Archlute
Puritan Board Senior
If we are going to have special clothes for ministers, then why not for the elders and deacons as well?
Because some of us still think that setting apart the preaching and teaching office in the classical Protestant manner of the "three-office" distinction continues to have an important place in the life of the Church
That does not answer the question; why not give other church officers holy clothes?
It does, implicitly.
1. Preaching and teaching are tasks of instructing, and in the Lutheran and Reformed tradition the use of an academic Genevan gown has reflected this role. It both sets apart the office, and brings attention to the didactic and proclamitory role in which the office is engaged.
2. It sets apart a function in the context of a worship service. Since elders and deacons do not have a place in leading worship and preaching, which is a role traditionally assigned to the minister, they have no need of wearing one during the service. On the other hand, when the minister sits in as the moderator on the session or the board of deacons you will not find him wearing a robe then, nor would there be any reason for the entire session or diaconate to don them outside of the context of the worship service.