Last year, after the mainline Presbyterian church (PCUSA) removed the “fidelity and chastity” requirement from their ordination standards, there was some confusion by the public over what the PCA believes regarding the ordination of homosexual clergy. In order to clear up this confusion, Dr. Roy Taylor wrote a paper explaining the PCA’s stance on the issue. The paper explains:

The PCA requires that all candidates for ordained office practice what we believe God requires of all persons; that is, that single persons are to live chaste lives, that “marriage is to be between one man and one woman,” and that fidelity in marriage is God’s will revealed in Holy Scriptures. The PCA has not changed nor is it considering any changes in its requirements for ordination.

Dr. Taylor goes on to explain the difference between the PCA and PCUSA and to give a brief history of the founding of the PCA. He then refers to the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as the Standards that all elders and deacons must affirm in their ordination vows to receive and adopt:

Although there are theological differences within PCA, these differences are along a conservative-evangelical spectrum and within the doctrinal parameters of The Westminster Confession, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. All PCA Teaching Elders (Ministers), Ruling Elders, and Deacons, affirm in their ordination vows that they “sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in Holy Scriptures.”

The paper concludes with references to relevant sections of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Catechisms as well as statements made by the General Assembly on various occasions that might be helpful in understanding the PCA’s position.

While I am thankful for Dr. Taylor’s work to clarify the PCA’s teachings on sexuality and ordination, I can’t help but wonder why we couldn’t have done a similar thing to clarify the PCA’s teachings on theistic evolution and the historicity of Adam.