So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
He [Jesus] answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the
beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together,
let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6
The Christian sexual counter-culture. Christians still believe that sex must be rooted in the larger story of God’s saving love. Our culture tells us we must discover our deepest desires and then express them in order to become our authentic selves. But the reality is that we have contradictory impulses in our heart. We need some standard to help us determine which of our desires and instincts should be cultivated and which ones should not. Ancient people and modern people alike let their cultures set the standards. Christianity says: don’t let tribe or culture control you and give you your valuation. Let God’s Word give you the moral grid to understand your heart. And let God’s love and grace, through Jesus Christ, give you your deepest validation and identity. We believe that this link between God’s love and sexuality, that is lived out through the Biblical model of marriage, is the best way for human beings to live and thrive. (p.44 PCA's Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality)
Table of Contents of the PCA's
Study Report on Human Sexuality
I. Preamble
II. Twelve Statements
A. Marriage
B. Image of God
C. Original Sin
D. Desire
E. Concupiscence
F. Temptation
G. Sanctification
H. Impeccability
I. Identity
J. Language
K. Friendship
M. Repentance and Hope
III. Confessional Foundations Regarding the Nature of Temptation, Sin, & Repentance
A. Confessional Foundations
1. Corruption
2. Corruption and the Regenerate
3. Corruption and the Goodness of Our Works
B. Application to Current Issues
1. Importance of Concupiscence
2. Applications to Same-Sex Attraction
a. The Common Dynamic of Concupiscence
b. Continued Corruption
c. Real Change
d. Celebrating Sincere Efforts
e. Moral Difference
IV. Biblical Perspectives for Pastoral Care - Discipleship, Identity, & Terminology
A. Discipleship for Believers Experiencing Same-Sex Attraction
1. Sanctification—The Already-Not-Yet Tension
B. The Christian's Identity
1. Biblical Identity
2. Sexual Identity
C. Terminology
1. On Language
2. Gay and Gay Christian
3. Orientation
D. Singleness, Friendship, and Community
V. Apologetic Approaches for Speaking to the World
VI. Select Annotated Bibliography
VII. Conclusion
VIII. Attachment A - Assignment from the 47th GA
IX. Attachment B - AIC Member Bios
Members of the PCA's 47th General Assembly
Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality (2019-2020)
TE Dr. Bryan Chapell
Pastor, Grace PCA, Peoria, IL, Northern Illinois Presbytery, (Chairman); BSJ, Northwestern University; MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary; PhD, Southern Illinois University. TE Chapell began pastoral ministry at Woodburn Presbyterian Church in Woodburn, IL, in 1976 and subsequently pastored Bethel Reformed Presbyterian Church in Sparta, IL, 1978-1985. He became a professor of preaching at Covenant Theological Seminary in 1985, where he also served as Dean of Faculty (1987-1994), President (1994-2012), and Chancellor (2012-2013). On Easter, 2013, he became Senior Pastor of the historic Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois. Chapell was a founding member of the Gospel Coalition. He was the founder and is currently chairman of Unlimited Grace Media, a radio and online Bible-teaching ministry. His books include Christ-Centered Preaching, Christ-Centered Worship, Holiness by Grace, Praying Backwards, Each or the Other, and a children’s book, I’ll Love You Anyway and Always. Chapell was Moderator of the 2014 PCA General Assembly in Houston and is currently a member of the PCA's Standing Judicial Commission, Class of 2022. He and Kathy have four adult children and a growing number of grandchildren.
TE Dr. Kevin DeYoung
Pastor, Christ Covenant Church, Matthews, NC, Central Carolina Presbytery; BA, Hope College; MDiv, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Leicester. TE DeYoung has been Senior Pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC, since 2017 as well as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte. Prior to moving to Charlotte, he was Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church, East Lansing, MI. His Ph.D focused on the theology of John Witherspoon, a Scottish-American Presbyterian theologian and a Founding Father of the United States. Regularly blogging on thegospelcoalition.org, DeYoung also has been invited as a keynote speaker to numerous conferences and lectures including Together For the Gospel, The Gospel Coalition, Ligonier, and many more. He has published more than a dozen books for adults and children, including Just Do Something, The Hole in Our Holiness, and The Biggest Story. His book, Crazy Busy: A Mercifully Short Book About a Big Problem, was named the 2014 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Book of the Year. In addition, Christianity Today awarded Book of the Year honors to three of his books in 2009, 2010, and 2013. World Magazine named What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality? one of its 2015 Books of the Year. He is a member of the General Assembly's Committee on Administration, Class of 2022, and Chairman of the Board for the Gospel Coalition. He and his wife Trisha have three daughters and five sons. RE Dr. Derek Halvorson
President, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, TN, Tennessee Valley Presbytery; BA, Covenant College; MA, University of Arizona; PhD, Loyola University Chicago. RE Halvorson is Covenant College’s sixth president. After graduating from Covenant in 1993, Halvorson spent time trading foreign currencies in Charlotte and Chicago. He returned to academia, earning advanced degrees in history. From 2003 to 2009, Halvorson served at Covenant as Director of Constituent Relations and then as Regional Director of Development. In 2009, he became President of Providence Christian College, where he served until 2012, when he was appointed President of Covenant College. Halvorson serves on the boards of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He and his wife Wendy have a son and a daughter. They are members of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church.
RE Mr. Kyle Keating Teacher and Dean, Providence Classical Christian Academy, St. Louis, MO, Missouri Presbytery; BA, Univ. of Illinois Champaign-Urbana; MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary. Keating serves as a ruling elder in the Missouri Presbytery. After attending Covenant Seminary, he began teaching upper school history and theology at Providence Classical Christian Academy, where he now serves as Dean. Keating regularly speaks at churches and campuses on the plausibility of the biblical sexual ethic in the modern age. He served as one of three REs on the eight-member Missouri Presbytery committee that reported on Revoice and Memorial Presbyterian Church in 2019. Additionally, he served on the Missouri Presbytery committee that issued the 2017 report titled “Homosexuality and Gospel of Grace.” He and his wife and fellow-teacher, Christy, live in St. Louis and have a daughter.
TE Dr. Tim Keller Pastor Emeritus, Redeemer NYC & Redeemer City-to-City, Metro NY Presbytery; BA, Bucknell University; MDiv, Gordon-Conwell Seminary; DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary. TE Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For 28 years he led a diverse congregation of young professionals that grew to a weekly attendance of over 5,000. He is also the Chairman & Co-Founder of Redeemer City to City (CTC), which starts new churches in New York and other global cities, and publishes books and resources for ministry in an urban environment. In 2017 Keller transitioned to CTC full time to teach and mentor church planters and seminary students through a joint venture with Reformed Theological Seminary's City Ministry Program. He also works with CTC's global affiliates to launch church planting movements. Keller’s books, including the New York Times bestselling The Reason for God and The Prodigal God, have sold over 2 million copies and been translated into 25 languages. Keller previously served as the pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Director of Mercy Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America. RE Mr. Jim Pocta Licensed Professional Counselor, Dallas, TX, North Texas Presbytery; BA, University of Texas at Dallas; MA Counseling, Amberton University. RE Pocta has been a licensed professional counselor for 12 years and has practiced biblical counseling for over thirty years. He has his own biblical counseling private practice specializing in depression, anxiety, sexual trauma, and abuse, as well as helping those with same-sex attraction and being transgendered. A ruling elder at New St. Peters Presbyterian Church in North Dallas, Pocta has been married to Linda (a recently retired RN) for 40 years, and they have three sons and three grandchildren.
TE Dr. Jim Weidenaar 28
Harvest USA & Assistant Pastor, First Reformed PCA, Pittsburgh, PA, Pittsburgh Presbytery; MTS, Calvin Theological Seminary; PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary. TE Weidenaar joined the Harvest USA staff in June 2012 as Director for the Greater Pittsburgh Region. His 2011 PhD. dissertation is titled: “Totum Hominem Non Aliud...Quam Concupiscentiam: A Study of Calvin's Doctrine of Concupiscence with Special Reference to its Place in His Soteriology.” He lives in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh with his wife and daughter.
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