Nashville Statement Boldly Affirms Biblical Marriage and Sexuality

We live in a time when many churches and professing Christians and Christian leaders are ignoring and reinterpreting God’s Word—twisting the Scriptures to mean what they want them to mean. It’s encouraging to see Christian leaders taking a bold stand on God’s Word, affirming what it teaches about marriage and sexuality, and denying that which goes against biblical doctrine. We need more Christians who are willing to take a public stand for God’s Word!

I encourage you to read through the Nashville Statement.

Of course, as expected, the Nashville Statement drew criticism from the secular world and even from many Christians who have compromised regarding marriage and sexuality. As just one example, a “faith organizer” is quoted as saying:

While the theology espoused in the Nashville Statement is not new, the recommitment to anti-LGBT theology continues these Evangelical leaders’ violence against LGBT people. . . . Christians and non-Christians alike must unequivocally condemn this statement. We cannot stand for this demonization of LGBT people to go unchallenged.

Now, he’s right in saying “the theology espoused in the Nashville Statement is not new.” Although many LGBT activists are acting as if this new statement is somehow shocking, it simply affirms what the Bible’s been saying and how Christians have understood the Bible for thousands of years! Here are just a few of the affirmations and denials included in this statement:

WE AFFIRM that 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 that 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.

WE AFFIRM that 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 AFFIRM that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male or female.

WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.

WE AFFIRM that 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 that 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.

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 AFFIRM that 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 that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.

These statements, among the others included in the document, affirm clear biblical teaching and beautifully present the gospel of Jesus Christ and his ability and willingness to forgive all who come to him in faith and repentance. Yet this “faith organizer” calls this “violence against LGBT people” and a “demonization” of them. Nowhere in this document did anyone call for violence or hate toward LGBT people; rather it specifically calls for speaking the truth in love and points to the hope of the gospel for all people!

Really, the outcry of hate toward this statement and those who have signed it highlights that we’re in a spiritual battle. People are angry, not because this statement actually promotes hate or intolerance, but because they love sin and don’t want anyone telling them that their lifestyle or behavior is sinful. And the reaction itself actually shows hate toward Christians! That’s really what it boils down to! The Apostle John wrote it this way:

People loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19)

Intolerance and hate toward Christians who stand on God’s Word—especially in the area of sexuality and marriage—will only continue. The pressure to cave and affirm and celebrate same-sex marriage and transgender will increase. There is a growing number of Christians who turn aside from truth and listen only to what their “itching ears” want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). But, as believers, we are called to stand against sin and live for Christ no matter what the world around us is doing.

As the pressure increases, will you stand for truth as it is given to us in God’s Word? At some point, each of us will be required to give an answer and stake our claim—what will your answer be? Will you boldly stand for Christ or will you cater to the ever-changing, sinful whims of a secular culture? I encourage you—as in every area—to remain committed to the only true standard for holiness: the very Word of God. Jesus said:

Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two but one flesh. (Matthew 19:4–6)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.