Before considering the 47th General Assembly of the PCA’s Overtures Committee Minority Report on Overture 28 and Pastor Warhurst’s speech in favor of said Minority Report, it is important to define the context. Please note that a majority of the Overtures Committee (91-34; Minutes, 87) of the 47th General Assembly of the PCA voted to answer Overture 28 with reference to Overture 4, as presented” (Minutes, 78). This means that the Overtures Committee recommended the General Assembly to answer in the affirmative (74-53-1; Minutes, 86) Overture 4 from Calvary Presbytery (to declare the “‘Nashville Statement’ on Biblical Sexuality as a Biblically Faithful Declaration) in place of the essentially similar Overture 28 (as well as Overtures 22 and 37). The Assembly upheld the Overtures Committee recommendation after answering Overture 4 in the affirmative (803-541; Minutes, 76), and later hearing a presentation of a Minority Report on Overture 28 (below) and rejecting said Minority Report by a vote of 210-967 (Minutes, 78). This means that the 47th General Assembly of the PCA elected to declare the ‘Nashville Statement’ on biblical sexuality as a biblically faithful declaration rather than to adopt one of the two statements put forward by a PCA presbytery (Overtures 28 and 37).
For more information on how the General Assembly receives overtures and communications, and on how the Overtures Committee operates, please consult the PCA’s Rules of Assembly Operations (RAO) found here (pages 250-319), particularly articles 11 (Communications and Overtures) and 15 (The Overtures Committee).
From the Minutes of the 47th General Assembly, page 78:
“A Minority Report for Recommendation 28 (see p. 120) offered as a substitute motion that the Assembly adopt an amended version of Overture 28 with 12 articles affirming the Bible’s teaching about homosexuality.
TE Sean Lucas, Chairman, presented the committee’s rationale for its recommendation.
TE Steve Warhurst presented the Minority Report.”
Pastor Warhurst’s speech in favor of the Minority Report is embedded below, and available to view here on Youtube.
The text of the Minority Report which Pastor Warhurst presented and defended in the video above is available in the Minutes of the PCA General Assembly 47, pages 120-133. This text is reproduced in full, below. Note that the wording of Pastor Warhurst’s speech itself is not identical to the Report below, though he quotes heavily from the Report. Click here for information about TE Kevin Twit’s protest against the language Pastor Warhurst used in reference to Revoice Conference speakers under his presentation of Article 3 of the Report below (watch 8:00-9:00 in the video above). The list of signatories to the protest is recorded and published in the Minutes of the PCA General Assembly 47 (pages 80-85).
MINORITY REPORT – OVERTURE 28
The minority moves the following as a substitution motion:
Therefore be it resolved that the 2019 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America adopts the following 12 articles to affirm the Bible’s teaching about homosexuality.
Scripture Proofs and Reasoning
Whereas a controversy has arisen in the Presbyterian Church in America over certain teachings espoused by Revoice, an organization that is promoting LGBT+ flourishing in various PCA churches, it has become necessary to clarify and reaffirm what the Bible teaches concerning homosexuality and gender.
Article 1
WE AFFIRM that homosexual attraction, homosexual orientation, and homosexual acts are against nature and sinful.
Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
The Apostle says that the vile passions that are behind homosexual sin are against nature. They are against God’s natural created order.
WE DENY that homosexual attraction is part of the original creation order, since God created man in His image male and female for one another.
Attraction to the opposite sex is according to God’s created order. God has made men and women for one another with the intention that they [sic]
Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Genesis 2:21-24 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Jesus confirmed God’s original purpose for man and woman.
Matthew 19:4-6 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,’ 5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’ ? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Article 2
WE AFFIRM that homosexual attraction is a vile, degrading, and dishonorable passion, and those who condone homosexuality invite the further judgment of God.
BGT Romans 1:26 Διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς εἰς πάθη ἀτιμίας, αἵ τε γὰρ θήλειαι αὐτῶν μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν,
NKJV Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
NAU Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
ESV Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Paul says that unnatural sexual attractions for the same sex are πάθη ἀτιμίας. This is translated in three different ways: vile passions, degrading passions, and dishonorable passions. The affirmation gives the full meaning of the word ἀτιμίας.
American Psychological Association defines Sexual Orientation:
Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual attractions to men, women or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors and membership in a community of others who share those attractions…Sexual orientation is usually discussed in terms of three categories: heterosexual (having emotional, romantic or sexual attractions to members of the other sex), gay/lesbian (having emotional, romantic or sexual attractions to members of one’s own sex) and bisexual (having emotional, romantic or sexual attractions to both men and women).
If homosexual attraction is sinful, and homosexual orientation is an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to the same sex, then both the attraction and orientation are sinful. The incidents of homosexual attraction are sins and the homosexual orientation is a pattern of sinful attractions.
Romans 1:26-32 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:26-32 teaches that homosexual sin is a consequence of God giving sinners over to vile passions (v.26) and a debased mind (v.28). This debased mind is the origin of all sorts of unfitting things (vv.29-31). These sins deserve the righteous judgment of God and deserve death (v.32). Thus those who practice these sins and approve of this sin invite the further judgment of God.
WE DENY that unrepentant homosexuals will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (NASB)
Article 3
WE AFFIRM that Jesus condemned both sinful sexual attractions and sinful sexual actions.
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If Jesus condemned the natural desire for a woman other than your wife, how much more would he condemn the unnatural desire for a person of the same-sex? Sexual sin is not limited to particular actions but begins in the heart.
WE DENY that scripture permits homosexual attraction and orientation.
Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
Article 4
WE AFFIRM that those with homosexual attractions, incestuous attractions, and bestial attractions are ‘sexual minorities’ in the church.
Teachers connected with Revoice regularly referred to same-sex attracted people as ‘sexual minorities.’ This is accurate in the sense that those who struggle with same-sex attraction are a minority in number.
Christians particularly want to champion oppressed minorities, but being a minority is not in itself virtuous. Those with incestuous, bestial, or pedophilic orientations are also in the minority, but we should not be fooled into sympathy with sexual immorality because they are minorities.
Furthermore, LGBT+ identities are not analogous to racial identities. Race is immutable and has nothing to do with unlawful attractions or desires. LGBT+ identities are mutable and center around unlawful attractions and desires. Race is benign, unlawful sexual attraction is sin.
Many speakers at the Revoice conference were playing the part of an oppressed minority, but looking around at the larger culture, homosexuals are a powerful force to be reckoned with. It is bakers and photographers who dare to stand against their political agenda who are being sued and losing their businesses.
The homosexuals are not an oppressed minority, but a persecuting minority.
The faithful church is not persecuting homosexuals, but the faithful church merely continues to disapprove of the sin of homosexuality from its origin in the heart to its manifestation in effeminacy, gender confusion, and physical sex. The church is right in denying those who identify as homosexuals to serve in the church. Homosexuals should be loved and ministered to, but they cannot join the church until they repent of their sin.
WE DENY that there is any virtue in being identified as a ‘sexual minority,’ because all of these dispositions are sinful.
Leviticus 18:6 ‘None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 18:22-23 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. 23 Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.
Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 20:15-16 If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
There is no virtue in sexual minority status, especially when it is sexual sin that puts you in the minority.
Article 5
WE AFFIRM that God by His grace can change an unnatural sexual orientation.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Some of the Corinthian believers were delivered from the dominion of homosexual sin.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness including the sins of homosexual attraction.
WE DENY that unnatural sexual orientations are fixed, permanent, and unchangeable.
Colossians 1:21-23 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Christ is making His people holy and blameless and beyond reproach as they continue steadfastly in the faith.
Article 6
WE AFFIRM that many people having a homosexual orientation do not desire this orientation.
It is the testimony of many people struggling with homosexual attraction that they do not desire this attraction. They discovered this attraction early in life and wanted to be rid of this vile affection. Many tried to get rid of the sinful attraction but found it to be tenacious. Some then concluded that this is how God made them. This is an invalid deduction.
WE DENY that unwanted sexual attractions and orientations are natural, neutral, or good.
Romans 7:22-23 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Those who delight in the law of God have a sinful nature that is warring against the new nature. They not only have unwanted desires but do things they do not want to do at some level. The presence of unwanted attractions is part of the Christian experience, but it is wrong to deduce that these affections and inclinations are natural, neutral, or good, when God condemns them.
Galatians 5:16-17 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
No doubt this war between the flesh and the spirit makes us wretched, and our only hope is to turn to the Lord Jesus who alone can deliver us from what Paul calls the law of sin.
Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Article 7
WE AFFIRM that Christians ought to abhor homosexual sin. Abhorrence of all sin should be cultivated. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.
If God abhors something, then His people should abhor it as well. He calls sodomy an abomination, so we should see it as abominable.
Psalm 97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil!
God calls us to hate all sin, particularly sexual sin. We should abhor all sexual sin including adultery (Lev.18:20), incest (Lev.18:6), and bestiality (Lev.18:23).
WE DENY that revulsion and abhorrence of homosexual sin is sinful.
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
Christians are not called to overlook evil or redefine it. The one who loves without hypocrisy abhors what is evil and clings to what is good.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Those who rejoice in and celebrate ‘homosexual love’ are rejoicing in iniquity. This is not love as the Bible defines it. Love for those in sin means abhorring their sin. Love is patient and kind and does not behave rudely. Love does not seek its selfish interests but rejoices in the truth, including the truth that God hates sexual sin.
Article 8
WE AFFIRM that people living in homosexual sin should be shown kindness and lovingly encouraged to turn from their sin to serve Christ who alone can deliver them from sin and its shame.
Mark 2:16-17 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus ate and drank with sinners. He loved them by calling them to repentance. This loving call to repentance is not only for those outside the church but also for those inside the church who have strayed.
James 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
WE DENY that it is loving or kind to try to diminish or remove the shame of homosexual attraction and orientation, since God calls it shameful.
Homosexual attractions and the acts they desire are shameful.
Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
It is right to blush and be ashamed of abominations. Shame for sin is a means of grace that leads us to repentance. It is right to have deep and painful shame for all sins and flee to Christ for cleansing. When teachers try to remove the shame of sin or diminish the shame apart from Christ, they are cruel teachers.
Jeremiah 6:14-15 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.
We should weep for those who glory in their sin.
Philippians 3:18-19 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame–who set their mind on earthly things.
The faithful friend rebukes sin and encourages blushing for sin. Sinners should be ashamed of their sins which lead to death and submit to God who alone removes the shame of sin. Any attempt to remove shame some other way is wicked.
Romans 6:21-23 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When God gives a sinner the ability to blush for their sin and fear the death it brings, this is grace. In Christ, we are set free from sin and made slaves to God who alone gives us eternal life. To coddle sin is death. To forsake it and cling to Christ is eternal life.
If a man has a deadly disease and you have the cure, then you must tell him of his disease and offer him the cure. You must persuade him of the deadly nature of his disease. It would be wicked to say, “Your fine, your fine,” when he is dying. The first step to escaping abominable sin is to acknowledge that it is an abomination. It is right to be ashamed of sin and blush for it. It is good to turn from it to Christ who alone can take away the shame of our sin.
Article 9
WE AFFIRM that repentant sinners turning from all unnatural attractions and trusting in Christ should be welcomed into the church as members in good standing.
1 Timothy 1:15-16 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
Christ saves sinners. Some people are greater sinners than others, but God saved the chief sinner—the Apostle Paul—as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Thus, repentant sinners turning from abominable sins to trust in Christ Jesus, the Savior of sinners, should be welcomed into the church with open arms.
WE DENY that followers of Christ who struggle with homosexual attraction should be identified as “LGBT+ Christians,” because it dishonors Christ to identify with sinful attractions and orientations.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (NASB)
If a person practices fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, or drunkenness, then they are rightly labeled fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, or drunkards. If, however, they forsake these sins and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of His Spirit try to put to death these sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, then they no longer deserve these labels.
They are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. To label them with the degrading name of fornicator, drunkard, or homosexual is an insult to Christ who has set them apart for Himself.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are new creations in Christ. Something is wrong if we want to identify with those things which are shameful and brought death to us.
Romans 6:21-23 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I fear that some who identify as ‘Gay Christians’ do not understand the shame of their sin. They still want to glory in what is shameful. The entire culture around us is glorying in this sin and celebrating this sin. The homosexual must learn to be ashamed of the sin and flee to Christ. Those who understand the shame of their idolatry, adultery, drunkenness, and fornication do not want to identify as “Idolatrous Christians” or “Drunken Christians” or “Incestuous Christians.” The man who still struggles with lust for women other than his wife does not want to identify as an “Adulterous Christian.” Why is homosexuality a special sin that deserves recognition? We fear it may be the first steps toward the acceptance of homosexuality in the PCA. See the article: “The Overhauling of Straight America” by Marshall Kirk and Erastes Pill (a pen name—an erastes was a man in Greek culture that pursued adolescent boys)
Article 10
WE AFFIRM that homosexual attraction should be mortified by the power of the Spirit.
Colossians 3:5-7 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
All evil passions and desires should be put to death. Homosexual passions are evil (Rom.1:24-27) and need to be mortified by the Spirit.
Romans 8:12-14 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors–not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
All sexual immorality in thought, word, or deed is to be avoided. We are to control our bodies in sanctification and live honorable lives, free from the passion of lust that dominates the culture of unbelievers.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
WE DENY that continuing homosexual attraction or failure to attain orientation change is evidence of God’s approval of these unnatural and vile passions.
Romans 7:21-25 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Many Christians struggle with unwanted attractions and war against them for their entire lives; continuing to struggle with sin is never evidence of God’s approval of that sin. Christians men struggle with lust for women, desire for pornography, covetousness, and more. These struggles may continue until glorification, but by God’s grace can be mortified. A continuing struggle against homosexual attraction is not evidence of God’s approval of the attraction.
As John Owen said, “The Christian must always be killing sin, or sin will be killing him.”
Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors–not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Article 11
WE AFFIRM that those struggling with unlawful sexual attractions of any kind should be encouraged to seek the help, prayer, and counsel of mature believers, elders, and pastors.
God tells us to confess sins to one another and pray for one another, that God might heal us. Sin should particularly be confessed to righteous men who will pray for us and counsel us.
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
We need encouragement in the war against sin. We need daily biblical exhortation so we are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We also need the assembly of the saints.
Hebrews 3:12-13 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “TODAY,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
WE DENY that those struggling with homosexual attraction and orientation should suffer in silence.
God has placed believers in the body of Christ so that we might bear one another’s burdens. Not only should those struggling with sin break the silence and seek help from others, those who are spiritual should seek out and help those struggling with sin.
Galatians 6:1-2 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The church should be a place where sinners get help to overcome their sins.
Article 12
WE AFFIRM that our inward self-conception and outward gender identity must conform to the sex God assigned us at conception, and thus we are to live in obedience to his call evident in our reproductive organs.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Men are called to act like men. They are to take responsibility, stand firm, be strong, and defend the weak. They are not to dress like or act like women. Soft or effeminate men (μαλακοὶ) are excluded from the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (NASB)
Here, Paul uses the word malakoi, literally meaning “soft ones.” In his day, μαλακοὶ figuratively meant effeminate. Expositing 1 Corinthians 6:9, Calvin writes, “By effeminate persons I understand those who, although they do not openly abandon themselves to impurity, discover, nevertheless, their unchastity by blandishments of speech, by lightness of gesture and apparel, and other allurements.”
1 Corinthians 6:9 does not simply condemn the μαλακοὶ when he plays the woman in sodomy, but when he acts like a woman outside the bedroom. The effeminate man rejects God’s call for biological males to act like men.
Women are to be feminine; they are not to dress or act like men. This is an abomination.
Deuteronomy 22:5 “A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the union God has decreed between biological sex and self-conception and gender identity.
The fact that there are people with physical anomalies in their sex organs does not prove that gender is fluid for all people, or that they can identify and act as whatever gender they please.
Matthew 19:12 “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”
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 imagebearers. 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.
Isaiah 56:3-5 Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”; Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5 Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.
People with ambiguities related to their biological sex can turn from their sins unto Christ and live a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ, embracing their biological sex insofar as it is known.
Ruling and teaching elders signing for the minority report for Overture 28.
RE Allen Montgomery SW Florida Presbytery
RE Jim Baird Westminster Presbytery
RE John Maynard Central Florida Presbytery
RE John Mardirosian New Jersey Presbytery
TE Steven Warhurst Westminster Presbytery
TE Ted Trefsgar New Jersey Presbytery
TE Geoff Gleason Savannah River Presbytery