Westminster Larger Catechism on Titles for Superiors
The Westminster Larger Catechism addresses the question of titles and honor for superiors in Question 127, which asks what honor is due to superiors. The catechism's answer includes the directive to give "titles of honor" appropriate to their place and dignity, grounding this practice in biblical patterns of respect and the recognition of divinely ordained authority structures.
Biblical Foundation for Honoring Superiors
Scripture establishes that those who hold positions of spiritual oversight merit particular recognition. Paul instructs that elders "who rule well be counted worthy of double honour" [1], a phrase that encompasses both respect and material support. The concept of "double honour" suggests an intensified recognition beyond what might be given to others in the community. This honor finds expression both in attitude and in tangible provision, as the apostle connects this directive to the principle that laborers deserve their wages [1].
The language of esteem appears throughout the New Testament's instructions regarding church leadership. Believers are called "to esteem them very highly" and to honor them "abundantly," with such leaders described as "worthy of double honour" and deserving of "reputation" within the community [5]. This esteem extends to how leaders are addressed, how their character is defended, and how they are materially provided for [5].
The Nature of Appropriate Titles
The Westminster tradition interprets these biblical directives as warranting the use of titles that correspond to the dignity of office. Such titles serve multiple functions: they acknowledge the authority vested in the position, they express the community's recognition of God's ordering of human relationships, and they provide a practical means of showing the honor Scripture commands.
The qualifications for church officers—whether elders or deacons—emphasize their capacity to "rule well" over their households and the church [2]. This language of ruling and presiding establishes a hierarchical structure in which titles naturally function to mark distinctions of office and responsibility. The one who "presides well, with wisdom, ability, and loving faithfulness" over the assigned flock [1] occupies a position that merits verbal acknowledgment through appropriate forms of address.
Dignity Without Ambition
The tradition carefully distinguishes between honoring office and promoting personal ambition. While some have interpreted passages about deacons "acquiring a good degree" as referring to promotion to higher office, this reading risks suggesting that ambition for advancement should motivate faithful service [3]. The better understanding sees the "boldness" or standing acquired through faithful service as a spiritual confidence and reputation earned through completed faithful action, not a stepping stone to ecclesiastical promotion [3].
This distinction matters for understanding titles: they mark present office and its attendant dignity, not personal achievement or aspiration. The worthiness of honor derives from the office itself and from faithful execution of its duties, not from the individual's social status apart from office. Scripture warns against the inversion of proper order, where "servants upon horses" represents the worthless elevated to dignity contrary to merit [4].
Honor as Material and Verbal
The "double honour" owed to those who rule well explicitly includes material provision—"the honor which is expressed by gifts" alongside other forms of recognition [1]. The high priesthood in Israel combined "the greatest honor that could be conferred on man" with "a place of considerable emolument," as priests derived "a most comfortable livelihood" from their portion of the sacrifices [6]. This precedent establishes that honor encompasses both verbal respect (including titles) and tangible support, with neither element sufficient alone.
The Westminster Larger Catechism's inclusion of titles within the honor due to superiors thus reflects a biblical pattern in which verbal forms of respect—how one addresses and speaks of those in authority—constitute one dimension of the comprehensive honor Scripture commands. These titles function not as flattery but as acknowledgment of the divine ordering that places some in positions of spiritual oversight over others.
Sources
- 1 Timothy (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Timothy 5:17: The transition from the widow presbyteresses (Ti1 5:9) to the presbyters here, is natural. rule well--literally, "preside well," with wisdom, ability, and loving faithfulness, over the flock assigned to them. be counted worthy of double honour--that is, the honor which is expressed by gifts (Ti1 5:3, Ti1 5:18) and otherwise. If a presbyter as such, in virtue of his office, is already worthy of honor, he who rules well is doubly so [WIESINGER] (Co1 9:14; Gal 6:6; Th1 5:12). Not literally that a presbyter who rules well should get double the salar”
- 1 Timothy (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Timothy 3:12: Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife,.... See Gill on Ti1 3:2. ruling their children and their own houses well. These qualifications are the same with those of the bishop or elder; See Gill on Ti1 3:4.”
- 1 Timothy (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Timothy 3:13: purchase to themselves a good degree--literally, "are acquiring . . . a . . . step." Understood by many as "a higher step," that is, promotion to the higher office of presbyter. But ambition of rising seems hardly the motive to faithfulness which the apostle would urge; besides, it would require the comparative, "a better degree." Then the past aorist participle, "they that used the office of deacon well," implies that the present verb, "are acquiring to themselves boldness," is the result of the completed action of using the diaconate well. Also, P”
- Ecclesiastes (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ecclesiastes 10:7: servants upon horses--the worthless exalted to dignity (Jer 17:25); and vice versa (Sa2 15:30).”
- 1 Thessalonians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Thessalonians 5:13: And to esteem them very highly,.... Or, as the Ethiopic version renders it, "honour them abundantly"; for such are worthy of double honour, and to be had in reputation; they should be honourably thought of, and be high in the affections of the saints, who should esteem them better than themselves, or others in the community; and should be spoke well of, and their characters vindicated from the reproach and obloquy of others; and should be spoke respectfully to, and be honourably done by; should be provided for with an honourable maintenance, which is part of ”
- 1 Samuel (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 2:28: And did I choose him - The high priesthood was a place of the greatest honor that could be conferred on man, and a place of considerable emolument; for from their part of the sacrifices they derived a most comfortable livelihood.”