Native Presbyterian

@derekradney 9-3. To the office of deacon, which is spiritual in nature, shall be chosen men of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly spirit, warm sympathies, and sound judgment.

“When the BCO does not address a matter, each court may use discretion. The BCO is intended to speak only when necessary. When it does speak, it is authoritative. When it does not speak, it is not a prohibition. In other words, it is prescriptive (laying out what is required), not proscriptive (forbidding anything not explicitly permitted by it.” - Per Almquist in Our Bond of Union: A Commentary on the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America

Choi reverses the burden of proof. A greeting in Romans 16 and an ambiguous phrase in 1 Timothy 3 cannot overturn the church-order passage, Westminster, the BCO, and historic Presbyterian polity. Service is not office and assistance is not ordination.

"Leave it to local sessions" is not Presbyterian. The BCO already speaks: deacons are men. Godly men and women may assist them, but those assistants are not officers and are not ordained. Choi is not asking sessions to choose. He is asking the PCA to change its constitution.

If γυναικας in 1 Tim. 3:11 creates a parallel female office, that office gets four qualifications. Male deacons get the full list: tested, doctrinally sound, blameless, household rule. Even enrolled widows in 1 Tim. 5 get more. "Wives" explains the brevity. "Officers" does not.

Choi cites Calvin. But Calvin does not give him the case. Calvin read 1 Tim. 3:11 as wives of bishops and deacons. He placed women’s service in a distinct mercy role connected to widows and the poor. That is much closer to BCO 9-7 than to ordained women deacons.

Beware of foreign influence. A reply thread. 🧵

Choi says οὖσαν + διάκονον points to office, like Caiaphas as high priest. But that kind of construction does not create office by itself. Paul uses διάκονος for himself, Tychicus, Timothy, and even Christ as "a servant of the circumcision." Grammar is not polity.

Choi’s case for women deacons in the PCA rests on three moves: Romans 16:1 makes Phoebe an officer. 1 Tim. 3:11 is too ambiguous to exclude women. So let local sessions decide. Each move fails. By his own word, the case is "tenuous."