Five Years Later: A Symposium on the Nashville Statement

Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2022 issue of Eikon.

The Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality was released on August 29, 2017 with initial signatures from over 150 leaders spanning the evangelical world, including the late J.I. Packer and R.C. Sproul. Other notable signatories include John Piper, D.A. Carson, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, James Dobson, Alistair Begg, Randy Alcorn, Kevin DeYoung, and Randy Alcorn.

On this fifth anniversary, we asked several evangelical leaders to reflect on the impact and import of the Nashville Statement today. We continue to affirm this declaration of purpose from the Statement’s preface:

We are persuaded that faithfulness in our generation means declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it — particularly as male and female. . . . We believe that God’s design for his creation and his way of salvation serve to bring him the greatest glory and bring us the greatest good. God’s good plan provides us with the greatest freedom. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it in overflowing measure. He is for us and not against us. Therefore, in the hope of serving Christ’s church and witnessing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture, we offer the following affirmations and denials.

To this same end, we offer the following republication of the Nashville Statement and fifth-anniversary symposium reflections:

Jason Allen, “Confessional Integrity and the Nashville Statement”

Maarten Klaasen, “A Storm Broke Loose: The Publication of the Nashville Statement in the Netherlands”

Brian J. Arnold, “A Reflection on the Nashville Statement”

Thomas White, “The Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality”

Ron Kubsch, “The Nashville Statement in German”

Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver, “A Reflection on the Nashville Statement”

Danny Akin, “Reflections on the Nashville Statement”