“Know that the LORD Himself is God;


It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves ….” —Psalm 100:3


Preamble Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twen-


ty-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 fe- male is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferenc- es. Te 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.


Tis secular spirit of our age presents a great chal-


lenge 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 genera-


tion 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. Tis is the path not only of glorifying God, but of knowing ourselves.


Article 1 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 homo-


sexual, 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 that God’s revealed will for all people is chas-


tity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage. WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments


ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.


Fellowship Focus, July/August 2019 15


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 our- selves 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. Terefore, in the hope of serving Christ’s church and witness- ing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture, we offer the following affirmations and denials.


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