Published: September 1st, 2017
Over 150 Christian leaders have signed a statement clarifying the
biblical view of sexuality, including on marriage, gender identity and sexual
orientation.
The Nashville Statement,
released this week, contains 14 articles which affirm God's pattern for
sexuality, and the saving power of the gospel to redeem from all
sin.
It has been signed by major Christian leaders from the US and the
UK, including Wilberforce Academy Fellows Peter Jones, and Jeffery Ventrella, as
well as Robert Gagnon, John Piper, Sam Allberry, Vaughan Roberts, Dick Lucas,
Francis Chan, and many others.
Response to increasingly secular
norms
The introduction to the statement highlights the growing pressure
aimed at the Church to conform to liberal secular
norms.
It reads: "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?"
It adds that the 14 affirmations and denials are an attempt to
publicly witness to the goodness of God's design for
mankind.
Welcome clarity
The statement makes very clear that marriage is
a "lifelong
union of one man and one woman", and that "God's
revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within
marriage."
Article 7 discusses self-conception and
includes:
"WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender
self-conception is consistent with God's holy purposes in creation and
redemption. "
Article
10 makes clear that approval of homosexual practice is itself
immoral:
Article 10
"WE AFFIRM that 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 that the approval of homosexual immorality or
transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful
Christians should agree to disagree."
A courageous and compassionate
statement
John Piper, who helped convene the coalition statement said:
"The Nashville Statement is a Christian manifesto concerning
issues of human sexuality. It speaks with forthright clarity, biblical
conviction, gospel compassion, cultural relevance, and practical helpfulness.
There is no effort to equivocate for the sake of wider, but muddled,
acceptance.
"It is built on the persuasion that the Christian Scriptures
speak with clarity and authority for the good of humankind. It is permeated by
the awareness that we are all sinners in need of divine grace through Jesus
Christ. It affirms with joy that no form of sexual sin is beyond forgiveness and
healing. It touches the most fundamental and urgent questions of the hour,
without presuming to be a blueprint for political action. And it will prove to
be, I believe, enormously helpful for thousands of pastors and leaders hoping to
give wise, biblical, and gracious guidance to their
people."
Christian Concern applauds the Nashville
Statement
We applaud the clarity, conviction, compassion and courage of the
Nashville Statement. It is a statement for our time when Christian moral values
are under attack. It is a statement that all Bible believing Christians can
unreservedly affirm and be grateful for. At the same time, it says nothing new.
It affirms the same beliefs and practices that the Church has upheld throughout
church history.
We hope that the Nashville statement gains wide recognition and
acceptance as a clear expression of Christian values on sexual ethics and
sexuality.
