Many in the church know that ordination is important, but they may struggle to articulate why that is the case. Ordination is one of the hidden gems of the Bible’s teaching on the church and church office. To appreciate its significance, we need to understand what ordination is, where it is found in Scripture, and how God intends for ordination to help the church.
First, what is ordination? The PCA’s Book of Church Order defines ordination as follows: “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). (1) Two elements of this definition merit attention. The first is that ordination is inextricably bound to church office. Only those who are “duly called to an office in the Church of God” are eligible for ordination. As John Owen notes, “ordination in Scripture compriseth the whole authoritative translation of a man from among the number of his brethren into the state of an officer in the church.” (2) Thus, ordination is reserved for church officers, exclusively.
Second, ordination is the “authoritative admission” of one called to office. When a man is called by Christ to office in the church, James Bannerman observes, he has the “title to the possession of [that] office” but he does not yet have the “title to the exercise of [that] office.” (3) The latter is “conferred through the regular and outward appointment of the Church.” (4) In ordination, a man is “formally admitted to the office [to which he has been called], or invested with the right to discharge its functions.” (5) Ordination, then, is not a superfluous ceremony. It is a solemn act by which the church, acting through its officers, formally admits a man into the office to which he has been called. Only when he is thus admitted to office does he have the right to exercise that office in the church. (6) Read more»
Guy Waters | “What Is Biblical Ordination?” | February 12, 2026
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