Our Beliefs

Biblical Sexuality

Below are two documents that outline our positions on human sexuality, marriage, and gender as revealed in Scripture.

The Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality

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Preamble

Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being. By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God's design for human life. Many deny that God created human beings for his glory, and that his good purposes for us include our personal and physical design as male and female. It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God's beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual's autonomous preferences. The pathway to full and lasting joy through God's good design for his creatures is thus replaced by the path of shortsighted alternatives that, sooner or later, ruin human life and dishonor God. This secular spirit of our age presents a great challenge to the Christian church. Will the church of the Lord Jesus Christ lose her biblical conviction, clarity, and courage, and blend into the spirit of the age? Or will she hold fast to the word of life, draw courage from Jesus, and unashamedly proclaim his way as the way of life? Will she maintain her clear, counter-cultural witness to a world that seems bent on ruin? We are persuaded that faithfulness in our generation means declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it — particularly as male and female. Christian Scripture teaches that there is but one God who alone is Creator and Lord of all. To him alone, every person owes glad-hearted thanksgiving, heart-felt praise, and total allegiance. This is the path not only of glorifying God, but of knowing ourselves. To forget our Creator is to forget who we are, for he made us for himself. And we cannot know ourselves truly without truly knowing him who made us. We did not make ourselves. We are not our own. Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be. We believe that God's design for his creation and his way of salvation serve to bring him the greatest glory and bring us the greatest good. God's good plan provides us with the greatest freedom. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it in overflowing measure. He is for us and not against us. Therefore, in the hope of serving Christ's church and witnessing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture, we offer the following affirmations and denials.

Article 1

We Affirm God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.

We Deny God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.

Article 2

We Affirm God's revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.

We Deny Any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.

Article 3

We Affirm God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in his own image, equal before God as persons, and distinct as male and female.

We Deny The divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth.

Article 4

We Affirm Divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God's original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing.

We Deny Such differences are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome.

Article 5

We Affirm The differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God's design for self-conception as male or female.

We Deny Physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.

Article 6

We Affirm Those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in his words about "eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb." With all others they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known.

We Deny Ambiguities related to a person's biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ.

Article 7

We Affirm Self-conception as male or female should be defined by God's holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture.

We Deny Adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God's holy purposes in creation and redemption.

Article 8

We Affirm People who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ, as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life.

We Deny Sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God's original creation, or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel.

Article 9

We Affirm Sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality — a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality.

We Deny An enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexually immoral behavior.

Article 10

We Affirm It is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

We Deny The approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.

Article 11

We Affirm Our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male or female.

We Deny Any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God's design of his image-bearers as male and female.

Article 12

We Affirm The grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

We Deny The grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin.

Article 13

We Affirm The grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender self-conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one's biological sex and one's self-conception as male or female.

We Deny The grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God's revealed will.

Article 14

We Affirm Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ's death and resurrection forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure.

We Deny The Lord's arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.

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Scripture References

Gen. 1:26–28; 2:15–25; 3:1–24; Ex. 20:14, 17; Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Dt. 5:18, 21; 22:5; Jdg. 19:22; 2 Sam. 11:1–12:15; Job 31:1; Ps. 51:1–19; Prov. 5:1–23; 6:20–35; 7:1–27; Isa. 59:1; Mal. 2:14; Matt. 5:27–30; 19:4–6, 8–9, 12; Acts 15:20, 29; Rom. 1:26–27, 32; 1 Cor. 6:9–11, 18–20; 7:1–7; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:24; Eph. 4:15, 20–24; 5:31–32; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:3–8; 1 Tim. 1:9–10, 15; 2 Tim. 2:22; Titus 2:11–12; Heb. 13:4; Jas. 1:14–15; 1 Pet. 2:11; Jude 7 * Scripture texts are not a part of the original Nashville Statement document but have been added subsequently for reference.

The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

The "Danvers Statement" summarizes the need for the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) and serves as an overview of our core beliefs. This statement was prepared by several evangelical leaders at a CBMW meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts, in December of 1987, and first published in final form in November of 1988.

Rationale

We have been moved in our purpose by the following contemporary developments which we observe with deep concern:

The widespread uncertainty and confusion in our culture regarding the complementary differences between masculinity and femininity;
The tragic effects of this confusion in unraveling the fabric of marriage woven by God out of the beautiful and diverse strands of manhood and womanhood;
The increasing promotion given to feminist egalitarianism with accompanying distortions or neglect of the glad harmony portrayed in Scripture between the loving, humble leadership of redeemed husbands and the intelligent, willing support of that leadership by redeemed wives;
The widespread ambivalence regarding the values of motherhood, vocational homemaking, and the many ministries historically performed by women;
The growing claims of legitimacy for sexual relationships which have Biblically and historically been considered illicit or perverse, and the increase in pornographic portrayal of human sexuality;
The upsurge of physical and emotional abuse in the family;
The emergence of roles for men and women in church leadership that do not conform to Biblical teaching but backfire in the crippling of Biblically faithful witness;
The increasing prevalence and acceptance of hermeneutical oddities devised to reinterpret apparently plain meanings of Biblical texts;
The consequent threat to Biblical authority as the clarity of Scripture is jeopardized and the accessibility of its meaning to ordinary people is withdrawn into the restricted realm of technical ingenuity;
And behind all this the apparent accommodation of some within the church to the spirit of the age at the expense of winsome, radical Biblical authenticity which in the power of the Holy Spirit may reform rather than reflect our ailing culture.

Affirmations

Both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood. (Gen. 1:26–27; 2:18)

Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart. (Gen. 2:18, 21–24; 1 Cor. 11:7–9; 1 Tim. 2:12–14)

Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin. (Gen. 2:16–18, 21–24; 3:1–13; 1 Cor. 11:7–9)

The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women. In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility. In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries. (Gen. 3:1–7, 12, 16)

The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women. Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community. (Gen. 1:26–27; 2:18; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 5:21–33; 1 Tim. 2:11–15)

Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse. In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands' leadership. In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men. (Eph. 5:21–33; Col. 3:18–19; Tit. 2:3–5; 1 Pet. 3:1–7)

In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission — domestic, religious, or civil — ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin. (Dan. 3:10–18; Acts 4:19–20; 5:27–29; 1 Pet. 3:1–2)

In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries. Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God's will. (1 Tim. 2:11–15; 3:1–13; Tit. 1:5–9)

With half the world's population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world. (1 Cor. 12:7–21)

We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.