Presbyterian Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 10: Office and Gender in the Reformed Churches

Key Verse

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Affirm from Scripture the equal worth of men and women as image-bearers and as heirs of salvation in Christ.

2. State the conservative Reformed view of the offices of the church and the reasons given for it.

3. Describe fairly the Reformed and Presbyterian bodies that ordain women, and the biblical reasons they give.

4. Give the conservative Reformed answer to the main arguments for ordaining women.

5. Describe the wide range of ministry that women carry out in Reformed churches, and apply this unit with pastoral care.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it or are studying it. It is theologically conservative, holds that Scripture is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and receives the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity as faithful summaries of Scripture. In this unit the conservative Reformed view of church office is taught as the view of the confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches of this specialization. The Reformed family is not agreed on the question, and other Reformed bodies, as well as other Christians who honor the Bible, hold a different view. We state their position fairly and then give our answer, always affirming the wide and honored service of women in the church. Scripture says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Equal in Worth, Different in Calling

We begin with what all Christians agree on. "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). Men and women are equally made in God's image, equally fallen, and equally saved by grace through faith. Paul says in Galatians 3:28 that in Christ there is neither male nor female in the matter of our standing before God: all are one, all are heirs of the promise (Galatians 3:29).

The Bible also honors women in remarkable ways. Women were the first witnesses of the resurrection, sent by the risen Lord to tell the apostles (Matthew 28:1-10; John 20:11-18). At Pentecost Peter declared that God would pour out His Spirit on sons and daughters, and that both would prophesy (Acts 2:17-18). Women supported the ministry of Jesus from their own means (Luke 8:1-3). In Romans 16 Paul greets by name many women who worked hard in the Lord.

Scripture also teaches that God made man and woman for each other in marriage, one man and one woman, a gift of the Creator (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6). Paul uses the union of husband and wife as a picture of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). The Reformed churches teach that equal worth and different callings belong together, in the home and in the church. A different calling is not a lesser calling.

The Offices of the Church

Units 2 to 4 of this course described the offices of the Presbyterian church. Christ, the King and Head of the church, governs through officers. Teaching elders (ministers of the Word) preach, teach and administer the sacraments. Ruling elders govern the congregation with the ministers in the session and shepherd the flock. Deacons carry out the ministry of mercy. An officer is not simply someone who serves, since all Christians serve. He is someone called by God, tested and examined by the church, ordained, and given authority to act in the name of Christ within the limits of Scripture. The question of this unit is who may be ordained to these offices.

The Conservative Reformed View

The Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as other conservative Presbyterian and Reformed churches in many lands, teach that the offices of elder, both teaching and ruling, are reserved to qualified men. Women are not excluded from the grace of God or from service. The reasons are these.

The qualifications for elders are written in terms of men. Paul says that an overseer must be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2), and gives a similar list in Titus 1:5-9, where the elders are to be appointed in every town. The Lord's own choice of the twelve apostles, all men, and the practice of the apostles in appointing elders in the churches (Acts 14:23), is read in the same way.

Paul does not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man in the church. "And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:12). The apostle goes on to give his reason, which is not a local custom but the order of creation: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve" (1 Timothy 2:13). He does not say that women are less gifted or less intelligent. He says that the teaching and governing office of the church is given to men. He gives a similar direction for the public worship of the churches in 1 Corinthians 14:33-35, which we read in the light of his teaching that the women of Corinth also prayed and prophesied in the assembly (1 Corinthians 11:5).

Headship in the home and in the church is a pattern of creation. In Ephesians 5 the husband is the head in the sense of one who loves, gives himself and serves. The conservative Reformed teachers hold that this pattern of loving male leadership, seen in creation before the fall (Genesis 2), shapes the office of elder: the elder is a servant-leader who must be an example to the flock and not a lord over it (1 Peter 5:1-3; Mark 10:42-45).

The Reformed confessions do not argue the question in detail. The conservative churches point instead to the practice of the Reformed churches, which ordained only men as ministers and elders from the Reformation until the twentieth century, with few exceptions.

Deacons and the Question of Women

Within the conservative churches the question of deacons is more openly discussed. In Romans 16:1 Paul calls Phoebe a diakonos of the church in Cenchrea. The word can mean "servant" or "deacon." In 1 Timothy 3:11 Paul gives qualifications for "women" or "wives" (the Greek word can mean either, and translators differ) in the context of the deacons. Some conservative churches read these texts as pointing to a recognized ministry of women alongside the deacons, and they commission women as deaconesses or assistants to the deacons for the ministry of mercy (see Unit 4). Others hold that the office of deacon, like that of elder, is for men. In the bodies mentioned above, the ordained deacons are men, but the discussion continues. We should hold our own views with humility on this question, as the texts are not as clear as in the case of elders.

Reformed Bodies That Ordain Women

Over the twentieth century, a number of Presbyterian and Reformed bodies began to ordain women as elders and ministers. They include the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and a good number of Reformed and Presbyterian churches in Europe and other countries. These bodies are not all alike, and we should speak of them fairly. Some of them have moved away from the full authority of Scripture, as the history of theological liberalism in some mainline churches shows (see Course 1 of this specialization, "Division, Liberalism, and Confessional Renewal in the Twentieth Century and Today"). But it is not fair to say that everyone who holds this view has abandoned the Bible. Many who believe in Scripture's authority, including evangelical scholars and pastors, are convinced that Scripture permits the ordination of women. Their reasons deserve to be heard.

Galatians 3:28. Paul declares that in Christ there is neither male nor female. They say this is the heart of the gospel, and that the church should show it in its offices.

Women who led and taught in Scripture. Deborah judged Israel (Judges 4-5). Miriam is called a prophetess (Exodus 15:20). Philip's four daughters prophesied (Acts 21:9). Priscilla, with her husband Aquila, explained "the way of God more accurately" to Apollos (Acts 18:26). Phoebe is called a diakonos and a helper of many (Romans 16:1-2). Paul greets Junia, whom he describes as "of note among the apostles" in Romans 16:7, and some understand her to be a woman who was herself an apostle. Euodia and Syntyche labored with Paul in the gospel (Philippians 4:2-3).

The local setting of the restricting texts. They argue that 1 Timothy 2 was written to a church in Ephesus troubled by false teachers, and that 1 Corinthians 14 answered disorder in the assembly at Corinth, so that Paul's commands were meant for those situations and not as a rule for all churches.

The gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit gives gifts to all (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11). Where a woman is gifted to teach and lead, they argue, the church should call her to office and not waste her gift.

The Conservative Answer

We answer each point with respect.

Galatians 3:28. We rejoice in this verse. But the context is justification and our standing as sons of God and heirs (Galatians 3:26-29). It says that all are equally members of Christ's body, with the same access to the Father. It does not say that all have the same office. The same Paul wrote 1 Timothy 2 and Galatians 3, and the same Paul told slaves and masters, husbands and wives, to keep their callings, in the same churches where all were one in Christ. The verse removes barriers to salvation, not distinctions of role.

The women of Scripture. We honor them all. Deborah was raised up in a time of failure among the men of Israel, and she did not hold the priestly or Levitical office; Barak was called to lead the army (Judges 4:6-9). Prophecy and the teaching and governing office of an elder are different, and we gladly receive the prophesying of Philip's daughters without reading it as ordination. Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos aside and explained to him in private, not in the public assembly. Phoebe was a servant and helper of the church; this is not the same as proof that she held the office of an elder. The reading of Junia is debated: the name may be female or male in the Greek, and the phrase may mean "well known to the apostles" rather than "an apostle." Even if Junia was an apostle in the sense of a traveling messenger, nothing here shows she held the office of an elder in a congregation.

The local setting. We agree that Paul wrote to real situations. But in 1 Timothy 2:13-14 he bases his command on the creation of Adam and Eve, and not on the culture of Ephesus. Creation does not change from city to city. Reformed teachers also ask where, if these texts were so limited, the Scripture itself ever tells us so. We therefore hold that the commands are lasting.

The gifts of the Spirit. We agree that the Spirit gives gifts to women and men, and the church should honor all of them. But a gift and an office are not the same thing. The Spirit gives gifts of teaching to women for the teaching of women and children (Titus 2:3-5), in the home, in mission and in many places, and the church has too often failed to use these gifts. The office of elder is bound by the Lord's qualifications.

The charge of harm. Some say that this view has been used to keep women silent or to excuse harsh or controlling men. Where that has happened, it is a sin and must be repented of. Biblical headship is not tyranny. Elders are shepherds who answer to the Chief Shepherd, and husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).

The Wide Service of Women

The conservative churches affirm, and need to practice, the broad ministry of women. Women teach children and other women (Titus 2:3-5); Timothy's faith came through his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5). Women pray, sing, read Scripture in many churches, lead ministries of mercy and hospitality, counsel women, translate the Bible, and serve in missions, often in hard places. Throughout the history of Reformed missions, including Mexico, Brazil, Korea and Africa, women have served as missionaries, nurses, teachers and evangelists, and in many congregations they are a large part of the faithful and of the church's prayer life. Many conservative churches also invite women to serve on committees, to lead women's ministries, to teach in schools, and to be commissioned for work as deaconesses. The boundaries are not drawn in the same place everywhere, and sessions must apply the rule with wisdom and love. The question is not whether women serve, but where, and in what office.

Pastoral Application

A young woman in a Presbyterian church in Mexico has finished a Bible institute course. She is a gifted teacher and has been leading the women's study. She comes to her pastor and says, "I feel the Lord is calling me to be a pastor. Why can't I be ordained?"

First, the pastor listens. He knows that this may be painful, and he thanks her for her love of the Word.

Second, he affirms her gifts and tells her that the church needs them. He does not treat her question as a rebellion.

Third, he opens the Scriptures with her, showing 1 Timothy 2 and 3, and explains with honesty what the church believes and why. He also tells her that other faithful Christians read these passages differently, so that she hears the conviction of her church without a caricature of anyone.

Fourth, he opens real doors: leading the women's ministry, training teachers for children, preparing catechism classes, assisting the deacons in mercy work, helping the congregation write Bible lessons for the young, and encouraging her to take part in mission work. If after prayer and counsel her conscience will not allow her to stay, he blesses her and does not break fellowship.

Summary

Men and women are equally made in God's image and equally heirs of salvation (Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28), and marriage is the gift of God to one man and one woman. The conservative Reformed churches, such as the PCA and the OPC, reserve the offices of teaching and ruling elder to qualified men, on the grounds of the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, Paul's instruction in 1 Timothy 2:12-13, and the creation pattern of headship. The question of women deacons is discussed more openly in conservative churches. Other Reformed bodies, such as the PC(USA) and the Reformed Church in America, ordain women, appealing to Galatians 3:28, to women such as Deborah, Priscilla, Phoebe and Junia, to the local setting of the restricting texts, and to the gifts of the Spirit. Conservative teachers answer that Galatians 3:28 speaks of standing and not office, that the women of Scripture did not hold the office of elder, that Paul rests his command on creation, and that a gift is not the same as an office. All agree that women serve widely and honorably in the church, and the pastor must apply the teaching with love.

Further Reading

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), chapter 18, on ministers.

• The Belgic Confession (1561), articles 30 and 31, on the government of the church and its officers.

• The Form of Presbyterial Church-Government (1645).

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), Book 4, chapters 3 and 4.

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646-47), chapters 25 and 30.

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