A coalition of conservative Evangelical Christian leaders have issued a statement on what they believe the Bible clearly communicates about sexuality. Dubbed the Nashville Statement, the document was the result of a meeting convened in Nashville by the group Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood on August 25, during which like-minded pastors, Bible scholars, ministry heads, and others hammered out the statement for the purpose of countering the notion that Christians can “agree to disagree” concerning what they think the Bible has to say about homosexuality, transgender behavior, and other lifestyles once considered incompatible with Christian faith.
“The spirit of our age does not delight in God’s good design of male and female,” explained Denny Burk, president of CBMW. “Consequently, confusion reigns over some of the most basic questions of our humanity. The aim of the Nashville Statement is to shine a light into the darkness — to declare the goodness of God’s design in our sexuality and in creating us as male and female.”
Among the 14 affirmations made in the Nashville Statement are:
• “God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife.”
• “God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.”
• “… self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture.”
• “… 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.”
• “… sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality — a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality.”
• “… it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism [and] such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.”
• “… the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender self conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female.”
• “… Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners [and] 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.”
The Reverend John Piper, a popular evangelical pastor and co-founder of CBMW, called the statement “a Christian manifesto concerning issues of human sexuality,” noting that it “speaks with forthright clarity, biblical conviction, gospel compassion, cultural relevance, and practical helpfulness. It will prove to be, I believe, enormously helpful for thousands of pastors and leaders hoping to give wise, biblical, and gracious guidance to their people.”
One of the Nashville Statement’s most conspicuous signers was Rosaria Butterfield, a former tenured feminist, lesbian professor and now a deeply committed Christian and the wife of a Reformed Presbyterian pastor. “I am signing the Nashville Statement because I stand with biblical orthodoxy, the only witness for hope and peace and God’s blessing,” said Butterfield. “By God through the merit and power of Jesus Christ, here I stand.”
Among many other high-profile Christian leaders adding their signatures to the Nashville Statement were J. I. Packer, James Dobson, John MacArthur, Russell Moore, Wayne Grudem, Tony Perkins, D. A. Carson, Albert Mohler, Francis Chan, R. C. Sproul, Sam Allberry, and Marvin Olasky.
Given the statement’s title, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry quickly denounced the document, tweeting that the “so-called ‘Nashville Statement’ is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city and people of Nashville.”
The CBMW’s Denny Burk said that the statement’s signers hope the document “might provide help for churches and Christian organizations that are looking for biblical guidance on how to address homosexuality and transgenderism. We also aim to foster a coalition of like-minded evangelicals to stand together for the challenging days ahead. Finally, we wish to influence a rising generation of evangelicals who are under pressure to abandon scriptural teaching about marriage, gender, and sexuality.
