Overture 27

On Reaffirming That Marriage Between a Man and a Woman Is a Gift God Has to All Humankind—From the Presbytery of Redstone.

The Presbytery of Redstone 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” (Book of Order, 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’s 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 humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 2:20-24: “... but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Exodus 20:14: “You shall not commit adultery.”

Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

Matthew 19:4-6: “... Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 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. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Romans 1: 26-27: “For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”

Ephesians 5:31-32: “ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.”

Hebrews 13:4: “Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you used to be. 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 Corinthians 6:18-20: “Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in 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 of Faith declares, “Marriage is a union between one man and one woman, designed of God to last so long as they both shall live” (The Book of Confessions, 6.133).

The Directory for Worship (Book of Order, 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, and affections ... and all other provocations to, or acts of, uncleanness either in ourselves or others” (The Book of Confessions, 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.