), this verse, together with Romans 16:1, hints at that office, alluded to already in Pliny's letter to Trajan (A.D. 112) and firmly in place in the church's life by the third to fourth centuries.
In favor of (b) and against (a) are the following considerations:
(1) to interrupt a description of the qualifications for (male) deacons (verses 10, 12) by injecting qualification for women deacons would be awkward and unlikely; much more plausible, despite (2) above, is that the "women" of verse 11 have some auxiliary or dependent identity in reference to deacons, most likely, that of being their wives;
(2) if Paul had wished to introduce a separate class of women deacons it would have been easy for him to make that clear by introducing tas diakonous either directly after or instead of "women;"
(3) that Paul would mention the wives of deacons but not of overseers may be explained by the likely suppositions (1) that, like deacons themselves, their wives would be younger and therefore relatively unknown and their lives subject to more intensive scrutiny, and (2) that by virtue of the differences between the two offices deacons' wives could be more directly and extensively involved in the official activities of their husbands than would be the case with overseers' wives;
(4) later in the letter a lengthy section is devoted to ordered women workers or ministrants in the church (the "enrolled widows" in 5:9-16); note the similarity between the requisite qualities in 3:11 and those for older women in Titus 2:3, where there is no question of women deacons;
(5) the most likely antecedent to the eventually emergent office of deaconess is the order of widows;
(6) "if some women were deacons, further qualifications would be unnecessary" (Gordon H. Clark, The Pastoral Epistles, The Trinity Foundation, 1983, p. 61).
A perusal of these two sets of arguments reinforces the aptness of Kelly's remark that 1 Timothy 3:11 "contains a puzzle which will probably never be solved to everyone's satisfaction"; neither set is decisive.
d. For both passages, then, the issue of women deacons will have to be settled by other relevant considerations, if present, from their immediate and wider contexts. The context of Romans 16:1, 2 appears to provide nothing pertinent; the description of Phoebe as a diakonos remains ambiguous. But the immediate and larger context of 1 Timothy 3:11 definitely weighs against a reference to women deacons.
Our reasoning is as follows. As shown above (III B), Paul's exclusion of women from the eldership in 1 Timothy 2:12 rests, not on a presumed constitutional inability of women to teach or exercise authority but on the unique, covenant-based analogy between the family and the church ("God's household" 3:15). The structure of authority in the home and in the church mirror each other; the headship of elders in the church answers to the headship of father (and husband) in the family.
The question, then, is this: is the diaconate, too, an office from which women are excluded by the church-family analogy? Is the point of that analogy special office as such or only the office of elder? Put another way, does the exercise of authority over men prohibited to women in 2:12 only have in view the offices of elder or the office of deacon as well?
At least three contextual considerations favor the more comprehensive exclusion.
(1) The requirements for overseer (verses 1-7) and deacon (verses 8-10, 12, 13) are linked in a parallel fashion. "Likewise" (hosautos, verse 8) functions to reinforce that parallel, but the parallel itself, as the large degree in overlap of specific requirements for each office shows, does not depend on it. Philippians 1:1 (the "overseers and deacons," distinguished within the congregation as a whole) underscores this parallel. By virtue of the parallel, then, if women are excluded from the one office -- unless there be some offsetting consideration(s) -- they are excluded from the other.
(2) More pointedly, the parallel is made explicit on the issue of authority. In verses 4, 5 and 12 -- note in virtually identical language; the parenthetical comment of verse 5 applies equally, following verse 12, to deacons -- a requirement for both the deacon as well as the elder is that each must manage/lead/rule (proistemi, cf. 1 Thess. 5:12) his own family if he is to take care of God's church. Certainly the sphere of ministry assigned to each is different, nonetheless there is a parallel between the authority of the eldership and that of the diaconate.
Further, the rationale for that parallel authority is also made explicit. It lies in the analogy between family and church. In both instances, for the deacon as well as the elder, at issue, by analogy, is the authority of headship in the home, the authority of the father/husband. In that light, the parallel requirement that the overseer/deacon, if married, be "the husband of but one wife" (vss. 2, 12) is a further argument against women deacons.
(3) What in effect is the topic sentence for the entire section (2:1-3:16) is found in 3:15: "how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household." The location of this paragraph sentence, occurring immediately after the qualifications for deacons, confirms that the family-church analogy, as that analogy involves the exclusion of women from special office, still controls the argument to that point. The exercise of authority over men prohibited to women in 2:11, apparently, includes the office of deacon as well as that of overseer.
Nothing in this section of the text offsets these three observations, unless we insist, without adequate warrant as we have seen, that 3:11 by itself demands a reference to women deacons.
To resist this conclusion and seek to maintain a place for women in the diaconate, we wish to observe, seems to have some unanticipated consequences, least of all acceptable to the advocates of this view. If we hold that women may be deacons but not elders, the question is inevitable: why does the family-church analogy function to exclude women from the office of elder but not from special office in general? The answer to this question cannot now be found in the idea of office as such but will have to be sought instead in the difference, in content, between the two offices. That, in turn, (1) will involve recourse in some form to the sexist view that constitutionally women do have the capacity for deeds of mercy but not for the presumably more demanding task of expounding and teaching the word of God, and so (2) will also result in a devaluation of the diaconate as lower or less important.
Within the broader controlling context, then, 1 Timothy 3:11 does not refer to women deacons. There is some merit to the suggestion (cf. Fairbairn) that Paul is deliberately vague or general in his reference to "women;" in view are both the wives of deacons who were sometimes associated with their husbands in diaconal activities as well as other women who, without being set apart officially, were entrusted with various kinds of diaconal service (perhaps best expressed in the translation "deaconing women"), especially, in view of the greater separation between the sexes in the culture of that day, among women.
If this treatment of 1 Timothy 3:11 in its broader context is sound, then the passing, ambiguous reference to Phoebe as diakonos in Romans 16:1 must give way to that more substantial New Testament teaching that women are not to serve in the office of deacon.
Conclusion. The issue of women deacons is a difficult one to resolve exegetically. But the relevant New Testament data do fix the coordinates of a trajectory pointing to the conclusion that women are not to be ordained as deacons. Nor does the New Testament make provision for a separate office of deaconess in parallel with the elders and deacons.
2. Church historical
a. The nature of authority in the diaconal office
The purpose of this section of the report is to set forth selections from church history on the nature of the diaconal office as it concerns authority. The question before us is whether or not the diaconal office bears the authority which Paul expressly forbids women to exercise in 1 Timothy 2:12.
(1) Ancient and medieval period
The earliest reference to the diaconate outside of the New Testament is found in Hermas' (ca. 90-150 A.D.) Similitudes 9-27 as he refers to deacons as "such as have been set over inferior ministries" (Samuel Miller, An Essay in the Warrant, Nature and Duties of the Office of the Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church, New York, 1831, p. 221, emphasis added). It is important to note the similarity of language between Hermas' "set over" and the request of the apostles in Acts 6:3 to choose men to "appoint over." It is the language of presidency of leadership. This is more explicit in Origen (ca. 185-254 A.D.): "The Deacons preside over the money tables of the church." Elsewhere he uses manage (ibid., p. 221, emphasis added). It is also noteworthy that Eusebius (d. 380 A.D.), Chrysostom (344-407 A.D.), Jerome (345-419 A.D.) and other ancient fathers saw Acts 6:1-4 as the institution and inception of the New Testament diaconate (ibid. pp. 222ff.). Irenaeus was first to do so (C.R.C., Report 32, p. 501).
Calvin quotes the Apostolic Canons (XL, Fulton, Index Canonum, pp. 93f.; McNeill, Institutes, p. 1073, f. n.) in his Institutes, Book IV, ch. IV, sect. 5: "We decree that the bishop have in his power the affairs of the church. For if the souls of men (which are more precious) have funds, so that on his authority all things may be distributed to the poor through the presbyters and deacons, and be administered with fear and all carefulness" (emphasis added).
The ancient period gives clear testimony to the fact that the office of deacon was viewed as one of authoritative leadership in temporal service.
(2) Reformation period
Martin Luther in his Address to the Nobility (1520) said, "deacons ... should help him (the minister) to govern the people ..." (Gordon Clark, "The Ordination of Women," Appendix A in Robbins, Scripture Twisting in the Seminaries, p. 69, emphasis added).
The French Confession of 1559 says, "It (the true church) ought to be governed according to the policy which our Savior Jesus Christ has established, that is, that there be pastors, supervisors and deacons" (ibid., p. 69, emphasis added).
"The French included deacons in the consistory and delegated them to major assemblies" (Report 32, p. 508).
The Dutch began at Emden (1571) to shape a binding church order which included deacons on the consistory (Report 32, p. 509). Deacons were considered officers ordained to authoritative leadership along with "pastors and elders," albeit in a different area of service to the church.
Calvin, in his reply to the Synod of Lyons, asserted: "Deacons and elders, being the arms and hands of the Pastor ... may, also distribute [the bread and cup] to those who are remote from [the pastor]," (Clark, op. cit., p.70, cf. Quick, Synodicon I, p. 53).
In speaking of "two distinct grades" of deacon in Romans 12:8 Calvin makes the distinction between those who administer the diaconal work and those who perform the work itself: "Unless my judgment deceive me, in the first clause he designates the deacons who distribute the alms. But the second refers to those who had devoted themselves to the care of the poor and sick. Of this sort were the widows who Paul mentions to Timothy [1 Tim. 5:9-10]. Women could fill no other public office than to devote themselves to the care of the poor. If we accept this (as it must be accepted), there will be two kinds of deacons: one to serve the church in administering the affairs of the poor; the other, in caring for the poor themselves. But even though the term diakonia itself has a wider application Scripture specifically designates as deacons those whom the church has appointed to distribute alms and take care of the poor, and serve as stewards of the common chest of the poor. Their origin, institution, and office are described by Luke in The Acts [Acts 6:3]" (Institutes, IV, III, 9, McNeill, p. 1061, emphasis added).
In commenting on Philippians 1:1, Calvin refers to deacons as "stewards who superintended the distributing and receiving of alms." Calvin found the origin of the diaconate in Acts 6. His distinction of two kinds of deacons is significant because the first grade carries with it an authority on administration which the second does not. The reason for this is plain: women in the office had to be subordinate to male leadership and care for the poor under male administration.
(3) Modern period
(a) Post-Reformation
In 1611 the King James or Authorized version of the Bible translated only 4 of the 103 uses of diakonos and its cognates with the word "deacon." The reason is that only in these four places is the reference to the "office" clear (i.e., Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8, 12, 13). The K.J.V. has accurately used the term only in these places. Elsewhere it has translated the Greek word as "servant" or minister." All Christians are exhorted to be "minister(s)" in Matthew 20:26. The translators however know that the English word "deacon" carried with it the idea of office and authority. Hence they translate Romans 16:1 "servant."
In the same century John Owen refers to the authority of deacons: "This office of deacons is an office of service, which gives not any authority or power in the rule of the church; but being an office, it gives authority with respect unto the special work ..." (Works, Vol. XVI, p. 147).
In the nineteenth century Samuel Miller in his chapter on "Elders and Deacons" argues for a clear distinction between the two offices in light of past confusion of the two even in Reformed churches. But in doing so he does not diminish the authority connected with the office of deacon. He pleads for deacons to do what the Bible calls them to do: care for the whole range of Church temporalities. As they do so Miller clearly perceives them as authority leading in that capacity. Deacons are "managers of all ... fiscal concerns of each congregation" (op. cit., p. 237, emphasis added). They "preside over collections and disbursements for the poor" (op. cit., p. 242, emphasis added). Here again we find the language of Acts 6, and a clear association of authoritative leadership with the office of deacon.
(b) Contemporary
Dr. James Hurley in his Man and Woman in Biblical Perspective argues for the ordination of women to the diaconate because he believes the authority connected with the diaconal office is of a different sort than that which Paul prohibits to women in 1 Timothy 2 (p. 233). Even so he does admit, "It is clear that the deacons of Acts 6 possessed a certain amount of authority in their distribution of food" (p. 226).
Dr. Gordon Clark argues that the office of deacon, however distinct it may be in many other respects from the office of elder, requires the same submission from the congregation as any other office to which Christ has delegated authority. The congregational vow in the old Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES) is the same as in the present OPC: "Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive the brother as a ruling elder (or deacon) and do you promise to yield him all that honor, encouragement, and obedience in the Lord to which his office, according to the Word of God and the Constitution of the Church, entitles him?" (Clark, op. cit., pp. 66, 67, emphasis in Clark's quote; cf. OPC FG, Ch XXV,7.c., p. 83).
Clark goes on to deal with Romans 16:1 by pointing out that appeal to the masculine form of diakonos as evidence for office is grammatically unfounded; as only the masculine form appears in extrabiblical literature as well as in the Bible (op. cit., p. 77). This form applies to men and/or women in its varied usage. Hence Clark concludes "the term diakonos applied to Phoebe, is no evidence that she was ordained" (op. cit., p. 78).
For those who appeal to the hapaxlegomenon prostatis (v. 2, K.J.V. "succourer"), in its meaning as "ruler, authority or presiding officer," as proof that Phoebe was ordained with authority over "many" people, too much is proven (op. cit., p. 78). For then she would have presided over Paul (v. 2). In fact the word may also mean "succourer, helper, servant" (as the diakonos indicates in v. 1). This then is clearly demanded by the context (p. 78); not to mention Paul's own prohibition in 1 Timothy 2:12. So reasons Clark.
Clark then asserts that 1 Timothy 3:11 is the exegetical center of the debate upon which the need for "the demonstration of biblical warrant" hangs. The meaning of the word gunaikos is the key (op. cit., p. 81). In context the best that can be done is to posit probability that the gunaikos were women deacons and not either wives of deacons (and possibly elders) or unordained female assistants. But probability falls short of the "demonstration" necessary to establish biblical warrant (op. cit., p. 82).
Clark concludes his paper: "The office of deacon is an office which involves the exercise of ecclesiastical authority. In Pauline churches it was closed to women. It therefore must be closed to women in our day. And furthermore, with the Pope, John Knox, the Scottish Kirk, and all Christendom, we believe that the position of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in refusing to ordain women is solidly Biblical, against which likelihoods have no logical force" (op. cit., p. 83). The Synod of the RPCES, Synod of 1977, agreed (op. cit., p. 61).
In our church (OPC) the question had not been raised at the General Assembly until our study committee "on the hermeneutics of women in ordained office" was erected in 1984 by the 51st General Assembly in response to an overture (#9) from the Presbytery of the Midwest (Minutes, pp. 15, 57, 235).
In 1980 The Presbytery of New York and New England debated a proposed overture, which called for the ordination of women to the diaconate and defeated it (cf. minutes of stated fall meeting October 2 and 3, items #23 & 31).
In 1977 Dr. Leonard Coppes (OPC) adumbrated his position on the subject in his book on the development of biblical offices with emphasis on the diaconate titled Who Will Lead Us? He traces the diaconate to Acts 6 and maintains that the diaconate is part of the ruling office as office in the first century diversified under the guidance of the foundation-laying apostles. This diversification we begin to see in Acts 6: "Just as the apostolicity (sic) was divided into prophet and elder, so the eldership was divided into teaching and ruling elder and into elder and deacon" (p. 112). In Acts 6 seven "men" were chosen to be ordained "over this business" (i.e. of service of the widows). epi ("on" or "over") denotes delegated authority. "It was their responsibility to superintend or discipline benevolence" (p. 125).
Clark notes a similar relationship when he says "though the deacons are subordinate to the minister, they participate in that authority" (op. cit., p. 70). So in OPC ordination, the elders receive the deacon as taking "part of this office with us." (FG, XXV,6.f., p. 82). Finally, Coppes notes that to say Phoebe "holds the office of deacon runs contrary to the whole biblical concept of office," (op. cit., p. 135).
In conclusion, history indicates that the church has always attributed authority to the office of deacon. Furthermore, although the range of tasks performed by the diaconate has varied throughout church history the authority to lead in those areas of service has been uniformly recognized. In fact even those such as Samuel Miller and John Owen, who would restrict the tasks to those defined in the New Testament, attribute the same "kind" of authority to deacons as to elders. The tasks differ but the authority of office is the same.
It is therefore no accident, but rather historic consciousness which underlies our Form of Government in this regard. In our home mission works elders oversee (and often execute) diaconal work until deacons can be ordained (FG, XI,7., p 20). The diaconate is, therefore, an outgrowth of the ruling office (cf. FG, XIS., p. 19; XIII,7. the session shall "supervise the activities of the diaconate," p. 25). Though the "service is distinct from that of rule" (XI,1., p. 19, emphasis added) the board of deacons shall "oversee the ministry of mercy" (XI,4., P. 19, emphasis added).
It is therefore historically (and we believe primarily biblically) consistent in light of this view of the authority of the office of deacon to restrict the office to "men." FG, XXV,1., (p. 79) restricts election of elders and deacons to "male communicant members." FG, XX,1., & 2., (p. 38) on "Ordination and Installation" refers to the ordinand as "male" seven times. In Chapter V on "Offices in the Church" (p. 10) all ordained officers (including deacons) are described as "called of Christ to minister with authority" (emphasis added).
b. Women and the diaconal office
(1) The ancient and medieval period
The earliest apparent reference to "deaconesses" is found on a letter written by Pliny, the governor of Bithynia, to the Emperor Trajan in 111 A.D. He reported, "I have judged it necessary to obtain information by torture from two servicing women (ancillae) called by them 'deaconesses' (ministrae)." It has been suggested that on using the Latin ministrae Pliny was translating the Greek word diakonoi (C.R.C. Report 32, p. 501, cf. D. Bannerman, The Scripture Doctrine of the Church, Baker, p. 501 fn.). It is at least clear that the women have a special designation indicating their special service to the church. But the precise nature of that service and its relationship to office is unclear.
The first clear reference to "deaconesses" is found in the Didascalia Apostolorum (300 A.D.). This Syrian church order specified the function of deaconesses. They were to visit sick and poor women and carry the sacrament to them; aid the clergy in the preparation of women for baptism and instruct female catechumens (Report 32, pp. 501, 502; Report 39, p. 579; Foh, Women and the Word of God, pp. 255, 256).
The Apostolic Constitutions (c. 381 A.D.) depicts the apostle Bartholomew instructing bishops to lay hands on deaconesses in the presbytery and pray, "0 Eternal God ... who didst replenish with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and Anna, and Huldah, who also in the tabernacle of the testimony, and in the temple. didst ordain women to be keepers of thy holy gates, ... do thou now also look down upon this thy servant, who is to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her thy Holy Spirit ...!" (Report 39, p. 579).
Philip Schaff in his History of the Christian Church (Vol. III, p. 260) notes that this "ordination prayer," combined with the fact that the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) reduced the required age for the consecration of deaconesses from the apostolic requirement of 60 years of age (1 Tim. 5:9) to 40 years of age, places the custom of ordaining deaconesses "beyond dispute" (fn.).
It is interesting to note the equation of deaconesses with the "widows" of 1 Tim. 5:9. It was considered wise to have mature women, who had been married and raised families, engaged in the diaconal work. The fact of their being widows was in no way linked to asceticism but rather to the practical freedom it entailed (cf. Calvin, Institutes IV, XIII, 18). Furthermore, it should be noted that the 19th Canon of the Council of Nicea (325 AD.) "reckoned deaconesses among the laity, who have no consecration" (Schaff, Vol. III, p. 260, fn.).
In the late fourth century Ambrosiaster charged that the custom of the ordination of women was a Montanist error (Foh, op. cit. p.241, fn.).
With the rise of asceticism in the fourth and fifth centuries, the office of the "deaconess" generally disappeared. Schaff suggests that there are two reasons for the decline: (1) the introduction of celibacy into the priesthood and (2) the want of good deaconesses (History Vol. III, p. 262). Furthermore, the function of deaconesses was reduced to doorkeepers at the women's entrance of the church (Report 39, p. 579). Though some sources show counsel (Report 32, p. 502), with the rise of convents diaconal talent was drawn away from the church.
In 441 AD the first synod of Orange replaced the ordination of deaconesses with a mere benediction. The Burgundian Council of Epaon (517 AD.) and the second council at Orleans (533 AD.) likewise forbade the ordination of deaconesses (Schaff, op. cit. Vol. III, p. 261, fn.). The latter council went a step further than the previous two in decreeing, "No woman shall henceforth receive the benedicto diaconalis [which had been substituted for ordinatio], on account of the weakness of this sex" (Schaff, p. 262).
These Gallic councils spelled the end of the office of deaconess by the sixth century in the Western church. The office continued in the East until the twelfth century.
It is significant that the first clear evidence for the office of deaconess does not appear until the late fourth century. And within a century the Western church had second thoughts about such ordination and officially did away with it. In fact, even during this period some sources suggest commission "by appointment rather than by ordination by laying on of hands" (Report 32, p. 502).
Throughout that brief period, when the office did exist, it was clearly restricted in two important ways: (1) it was a ministry to women performing functions demanded by Christian propriety for which women are uniquely equipped (Report 39, p. 579; Report 32, p. 502); (2) it never did "enjoy the some official status" as the male office of deacon (Report 32, p. 502).
The office did not exist in the Middle Ages.
(2) The Reformation period
With the dawning of the Reformation, we see the beginning of a new appreciation for the biblical role of women in the church.
John Calvin found a biblical mandate for women to provide diaconal service in 1 Tim. 5:9ff. In his Institutes (1559) he distinguishes that service from Roman Catholic monasticism and celibacy.
But how is it lawful to apply this passage of Paul to nuns? For deaconesses were created not to appease God with songs or unintelligible mumbling, not to live the rest of the time in idleness, but to discharge the public ministry of the church toward the poor and to strive with all zeal, constancy, and diligence in the task of love. They did not vow celibacy to present God some sort of service in abstaining from marriage, but only because they were thus freer to perform their task. Finally, they made this vow not at the beginning of youth, or even in the flower of life -- to learn too late by experience over what a cliff they had plunged; but when they seemed to have passed all danger, they made a vow no less safe than holy. But not to press our opponents' two points, I say that it was unlawful to receive women into the vow of continence before the age of sixty, inasmuch as the apostle admits only women of sixty years [1 Tim. 5:9] but bids the younger women marry and bear children [1 Tim. 5:14] (Book IV, III, 18, 19).
In Book III, 9, Calvin describes "two distinct grades" of deacons in his commentary on Romans 12:8: those who distribute alms; and those who actually care for the poor and sick.
Of this sort were the widows whom Paul mentions to Timothy [1 Tim. 5:9, 10]. Women could fill no other public office than to devote themselves to the care of the poor. If we accept this (as it must be accepted) there will be two kinds of deacons: one to serve the church in administering the affairs of the poor; the other, in caring for the poor themselves" (emphasis added)
Women held the "public office" of caring for the poor while the first grade of office was limited to men who took leadership in administering the distribution of alms. "This ideal was put into practice at the hospital in Geneva, of which Calvin was a boardmember. Although John Calvin advocated deaconesses in his Institutes, he did not mention them in his Ordinances Ecclesiastiques" (Report 39, p. 580).
Calvin's commentary on pertinent passages is informative. Calvin is not very clear in his comments on Romans 16:1, 2 with reference to Phoebe. He even refers to "her office." In his footnote Beveridge points out that this is unwarranted by the word diakonia. But it is noteworthy that Calvin wrote this Romans commentary in October 1539, perhaps less than a decade after his conversion. The comments on 1 Timothy 3 were penned 17 years later in July 1556 by a mature Calvin. Calvin concludes that 1 Timothy 3:11 refers to both the wives of elders and deacons as aids to their officebearing husbands. Referring to 1 Timothy 2:Ilff., Calvin emphasizes that women were forbidden to teach in the church due to the two fundamental reasons which Paul derives from creation and redemption (Genesis 2 and 3). He goes on to show the invalidity of recourse to extraordinary examples of female leadership in passages such as Judges 4:4 (Deborah). This, he insists, was to shame the church and "does not overturn the ordinary rules of government." At this point it is clear that however he may have used the phrase "her office" in Romans 16:1, 2, he did not have authoritative leadership in mind.
The Genevan influence can be seen in the French Reformed churches. Deaconesses were occasionally seen to function alongside the consistorial diaconate.
When the Prince of Sedan, for example, turned Reformed in 1559, he established the 'Sisters of Mercy' with formerly monastic revenues. Similarly in La Rochelle there was a deaconesses' house. Women in these Protestant Orders lived communally by an agreed upon order or rule. They were not bound by lifelong vows, but for however long they were part of the movement they devoted themselves to the care of the sick, the aged, and the poor. Aspects of the French and Walloon diaconate influenced the Dutch Reformed tradition (Report 32, p. 506).
In 1556 the Reformed leaders in Amsterdam designated twelve deaconesses to run a home for aged women, an orphanage, and to do a form of house visitation two by two and to report anything needing their attention to the Amsterdam deacons. These were elderly women of proven Christian virtue. As in France, however, the deaconesses of Amsterdam seem to have been an institution which was not part of, yet which was in some sense under the direction of, the consistory (Report 32, p. 508).
The Convent of Wesel, 1568, chaired by Datheen, marks the generally accepted point of departure for the shaping of the Dutch church order. Formulations from earlier Walloon assemblies gave way for various reasons to those of Wesel and subsequent gatherings. Wesel's nineteen statements on deacons included such positions as defining the office as a ministry of mercy, recognizing Calvin's two types of deacon, and allowing local latitude on many issues related to implementing the office. Because of its significance for today's discussion of women in office, Wesel's provision for women deacons is noteworthy. It allowed that where appropriate, older women of proven and honorable behavior could, following apostolic example, be appointed as deacons.
It is important to note that Wesel defined consistory as elders and pastors. Thus the gathering that admitted women to the full diaconate excluded them from the consistory, which by definition excluded all deacons (Report 32, p. 509).
In the church of Wesel four women were elected by the presbyters and ordained for the period of one year. Problems arose when married women (not only widows), and some of them even younger than sixty years of age, also were elected, this being contrary to what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 5:9. When the matter was brought to the Synod of Middleburg in 1581, it was decided not to introduce women into the office of deacon 'for the sake of several inconveniences,' except in times of danger, e.g. plagues (Report 39, p. 580).
J. L. Schaver in The Polity of the Churches (Vol I, Chicago, Church Polity Press, 1947, p. 144) comments on the reception of the office of deaconess in the Netherlands. "In the time of the Reformation the Reformed churches of the Netherlands for a short while favored the instituting of the office of deaconess, but already in 1581 they decided not to introduce it. On the whole, Reformed churches in the Netherlands favor the employment of women in support of the deacon's office when this is needed, but they are opposed to placing women in official service."
Similar to the Ancient period, the brief period in which Reformation churches ordained women as deaconesses reveals:
(a) A clear distinction of the role and office of "deaconess" from that of "deacon";
(b) That the church had second thoughts about ordaining women to this office.
(3) The modern church
(a) Post-Reformation
In the seventeenth century, the Baptist John Smyth classified deaconesses and widows in the same office and admitted only women over 60. These were ordained and took a vow of celibacy. Their duties were visiting the sick and poor (Report 32, p. 504).
The "Kaiserwerth Movement" in nineteenth-century Germany has influenced Lutheranism up to the present. Theodore Fliedner, a pietist, introduced the female diaconate. The first "Deaconess House" was set up in Kaiserwerth on the Rhine in 1836; others followed: Berlin, 1847; and hospitals in Dresden, Strasburg, London, New York, Pittsburgh, etc. in the 1840s (Report 32, p. 503; Schaff, Vol. II, p. 262, fn.).
In the 1860s, the Church of England ordained deaconesses to a lifelong position by the laying on of hands by the bishops (Report 32, p. 504).
In the late nineteenth century, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland introduced the "commissioned" deaconess. Subsequently, a number of Reformed churches in England, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States recognized the function or "order" of deaconess (Report 39, p. 582).
Scottish Professor Douglas Bannerman of Free College, Edinburgh, in his The Scripture Doctrine of the Church (1887, p. 501) deals with the deaconess in the New Testament church. He saw in Phoebe "the beginnings of deaconess work distinctly indicated." The qualifications for "women" in 1 Timothy 3 indicates that duties similar to the deacons' were carried out by women as "natural assistants in ministering to women in distress or sickness [emphasis added]." According to Bannerman, it is an open question whether such women were members of deacons' families or "formally set apart to the work as deaconesses."
Among American Presbyterians, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America voted (93 to 24) to ordain women to the diaconate at the Synod of 1888 in Pittsburgh. While believing the eldership is clearly prohibited to women, they maintained that based on Acts 6 no such proscription applies to the diaconate. Since women are equal in status with men in the church and since women can penetrate the domestic sphere in a way which men cannot, the office is open to them. Women's right to participate in the diaconate is clearer in Scripture (e.g., Phoebe, Rom. 16:1, 2) than their right to partake of the Lord's Supper (The Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, Nov., 1888, Vol. 26, no. 11).
One thing is clear from our survey of this period: a wide range of diaconal service has been rendered by Christian women in a variety of ecclesiastical settings. What is not clear in the practice of the church is the official status of such women.
For our purposes, it is worth noting that both in the nineteenth-century Church of Scotland and in the secession Free Church of Scotland ordination of women to the diaconal office was purposely not practiced. This, we believe, indicates (1) that the diaconal service of women has been recognized as a necessary auxiliary to the ordained diaconate and (2) that this auxiliary service is defined in terms of specific diaconal ministry to women.
(b) Contemporary
Voices in the contemporary debate are legion. Hence, I will limit my survey to our own Reformed and Presbyterian circles.
In 1947 J. L. Schaver in his The Polity of the Churches (Vol. I, pp. 143-145) concluded that the evidence for Phoebe and the "women" of 1 Timothy 3 being officers is so slender as to hardly warrant their ordination.
While continuing to discuss the subject of women in ecclesiastical office the Reformed Ecumenical Synod made the following decisions:
i. 1968 -- "'that member churches should be cautious to proceed in the direction of the entrance of women into the diaconal office. Each church must make its own responsive evaluation of its situation and decision' " (Art. 108, p. 60).
ii. 1976 -- "That synod recommend to the member churches that they make full use of the gifts and services of women in the diaconal service, in auxiliary capacities and in appropriate teaching situations [emphasis added]" (Report 39, p. 584).
In 1984, after extensive discussions, the Christian Reformed Church decided to open the office of deacon to women at the discretion of the consistories.
In their widely used Deacon's Handbook, two Christian Reformed elders, Berghoef and DeKoster, encourage the use of the diaconal gifts of ordination (p. 96).
In continental reformed churches the fact that deacons are part of the local consistory with elders has been pointed to as complicating their consideration of admitting women to the diaconate (Report 32, p. 512).
In presbyterian churches the clear distinction between elders and deacons has been used to argue that since the authority and rule prohibited by Scripture to women is unique to the eldership, the church may ordain women to the diaconate without disregarding that scriptural principle.
In speaking of the diaconate, Dr. James Hurley (RPCES) in his book Man and Woman in Biblical Perspective (Zondervan, 1981, p. 223) argues, "... the office does not entail authority of the sort prohibited to women in 1 Timothy 2. The 'women' of 1 Timothy 3 are best understood as a group of persons set parallel to the bishops and deacons. They would most naturally be assumed to be deacons. The example of Phoebe, who is identified in Romans 16:1 as a diakonos (deacon/servant) of the church in Cenchrea, lends positive (but not indisputable) support to this conclusion. 1 Timothy 3 does not specify the relation of the female deacons (or women) to the males."
Similarly, Susan Foh (OPC) in Wome |
