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Marriage & Sexuality

We teach that God gave marriage as part of His common grace and that it has no meaning other than as He has provided (Gen. 2:18–24). We teach that marriage is subject to the curse of the Fall but that believers living in obedience to the Scripture and under the control of the Holy Spirit can begin to experience peaceful, productive, and fulfilled marriage as intended by God (Gen. 3:16; 1 Peter 3:7).

The marriages of believers are to illustrate the loving relationship of Christ and His church, with the husband loving his wife as Christ loves the church and the wife responding to her husband’s loving leadership as the church responds to Christ (Eph. 5:18–33).

Believers’ marriages are to illustrate Christ’s relationship with His church, believers should choose to marry those who share their faith and regenerate life (2 Cor. 6:14).2 Cor. 6:14). 

We teach that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: marriage sanctioned by God, which joins one biological, chromosomal man and one biological, chromosomal woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in scripture (Gen. 2:23–24).

We teach that marriage is always a public, formal, and officially recognized covenant between a man and a woman. We teach that prolonged conjugal cohabitation does not establish, and is not equivalent to, marriage (John 4:18).

We teach that where no such covenant exists or can be discerned between a cohabiting couple before coming to faith in Christ, family units should be preserved to the extent possible and, if otherwise appropriate, solemnization encouraged.

We teach that where a valid marriage has been established before coming to faith in Christ, the couple should remain married (1 Cor. 7:24).

God hates divorce, permitting it only where there has been unrepentant sexual sin (Mal. 2:14–16; Matt. 5:32, 19:9) or desertion by an unbeliever (1 Cor. 7:12–15). We teach that remarriage is permitted to a faithful partner, but only when the divorce was on biblical grounds. INSERT VALID LINK>>>More about Divorce and Remarriage<<<INSERT VALID LINK

Men and women have been directly created by God and made distinct from one another with a fixed gender, as evidenced by one’s chromosomal and biological makeup at conception (Genesis 1:27-31; 2:3-25; 17:10-12;).  Thus, we believe that gender and human sexuality are objectively fixed by God at birth as either male or female and not subjectively determined by an individual.

We teach that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. We teach that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged outside a marriage between a man and a woman (Heb. 13:4).

We teach that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life. (Ps. 139.)

Any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pedophilia, pornography, any attempt to change one’s sex or disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God (Lev. 18:1–30; Matt. 5:28; Rom. 1:26–29; 1 Cor. 5:1, 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1–8).  We teach that God’s holy intention for men and women is to identify with their objective, chromosomal, biological makeup because He has created them with that makeup.

We teach that homosexuality, in particular, is subject to God’s wrath of abandonment, a matter of choice and not inherited status, and epitomizes man’s ungrateful rebellion against God (Genesis 19:4-15; Rom. 1:18–28; Deuteronomy 22:5; Leviticus 20:13).

We teach that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture or the doctrines of the church. We teach that the faithful proclamation of the Scripture, including the call to repentance, does not constitute hate speech or hateful and harassing behavior but is instead a fundamental part of the church’s loving mission to the world (Matt. 28:16–20; 2 Cor. 5:11–20; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 4:1–2).

God offers redemption and forgiveness to all who confess and forsake their sin, including sexual sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. We teach that His forgiveness is total and complete (Ps. 103:11–12, 130:3–4; Is. 43:25, 44:22; John 5:24; Col. 2:13–14) and that God imputes the complete righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21) to the believing sinner. We teach that the forgiven sinner has been cleansed from the guilt of sin, set apart unto God, or made holy and justified before Him (1 Cor. 6:9–11). We teach that any man or woman receiving that forgiveness is in Christ and is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

A statement of our beliefs concerning the biblical definition of gender and sexuality can be found by clicking here.