Editorial: Some Things Never Change (6.1)
Editor’s Note: The following article appears in the Spring 2024 issue of Eikon. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535–475 BC) famously quipped, “There is nothing permanent except change.” From one angle,…
Colin Smothers
Colin Smothers serves as Executive Director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He holds a Ph.D. in Biblical Theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where has also taught adjunctly. He also holds a Master of Divinity from Southern Seminary and a B. S. in Industrial Engineering from Kansas State University. Colin is married and has five children.
Editorial: The Toxic War on Fatherhood
Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2023 issue of Eikon. Editorial The Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 3:15 that from God the Father is named “every family…
Rejecting Gender Essentialism to Embrace Transgenderism?: A Response to Christa McKirland, “Image of God and Divine Presence”
Some errors are explicit and easy to spot, while others are not stated in so many words and only manifest by way of implication. Christa McKirland’s chapter falls squarely in…
On the Nashville Statement
Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2022 issue of Eikon. Five years ago this Fall, a group of evangelical leaders met in a conference room in Nashville…
Pride Comes for the Kids
The appalling effort to sexualize kids by progressive LGBT activists accelerated this past week when the world learned of a “Drag Your Kids to Pride” event being held at Mr.…
For the Family
Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Spring 2022 issue of Eikon. The theme for this issue of Eikon is human society’s bedrock institution, the family. It doesn’t take…
That Was Then, This Is Now: Aimee Byrd Preaches Her First Sunday Morning Sermon
Less than ten years ago, in 2013, Aimee Byrd wrote an article for Reformation21 called, “What’s the Difference Between Women Preaching and Women Blogging?” On the whole, the article is…
C. S. Lewis, “Complementarian”
A few years back, I drew attention to C. S. Lewis’s “complementarian” argument on the question of ordaining women to the priesthood in the Anglican church. I would encourage everyone…
They, Them, Godself? Human Pronouncements and Divine Pronouns
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a statement from FBC Elm Mott. The pronoun is a basic concept of grammar first learned by intuition and later catalogued by…
A Dark Day in America: US House Passes Most Radical Abortion Bill to Date
Today is one of the darkest days in American politics. Weep for our country before it is too late. After revising its standing rules to exclude all gendered language earlier…
Biden Administration Boosts Transgender Agenda to Kids
Last month, the Biden Administration’s Department of Education teamed up with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. What could…
On the Body and Its Meaning
Editor’s note: the following essay appears in the Spring 2021 issue of Eikon. Charles Taylor argues that modernity has stripped the created world of its meaning: “The cosmos is no longer seen…
Rapid-Onset Revolution
Editor’s note: The following article is an excerpt from CBMW’s May 2021 newsletter. To receive our monthly newsletter in your inbox, you can sign up here. Rapid-Onset Revolution Moral change…
Weep for the Children
“The ultimate moral test of any government is the way it treats three groups of its citizens. First, those in the dawn of life — our children. Second, those in…
Gender Neutrality Goes to Washington
At some point in the past decade, the battle of the sexes seems to have given way to a war on the sexes. Last month, the Democratic Speaker of the…
CBMW’s Most-Read Articles in 2020
With 2020 drawing to a close, my glance back through CBMW’s most-read articles in 2020 was an exercise in reacquainting myself with Einstein’s theory of relativity. So much has happened,…
Nature vs. Transgenderism
Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2020 issue of Eikon. In his book Begotten or Made?, Oliver O’Donovan sets about excavating the epistemological foundations that undergird the…
Decentering Marriage
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from CBMW’s November 2020 Newsletter. To receive our monthly ministry updates in your inboxes, you may sign up here. As the institution of…
Transgender Tide Rising
A moment of Copernican proportions aired on prime-time TV last week in America, but your average viewer probably didn’t bat an eye. In fact, it was designed to be rather…
Opposing Netflix’s Outrageous Exploitation
One of the most harmful and perverse aspects of contemporary American culture is the sexualization of our children, especially our young girls. While not new, this trend seems to be…
Why I Am a Complementarian
One of the many challenges confronting complementarians today is trying to avoid sounding too much like a broken record. In the face of a veritable cottage industry of egalitarian publishing,…
Marriage in Rapid Decline, Even Among Evangelicals
The current cover story for Christianity Today is nothing short of alarming. I did a double take when I read this statistic in the article by sociologist Mark Regnerus: “According…
Overwhelming Majority of Evangelicals Support Women Preachers
A recent article from Christianity Today should have our attention: “Researcher: Most Evangelicals Support Women in Church Leadership.” As the summary explains, “Despite the ongoing debates over gender roles, surveys show…
Introducing Spring 2020 Eikon
I am very excited to announce the release of our Spring 2020 issue of Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology. At just under 200 pages of brand new content, including…
Recovering Bavinck’s “The Christian Family”
Editor’s Note: The following essay appears in the Spring 2020 issue of Eikon. Imagine, if you will, a divinely-designed institution perfectly tuned toward maximal human flourishing — dynamic, responsive, devoted,…
PCA Committee Releases Human Sexuality Report, Signals Agreement with Nashville
Last year in Dallas, amidst an ongoing controversy surrounding Side-B “Gay Christianity” and the Revoice conference, the Presbyterian Church in America’s (PCA) General Assembly voted to commend CBMW’s Nashville Statement…
Transgender Minority Report: UK Progress vs. US Progressivism
Editor’s Note: The following article is excerpted from CBMW’s monthly newsletter, which you can receive in your inbox by signing up here. The United Kingdom has often served as a…
Congressional Committee: Your daughters should be required to register for the draft
Should our daughters be required to enlist for the United States military draft? This question — once reserved for theoretical ethics and water-cooler arguments about the implications of male-female equality…
Is the Nuclear Family a Mistake?
Editor’s Note: The following editorial is from CBMW’s March newsletter. Readers can subscribe here to receive our monthly ministry updates in your inbox. “There has never been a time when…
A Truth Worth Defending
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the February 2020 edition of the CBMW Newsletter, a monthly ministry update that features exclusive editorial content from CBMW Executive Director Colin…
British Legal Reasoning Takes Us Through the Looking Glass
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice,…
Don’t Miss the New 9Marks Journal on Complementarianism
The evangelical world was given a gift this week when the ecclessiology-focused ministry 9Marks released their latest journal dedicated entirely to the issue of complementarianism. If you consider yourself a…
Fathers, love your family through family fun and worship
Fathers, love your family through family fun and worship As a father of five, it is easy for me to get discouraged about my personal failings as a dad. I…
Creation and Discrimination: Why the Male-Female Distinction Makes a Difference
World-renowned historian William Manchester could write in 1993 that “the erasure of the distinctions between the sexes is not only the most striking issue of our time, it may be…
British Tribunal: Belief in Genesis Incompatible with Human Dignity
Western legal reasoning just crossed the Rubicon. In a unanimous decision handed down this week, an employment tribunal in England determined that a government employee’s sincerely held belief in Genesis 1:27…
Challenging “Gay Christian” Identity
TGC recently published a fascinating interview with Becket Cook, a former Hollywood set designer in the fashion industry who was living an openly gay life. Cook left all that behind…
The Abolition of Men?
I doubt whether we are sufficiently attentive to the importance of American boyhood. Two more mass shootings; this time in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Thirty-one dead and dozens…
News: PCA declares Nashville Statement “biblically faithful”
DALLAS, TX — The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) voted at its annual General Assembly last week to declare the Nashville Statement as a “biblically faithful declaration.” By this action,…
The Fallacy of Interchangeability
C.S. Lewis opens his 1948 essay, “Priestesses in the Church?” with an amusing exchange from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:¹ I should like Balls infinitely better,” said Caroline Bingley, “if…
Holy Sexuality: An Interview with Christopher Yuan
Show Notes Christopher Yuan, DMin, has taught at Moody Bible institute for more than ten years, and his speaking ministry on faith and sexuality has reached five continents. He…
What is a Christian Woman? An Interview with Abigail Dodds
Show Notes Abigail Dodds (BA, Bethel University) is a wife and mother of five children. She writes and teaches Bible studies for the women at Bethlehem Baptist Church, where…
African Methodism will not bow the knee to US progressivism
Beginning on Saturday, nearly one thousand United Methodist delegates gathered in St. Louis to debate the issue of whether the UMC should revise their church’s doctrine and practice regarding same-sex…
CBMW Mailbag: Should I pursue marriage at a young age?
Editor’s Note: CBMW receives a lot of questions at our office email, cbmwoffice@cbmw.org. As a staff, we try to answer as many of these as we can. Occasionally these questions…
The Inevitable Capitulation in the UMC’s One Church Plan
Next month, the United Methodist Church will meet in St. Louis to vote on what is being billed as the One Church Plan, a comprehensive measure recommended by the Council…
Learning to Love Thy Body: An Interview with Nancy Pearcey
Transgenderism at the Evangelical Theological Society
Editor’s Note: This blog post originally consisted only of Colin Smothers’ critique of Andy Draycott’s 2018 ETS presentation. Recently however, Draycott has offered a public statement retracting the argument made…
Policing the Christian Language Police
Alan Jacobs recently wrote a blog post lamenting the “Christian language policing” he has observed around the issue of “Gay Christianity,” which in part includes a discussion on whether it…
Mary Eberstadt on Gay Identity
Sixteen years ago, Mary Eberstadt wrote an article for The Weekly Standard about the unfolding sex abuse scandal that was roiling Roman Catholicism then. The title of the article, “The Elephant…
Purpose and the human person: A review of Nancy Pearcey’s book “Love Thy Body”
Editor’s Note: Colin Smothers interviewed Nancy Pearcey about her book Love Thy Body on CBMW’s podcast, Danvers Audio. You can listen to the interview here or wherever you get your podcasts. Other…
Gender, Sex, and Revelation
Sometimes a child or teenager flounders through development from boy to man, girl to woman. This struggle has come to be known as “gender dysphoria.” Most of the time –…
The Complementarian Argument of C. S. Lewis
Ahead of the 1948 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion, C. S. Lewis responded to an essay by Lady Marjorie Nunburnholme on the question of women’s ordination to the Anglican priesthood.…
An Able Ally in an Ever-Changing Culture
While the debate over whether the United States of America was founded as a Christian nation has good arguments on both sides, the fact that many original settlers came to…
Listening to Beth Moore’s Open Letter
Beth Moore recently published an open letter that male leaders in evangelical churches ought to pay attention to—especially those who claim to be in the complementarian camp. We need to…
Banning Christian Orthodoxy in California
David French has a must-read article over at National Review about a troubling development coming out of the California General Assembly. In short—and this is not alarmist langue, it is…
Christian sexual ethics is a gospel issue
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul writes with a concern that surfaces right from the start of the letter and continues to the end: the preservation of sound doctrine.…
What does the creation story teach about gender and sex?
You’ve heard the argument before. Every youth pastor in America has probably encountered it in one form or another, perhaps in the teen who quips, “But the Bible doesn’t say…
Toward Complementarian Clarity
Tim Challies predicted that 2018 would bring further definition to complementarianism, and it took less than a month for an opportunity for such definition to arise. In late January, John…
Russell Moore Discusses the Nashville Statement on NPR
On Tuesday, NPR’s nationally syndicated program, “On Point,” dedicated a segment to the Nashville Statement. In the segment, Russell Moore, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the…
Daniel Fuller Signs the Nashville Statement
On December 9th, Daniel Fuller added his signature to the Nashville Statement. Along with his signature, Dr. Fuller explains why he signed: “I signed the Nashville Statement because it represents…
Arkansas Baptist State Convention affirms Nashville Statement “without equivocation”
At the 164th annual meeting of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) last month, messengers from across the state approved a resolution to affirm the Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality.…
Announcing the Winner of the 2017 Wayne Grudem Award for Complementarian Scholarship
CBMW is pleased to announce that Dr. Al Wolters is this year’s winner of the Wayne Grudem Award for Complementarian Scholarship. He receives the award for his research on important…
“Church Clarity” or Biblical and Theological Clarity?
[Image credit: Festoon Lighting Adelaide] A new organization called “Church Clarity” has formed in recent days with the purported mission to pressure churches to be clear on their websites as…
Nashville Statement | La Declaración de Nashville | Nashville Erklärung | 纳什维尔宣言
In the days following CBMW’s release of the Nashville Statement on biblical sexuality, we received many emails from evangelicals across the globe wondering if we had plans to translate the…
William Lane Craig: Nashville Statement “was fair; it was irenic; it was clear”
Renown analytic philosopher and Christian apologist William Lane Craig recently released a podcast on why he signed the Nashville Statement, which is excerpted below: “I feel uncomfortable signing these sorts…
Randy Alcorn: “We can’t truly love people by lying to them”
Randy Alcorn, founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries, has been serving the church through his writing and teaching ministry for decades now, giving careful attention to a wide variety…
Family Policy Council Signatories
As the Nashville Statement signature list continues to grow—at the time of this post there are over 16,000 signatures—the coalition is broadening to include many Christian leaders and organizations. One…
Denny Burk: “Keeping Christianity Weird: Why the Nashville Statement Matters”
Writing at The Hill, CBMW President Denny Burk explains why the Nashville Statement matters, and why it matters especially in this day and age: There is an apocryphal saying often attributed to Martin…
Alastair Roberts: Nashville Statement “like a flare shot up over a darkened field of debate”
Alastair Roberts, author of the forthcoming “Heirs Together: A Theology of the Sexes,” is one of the most thoughtful evangelicals of our time writing in the area of marriage, gender,…
Owen Strachan: The Nashville Statement “is a moment of remarkable unanimity of spirit”
Writing at The Federalist, Owen Strachan, Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and former CBMW President, answers several critiques of the Nashville Statement: “The Nashville Statement made national news this…
David French: “Can a Progressive’s ‘Inclusive Values’ Include Christianity?”
Shortly after CBMW released the Nashville Statement on Tuesday, August 29, Nashville mayor Megan Barry tweeted this in response, which eventually led to #NashvilleStatement trending nationally and even worldwide on…
Albert Mohler: Nashville Statement “speaks with genuine gospel commitment and genuine Christian compassion.”
Albert Mohler devoted an entire episode of his “Briefing” podcast to discussing The Nashville Statement. We are very grateful to have Dr. Mohler as an original signatory and as one…
Eugene Peterson, Homosexuality, and God’s Saving Grace (Updated)
UPDATE: Responding to the article and interview discussed below, Eugene Peterson seems to have retracted his affirmation of same-sex marriage in a statement to reporter Kate Shellnutt at Christianity Today. His statement…
An Interview with Sam Allberry
Sam Allberry joins Colin Smothers on Danvers Audio to talk about his book “Is God Anti-Gay,” reparative therapy, pastoral ministry, and the practical benefits of a robust theology.
“Let’s Not Be Silent”: A Review of Albert Mohler’s New Book on the Sexual Revolution
In the midst of the deafening, gale-force winds of the spirit of the age, someone has stood up, cleared his throat, and said, “We cannot be silent.” We Cannot Be…
A Christian Response to the Evils of Planned Parenthood
I was grieved to the center of my soul on Tuesday when I saw the now viral video of top-tiered Planned Parenthood abortion doctor, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, nonchalantly estimating the costs of obtaining…
Gender, Sexuality, and Complementarianism in Brazil
Recently, I had the privilege of traveling to Brazil to teach a weeklong, seminary-level class to Brazilian pastors and seminarians. Apart from the fact that I had to leave my family…
Review of Authentic Manhood’s A Man and His Marriage
It is no secret that our marriages are under attack. Could the enemy ask for a more strategic target than the divine institution meant to picture Christ’s relationship to the Church (Eph…
Whence came the dress?
If many in the Christian community are going to continue to accept unquestioningly the zeitgeist‘s mantra that gender is nothing but a social construct, then how are we going to…
Women in the Church: What about teaching and preaching?
This past month we were reminded that, truly, there is nothing new under the sun. An online conversation and debate precipitated after John Piper answered a question from one of…