By CBMW Staff & Board
June 26, 2015
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The U. S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges tragically continues the culture’s shift away from biblical wisdom. As the board and leadership of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, we are not moving an inch from our fundamental commitments to biblical marriage, to manhood and womanhood, and to the God-created natural family.
We recognize the following truths as grounded in the Word of God and given for God’s glory and our joy.
- Biblical marriage is defined as a covenant relationship between one man and one woman (Gen 1:26-27; 2:24; Matt 19:4-6; Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19). Biblical marriage between a man and a woman is the design of Almighty God. It is a central means to flourishing and the initiator of the first institution, the natural family. It is a vital part of our churches and our communities. When the biblical definition of marriage is compromised, the very foundation of society is radically compromised, and children will suffer.
- Sexual complementarity undergirds biblical marriage (Gen 1:28, 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14). God designed human sexuality for a purpose. The distinct but complementary realities of manhood and womanhood are ordained by God and foundational to the created order. The sexual complementarity of equal image-bearers—husband and wife—brings pleasure to the couple, allows for the bearing and rearing of children, and helps fulfill the dominion mandate. God created the husband to be the “head” of his family and the wife to be his “helper.”
- Biblical marriage pictures the gospel of Jesus Christ (Eph 5:21-33). The sacrificial love of the husband for his wife and the wife’s loving submission to her husband illumines Christ’s love and sacrificial death for his church. If the church compromises the Bible’s teaching on biblical marriage, the church misconstrues the gospel itself. This structure alone displays the uniqueness and beauty of biblical marriage.
- Homosexuality is declared by God a sin (Lev. 18:22; Deut. 23:17-18; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10). Homosexuality not only is a violation of the natural order, but is a violation of the moral will and law of God. Without repentance and faith in Christ, all those persisting in any sin, including the sin of homosexuality, will be judged on the last day by Jesus Christ.
- The true church of Jesus Christ will not cave on biblical marriage (2 Corinthians 4:2; Eph 5:21-33; 2 John 9; Jude 3). Since the true church of Jesus Christ stands or falls on the gospel of Jesus Christ and because biblical marriage is so clearly defined in Scripture, faithfulness to the Word of God on the truth of biblical marriage is a mark of the true church of Jesus Christ. To depart from the faith once for all delivered to the saints on this issue is to depart from Christ Himself.
- We will continue to love and extend grace to every sinner (Matt 5:14; Luke 14:23; Rom 3:23; 1 Cor 5:12; Eph 2:8-9). As the church of Jesus Christ, sinners made perverse by the fall of Adam, we will love and extend the grace of God to all people without exception. Because any sin of any kind separates us from a holy and righteous God, we will strive to be “the light of the world” and a “city on a hill,” holding forth the only remedy for reconciliation with God to a world that is lost, broken, and in desperate need of grace.
It is the solemn and sacred commitment of CBMW to promote these truths and defend them from compromise. We are unfazed by the culture’s challenges and brimming with confidence in the power of the Word to save and restore fallen humanity. The gospel was not made for the high places, but for the shadowlands.
In 2015, in light of the Obergefell ruling, we gladly reaffirm the Danvers Statement. We call churches across the geographical and denominational spectrum to stand with us in promoting a biblical vision of marriage through both proclamation and action. This we will do by preaching the truth about manhood, womanhood, and the family, by creating strong marriage cultures and families in our churches, and by lovingly calling every sinner to the grace of repentance and the glad way of holiness.
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Owen Strachan (President)
Grant Castleberry (Executive Director)
K. Erik Thoennes (Chairman of the Board)
J. Ligon Duncan (Board Member)
Daniel L. Akin (Board Member)
Jason Duesing (Board Member)
Wayne Grudem (Board Member)
Jeff Purswell (Board Member)
Thomas White (Board Member)
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