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In order to preserve the function and integrity of the Institute of Biblical Sexuality (I.B.S.), and its various attractions and outreaches, both domestic and international, in its mission to proclaim the absolute truth and authority of Scripture and to provide a biblical role model of God's design for sexuality to our employees and to the global body of Christ, the community, and society at large, it is imperative that all persons employed by the I.B.S. in any capacity, who serve as volunteers, enroll in any our programs, or become affiliated and/or endorsed by this organization, should abide by and agree to our Statement of Faith and the Nashville Statement of Biblical Sexuality, and conduct themselves accordingly.

Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith

  • We believe EVERYTHING STARTS WITH GOD. Before time and space, there was God. He was and is the beginning. He is eternal, perfect, creator, sustainer, and ruler of the universe. He is the only true God. He is one in His essence, but has revealed Himself to mankind as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Genesis 1:1, 26; Exodus 3:14; Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalm 19:1.

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  • We believe JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD. Though Jesus lived a sinless life, He was crucified on the cross for the sins of mankind, raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father where He makes intercession for us. His life, teachings, death, and resurrection offer the only true hope for all people. John 1:14; 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:7; Romans 5:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21.

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  • We believe the HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT OF GOD. He convicts people of sin and draws them to Jesus. He indwells the life of each believer and empowers them for obedience to God in our world. He guides us into truth and seals us for eternity. He gifts each follower of Jesus to be useful in God’s hands in service to the church and the world. John 14:5-15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 12:1-11; Ephesians 1:13-14.

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  • We believe the BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD. The human authors of the Bible were uniquely inspired by the Spirit of God. His guidance led them to record His truth. The Bible is authoritative for every believer and it provides the counsel of God for life. Psalm 119:89; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21. 

 

  • We believe that MAN IS CREATED BY GOD UNIQUELY MALE OR UNIQUELY FEMALE. Both sexes are beloved of God and both reflect the image of God in unique ways. Genesis 1:27-29, 2:18-24.

                        

  • We believe that MANKIND IS INHERENTLY INCLINED TOWARDS EVIL. After the fall of mankind, sin entered the world and death and sin came upon all men. Only through God’s Holy Spirit and gracious love for us can man’s inclinations towards sin be transformed for the glory of God and the joy of man. Genesis 3; John 3:16-18; Romans 3:23, 5:6-16, 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-7.

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  • We believe SALVATION IS GOD’S GIFT OF GRACE THROUGH FAITH TO ALL WHO BELIEVE. Because our sin separates us from God, every person needs redemption and transformation, which is only available through believing in Jesus Christ and accepting Him as Lord and Savior. John 14:6; 1 Corinthians 1:9, 8:6. Through God’s grace, a person can be reconciled with God and receive His gift of salvation. Romans 1:16-18; 3:23; 6:23; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-9.

 

  • We believe THE GOSPEL IS TRANSFORMATIONAL. Because all have sinned, we are all in need of redemption. Romans 3:23, 6:23. This is the reason Jesus died on the cross for our sins and was raised to life again. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. He paid the penalty for our sin so that we might be reconciled with God. Mark 1:14-15; Rom. 3:25, 1 John 2:2; 4:10. As children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we experience a transformed life, submitted and obedient to God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 10:10. The grace of God offered in Jesus Christ is not merely a pardon for one’s sins, but also an empowerment by the Spirit of Christ to a new life lived for the glory of God. Romans 6:14; 7:5-6; 8:12-14; Galatians 2:19-20; 5:18; James 2:18-19; 2 Peter 1:2- 4; 1 John 2:4, Revelation 12:11.

                        

  • We believe the CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST. Jesus established the church and it exists to perform God’s will on earth. Believers are to invest themselves in the life and work of the church community. Matthew 16:17-18; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 12:27.

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  • We believe MARRIAGE IS BETWEEN ONE BIOLOGICALLY BORN MALE AND ONE BIOLOGICALLY BORN FEMALE, FOR LIFE. God created male and female, each a complement to the other. Genesis 1:26-28, 2:18-24. Marriage between a man and a woman prefigures the union of God and His people and Christ and the church. From the very beginning, God’s goal has been to enter into an eternal covenant of marriage with those who love Him. Isaiah 54:5-8; 61:10; 62:4-5; Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 16:8; Hosea 2:16-20; Ephesians 5:21-33; Revelation 19:7-9. On earth, God designed marriage primarily for procreation, spiritual refinement, and service to each other, God, and His Kingdom. Genesis 1:28; Ephesians 5:21-33.

                        

  • We believe that CHRIST WILL RETURN. Those who have believed in Christ will be resurrected to reign with Him in a new earth. They will live eternally in the glory of God’s presence to love and worship Him. Daniel 7:14; John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51- 58; Revelation 5:8-14, 19:5-7.

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Nashville Statement of Biblical Sexuality

Nashville Statement

Preamble

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Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being. By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life. Many deny that God created human beings for his glory, and that his good purposes for us include our personal and physical design as male and female. It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferences. The pathway to full and lasting joy through God’s good design for his creatures is thus replaced by the path of shortsighted alternatives that, sooner or later, ruin human life and dishonor God. 

 

This secular spirit of our age presents a great challenge to the Christian church. Will the church of the Lord Jesus Christ lose her biblical conviction, clarity, and courage, and blend into the spirit of the age? Or will she hold fast to the word of life, draw courage from Jesus, and unashamedly proclaim his way as the way of life? Will she maintain her clear, counter-cultural witness to a world that seems bent on ruin? 

 

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. Christian Scripture teaches that there is but one God who alone is Creator and Lord of all. To him alone, every person owes gladhearted thanksgiving, heart-felt praise, and total allegiance. This is the path not only of glorifying God, but of knowing ourselves. To forget our Creator is to forget who we are, for he made us for himself. And we cannot know ourselves truly without truly knowing him who made us. We did not make ourselves. We are not our own. Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be. 

 

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.

 
Article 1
WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church. 

WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God. 

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Article 2 

WE AFFIRM that God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage. 

WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality. 

 

Article 3

WE AFFIRM that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in his own image, equal before God as persons, and distinct as male and female. 

WE DENY that the divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth. 

 

Article 4 

WE AFFIRM that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing. 

WE DENY that such differences are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome. 

 

Article 5 

WE AFFIRM that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male or female. 

WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female. 

 

Article 6 

WE AFFIRM that those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in his words about “eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb.” With all others they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known. 

WE DENY that ambiguities related to a person’s biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ. 

 

Article 7 

WE AFFIRM that self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture. 

WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption. 

 

Article 8 

WE AFFIRM that 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. 

WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation, or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel. 

 

Article 9 

WE AFFIRM that 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. 

WE DENY that an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexually immoral behavior. 

 

Article 10 

WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness. 

WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree. 

 

Article 11 

WE AFFIRM our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male or female. 

WE DENY any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God’s design of his imagebearers as male and female. 

 

Article 12 

WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. 

WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin. 

 

Article 13 

WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender selfconceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female. 

WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God’s revealed will. 

 

Article 14 

WE AFFIRM that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that 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 as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure. 

WE DENY that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.

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