Thoughts on Rev. Rick Appleton Being Deposed by the PCA

 Was it John Calvin or Rick Appleton who was recently deposed from pastoral office?

1. On Women’s Inherent Inferiority and Subjection Expanded Quote: “On this account all women are born, that they may acknowledge themselves inferior in consequence of the superiority of the male sex. … For the woman was made subject to the man, as appears from the order of creation, and from the punishment inflicted on her for having seduced the man. … It is asked, whether he speaks of married women exclusively, for there are some that restrict to them what Paul teaches, on the ground that it does not belong to virgins to be under the authority of a husband. It is however a mistake, for Paul looks beyond this to God’s eternal law, which has made the female sex subject to the authority of men.” Full Citation: John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, translated by John Pringle, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1848), vol. 1, commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:10. (Also in modern reprints and at CCEL.) 2. On Prohibition of Women Teaching or Holding Public Authority Expanded Quote: “If the woman is under subjection, she is, consequently, prohibited from authority to teach in public. And unquestionably, whenever even natural propriety has been maintained, women have in all ages been excluded from the public management of affairs. It is the dictate of common sense, that female government is improper and unseemly. … For there is no absurdity in the supposition, that a woman should teach in a private capacity, provided she does not usurp the office that belongs to men. … But the Apostle here excludes them from the office of teaching, because it would be inconsistent with the subjection to which they are called.” Full Citation: John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, translated by John Pringle, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1848), vol. 2, commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:34–35. (Also in CCEL and standard modern editions of Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries.) 3. On Women as “Accessory” to Men and the “Madness” of Female Rule Expanded Quote: “Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men. In a word, it is madness. For, were men made for women? It is true that today men are as channels through which God causes His grace to stream down upon women. … Yet St. Paul has an eye here to the beginning of the creation, where it was said that it was not good for the man to be alone, and that he needed someone at hand who would always be ready to help. Since God was thinking of the man, it certainly follows that the woman is only an accessory. And why? Because she was only created for the sake of man, and she must therefore direct her whole life toward him. She must confess, ‘I am not supposed to be without direction here, not knowing my purpose and station. Rather, I am obliged by God, if I am married, to serve my husband, and render him honor and reverence. And, if I am not married, I am bound to walk in all soberness and modesty, cognizant that men have the higher rank, and that they must rule, and that the woman who disregards this forgets the law of nature and perverts what should be observed as God commands.’ This then [is] the place to which St. Paul brings back women.” Full Citation: John Calvin, Men, Women, and Order in the Church: Three Sermons by John Calvin, translated and edited (Dallas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1992), from the sermon(s) on order in the church (drawing on 1 Corinthians 11 and 14). (This is a modern English translation of Calvin’s original French sermons.) 4. On Creation Order, Eve’s Deception, and Resulting Subjection (1 Timothy 2) Expanded Quote: “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. … And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. … He assigns two reasons why women ought to be subject to men; because not only did God enact this law at the beginning, but he also inflicted it as a punishment on the woman. … Because she had given fatal advice, it was right that she should be deprived of the liberty of teaching. … By these words Paul does not mean that Adam was not entangled by the same deceitfulness of the devil, but that the cause or source of the transgression proceeded from Eve.”Full Citation: John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, translated by William Pringle (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1856), commentary on 1 Timothy 2:13–14. (Also available via CCEL.) 5. On Female Rule as a Deviation from the Order of Nature (Letter) Expanded Quote: “Two years ago John Knox asked of me, in a private conversation, what I thought about the government of women. I candidly replied, that as it was a deviation from the original and proper order of nature, it was to be ranked, no less than slavery, among the punishments consequent upon the fall of man; but that there were occasionally women so endowed, that the singular good qualities which shone forth in them, made it evident that they were raised up by divine authority; either that God designed by such examples to condemn the inactivity of men, or for the better setting forth his own glory. … I came at length to this conclusion, that since both by custom and public consent and long practice it has been established, that realms and principalities may descend to females by hereditary right, it did not appear to me necessary to move the question…” Full Citation: John Calvin to William Cecil, 1559. Published in collections such as Letters of John Calvin (compiled editions, e.g., Jules Bonnet or Baker Book House reprints of Selected Works of John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, vol. 7). Specific reference: Calvin to Cecil, 1559, regarding female government. 6. On Women’s Proneness to Vanity and Immodest Dress Expanded Quote: “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. … He intended to embrace the opportunity of correcting a vice to which women are almost always prone, and which perhaps at Ephesus, being a city of vast wealth and extensive merchandise, especially abounded. That vice is — excessive eagerness and desire to be richly dressed. … He wishes therefore that their dress should be regulated by modesty and sobriety; for luxury and immoderate expense arise from a desire to make a display either for the sake of pride or of departure from chastity. … He expressly censures certain kinds of superfluity, such as curled hair, jewels, and golden rings; not that the use of gold or of jewels is expressly forbidden, but that, wherever they are prominently displayed, these things commonly draw along with them the other evils which I have mentioned, and arise from ambition or from want of chastity as their source.” Full Citation: John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, translated by William Pringle (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1856), commentary on 1 Timothy 2:9–10. (Also in CCEL.) 7. Additional Context from Genesis (Creation of Woman and the Fall) Expanded Quote (Creation): “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. … Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. … He now adds, all the host of them, by which he signifies that the world was furnished with all its garniture. … Therefore, after he has related historically what God had done, he also demonstrates the end of the divine institution. The sum of the whole is, that among the offices pertaining to human society, this is the principal, and as it were the most sacred, that a man should cleave unto his wife.” Expanded Quote (Fall and Subjection): “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. … In order that the majesty of the judge may shine the more brightly, God uses no long disputation. … He mentions the woman on this account, because, as she had yielded to the subtlety of the devils and being first deceived, had drawn her husband into the participation of her ruin, so she had peculiar need of consolation.” Full Citation: John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, translated by John King, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847), commentary on Genesis 2:18–24 (creation) and Genesis 3:16 (the Fall and resulting subjection). (Also widely available via CCEL.)

Yes, this list was created with the help of GROK. Go to the sources. I have over the years verified many of these quotations from Calvin. Further, any ONE single one of these would be enough to likely get you deposed from much of NAPARC today.