More Than Servants
The Authority of the Diaconate in Christ’s Church
An office instituted by Christ cannot be without authority. The discussion about the authority of the diaconate in the life of the church has recently come to the forefront. The discussion claims that the diaconate or deacons do not have authority and therefore can be open for ordination for women. I hope to show that deacons do, in fact, have real authority instituted by Christ, and therefore, the BCO is not improperly binding consciences, since it recognizes that authority. For the purpose of this article, I will be using this definition for what authority is: “Authority is a right given by God to lead, make decisions, and give direction within an appointed sphere, and those under it are called to submit, honor, and obey by following what is lawful and in keeping with God’s Word.”
The Authority of Church Government
When members take the membership vow, they enter into a solemn covenant with God and His Church.
Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?
The form of Government the PCA uses is found in Part I of the BCO. The Westminster Confession of Faith explains that the government to which they are calling to submit is established by Christ and Christ alone.
The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of Church officers (WCF 30.1)
The Divines go on to express that these officers have the keys of the Kingdom, which in the PCA we believe belong to Ruling and Teaching Elders, the parity of elders caring for the souls of those entrusted by Christ in their care. The Westminster Standards distinguish between authority broadly considered and the specific authority of the keys of the kingdom. The latter belongs to elders; the former includes all lawful offices instituted by Christ.
Now, the Westminster Confession was not the only document written by the divines; they also wrote a Confession, a Directory for Worship, a Form of Government, and two Catechisms. Warfield called these documents the “four parts of uniformity.”1 The WCF focuses on the Church Censures in WCF 30. If we limit our understanding of officers according to the Westminster Confession, then the outcome of authority, meaning that of who can apply church censures, would exclude deacons. But also, the role and function of officers would be minimal in the eyes of the Confession. Whereas, if we see the officers fulfilling the functions that Christ has appointed for them, and the Westminster Divines wrote in their Form of Government, “The officers which Christ hath appointed for the edification of his church, and the perfecting of the saints.”2 The officers carry out two duties: edifying Christ’s Church and perfecting the saints. Church discipline falls under these two categories, but it is not the only thing the officers are to do. The Westminster Divines are expressing what Paul taught in Ephesians 4:11-13.
Church Offices are Given
The PCA carries forward this interpretation, holding that the officers are to edify Christ’s church and perfect the saints as the Preface of the BCO states, “He, being ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things, received gifts for His Church, and gave all offices necessary for the edification of His Church and the perfecting of His saints.” If the PCA was to claim the officers spoken about in this portion were only regarding the office of those who have authority to apply a church censure (WCF 30), then we should amend our BCO by striking the ‘s’ in offices or we need to move to two office view with Pastor/Minister and Ruling Elder, and deacon ceases to be an office in the church.
However, a deacon is an office instituted by Christ (Acts 6:1–6, Phil 1:1, 1 Tim 3:8–13). Because they are an office instituted by Christ, the consciences of men are bound to recognize and submit to them in their lawful sphere. The BCO clearly explains that they have authority under Preliminary Principle Six: “the power to elect persons to the exercise of authority in any particular society resides in that society.” As a congregation elects a man to a particular office, they are granting permission for that man to have authority over them, in their calling as an officer.
We can also see this worked out through the process of ordination, as the BCO defines ordination, “Ordination is the authoritative admission of one duly called to an office in the Church of God, accompanied with prayer and the laying on of hands, to which it is proper to add the giving of the right hand of fellowship” (BCO 17-2). Ordination is then the authoritative admission to the office instituted by Christ, carrying not the authority of the people who laid their hands on the man, but Christ himself sets the man apart and calls him his servant, to serve alongside his brothers, and to edify the church and perfect the saints. The presbyters who lay hands on them to ordain the men to their particular office can only do so with the consent of the congregation in which they are to serve.
The Nature of Diaconal Authority
Once more, the BCO helps us understand the functions the diaconate serves in edifying the church and perfecting the saints. “The office of deacon is set forth in the Scriptures as ordinary and perpetual in the Church. The office is one of sympathy and service, after the example of the Lord Jesus; it expresses also the communion of saints, especially in their helping one another in time of need” (BCO 9-1). We need to briefly note that the BCO clearly teaches that the office of deacon is not founded on circumstances, but on the Scriptures, and because the office is not circumstantial, the functions and the qualifications need to be found in Scripture either expressly set down or through good and necessary consequence (WCF 1.6). Their office and their functions are ones of sympathy and service. Some people point out that the office is one of sympathy and service and therefore has no authority. I think, however, they confuse governing with authority. Not all authority is judicial. There are many positions in our lives to which we owe honor and obedience that do not have judicial authority. A father, a master, or a civil officer may command and direct without exercising judicial discipline in every act. Authority is not exhausted by the power to censure, but includes the right to direct and the duty of others to obey in lawful matters.
The authority of the deacon is ordinary and proper to their office. Though under the oversight of the session, deacons are entrusted with a defined sphere of administration in which they must exercise judgment, direction, and leadership. This is why the BCO stipulates that if a church is unable to secure godly men to serve as deacons for any reason, the duties do not fall upon the congregation, but upon men who have been elected by the church to exercise authority (BCO 9-2, cf PP6).
The test then of authority, in the eyes of the Westminster Standards, is found in the exposition of the Fifth Commandment, as they term them Superiors, Inferiors, and equals. Any person who is deserving of honor is a superior. In their various calling which God has placed them, those who are inferior are to obey them.
“The honour which inferiors owe to their superiors is, all due reverence in heart, word, and behaviour; prayer and thanksgiving for them; imitation of their virtues and graces; willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels; due submission to their corrections; fidelity to, defence, and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may be an honour to them and to their government” (WLC 127)
Deacons are to be shown honor as taught in the fifth commandment. They are to be shown this encouragement, honor, and obedience because Christ has appointed them to this position on his behalf. We see this in the ordination service of deacons as members vow before God when a man is ordained as an officer in Christ’s church;
Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive this brother as a 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 this Church, entitles him?
Even following their ordination, the minister is to say,
I now pronounce and declare that ____________________ has been regularly elected, ordained and installed a deacon in this church, agreeable to the Word of God, and according to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America; and that as such he is entitled to all encouragement, honor and obedience in the Lord: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I have written about the ordination service before and the importance of the practice found in BCO chapters 21 and 24.
Communion of Saints
As the BCO (9-2) expresses, the deacons express the communion of saints, particularly in assisting those in the church in need. The WCF helps see the diaconate work in their Chapter 26, “The Communion of the Saints.”
“They have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man” (WCF 26.1)
“Saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities” (WCF 26.2).
The Church is duty-bound to these tasks, and thus Christ instituted the office of Deacon to carry them out and to help equip the saints for their work of ministry. We often think of the diaconate taking care of budgets and buildings, but their duty is much more than that, as the BCO expresses.
“It is the duty of the deacons to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress. It is their duty also to develop the grace of liberality in the members of the church, to devise effective methods of collecting the gifts of the people, and to distribute these gifts among the objects to which they are contributed” (BCO 9-2).
The diaconate is not to carry out this ministry in isolation, as though the care of the saints were confined to a few good men. Rather, they are entrusted with the authority to cultivate and order the Church’s participation in works of mercy. In this way, they “develop the grace of liberality” among the members, not merely by example, but by instruction and direction. They equip the saints for the work of ministry by calling members to their duty of Christian love and organizing the Church’s response to need within the household of faith.
This necessarily entails authority. To instruct, to organize, and to direct the Church in the exercise of mercy is not a passive function, but an active and ordered leadership within a defined sphere. The diaconate, therefore, leads the Church in its ministry of compassion, ensuring that the communion of saints is practiced, not merely professed. In doing so, they serve alongside the elders, not in competition with them. Their partnership with the elders enables elders to devote themselves to the ministry of the Word and prayer, while the deacons faithfully administer the ministry of mercy for the edification of the body.
Conclusion
The authority of the diaconate is a necessary implication of Christ’s institution of His Church. If Christ has appointed offices for the edification of His body, and if authority is not limited to the exercise of discipline, then the diaconate must be understood as possessing real, though distinct, authority within its appointed sphere. To deny such authority is not only to diminish the office, but to obscure the wisdom of Christ in ordering His Church. Therefore, the Church rightly recognizes, honors, and submits to the diaconate, as those entrusted by Christ to lead in the ministry of mercy for the good of His people and the glory of His name.
Benjamin B. Warfield, The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: The Westminster Assembly and Its Work (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 36.
Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition (Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851), 507.”