Complementarian Deviations, Part 2

Tim Keller’s Push for Deaconesses

In a prior article, we examined Tim Keller’s narrow complementarianism, particularly as it relates to motherhood and servant leadership in marriage. We now turn to Keller’s narrow complementarianism in the church, and we begin with his push for female deacons (or deaconesses), referring to women who hold the office of deacon and not just women who assist the deacons.

The PCA’s Book of Church Order on Deacons

Keller was a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a denomination that requires its officers to subscribe to the Westminster Standards and its Book of Church Order (BCO). The PCA’s BCO prohibits not only the ordination of women as pastors or elders but also the ordination of women as deacons. As BCO 7-2 says of elders and deacons, “In accord with Scripture, these offices are open to men only.” The biblical basis for this prohibition is that the Apostle Paul requires a deacon to be a “husband,” particularly one who “manages” his children and his household well (1 Tim. 3:12). These requirements resemble those Paul lists for elders (1 Tim. 3:2–7), meaning both offices are limited to men. Further, Acts 6:1-7, the likely origin of the deaconate, only included men. [1. According to C. N. Willborn, the “consensus” Reformed view is that Acts 6:1-6 records the origin of the office of deacon, a view held by John Calvin, John Owen, John Brown of Haddington, John Dick, and Louis Berkhof. See C. N. Willborn, “The Deacon: A Divine Right Office with Divine Uses,” The Confessional Presbyterian 5 (2009): 185–186.]

BCO 9-7 does allow for a church’s session to appoint “godly men and women” as “assistants to the deacons,” though they are “not officers of the church.” Such a practice follows a common interpretation of the Greek word that can be translated “women” in Paul’s teaching on deacons in 1 Timothy 3:11 (though I think this verse specifically refers to the “wives” of the deacons). As 1 Timothy 3:11 says, “Women [gunaikas] must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things” (NASB 1995). The inclusion of qualifications for women in this passage makes sense because some women would serve alongside the deacons in order to better assist other women inside and outside the church.

While Phoebe is called a diakonos in Romans 16:1, this word can mean “servant” or “minister” (e.g., Col. 1:7; 1 Tim. 4:6), and it by no means implies that she held the office of deacon established in Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 3.[2. For the biblical case against women holding the office of deacon, see Garris, Masculine Christianity, 91–95; Robert J. Cara, “Justification of Ordained Office of Deacon Restricted to Qualified Males,” Reformed Faith & Practice: The Journal of Reformed Theological Seminary 5, no. 3 (December 2020), https://journal.rts.edu/article/justification-of-ordained-office-of-deacon-restricted-to-qualified-males/.
] Phoebe might have served as an assistant to the deacons, but she was not ordained (i.e., invested with authority by the laying on of hands). Thus, the term “deaconess” for Phoebe and female diaconal assistants should be avoided due to the confusion it causes. No such word is used for male diaconal assistants in the PCA, as they are not officeholders. The PCA’s BCO accords with the Reformed tradition on this point.[3. Some who advocate deaconesses appeal to Calvin. However, Calvin held to “two kinds of deacons,” one of which was devoted to “the care of the poor and sick.” Calvin included the widows of 1 Timothy 5:9–10 in this category, but his view also excluded women from serving as the kind of deacon that “administer(s) the affairs of the poor.” John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 2:1061 (4.3.9). Few today follow Calvin when he includes the widows of 1 Timothy 5 as deacons. But if one wants to do so, this requires widow-deaconesses to be over 60 years of age (1 Tim. 5:9, 11–16).]

Keller’s Push for Deaconesses

Keller and others in the PCA have appealed to the fact that the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES) had deaconesses when it was received into the PCA in 1982. However, the RPCES limited the office of deacon to men and only unofficially allowed for “deaconesses”—indeed, it never formally incorporated its statement on deaconesses into its constitution.[4. Jared Nelson, “Did the RPCES Have Deaconesses? Yes and No,” Presbyterian Polity (blog), November 22, 2021, https://pcapolity.com/2021/11/22/did-the-rpces-have-deaconesses-yes-and-no.] Moreover, the RPCES adopted the PCA’s Constitution when it was received into the denomination and is thus required to follow the BCO, which allows for male and female “assistants” to the deacons but grants them no such title as “deaconess.”

However, Keller would have gone beyond the practice of some former RPCES churches, as seen in his statement that he would probably have female deacons if he were in the EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church), a denomination that allows churches to ordain women as deacons (and elders). As Keller said, “If we were in the EPC and we were allowed one way or the other, I’m pretty sure Ligon would not have women deacons, and I would, yes.”[5. Ligon Duncan and Timothy Keller, “BONUS: Duncan & Keller Talk Deacons & Deaconesses – 2009,” April 4, 2022, in Presbycast, podcast, MP3 audio, 01:33:39, https://presbycast.libsyn.com/bonus-duncan-keller-talk-deacons-deaconesses-2009 (01:19:00.]

While Redeemer Presbyterian Church has not ordained women as pastors or elders, it has “commissioned” deaconesses instead of ordaining them.[6. l “Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City has since its inception commissioned (but not ordained) deaconesses working alongside male deacons in diaconal work.” Timothy Keller, “The Case for Commissioning (Not Ordaining) Deaconesses,” byFaith, August 25, 2008, https://byfaithonline.com/the-case-for-commissioning-not-ordaining-deaconesses/.] Many PCA churches have followed suit. Yet we should note that in 2024, the PCA added a clause to its BCO forbidding the use of the title of “deacon” for non-ordained people, whether male or female—“Furthermore, unordained people shall not be referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder, or deacon” (BCO 7-3). This makes clear that women are not to be commissioned as deacons.

Some PCA churches may intend to commission deaconesses as female assistants to the deacons. This practice should still be avoided because it introduces confusion and inconsistency regarding male diaconal assistants (who do not receive the title “deacon”). Yet whether or not this is intentional, churches that commission deaconesses often intimate that such women are more than assistants to the deacons. For instance, some churches list their commissioned female deaconesses alongside their ordained male deacons with no distinction—meaning that those outside the church would not know the difference between the two. Of course, it may very well be that those inside the church also do not know the difference. Such commissioned deaconesses effectively carry the title and duties of ordained deacons without the formal office. Redeemer Downtown—one of Redeemer’s five congregations—stated on its website that a woman “served on the Diaconate,” which is the same language that would be used for an ordained male deacon.[7. https://downtown.redeemer.com/learn/profiles/, accessed April 28, 2023. This webpage has been changed since it was accessed, but it stated that Marie Sclafani “served on the Diaconate from 2005 to 2009.”]

Keller’s practice of commissioning female deaconesses breeds confusion, which he even admitted.[8. Speaking of deaconesses at Redeemer, Keller said, “There’s definitely been some confusion… I’ve had constant flack…outside our church from the denomination…inside the church it has not created that much confusion.” Duncan and Keller, “BONUS: Duncan & Keller Talk Deacons & Deaconesses – 2009” (1:21:25).] However, it also undermines the PCA’s Book of Church Order and interferes with the proper ordination of male deacons. The BCO requires deacons (as officers) to be “ordained,” not “commissioned”—“Those who have been called to office in the Church are to be inducted by the ordination of a court” (BCO 17-1). The BCO adds that such ordination is “accompanied with prayer and the laying on of hands” (BCO 17-2). To not ordain deacons is to disregard the BCO. Yet some PCA churches have even stopped ordaining their male deacons in an attempt to maintain equality between men and women who perform diaconal work. Instead, they only “commission” both deacons and deaconesses. While Keller still ordained male deacons, he admitted in 2009 that Redeemer stopped laying hands on their male deacons as part of ordination.[9. “Redeemer laid hands…on our deacons for about half of our life. Several years ago, we stopped doing it. We thought, I thought, that that didn’t mean we stopped ordaining them. Plenty of people think it does. As Ligon said, laying on of hands represents recognizing their gift, but, you know, for example, if somebody said to me, ‘No, the PCA has spoken…and said you can’t call them deaconesses (misspeaks), deacons unless you lay hands on them, too, you’re violating the BCO,’ then I would just go back and say, ‘Fine.’ I mean, you know, for quite a long time we laid hands on them, we haven’t, and it’s largely or partly because some of our deacons asked us not to originally. And it was difficult for me to get around to all the services and kind of make the explanation. So, it was actually a logistical, for me it was actually logistically easier in some ways. However, I would be happy to go back to it. If somebody said, ‘No, the PCA has made it very, very clear, you are not ordaining them if you don’t lay hands on them. If you don’t lay hands on them, you can’t call them deacons.’ Well, I do want to call them deacons, and therefore I would do it.” Duncan and Keller, “BONUS: Duncan & Keller Talk Deacons & Deaconesses – 2009” (1:22:35).] This violates BCO 17-2 and raises the question of whether such male deacons have been properly ordained (Num. 27:18–23; Acts 6:6; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6).

Thus, Tim Keller’s advocacy for the commissioning of deaconesses, if not their ordination, is at odds with the PCA’s Book of Church Order, as well as much of the Reformed tradition (and we would argue Scripture as well). In the next article, we will continue to examine Keller’s narrow complementarianism in the church, focusing on his view that “a woman may do anything a non-ordained man may do.”

*This article was adapted from the book by Zachary Garris, Honor Thy Fathers: Recovering the Anti-Feminist Theology of the Reformers (New Christendom Press, 2024).