Hills and Plains Presbytery approved an overture at a March 5, 2022 Called Meeting, asking the 49th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America to “amend BCO 16 by adding a new paragraph using wording from the Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality.”

The Overture presents proposed wording to amend BCO 16 by adding a fourth paragraph using wording from the Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality (AIC). The overture argues that since the 48th General Assembly in 2021 voted unanimously to commend the Human Sexuality Report, it seems appropriate to ask the 49th General Assembly to approve wording to add to BCO 16. The proposed wording provides the following:
BCO 16–4. Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America, though sound in the faith and living lives according to godliness, are well served when they can be honest about both their present fallen realities and their hope for sanctification. Their goal is not just consistent fleeing from, and regular resistance to, temptation, but the diminishment and even the end of the occurrences of sinful desires. Desires that are inconsistent with God’s design are to be resisted and mortified, not celebrated or accommodated. To juxtapose identities rooted in sinful desires alongside the term Christian is inconsistent with biblical language and undermines the spiritual reality that they are new creations in Christ. Sometimes there are disagreements about language even when the underlying doctrinal commitments seem to be the same, and how persons express themselves is not finally determinative of their identity.
An overture is a means by which a Presbytery can bring a matter to the GA for consideration. This overture will be considered by the 49th PCA General Assembly at its meeting in Birmingham, Ala., June 20-24, 2022.
OVERTURE from Hills and Plains Presbytery“Amend BCO 16 Adding a New Paragraph Using Wordingfrom the Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality”
Whereas, the Sacred Scriptures instruct us how to walk and to please God, abstaining from sexual immorality and controlling our bodies with holiness and honor (1 Thess. 4:1–5); and
Whereas, the Apostle Paul exhorts Timothy to fight the good fight of faith and to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness (1 Tim. 6:11–12); and
Whereas, overseers must be above reproach (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6, 7) and holy (Titus 1:8), and well thought of by outsiders (1 Tim. 3:7); and
Whereas, deacons must be dignified (1 Tim. 3:8) and serve if they prove themselves blameless (1 Tim. 3:10); and
Whereas, the Book of Church Order declares that everyone “whom God calls to bear office in His Church . . . should be sound in the faith, and his life be according to godliness” (BCO 16-3); and
Whereas, the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality of TE Dr. Bryan Chapell, TE Dr. Kevin DeYoung, TE Dr. Tim Keller, TE Dr. Jim Weidenaar, RE Dr. Derek Halvorson, RE Mr. Kyle Keating, and RE Mr. Jim Pocta, studied issues assigned to it by the 47th General Assembly in 2019; and
Whereas, the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality released the Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Human Sexuality in 2020; and
Whereas, overture 38 to “Commend the Human Sexuality Report,” unanimously adopted by Calvary Presbytery, was answered in the affirmative by a show of hands at the 48th General Assembly in 2021; and
Whereas, the AIC Report says, “Christians are well-served when they can be honest about both their present fallen realities and their hope for sanctification” (p. 28); and
Whereas, the AIC Report says, “The goal is not just consistent fleeing from, and regular resistance to, temptation, but the diminishment and even the end of the occurrences of sinful desires through the reordering of the loves of one’s heart toward Christ” (p. 10); and
Whereas, the AIC Report says, “Desires that are inconsistent with God’s design are to be resisted and mortified, not celebrated or accommodated” (p. 28); and
Whereas, the AIC Report says, “To juxtapose identities rooted in sinful desires alongside the term ‘Christian’ is inconsistent with Biblical language and undermines the spiritual reality that we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17)” (p. 11);
Whereas, the AIC Report says, “Sometimes there are disagreements about language even when the underlying doctrinal commitments seem to be the same. . . . For these reasons, how persons express themselves is not finally determinative of their identity” (p. 29);
Therefore, be it resolved that Hills and Plains Presbytery (PCA) overture the 49th General Assembly to amend the Book of Church Order chapter 16 by the addition of the following paragraph (underlining for new wording):
BCO 16–4. Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America, though sound in the faith and living lives according to godliness, are well served when they can be honest about both their present fallen realities and their hope for sanctification. Their goal is not just consistent fleeing from, and regular resistance to, temptation, but the diminishment and even the end of the occurrences of sinful desires. Desires that are inconsistent with God’s design are to be resisted and mortified, not celebrated or accommodated. To juxtapose identities rooted in sinful desires alongside the term Christian is inconsistent with biblical language and undermines the spiritual reality that they are new creations in Christ. Sometimes there are disagreements about language even when the underlying doctrinal commitments seem to be the same, and how persons express themselves is not finally determinative of their identity.
Approved by Hills and Plains Presbytery at a Called Meeting on March 5, 2022Attested by Wesley D. Martin, Stated Clerk

We, as Jesus’s followers, may be perceived even by those in our own families as “having lost our minds.” Why follow a Jewish carpenter who was crucified two millennia ago? Why forego a comfortable life, forsake the American dream, and choose deprivation and suffering for his cause? By the world’s standards, we’re out of our minds.

Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20–22 CSB)
The Professor and the Madman
In his bestselling novel, Simon Winchester tells the harrowing tale of The Professor and the Madman. The professor, James Murray, served as the longtime editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. The “madman,” William Chester Minor, was a prolific contributor to the work. Minor, a medical doctor who had fought in the Civil War but was plagued by a severe mental illness. He had murdered an innocent man in a case of mistaken identity that led to Minor’s incarceration.
Confined to a lunatic asylum, Minor found meaning in immersing himself in linguistic research, sending copious notes to Murray. For the longest time, Murray was unaware of the background of the lexicographic prodigy. The mystery man preferred to remain in obscurity until Murray eventually tracked him down. To his amazement, he discovered that Minor was, quite literally, out of his mind. As the fascinating story of the professor and the madman illustrates, at times the line between erudition and lunacy can be fine indeed.
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On the other hand, we should not focus on death when it is close but rather should focus on Christ. This is because a large part of the terror of death comes from the awareness of our sins and our guilt before God. The unbeliever has no alternative but to hope that there is no God on the other side to judge him. The Christian, though, has a different kind of certainty, and he can focus on Christ rather than on his sin.

A few years ago, I received this unexpected request from one of my church members with multiple sclerosis: “When you have time, could you please do a Bible study on how to prepare for death?” This person knew that her condition was incurable and, although death still seemed a fairly long way off, she was anxious to receive advice on how to face it. I was taken aback by that request, but I should not have been. This was a very sensible idea. Why wouldn’t every church member be interested in such a Bible study? Yet, I could not remember the last time I preached or heard a sermon on that topic. The Bible is very upfront about the reality of death but also very clear that it is possible to die well. It is perhaps significant that one of the best-known Hebrew words in the Old Testament, the word shalom, which we associate with peace and well-being, first appears in the context of death (Gen. 15:15). Knowing how we may die “in peace” should be an important concern for us all.
As I reflected on this, I was struck again about how common that theme was in Christian sermons and devotional literature until about two hundred years ago. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, decisive breakthroughs in medical research, such as the discovery of germs and anesthetics, made death and pain feel more distant. For the first time in history, being healthy became the norm and being ill the exception. For most people in history, death was an ever-present companion. John Calvin, for example, gives a vivid description of how precarious life felt in his time:
Innumerable are the ills which beset human life, and present death in as many different forms. Not to go beyond ourselves, since the body is a receptacle, even the nurse, of a thousand diseases, a man cannot move without carrying along with him many forms of destruction. . . . Then, in what direction soever you turn, all surrounding objects not only may do harm, but almost openly threaten and seem to present immediate death. Go on board a ship, you are but a plank’s breadth from death. Mount a horse, the stumbling of a foot endangers your life. Walk along the streets, every tile upon the roofs is a source of danger . . . I say nothing of poison, treachery, robbery, some of which beset us at home, others follow us abroad.1
It is therefore not surprising that Christians felt the need to be trained in the ars moriendi (art of dying). In fact, the idea that the whole of life is a preparation to die was commonplace. As events in the world sometimes bring death considerably closer to us, I believe it is urgent for the church to recover the Christian ars moriendi. What we need in particular is not so much rehearsing general theological truths about death but precisely what that church member asked me: some practical advice on how to prepare ourselves for it. The Protestant Reformers and seventeenth-century Puritans can help us with this because they knew how to face death and how to think about it in concrete terms. They wrote a great deal on the topic but, for the sake of brevity, I will focus on Martin Luther, whose teaching on the matter sums up the Protestant ars moriendi.2
Luther’s view of the Christian life is attractive because of its concrete character. Luther was not simply a theologian of more abstract concepts such as justification but a pastor who preached and wrote to human beings of flesh and blood facing much hardship and who were never far away from death. Luther himself, like his contemporaries, did not expect to live for very long, and he thought he would soon die from illness or martyrdom. It is therefore not surprising that he preached and wrote about death throughout his life. As early as 1519, when he was only thirty-six, he wrote a series of exhortations for his sovereign, Elector Frederick the Wise, who was seriously ill.3 In that same year, he preached a famous sermon on preparing to die, and he no doubt preached many times on the subject. Practical considerations about dying are spread through his writings. We also have fairly precise information about Luther’s last days and his own death that allows us to know that he put into practice what he preached.
Luther can help us because he teaches us how to think properly about death both throughout our lives and when it is near. His insights can be summed up under four headings.
BE CONFIDENT BUT REALISTIC
First, Luther recognizes that death is frightening even for Christians. He is not so foolish as to believe that the fear of death can be neutralized by stoic fortitude, as certain atheists try to convince themselves. This is a conviction that is often found in his writings. For example, in a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15 preached on October 6, 1532, he says: “The heathens have wisely said ‘he is a fool who is afraid of death, for through such fear he loses his own life.’ This would be true if only a man could act on the advice. . . . They advise that nothing is better than simply cast all such fear aside, to rid the mind of it and to think: why worry about it? When we are dead, we are dead. That is certainly disposing of the matter in short order and completely extinguishing God’s wrath, hell and damnation!”4
Or again, in one of his table talks: “I do not like to see people glad to die. . . . Great saints do not like to die. The fear of death is natural, for death is a penalty; therefore, it is something sad. According to the spirit one gladly dies; but according to the flesh, it is said ‘another shall carry you where you would not.’ ”5
Yet, because Christ defeated death, Luther also knows that the death of a Christian is fundamentally different. As he says to Frederick the Wise in one of his fourteen consolations: “The death of a Christian is to be looked upon as the brazen serpent of Moses. It does have the appearance of a serpent; but it is entirely without life, without motion, without poison, without sting. . . . We do resemble those who die, and the outward appearance of our death is not different from that of others. But the thing itself is different nevertheless because for us death is dead.”6
This is why the Christian is able to prepare for death in a meaningful way. However, this preparation should take place throughout the whole of life, and this leads to Luther’s next insight.
THINK OF DEATH AT THE RIGHT TIME
This is perhaps the most insightful piece of advice and the most challenging for us today. The issue is not simply how to think about death but when. Luther’s oft-repeated advice is that we should familiarize ourselves with death while we are still healthy, while death itself still seems far away. Conversely, we should not stare at death when it is near us but rather focus on Christ. Now it is clear that most people today—sadly, including many Christians—do precisely the opposite. They studiously ignore death while healthy and are caught unprepared when it comes.
On the contrary, Luther understood that spiritual growth is a slow process that takes a lifetime and that facing death is something that has to be learned. This is why he encourages us to think often of our own mortality, to reflect on its cause and consequences and on its ultimate outcome for the Christian—the resurrection of the body. One interesting suggestion on how to do that is to meditate on our own death and when we pass cemeteries.
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John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge, 1.17.10. ↩︎
Throughout this article I refer to the Weimar edition of Martin Luther’s complete works (Weimar Ausgabe or WA). The “Fourteen Consolations” and the famous sermon on preparing to die referred to below are also available in the American edition of Luther’s Works (Concordia Publishing House), vol. 42. ↩︎
“Fourteen Consolations for Them That Are Laboured and Laden” (1519). ↩︎
WA 36, 539. ↩︎
WA 408. ↩︎
WA 118. ↩︎