************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 30 ************
Doctrine: Only Men in Church Office
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on June 27, 1999
B.C. 30(b)
1 Timothy 2:8-3:13
"The Rule of Paul to Timothy"
Introduction
In looking at the women in church office issue for the last 20 years I have been growing increasingly uneasy. I'm uneasy because I have concluded that we've been faced with a false dilemma and a wrong choice. People on both sides of the issue have told me that either you are opposed to women in church office or you are in favor of women using all their gifts. It is either/or, or so we have been told. People on both sides of the issue have been forcing us to make a choice we shouldn't have to make.
I call this a false dilemma and I say this is a wrong choice, because the Bible teaches both. The Bible tells us that women cannot serve in the headship offices. But the Bible also tells us that women, like men, are to use all their gifts in the church and kingdom. It is not either/or; it is both/and.
We have to listen to the final warning of the Word of God. You know what John says:
(Rev 22:18-19) I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. (19) And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Those who are in favor of women in church office do exactly what John warns them not to do: they add to the Bible by forcing the Biblical texts to say more than they really say. On the other hand, those who are opposed to women in church office have not exactly been blameless either; theirs has been the opposite problem: they take away from the Bible by making the texts say less than they really say. Both sides need to repent, to accept God's Word as it is, without taking from it or adding to it.
Today we are continuing our study of the true church. If you remember, we said that believers have the duty to join the true church. But with all the different churches today, how can we tell what is a true church and what is a false church?
In looking at Article 29 we said the true church is recognized by three marks: 1) the pure preaching of the gospel, 2) the right administration of the sacraments, and 3) the faithful exercise of church discipline. These marks are just as important today as they were at the time of the Reformation. But these are very formal and outward signs of the true church and do not tell the full story.
If you remember, we said the true church is also recognized by looking at the lives of individual members. Again, we must look for three marks: 1) Do they show real faith? 2) Avoid sin? 3) Love God and neighbor? What it comes down to, dear people, is that true churches are filled with true Christians.
Again, this does not tell the full story. There is also something else we can look at to find a true church: we can look at the spiritual order, at the method and organization of church government. Again, we can look for three marks: 1) Are there ministers, elders, and deacons? 2) What do they do? And 3) how are they chosen for office? The first two questions we looked at last time; the third question we will look at today and next time as well.
What are we being told today? According to the Belgic Confession of Faith, true churches elect office bearers according to the rule of Paul to Timothy: in other words, they allow only men in the headship offices and they make full use of members' gifts.
I Women Cannot Serve in the Headship Offices
A True churches elect office bearers according to the rule of Paul to Timothy. What does Paul say? He says that only men can serve in what we call the "headship" offices. Paul lays out three kinds of texts that lead us to this conclusion.
First, Paul lays out those texts – like our passage for this evening – that talk about the qualifications for church office.
(1Tim 3:2) Now the overseer (that's another word for "elder" or "bishop") must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife ...
(1 Tim 3:12) A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.
Overseers and deacons must be "the husband of but one wife." When I mentioned this to a friend, he said, "But Paul didn't say, 'The overseer must be a man.'" Oh, but yes he did! The Greek word for "husband" is a sexual word that always and clearly refers to men and to men alone; it excludes women. Paul could have used other words here, but he didn't. Don't forget what we say about Scripture: we say every single word in its context is Spirit-inspired; therefore, the word that Paul uses is not accidental.
B Paul also lays out a second group of texts – the ones that talk about male headship. Listen, for instance, to what he writes to the church at Corinth:
(1 Cor 11:3) Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Some try to limit these words to the husband-wife relationship as Paul does in Ephesians 5 (vs 22ff). However, the word used for man here is the same word Paul uses in Timothy. It means a male; it excludes females. And the word for woman means a female of any age. The man is the head of the woman. This means he has a spiritual direction-setting authority over her. It is the man, not the woman, who is to set the direction of the home and the church. This rule of male headship means women cannot possibly serve in the headship, spiritual direction-setting offices.
C Paul also lays out a third group of texts – the ones that we know as the "women be silent" texts. Paul says:
(1 Tim 2:12) I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
Women may not be authoritative teachers in the church. No matter how much one works with the Greek and various nuances of translation, this conclusion can't be avoided.
D "Hold it!" some of you might be saying. "Why, then, did the Christian Reformed Church Synod of 1990 decide to open all the offices to women?" For 1½ years an ad hoc committee of Synod searched through all the reports and decisions of Synod; this committee's mandate was to gather together all the Biblical grounds for the decision of Synod 1990 allowing women into all the offices of the church. The committee came up with one verse to support Synod's decision:
(Gal 3:28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
What does this text tell us? It tells us that before God, men and women both enjoy all the benefits of salvation. Before God, men and women are equally endowed with the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit. Before God, men and women are both called to be caretakers and rulers of the Creation.
Galatians 3:28 is a beautiful text. How wondrous it is that we are one in Christ when it comes to salvation. The committee is wrong, however, in jumping from salvation to church office. Galatians 3 talks about equality of salvation NOT equality of function. Galatians 3 and its context remain silent about church office.
What did the ad hoc committee do, then, with the rule of Paul to Timothy, or Titus, or the Church of Corinth? It said those rules must be seen and reinterpreted in the light of Galatians 3. What these texts seem to say no longer applies because equality in Christ has swept them away. Using the warning of John, I would say this both adds to and takes away from the Scriptures. It adds the principle of equality to the qualifications for church office. It takes away the principle of male headship.
E Some of you might have noticed the actual wording of Belgic Confession Article 30 here. Our current version uses the word "persons" when it talks about those elected to church office. However, our previous version more accurately translates the original French when it specifies "faithful men" as those who are elected to church office. Synod changed the clear intent and language of the Belgic Confession in order to cater to those in favor of women in church office.
II Full Use of Members' Gifts
A True churches allow only men in the headship offices. But that's not all that Paul says. He also says that true churches make full use of members' gifts, whether those members be male or female.
(1 Cor 12:7) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Along this line, Peter says:
(1Pt 4:10) Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
Within the church, then, men and women both are to make full use of their spiritual gifts in serving the Lord. We see an instance of this in 1 Timothy 3:11 of our Scripture reading. It is right in the middle of Paul's discussion about male deacons.
(1 Tim 3:11) In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
A footnote on the bottom tell us Paul is talking about women as deaconesses. We don't know if Paul is talking about wives of the male deacons or of other women. Whoever these women are, we know that they do the work of deacons in Christ's name. One such woman Paul mentions in Romans 16. Her name is Phoebe. About her Paul says,
(Rom 16:1) I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.
Here, in the Greek, the word used for "servant" is "diakonon." That's the same word used in Acts for the seven men chosen as deacons. Phoebe was a deacon or a deaconess, a servant and leader in the church of Cenchrea.
B In more than one place Paul also talks about "fellow workers." There can be no doubt that Paul means "fellow workers" in bringing and declaring the Gospel of Christ. It is important to note that Paul includes many women among his fellow workers: Euodia, Syntyche, and Priscilla to name only a few (Phil 4:1-3; Rom 16:3; Acts 18:26).
C In talking about worship, the Bible tells us that women in the early church prayed, prophesied, and taught. Many people argue about the meaning of Paul's words to Corinth:
(1Cor 11:4-5) Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. (5) And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head--it is just as though her head were shaved.
People don't agree on what it means to have a head covered or uncovered. But in arguing about this, they too often miss the obvious – Paul is talking about public worship and he assumes that women and men both pray and prophesy in that worship.
People wonder how women can pray and prophesy when, in our Scripture reading for this evening, Paul says they are to be silent.
(1 Tim 2:11) A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
In the Greek, the silence commanded is not the absolute "be quiet, sit down, and button your lips" kind. Rather, it is the silence of peacefulness, of no quarreling or arguing. Verse 12 is to be understood in the same way. Paul says,
(1 Tim 2:12) I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
Again, the silence that is commanded is to be taken in the sense of peacefulness, not of "button your lips in the church" silence. What Paul is saying is that women are not to teach in an authoritative, direction-setting manner that violates the principle of male headship.
Conclusion
True churches elect office bearers according to the rule of Paul to Timothy: they allow only men in the headship offices and they make full use of members' gifts. It is not a case of either/or; rather, it is a case of both/and.
Why? As more than one person has mentioned, what is at stake is far more than the Christian Reformed Church. What is at stake is the Word of God. We can't take just the part of God's Word that we agree with. We have to take all of God's Word and submit to its authority in all of life.