Definitions

Here we give concise summations of our biblical beliefs regarding the core work of the CBS. Our broader doctrinal commitments are found on the “doctrine” page. The following theological realities, derived from God’s holy word, form the substance of the teaching, speaking, and preaching ministry of the Center for Biblical Sexuality. 

Image of God: All human people are made in God’s image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-28). The man is created first, and is identified in 1 Corinthians 11 as “the image and glory of God” (7). The woman is made from the man for the man per this same chapter, and as such is an image-bearer. Working in partnership, the sexes fulfill God’s dominion mandate, a mandate that comes to realized expression in the new covenant through faith in Christ. The image is not a quality or trait or characteristic in human people, but is what we are (ontologically). We are fully the image of God though Jesus Christ alone is the true and perfect image of God (2 Cor. 4:4). 

The sexes: God is the creator of men and women, and thus the creator of manhood and womanhood. There is no “gender identity” aside from manhood and womanhood, and one knows one’s identity (outside of exceptional fallen circumstances) from one’s body. Alongside our status as image-bearers, biological sex thus constitutes a core part of personal identity, and so “gender dysphoria” flows from sin and is itself sin as part of the “total depravity” engendered by the historical fall of Adam (Gen. 3:1-13). The sexes are created by God to display his glory in united yet distinctive ways, for the biblical metanarrative presents men and women filling different roles in the home, church, and society.

Marriage: God is the creator of marriage. Marriage is a spiritual, covenantal, physical, procreative, and lifelong union between one man and one woman that offers a living display of the gospel. In marriage, the husband uniquely glorifies the Lord through Christ-shaped headship, and serves his family as leader, protector, and provider; the wife uniquely glorifies the Lord through church-like submission, and serves her family as a nurturer, supporter, and homemaker. This union is itself a glowing picture of the covenantal love of Christ and his church (Eph. 5:22-33).

The Family: God is the creator of the natural family. The family is the first institution in the cosmos, beginning well before any system of ordained government. The family depends upon marriage (see above). In divine ordering aimed at our full joy and flourishing, the family is composed of a Christlike husband and father, a churchlike wife and mother, and children who are raised to know the Lord by their father and mother. No family on this earth is perfect, but by God’s grace, the family lives in peace and happiness and mutual edification.

Sexuality: God is the creator of human sexual interest and capacity. Sexual interest is never to be pursued outside of biblical teaching, but is instead instituted by God to lead to marriage (Gen. 2:24-25). Our capacity for sex is deeply connected to procreation and the family, and is never to be acted upon outside of marital union. There is thus no way to glorify God with any thought, desire, instinct, compulsion, act, behavior, or identity that has any sinful end in view. This includes homosexuality, bisexuality, and polysexuality--or any other sexual interest and expression that is contrary to God-created nature (Rom. 1:26).

The Gospel and Sexuality: The gospel is given to us by God. Though every person is dead in their sins, through faith in the atoning and resurrected Christ we may be forgiven of all sins and transformed through sanctifying grace. The gospel is the hope of every sinner, and is the power every Christian needs to live a God-glorifying life. It is thus the answer to all our sexual sin, both in the moment of regeneration and throughout the course of our Spirit-indwelt existence. There is no form of sexual sin and brokenness that is not answered by the gospel, and every believer must continually claim afresh the forgiveness and power that the gospel affords. While the gospel does restore us to the glorious creational design of God, it does more than this—it enables the new covenant believer to be transformed and changed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Every Christian man and woman is a part of the new humanity that tastes and exhibits the new creational reality of faith in the Christ who is the fulfillment of all God’s promises (2 Cor. 1:20).

Doctrine

The following is a substantial (though not total) summation of our doctrinal commitments, a summation we developed with our friends at Reformanda Ministries.

The Bible

The Bible, comprised of sixty-six books written by numerous human authors, is the Spirit-inspired Word of God; inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient for faith, life, and godliness. All doctrines of the Word of God are pure and without blemish, whether taught in the Old or New Testament. Both Testaments reveal the one true God of the Bible. In creation and conscience, the Lord clearly displays his greatness, wisdom, and holiness, though the natural man rejects God's gracious self-disclosure. Salvation is possible only through special revelation, comprising knowledge of the salvific work of Jesus Christ. (Psalm 19:1; Matt. 5:18; John 10:35, 17:17; Rom. 2:14-16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 2:20-21; Heb. 4:12)

God

There is only one true and living God; a personal, holy, sovereign, eternal, infinite, transcendent, all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His divine attributes. (Deut. 6:4; Ps. 139:2-18; Isa. 45:5-7; John 4:24; 1 Cor. 8:4)

The Trinity

There is one God who exists eternally as three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is truly and fully God, equally deserving of worship and obedience. (Matt. 3:16-17, 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 1:3-14, 4:4-6; 1 Pet. 1:2; Jude 20-21)

God the Father

God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, is the absolute, omnipotent, omnipresent, and infinite sovereign Ruler of the universe. He is perfect in holiness, power, love, grace, and justice. He upholds, directs, and governs all events and creatures by the will of His power and is completely sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption. God graciously saves from sin and accepts all who comes to Him through Jesus Christ, adopting them as His own children. (Gen. 1:1–31; 1 Chron. 29:11; Ps. 103:19; John 1:12; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Eph. 3:9; Heb. 12:5–9)

 
Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, possessing all the divine essence and attributes. He is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father and with the Spirit. He is God incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary, perfectly sinless, yet bore the sins of His people by dying on the Cross; He resurrected on the third day, and ascended to heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father, mediating as our Advocate and High Priest until He returns in glory and judgment. (Isa. 7:14, 52:13-53:12; John 1:1-5, 14, 10:30, 14:9; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-20; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 1:3-4; 7:25-26, 9:24)

 
The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, coequal with the Father and the Son, is a divine Person, eternal, omniscient, and holy. As the supernatural Agent in regeneration, He baptizes all believers into one Body in Christ; He indwells, sanctifies, teaches, and empowers them for service, sealing them until the coming of the Lord. He also administers spiritual gifts to the church for the purpose of the edification of the Body, all of which are in operation today, with the exception of the apostolic sign gifts of prophecy, tongues, and the working of miracles. (John 14:15-17, 16:7-15; Acts 5:3-4; Rom. 8:5-11, 26-27; 1 Cor. 12:4-11, 13:8-10; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 1:13-14, 4:3, 5:18; 2 Pet. 1:20-21) 

 
Creation

God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, whether visible or invisible, in the span of six days, by the Word. In His sovereignty, He preserves and governs all things according to His eternal decree and providence. Being made by God directly, the earth is the Lord's, and terrestrial life coheres only in the wisdom and plan of God. The church alone understands the protology and telos of God, and must exercise discernment in the face of all competing systems, whether cosmological or anthropological, bioethical or technological, animistic or scientistic. (Gen. 1:1ff; Ex. 20:11; John 1:2-3; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2-3)

 
Man

Man was made in the image of God, created male and female to display his glory by ruling the creation. God made man free from sin and corruption, morally responsible to the Creator. In Adam’s sin of disobedience—an act transacted by the actual man called Adam operating in actual history—he lost his innocence and incurred the penalty of physical and spiritual death; and not only Adam, but all his posterity. (Gen. 1:27, 2:7, 3:1-19; John 3:36; Rom. 3:23, 5:12, 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 John 1:8)

 
The Gospel: Salvation and Judgment

The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners from the just wrath of God through His substitutionary death on the Cross. In order for sinners to be reconciled to God, atonement must be made for their transgressions, which, according to the sovereign plan of God, is accomplished for and applied to His people, those who have repented and believed in Christ alone for salvation. The resurrection makes complete the victory of Christ and his church over sin, Satan, death, and hell, hell being the realm where the just judgment of God is poured out in the form of everlasting conscious torment upon all who reject the perfect sacrifice of Christ. (John 1:12-13, 3:16-17, 10:11, 14-18; Rom. 6:23, 10:9-10; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7) 

 
Justification

Justification is the judicial act of God whereby He imputes to a believing sinner the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, forgiving and pardoning their iniquity and unrighteousness, declaring them to be righteous in His sight, thus rendering them acceptable to God and delivered from all condemnation. This act occurs in the moment when saving faith is exercised; it issues in, but is in no way enacted by, righteous works. (Rom. 3:24-28, 5:1, 8:1, 28; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9)

 
Sanctification and Christian Living

As new creations in Christ Jesus, believers are called to live consecrated lives of holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Through the transformative power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the process of spiritual growth in Christlikeness, begun at regeneration, will progress until the believer is made complete in Him at glorification. Through the gift of full and unbreakable union with Christ, every Christian is summoned and enabled to live coram deo (in the glad presence of God) and to be salt and light in an evil, sin-cursed world. (Matthew 5:17-20; Rom. 6:1-22, 8:5-30; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 4:22-24; 1 Thes. 4:3-4; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:14-16)

 
The Church

The Lord Jesus Christ has established His universal church in all the earth. The church is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, composed of men and women from every tribe and tongue, regulated by the Scriptures, and given the glorious task of gospel proclamation. In its local expression, the church administers the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to believers and exercises discipline over members. Every believer is called to join and strengthen a faithful local church, regularly attending the weekly service, which is dedicated to discipling the sheep (while welcoming unbelievers in loving witness). Wise and godly men must lead the church as elders, providing comprehensive theological direction, spiritual oversight, and loving care to the congregation, even as deacons strengthen the body in practical ways. The order of church leadership is predicated on the order of the Christian home, which is predicated on the order of divine creation. (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:15-18, 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 5:14-20; 11:23-29, 12:12-31; Eph. 4:1-16; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9)

 
The Pastorate

By the call of God, godly men must lead local churches as teams of elders. Preaching is the main means by which the sheep are fed spiritual "meat" and not "milk." The pastor is fundamentally a theologian of the Word. All pastoral ministry flows from sound doctrine, and so doctrine–biblical truth–is what the shepherd offers in counseling, hospitality, member care, evangelism, and discipleship. The broader ministry of the church calls for a variety of sound teaching–women teaching women, men discipling men, and so on–but the elders alone teach the whole body. Elders engage the church body regularly in their leadership role, but are not in any way dependent upon the counsel of non-elders as overseers. (Acts 6:2-3, 20:17, 28-30; 1 Cor. 14:33-35; 1 Tim. 2:9-15; 2 Tim. 4:2; Titus 2; Heb. 5:11-14; 1 Peter 5:1-3)

 
Marriage, Family, and Sexuality

In the beginning, God created both Adam and Eve in His image, thus making all humanity either male or female, such that biological sex constitutes personal identity. The sexes are equal in worth, yet distinct in their roles, for the glory of God. Marriage is a spiritual, covenantal, physical, procreative, and lifelong union between one man and one woman that offers a living display of the gospel. In marriage, the husband uniquely glorifies the Lord through Christ-shaped headship, and serves his family as leader, protector, and provider; the wife uniquely glorifies the Lord through church-like submission, and serves her family as a nurturer, supporter, and homemaker. Singleness unto God is an honorable calling; the only Christ-honoring context for sexual activity and sexual desire is the covenant of marriage, and no sinful sexual identification may be joined to Christian faith, for light has no fellowship with darkness. (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:18-24; Matt. 19:3-9; 1 Cor. 6:9-11, 7:1-24, 11:7-9; 2 Cor. 6:14; Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Tim. 2:9-24; 1 Peter 3:1-7)

 
The Future

The Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth, suddenly, visibly, bodily, and gloriously. In the eschaton, he will reconcile all things to himself and fulfill all the promises of redemptive history. The closing chapters of Revelation show that Christ the warrior-savior will bring to full and perfect completion the Genesis promise to crush the serpent's head as the Son protects his people by judging, once and for all time, his enemies. In the future, Christ will establish the new heavens and the new earth, a realm where no hint of sin, unrighteousness, or uncleanness remains. (Genesis 3:15; Matt. 24:4-25:46; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Thes. 4:16; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 19:11ff.)