Thanks...that clears it up.
We tend to argue that ordination to the priesthood and diaconate is a sacrament that requires a “vir” = man, and simply cannot be passed on to women. I’m intrigued that even without believing in any sacramental distinction between presbyteroi and laity, you can make the case against women’s ordination purely from a standpoint of church order.
Might be some good arguments there for us to mine when dealing with our own heretics. :)
Well, we make it from Scripture, which is where our church order arises.
We aren't Baptists! Only a pastor (sometimes called 'teaching elder' or 'minister') can administer the sacraments. From the Westminster Confession of Faith:
Chapter 28, Paragraph "II. The outward element to be used in this sacrament is water, wherewith the party is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by a minister of the Gospel, lawfully called thereunto."
Chapter 29, Paragraph 3: "The Lord Jesus has, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers to declare His word of institution to the people, to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use; and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants;[5] but to none who are not then present in the congregation."