On November 6, we posted here on the WRF website information about a meeting which was held earlier that day at the Vatican in Rome.  The essence of that meeting was an address given by Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director of the World Evangelical Alliance, in which he urged both Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants to find ways of working together on those matters where both communities may be largely in agreement.

  The WRF is an organizational member of the WEA.

There were numerous responses to that material from WRF members around the world.  One common thread in many of those responses was the question of on what specific issues Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants might be able to work together. 

Today, November 19, 2014, the WRF has received from two of its members, Thomas Johnson and Thomas Schirrmacher, material which has been prepared to suggest one answer to that question.  An introduction to that material and the Table of Contents for the material are below and the full document is available as an attachment to this article.  The title of this material is FAMILY AND SEXUAL CHAOS AND THE EVANGELICAL FAITH.

Since this material clearly presents the opinions of its authors on the subject it addresses, we are posting it in the “Blog” section of the WRF website with the normal disclaimer.  If you look at the material below, you will see that the authors have added their own disclaimer. 

While the WRF does not endorse this material, we do encourage our members to read it carefully and to comment on it on the WRF website.  If anyone needs information about how to log onto the WRF website in order to leave comments, contact Sam Logan at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 The background of this material

Studies presented by members of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance to the conference on the Complementarity of Man and Woman in Marriage held by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in cooperation with the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, November 17-19, 2014, Vatican City. The opinions expressed in this study do not necessarily represent those of the entire leadership or membership of the World Evangelical Alliance. They are presented for educational purposes by members of the Theological Commission. 

 The Preface to this material

The Christian community faces an immense pastoral, ethical, and apologetic challenge in relation to the sexual chaos of the twenty-first century. I am tempted to compare the magnitude of this challenge to the magnitude of the challenge from Gnosticism in the second and third centuries, a challenge which threatened to overwhelm the church and its message. It was not only the claims of secret knowledge as the means of salvation that moved Christian pastors and spokespeople to respond to Gnosticism by clarifying the canon of the Bible and developing the great creeds of the church. The sexual practices arising from Gnosticism also required a response.

Two opposite ethical distortions arose because of the way in which Gnosticism and the related Hellenistic religions and philosophies radically separated the human body from the human soul in extreme dualism. Some thought that because the human body was unredeemable and totally evil, Christians should make as little use of the body as is humanly possible. This required, they claimed, the total renunciation of marriage and sexuality in order to try to practice holiness.

Some religious leaders even taught married couples to separate from each other so that they would not have sexual relations with their spouses. Others thought that because only the human soul is important, what people do with their bodies, including sexuality, has no moral or spiritual significance. They thought anything related to the human body was not important. This led to extreme moral relativism with regard to sexuality. Christians began to recognize that both results of Gnosticism with regard to sexual ethics were life-destroying distortions that did not correspond with central Christian beliefs. In the early creeds, Christians clarified their affirmation of the goodness of creation, the reality of the Eternal Son of God becoming flesh, and the resurrection of the physical body in response to Gnosticism; they believed these fundamental convictions should compel Christians to practice moral responsibility, i.e., holiness, within sexuality, marriage, and family in a life-restoring manner. Fundamental theology was closely connected to the ethics of sex.

Once again today, fundamental theology is closely tied to the ethics of sex. Building on what our Christian ancestors articulated in the early Christian creeds, we propose that a related set of themes in evangelical theology can provide guidance today. Some of these themes are the relation between law and gospel; the multiple, distinct uses of the moral law; and ethical apologetics which, in previous centuries, was called the use of God’s natural moral law appropriated by means of moral reasoning. We are not offering either a first or a last word on the ethics of sexuality; the first Word came from God in creation, and there is a tremendous need for continuous research and teaching in Christian ethics today. We are offering a framework within which continuing academic, pastoral, and educational efforts can be organized in our minds and ministries. And we appeal to our fellow Christians to study and teach the Bible lovingly and courageously, while those with suitable talents also take up the tools of the social sciences and Christian philosophy to apply that biblical message to a hurting world.

Thomas Schirrmacher is Executive Chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, President of Martin Bucer European School of Theology and Research Institutes, and Professor of Sociology of Religion at the University of the West (Timisoara, Romania).  Dr. Schirrmacher is an individual member of the WRF and his e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Thomas K. Johnson is Research Vice President, Martin Bucer European School of Theology and Research Institutes; Professor of Ethics, Global Scholars; and Senior Advisor to the Theological Commission of the WEA.  Dr. Johnson is an individual member of the WRF and his e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.