The CRC Synod 2016, in response to multiple overtures, adopted the following: That synod appoint a new study committee to articulate a foundation-laying biblical theology of human sexuality that pays particular attention to biblical conceptions of gender and sexuality. The central aim of this theological task will be to provide concise yet clear ethical guidance for what constitutes a holy and healthy Christian sexual life, and in light of this to serve the church with pastoral, ecclesial, and missional guidance that explains how the gospel provides redemptive affirmation and hope for those experiencing sexual questioning, temptation, and sin.

Here is a portion of the Report from pp. 144-148.  Read the entire Report here.

XVI. Confessional status

Our committee has been asked to evaluate “whether or not, with respect to same sex behavior and other issues identified in the study, it will be advisable for future synods to consider . . . declaring a status confessionis” (Acts of Synod 2016, p. 920). This raises the question, What is a status confessionis?

Very simply, this Latin phrase means “confessional status.” To raise the question of confessional status is to wonder whether some teaching or ecclesiastical practice, if adopted, would violate the teachings of the confessions of the church. This is important because the teachings of the confessions are understood to represent biblical teaching on the matter in question.

Confessional status can affect doctrines that are directly asserted in a creed, such as the two natures of Christ or, in the case of the Reformed confessions, the doctrine of providence. Confessional status can also extend to broader teachings that contradict the confessions in some way. So one can raise the question about whether some stance on a moral or political issue, if accepted by the church, would constitute a violation of the teaching of the historic creeds and confessions of the church.

Sometimes the church has to consider whether a particular teaching ought to have confessional status, even though it currently does not. For example, in 2012 the church was asked to consider adding the Belhar Confession to the list of historical documents to which all officebearers in the Christian Reformed Church in North America are bound. In 2017 the church decided that, while the issues addressed in this document are serious, the document itself does not rise to the level of a confession.

Two considerations might push one to consider whether an issue should be raised to the level of a confessional teaching. First, one might ask whether the teaching in question violates a clear teaching of Scripture. Second, one could consider whether the issue involves the heart of the message of the gospel. For example, in the case of the Belhar Confession, the church’s rejection of institutionalized racism in South Africa could be understood to have confessional status because it involves the heart of the message of the gospel of reconciliation. Alan Boesak suggested as much in 1982 when he asserted at the synod of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church of South Africa that apartheid was “anti-evangelical” because it takes “as its point of departure the irreconcilability of people of different race groups.” [243 See The Acts and Proceedings of the 201st Regular Session of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (New York: Reformed Church Press, 2007), p. 279; images.rca.org/docs/ mgs/2007MGS-complete.pdf. 146]

The CRC in the 1970s articulated several levels of authority of doctrinal and moral teaching:

– Scripture
– creed
– confession
– Church Order
– synodical decision

Other levels might include testimonies, decisions of a classis, and decisions of local congregations.

Scripture is the first and final authority to which all other levels of authority are subservient. The ecumenical creeds are broad statements of faith that are adopted or affirmed by a large portion of the universal church. They address the basics of the Christian faith and identify the essential teachings of a Christian church. They succinctly articulate to the world what we as Christians believe to be true and indispensable to our faith.

Confessions are statements that identify who we are within the larger body of the universal church. Thus, the Reformed confessions (in the case of the CRCNA, the Three Forms of Unity) identify this particular body of the church as Reformed and not, for example, Lutheran or Baptist, even though we share many things in common with these brothers and sisters.

Part of the work of synod is to decide on the proper interpretation of Scripture on any given topic (abortion was one such topic). Synod is also charged with deciding whether the confessions accurately represent the teaching of Scripture. For example, in 1958 synod replaced several paragraphs in Belgic Confession Article 36 on the relationship between the church and the state. Sometimes synod is asked to consider whether the confessions represent other traditions or teachings fairly. For example, Synod 2006 chose to bracket Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 80, which misrepresented the teaching and practice of the Roman Catholic Church about the mass.

Even if a teaching has confessional status, that does not mean there is no room for disagreement within the bounds of that teaching. In addition, the church sometimes allows for pastoral accommodations. For example, our confessions say that the children of believers should be baptized. Yet some congregations are willing to allow members not to baptize their children.

If a teaching is declared to have confessional status, questions arise about what that means for those who sign the Covenant for Officebearers (CFO) in the CRCNA. Will those who have already signed it need to accept this new item as having confessional status? What happens if they don’t? Will those who subsequently sign the CFO need to accept this new item?

A. The confessional status of church teaching on sexuality

To repeat the issue at hand, we have been asked to consider “whether or not, with respect to same-sex behavior and other issues identified in the study, it will be advisable for future synods to consider . . . declaring a status confessionis.” However, this raises the question, Does the church’s teaching that homosexual activity, as well as premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery, pornography, and polyamory already have confessional status?

It is important to remember that the question is not whether a particular action violates the confession but whether a particular teaching violates the confession. To put it another way, is it a violation of any of our current confessions to teach that it is acceptable for Christians to use pornography? Is it a violation of our confessions to teach that it is acceptable for Christians to engage in homosexual activity, extramarital sex, or adultery?

Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 108, which explains the meaning of the seventh commandment (“You shall not commit adultery”), states that “God condemns all unchastity, and that therefore we should thoroughly detest it and live decent and chaste lives, within or outside of the holy state of marriage.” By the word “unchastity” the catechism intends to encompass all sexual immorality, including homosexual activity. The Reformed Church in America acknowledged this in 2017, affirming that in the catechism “God condemns ‘all unchastity,’ which includes same-sex sexual activity.” [244 The Acts and Proceedings of the 211th Regular Session of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (New York: Reformed Church Press, 2017), p. 161; images.rca.org/docs/ mgs/2017MGS-Complete.pdf.]

Ursinus, one of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, confirms this in his commentary on Q&A 108. He writes that the first class of lusts included in unchastity “are those which are contrary to nature and from the devil. . . . The lusts of which the apostle Paul speaks in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans are of this class, as the confounding of sexes, [and] also abuses of the female sex.” He goes on to say that unchastity includes incest as well, even though this sin is not mentioned in the catechism by name. [245 Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, p. 1043; rcus.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/UrsinusZ_HC-Commentary-17–NEW-HC.pdf].  As a committee, we note that pornography, polyamory, and all forms of premarital and extramarital sex are also encompassed in the catechism’s condemnation of unchastity.

It is also worth noting that the Belgic Confession affirms that church discipline is one of the essential marks of a true church. Article 29 declares that the true church “practices church discipline for correcting faults.” Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 81 declares that people “who are unrepentant” should not come to the Lord’s table lest they “eat and drink judgment on themselves.” For this reason, Q&A 82 adds, the church is required to “exclude such people, by the official use of the keys of the kingdom, until they reform their lives.”

We conclude, then, that the church’s teaching against sexual immorality, including homosexual sex, already has confessional status. According to our confessions, the church may never approve or even tolerate any form of sexual immorality, including pornography, polyamory, premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery, or homosexual sex. On the contrary, the church must warn its members that those who refuse to repent of these sins—as well as of idolatry, greed, and other such sins—will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11). It must discipline those who refuse to repent of such sins for the sake of their souls (1 Cor. 5-6).

As a committee, we also wrestled with the question of whether the church’s teaching on premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery, polyamory, the use of pornography, or homosexual sex ought to have confessional status. We did so by asking two questions.

First, does teaching that affirms such behavior violate the clear teaching of Scripture? The biblical portion of our report is clear. Marriage between one man and one woman is the only appropriate place for sex. Anything that deviates from that teaching is contrary to Scripture. Thus premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery, polyamory, the use of pornography, and homosexual sex all fall under the heading of sexual immorality and are therefore morally impermissible. To teach that any of these behaviors is permissible undermines the teaching and authority of Scripture. Whenever the church teaches that a form of behavior forbidden in Scripture is morally permissible, it is guilty of false teaching.

Second, does teaching that affirms premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery, polyamory, the use of pornography, or homosexual sex involve the heart of the message of the gospel? At the heart of the gospel is the call to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are enabled to practice this righteousness, putting our old sinful nature to death and being conformed more and more into the image of Jesus. We are “washed . . . sanctified . . . [and] justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

This new life is characterized by ongoing repentance, a daily dying and rising with Christ. If the church chooses to call any form of immorality, including sexual immorality, permissible, it places a dangerous stumbling block in the path of our sanctification. Scripture repeatedly warns us against deceiving ourselves in this way, specifically naming the sins of homosexual sex, sexual immorality, and adultery. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Likewise in Ephesians 5:5-7 he warns, “Of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.” In Galatians 5:19-21 he warns, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In fact, the New Testament repeatedly warns us that in the latter days false teachers will come who will deceive the people by telling them that they are free to practice various forms of sin, including sexual immorality. Jude 4 warns against “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality.” In 2 Timothy 4:3 Paul also warns that “the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

The Old Testament similarly asserts that if a prophet does not warn the people of their sin, God will hold that prophet accountable for that sin. God declares to Ezekiel, “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood’” (Ezek. 33:8). As leaders of the church, we must take this warning seriously.

B. Conclusion 

As a committee, we conclude, therefore, that the church’s teaching on premarital sex, extramarital sex, adultery, polyamory, pornography, and homosexual sex already has confessional status. As such, there is no need for a new declaration. We also conclude that this status is warranted because these sins threaten a person’s salvation. The Scriptures call the church to warn people to flee sexual immorality for the sake of their souls and to encourage them with God’s presence and power to equip them for holy living. A church that fails to call people to repentance and offer them the hope of God’s loving deliverance is acting like a false church.

In coming to this conclusion, we observe that we stand with the majority church worldwide, including the Roman Catholic Church, all branches of Orthodoxy, the non-Western global church, and a majority of active Protestants in North America and Europe. Indeed, the global church finds the Western church’s challenges to biblical teaching on human sexuality incomprehensible and offensive. [246 See, for example, various statements by non-Western bishops in the United Methodist Church at their 2019 General Assembly.] To refuse to uphold Christian teaching on sexual immorality would signal that the Christian Reformed Church in North America is deviating not only from Scripture but from the shared confession of the historic and worldwide church.

By the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, may the Great Shepherd of the sheep lead us together into the joyful freedom of obedience. “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 24-25).

Read the entire Report here.