According to information available to The Aquila Report, this is the fourth Session to adopt this, or similar, declaration on Special Creation.  The other three are: Midway Presbyterian, Powder Springs, GA; Grace Presbyterian, Douglasville, GA; Trinity Presbyterian, Orangeburg, SC.

Whereas, BCO 11-3 states in part: “All church courts are one in nature, constituted of the same elements, possessed inherently of the same kinds of rights and powers, and differing only as the Constitution may provide;” and

Whereas, Sessions and Presbyteries as church courts have the “right to resolve questions of doctrine and discipline seriously and reasonably proposed, and in general to maintain truth and righteousness, condemning erroneous opinions and practices which tend to the injury of the peace, purity, or progress of the church” (BCO 11-4); and

Whereas, the Apostle Paul exhorted the elders of the Church in Ephesus: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Acts 20:28-31); and

Whereas, in the fulfillment of their responsibilities to watch their own lives, to shepherd and lead the flock, to protect the sheep from wolves who distort the truth, elected elders and members of Presbyteries are to shepherd and guard the flock, while sounding a clear trumpet (1 Cor. 14:8) on revealed matters; and

Whereas, these responsibilities of elders are true for each generation (Jude 3), to instruct in the truth and to warn against error (2 Tim. 4:1-5), in order to promote the peace, purity, and progress of the church; and

Whereas, since in our present time there are attempts to redefine the teaching on the miraculous and direct creation of Adam and Eve, which would lead us back to a spirit of slavery instead of urging us to stand in the liberty that Christ brings (Gal. 5:1), we wish to joyfully reaffirm the biblical, historical, and confessional teaching, and also warn about the erroneous nature of this teaching which will be injurious to the peace, purity, and progress of the church—even to the gospel itself (1 Cor. 15:1, 20-22, 45-50).

Therefore, the Session of Trinity Presbyterian Church, in the due exercise of our responsibilities and not infringing on the due liberties or rights of any other (BCO Preface, Preliminary Principle 2:2), adopts the following resolution that (1) reaffirms what we believe the Scriptures and our Westminster Standards teach; and (2) warns and condemns about erroneous opinions that are injurious to the gospel as well as to the peace, purity, and progress of the church.

The Session of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Savannah River Presbytery:

1. Affirms and preaches that the Scriptures (cf. Genesis 1-3; Romans 5:12-19; and 1 Corinthians 15:20-22) teach that Adam and Eve are as historical individuals as any of us, were immediately created by God through his direct and miraculous intervention, that God formed Adam, the first man, from the dust of the ground, and made Eve directly from Adam without the need of lengthy time nor a naturalistic process to create Adam and Eve in original righteousness and holiness (cf. also the actions of the 28th PCA GA [2000], 184, 200-201).

2. Denies that Genesis 2:7 or other Scriptures teach that Adam and Eve are the products of evolution from lower forms of life or previous species, or that God acted upon a group of humans or hominids from which he set apart the first couple (cf. Mt. 19:4).

3. Believes that the answer to Question 17 of the Larger Catechism, “How did God create man?” is, as the 40th General Assembly declared, “sufficiently clear that Adam and Eve were real, historical human beings directly created by God,” to wit:

After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of the man, endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfil it, and dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall.

4. Resolves that any man desiring to serve as an ordained officer in this court must affirm and agree with this Declaration.

5. Invites other Sessions and Presbyteries to join in adopting this Declaration as merely echoing what our standards sound forth and as part of a continuing faithful witness and stewardship for the glory of God and ‘the faith handed down once and for all to all the saints’ (Jude 3).

Adopted 07-18-12