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Bachelor Office-Bearers and Women Scripture Readers

Question 1: "Is it biblical for single men to hold eldership in the church?" The background for this question is some of the qualifications for elders in I Timothy 3: an elder must be "the husband of one wife" (2) and "One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)" (4-5).

The argument is that if Scripture requires an office-bearer to be the husband of one wife (2), then a bachelor may not serve in an office in the church. And since an elder must rule his house and have his children in subjection (4-5), a childless man is unqualified. This line of argumentation is, however, fallacious. When the apostle says that one qualified for the office of elder must be the husband of one wife, the negative is: an elder may not have more than one wife. The apostle says nothing about unmarried men.

Notice too that the same qualifications are required in deacons. "Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well" (3:12). If this line of reasoning were true, not only would single or childless men be excluded from the office of elder (including teaching elders or ministers); they would also be excluded from the office of deacon (3:12)!

The Lord Jesus during His earthly life was single, as was the apostle Paul and the apostolic office is a higher one than that of pastor (Eph. 4:11). Were Elijah or Timothy also unmarried? Many godly office-bearers in the post-apostolic era never married, including Augustine. Martin Luther was reforming the church for several years before he married in 1525. What if an office-bearer (minister, elder or deacon) is married but he loses his wife or he and his wife are unable to have children or all their children die (as was the case with John Calvin)?

Having said all this, an elder (or minister or deacon) who is married may, from a practical point of view, be better qualified than an unmarried man. When an elder must help sort out spiritual problems in families, he may have more understanding of these problems if he has a family of his own. But that line of reasoning is a practical consideration, not one of Scripture’s explicit teaching.

Yet this is not a hard and fast rule either. For God gave to the apostle Paul, a bachelor, the longest (I Cor. 7) and the deepest (Eph. 5:22-33) teaching on marriage in the New Testament, plus instruction on child-rearing (e.g., Eph. 6:1-4Col. 3:20-21).

Question 2 from the same reader is: "May women who are called to do so read the Scriptures in the morning or evening services, over the heads of elders or deacons?"

Apparently, this is a problem in the church the reader attends. Women, while not actually preaching, are permitted to read the Scriptures in divine worship services when asked to do so by the elders. My guess is that those who practice this argue that this practice is permissible because these women are not actually preaching. It reminds me of an evensong service in Westminster Abbey where the opposite was practised: A man read the Scriptures but a woman preached!

The apostle’s prohibition of women speaking refers to the official work of the church: the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments and the exercise of church discipline. The important texts are especially: "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (I Tim. 2:12), and "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law" (I Cor. 14:34).

The work of the church is the work of Christ, who accomplishes His purpose in gathering the church through the instituted church. The office-bearers stand in the place of Christ. Christ speaks through them. Christ is present in and with the church, not in some mystical sense, but through the work of the office-bearers.

This principle is true of all three offices and those who permit women deacons and elders err. Ministers bring Christ’s Word in the preaching and in the administration of the sacraments. Elders bring the Word in their rule of the congregation. Deacons bring Christ’s Word in their care of the poor, for they too must, according to the Form for Installation of Elders and Deacons, bring "comforting words from Scripture."

Scripture forbids women to perform this work and Scripture is unambiguous on the question. They must keep silence in the church. The emphasis falls on "in the church." Women may read Scripture for themselves. They may (and must) read Scripture to their children. They may read Scripture during family devotions. They may read Scripture in Bible Study groups. And in all these activities they may also speak. To impose silence on them in these areas of life is a serious mistake and even a sin, for it denies that women in the church hold the office of believer and are, under their husbands, prophetesses, priestesses and queens. The worship services, however, are different for they are the principle way in which Christ is present with His church by His Word and Spirit. As Westminster Larger Catechism, A. 156 states, "Although all are not to be permitted to read the word publickly to the congregation, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves, and with their families."

In the worship services, the reading of the Scriptures belongs to the special offices, especially that of the minister. Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. & A. 156 cites Deuteronomy 31:9-13 andNehemiah 8:2-3 and 9:3-5 in this regard. It is an important and crucial part of the minister’s task as ambassador of Christ. I think that in some instances the reading of the Scriptures brings God’s Word to His people more clearly and more effectively than the sermon, for some sermons are not very good. Even in Scripture reading, Christ Himself is speaking to His people. And He is speaking by means of the written Word, infallibly inspired by His Spirit, the same Spirit He sends into the church. This Spirit works in the hearts and lives of God’s people, but always and only by means of the Word. He binds Himself to the Word, whether written in Scripture or spoken, and will not be cut off in His work from the Word.

Most churches have departed from these principles and this apostasy is due to the failure of the church to be faithful to the Word. Let the church of Christ be faithful to Christ and Christ’s Word in the Scriptures and it will prosper!

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Additional Info

  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 6
Hanko, Herman

Prof. Herman Hanko (Wife: Wilma)

Ordained: October 1955

Pastorates: Hope, Walker, MI - 1955; Doon, IA - 1963; Professor to the Protestant Reformed Seminary - 1965

Emeritus: 2001

Website: www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakeronly=true&currsection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Prof._Herman_Hanko

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