To Reaffirm Synod’s Biblical Positions on Marriage and Sexuality

WHEREAS, Scripture declares that God in the beginning created humanity as male and female (Gen. 1:27; Matt. 19:4), and that He has instituted marriage to be an indissoluble union between man and woman (Gen. 2:24) for the purposes of companionship (Gen 2:18, 20–23) and procreation (Gen. 1:28); and

WHEREAS, Scripture clearly teaches that marriage reflects the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church, whereby husbands and wives carry out their distinct roles harmoniously for good order and mutual edification in the faith and in daily living (Eph. 5:22–33; 1 Peter 2:13–3:7); and

WHEREAS, Scripture also reserves all sexual activity for the marital union between man and woman (Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18; Num. 5:11–31; Matt. 5:27–30) and expressly prohibits all sexual activity between persons of the same sex (Lev. 18:22, 24; 20:13; Rom. 1:26–27; 1 Cor. 6:8; 1 Tim. 1:10; Jude 7); and

WHEREAS, Anti-scriptural views regarding marriage and sexuality continue to proliferate in American society, such as same-sex intercourse and marriage, gender fluidity, pedophilia, acceptance of cohabitation, use of pornography, and other deviations from biblical truth; and

WHEREAS, The Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR), at the direction of 2016 Resolution 14-03A and 2019 Res. 11-03A, has produced a new report on marriage and sexuality, A Chaste and Decent Life: An Update to Human Sexuality (1981) (Commission on Theology and Church Relations [St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2022]), that seeks to challenge these new cultural assumptions on the basis of biblical truth; and

WHEREAS, The CTCR report states that “attitudes toward gender identity and dysphoria, homosexuality and homosexual marriage, and societal pressures regarding sexuality, among others, have changed markedly in the last forty years,” yet maintains that “God’s intention for human sexuality does not change” (A Chaste and Decent Life, 37); and

WHEREAS, Synod in convention has repeatedly addressed these errors through resolutions confessing scriptural positions on marriage and sexuality (including, most recently, 2019 Res. 3-04A, 2016 Res. 14-03A, and 2013 Res. 2-07A);

therefore be it

Resolved, That Synod in convention reaffirm the Scriptural teaching on marriage and sexuality; and be it further

Resolved, That Synod in convention commend the CTCR’s A Chaste and Decent Life as a resource for pastors to familiarize themselves with the current errors present in society, in addition to other recent resources the CTCR has provided on these topics, such as The Order of Creation: Theology, History, Definition (Commission on Theology and Church Relations [St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2022]), Marriage between Church and State: A Report on Clergy Serving as “Agents of the State” (Commission on Theology and Church Relations [St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2021]), and Gender Identity Disorder and Gender Dysphoria in Christian Perspective (Commission on Theology and Church Relations [St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2014]); and be it finally

Resolved, That Synod in convention urge its pastors to preach and teach God’s counsel regarding the biblical design for marriage and sexuality with courage, as well as to exercise compassionate pastoral care to those struggling with sexual sin and misunderstanding