The 40th PCA General Assembly passed the recommendations of the Study Committee on Insider Movements (SCIM): “A Call to Faithful Witness: - Part One – Like Father, Like Son: Divine Familial Language in Bible Translation”: A Partial Report (Part One of Two Parts) Of the Ad Interim Committee on Insider Movements to the Fortieth General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, May 14, 2012 (The complete 89 page Report.)

This builds on the decision approved by the General Assembly last year (cf. below “OVERTURE 9 – “A Call to Faithful Witness”), and the 2012 Study Committee Recommendation is Part 1, with Part 2 of the Report being brought to next year’s General Assembly.

As one noted, this “defines biblically, theologically and linguistically why the common biological terms must be retained in the translation of ‘huios’ (son) and ‘pater’ (father) in reference to Jesus and God the Father. Muslim Idiom Translations have translated these terms with such substitutes as ‘representative’ and ‘guardian.’”

The five recommendations can be read immediately below beginning in line 34. The key statement approved is the second recommendation (lines 36 [page 7]-2 [page 8]) regarding translations: “since social familial terms fail to capture the biblical meaning of “Son” (huios) and “Son of God” (huios tou theou) applied to Jesus and “Father” (pater) applied to God, Bibles should always translate divine familial terms using common biological terms.” (Line numbers included as listed in the original Report.)

24 Study Committee Recommendations to the 2012 General Assembly 25 26 The ad interim SCIM has carried out the first stage of its duties, investigating divine 27 familial language and Bible translation. Stemming from the SCIM research, important points 28 of action surface. These actions concern agencies and workers engaged in Bible translation, 29 as well as the PCA churches that support the work of Bible translation. For the sake of the 30 gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the SCIM unanimously presents Part One 31 of its report, which follows, and presents the following five (5) recommendations to the 40th 32 General Assembly: 33 34 1. That “Part One – Like Father, Like Son: Divine Familial Language in Bible 35 Translation” serve as a Partial Report (Part One of Two Parts). 36 2. That the 40th General Assembly declare that, since social familial terms fail to 37 capture the biblical meaning of “Son” (huios) and “Son of God” (huios tou theou) (page 7)

1 applied to Jesus and “Father” (pater) applied to God, Bibles should always translate 2 divine familial terms using common biological terms. 3 3. That the 40th General Assembly make available and recommend for study “Part One 4 – Like Father, Like Son” to its presbyteries and sessions. 5 4. Pursuant to RAO 9-2, that the 40th General Assembly grant an extension to the 6 SCIM for one year to allow for completion of its mandate and to provide Part Two of 7 its report on Insider Movements. 8 5. That the 40thGeneral Assembly set the budget for the study committee at 9 $15,000/for its second year, and that funds be derived from gifts to the AC 10 designated for that purpose. (page 8)

1 OVERTURE 9 – “A Call to Faithful Witness” 2 3 Approved by the 39th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America 4 June 10, 2011 5 6 Whereas: the Church is called to take the gospel to all peoples, including those how have 7 historically been resistant to the gospel; 8 9 Whereas: contextualizing the language and forms of the gospel, while remaining faithful to 10 the truths of Scripture, is good and necessary for the advancement of the gospel; 11 12 Whereas: the Church must exercise wisdom in discerning appropriate expressions of 13 contextualization, reserving its public corrections for genuine and substantive threats 14 to the gospel; 15 16 Whereas: in recent initiatives known as “Insider Movements”, some groups have produced 17 Bible translations that have replaced references to Jesus as “Son” (huios) with terms 18 such as “Messiah” in order to be more acceptable to Muslims; 19 20 Whereas: some Bible translations of Insider Movements have replaced references to God as 21 “Father” (pater) with terms such as “Guardian” and “Lord”; 22 23 Whereas: these Bible translations are harmful to the doctrines of the authority of Scripture 24 and the deity of Christ, bringing confusion to people in need of Christ – concerns 25 that are held by many national leaders and Bible societies; 26 27 Whereas: some PCA churches have knowingly or unknowingly financially supported these 28 Bible translations; 29 30 Whereas: Muslims should not be denied a full and faithful witness; 31 32 Therefore be it resolved that the 39th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 33 America: 34 35 • Affirms that biblical motivations of all those who seek the good news of Jesus Christ 36 with those who have never heard or responded to the gospel should be encouraged; 37 • Repents of complacency or comfort that keeps us from a faithful witness; 38 • Declares as unfaithful to God’s revealed Word, Insider Movement or any other 39 translations of the Bible that remove from the text references to God as “Father” (page 4)

1 (pater) or Jesus as “Son” (huios), because such removals compromise doctrines of 2 the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and Scripture; 3 • Encourages PCA congregations to assess whether the missionaries and agencies they 4 support use or promote Bible translations that remove familial language in reference 5 to persons of the Trinity, and if so, to pursue correction, and failing that, to withdraw 6 their support; 7 • Encourages PCA congregations to support biblically sound and appropriately 8 contextualized efforts to see Christ’s Church established among resistant peoples; 9 • Calls PCA churches and agencies to collaborate with each other and the broader 10 Church to discern and implement biblical authority in gospel contextualization. 11 • Authorizes the Moderator, as an aid to greater gospel faithfulness throughout the 12 PCA and the broader Church, to appoint a study committee to report to the 40th 13 General Assembly concerning Insider Movements, including but not limited to: 14 o A summary and biblical assessment of Insider Movements’ histories, 15 philosophies, and practices; 16 o A biblical response to interpretations of Scripture used in defense of Insider 17 Movements; 18 o An examination of the theological impact of removing familial language for 19 the Trinity from Bible translations; 20 o An assessment of PCA missions partners regarding the influence of Insider 21 Movement within them, including assessment of their theology of religion, 22 ecclesiology, Scripture, and relationship to the Emergent Church; 23 o An explanation of the relevance and importance of this issue for the PCA; 24 o Suggestions for identifying and assessing the influence of Insider Movements 25 among mission agencies, missionaries and organizations; 26 o Recommended resources for faithfully training and equipping congregations 27 to reach Muslims locally and internationally. 28 • Set the budget for the study committee at $15,000/year and that funds be derived from gifts 29 to the AC designated for that purpose. (page 5)