Pittsburgh Seminary profs: ‘A’ is theologically corrupt By Parker T. Williamson The Presbyterian Layman Nov/Dec, 1997 DALLAS – Assumptions that underlie Amendment A deny the foundational truths of Christian faith, said Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professors Andrew Purves and Charles Partee in a seminar at Presbyterian Gathering II in Dallas. The two theologians identified Amendment A as a product of church leaders’ accommodation to the mores of a decaying culture. Labeling theological presuppositions employed by the 1997 General Assembly the “Six Syracuse Denials,” Purves and Partee each identified three “false assumptions” that underlie the work of the Syracuse Assembly. Purves said that behind the issue of sexuality, Amendment A’s “presenting subject,” lies the question, “Do the ordained ministers, elders and deacons of our church really believe that Jesus Christ is solely the one through whom we have access to the Father?” This christological question, said Purves, must be answered with clarity and conviction: “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Purves criticized the propensity of postmodern inclusivists to identify Christ as merely “a savior,” one among many equally viable options. He said the Church’s declaration that Jesus Christ is Lord goes far beyond such paltry notions, for it claims Christ’s lordship over all of life. “We affirm with the Gospel writers that no one comes to the father but by Jesus Christ. This is the ultimate issue. One false move here, and the whole thing is like peeling back an onion and finding nothing at the core.” Purves said a second Christian teaching that was denied by commissioners in Syracuse affirms the authority of Scripture and the derivative authority of the Reformed Confessions. His words contrasted sharply with those of Jane Dempsey Douglas, who told a much smaller group of Amendment A supporters in Chicago that the amendment’s subordination of Scripture and the Confessions to a “Christ” of their own creation is “good Reformed theology.” The third Christian affirmation that Purves believes was undercut in Syracuse is “Jesus loves me.” Implicit in that affirmation is the declaration that in Jesus Christ we know the love of God, said Purves, and “ ‘you are forgiven’ is this declaration’s first indicative. The love of God, the atonement made for our sins in Jesus Christ, and then our repentance … these truths are not negotiable,” said Purves. “They constitute the center of the faith in which we stand.” Professor Partee followed Purves’ emphasis on Christ’s lordship with an emphasis on the doctrine of sanctification, “the amended life.” Partee said that much rhetoric used by Amendment A supporters fails to take into consideration the meaning of sanctification: “To be Christian is to live not only the justified life by the power of Christ, but the amended life by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Partee identified as a “false assumption” underlying Amendment A the view that human nature is essentially good, that people are what they are because God made them that way. Partee said this view is a direct denial of Christian teaching that although human nature as created by God is good, this created nature is universally fallen, corrupted by human sin. “There is a sharp distinction between what God created and what we in our own responsibility have allowed to happen,” said Partee. Partee identified another false assumption that emerged in Syracuse as the view that all sins are equal. We are all sinners, and all sin causes estrangement from God, he affirmed, but there are qualitative distinctions that can be made among sins. “Anger and murder are both sins, but one is worse. So are lust and adultery … Syracuse’s false assumption was that since all sins are equal, you can condemn none.” Partee said the third flaw underlying Amendment A is the assumption that “one need not repent, or that having repented, one need not reform.” He said that Syracuse twisted the meaning of reform to “conform” to culture when its true meaning is “transform.” “We are sinners,” said Partee. “We are forgiven sinners … and as forgiven sinners, we are expected to live an amended life.” |
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