This afternoon, the PCA General Assembly affirmed the Overture Committee’s recommendation to answer questions of theistic evolution by appealing to Scripture and the Westminster Standards.

Prior to the vote, a minority report /substitute motion urged commissioners to vote in favor of releasing an in thesi declaration rejecting all evolutionary views of Adam’s origin.

The minority report stated: “By making this affirmation, the General Assembly will declare to its members that the PCA believes what its Confessional Standards teach. This affirmation would also be a declaration to the wider Church that as the debate on the creation of man ensues within the Church, the PCA remains committed to its Standards.”

The substitute was rejected by a decisive margin.

The committee report issued on Tuesday stated: “While not wishing to diminish the importance of engaging the current controversies regarding the historicity of Adam and Eve, we believe that what is most called for is not a new deliverance from this Assembly, but rather a clear and uncompromising appeal to Scriptures (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-22) and the Westminster Standards (Westminster Confession of Faith 4:2; Westminster Shorter Catechism 16; Westminster Larger Catechism 17), which are already sufficiently clear that Adam and Eve are real, historical human beings directly created by God.