Resolved,
that the Presbytery of ________________ overtures the 217th General
Assembly (2006) to reaffirm that the church, as salt and light in
society, bears witness to the timeless truth that marriage between
a man and a woman is “a gift God has given to all humankind
for the well-being of the entire human family.” (W-4.9001).
Therefore, no sexual union outside the bonds of marriage, such as
in domestic partnerships or same-sex unions, is within the will of
God or approved by this body. The matter is so serious, and of such
great import in our own time, that we urge our churches to provide
loving and consistent teaching in this area and to call erring members
and leaders to repentance.
We direct
our national offices to uphold and urge this historic understanding
of marriage in their communications with both church and society.
Rationale
For the
church’s witness to be effective, we must examine our own teaching
and living in order that we may live lives consistent with God’
intentions for us and in so doing bear witness in our culture with
integrity. Although some in society seek to redefine marriage, marriage
is a relationship instituted and defined by God and we are not free
to change it. We believe that God’s revealed intent must be
the basis for our life and witness. Our culture needs the consistent
witness of the church in order to resist pressures that would distort
the meaning of marriage.
The following
examples show God’s revealed intent for and affirmation of the
marriage union, as well as God’s disapproval of a sexual relationship
outside the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman:
Genesis 1:26,27: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image,
in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over
all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them.
Genesis 2:20-23: But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the
LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was
sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with
flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out
of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This
is now one of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called
'woman,’ for she was taken out of man." For this reason
a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and they will become one flesh.
Exodus
20:14: “You shall not commit adultery.”
Lev.
18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that
is detestable.”
Matt.
19:4-6: “Haven't you read,” he replied, “that at
the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother
and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined
together, let man not separate.”
Romans
1: 26-27: Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even
their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the
same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with
other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Eph 5:31-32:
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This
is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the
church.”
Hebrews
13:4: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed
kep pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
1 Cor.
6:9-11: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters
nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Cor.
6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits
are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own
body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The following
examples show the PC(USA) constitutional position and teaching affirming
and blessing marriage while condemning sexual relationships outside
the marriage of a man and a woman:
The
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has several passages in its constitution
expressing its understanding of marriage. For example, the Westminster
Confession declares, “Marriage is a union between one man and
one woman, designed of God to last so long as they both shall live.”
(6.133).
The Directory
for Worship (W-4.9001):
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being
of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a
woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which
a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their
lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong
commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed
and acknowledged by the community of faith.
The Larger
Catechism interprets the Seventh Commandment as forbidding “adultery,
fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; all unclean
imaginations, thoughts, purposes, purposes, and affections …
and all other provocations to, or acts of, uncleanness either in ourselves
or others” (7.249).
The Book
of Order stated more succinctly, among “the historic confessional
standards of the church,” the “requirement to live either
in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman
(W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness” (G-6.0106b).
In 1978
the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) adopted a policy statement
on “The Church and Homosexuality.” According to that policy
statement, “We conclude that homosexuality is not God’s
wish for humanity…. Even where the homosexual orientation has
not been consciously sought or chosen, it is neither a gift from God
nor a state nor a condition like race; it is a result of our living
in a fallen world.” Reviewing biblical passages related to sexuality,
the statement found: “…that homosexuality is a contradiction
of God’s wise and beautiful pattern for human sexual relationships
revealed in Scripture and affirmed in God’s ongoing will for
our life in the Spirit of Christ. It is a confusion of sexual roles
that mirrors the tragic inversion in which men and women worship the
creature instead of the Creator.”
The
PC(USA) has at various times and in a variety of documents and policies
declared its position on marriage and sexual relationships outside
marriage. However, on some occasions the message from our church to
the culture has been unclear. In this time of sexual confusion, so
prevalent in our society and in the Church, including occasions in
which some in the church seek to challenge the teaching, it is proper
for our General Assembly to reassert itself succinctly on this matter
as a means of clarifying its teaching and making it indisputable that
such teaching applies to our own time.
