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Documents of Synod: Studies of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (1965 to 1982) REPORT OF STUDY COMMITTEE ON [158th General Synod Minutes, 4 July 1980, pp. 177-179; Documents of Synod, pp. 309-311.]
Dr. David C. Jones presented the report for the committee as follows: BACKGROUND: The Koinonia Declaration was drawn up in November of 1977 by a number of concerned South African Christians of Calvinistic conviction. The document was brought to the attention of the 1978 synod of the Christian Reformed Church, which adopted the following resolutions relative to it: That synod declare that it considers the Koinonia Declaration to be an excellent enunciation of biblical principles and a significant reformational statement on South African race relations by Reformed Christians in South Africa. As a consequence of the fourth resolution above, the 1979 General Synod of the RPCES received a communication from the CRC informing us of their actions, which communication was forwarded to the 1980 synod, the Koinonia Declaration having been printed in full in the minutes of last year's synod and a study committee appointed to report back to this year's synod. RECOMMENDATION: The Committee recommends that synod send the following communication to the Christian Reformed Church: We wish to express our appreciation for your concern for a consistent Christian witness in South Africa, especially on the part of the member churches of the RES, and for informing us of your actions relative to the Koinonia Declaration. To facilitate action on the above resolution, the "principial statements" of the Koinonia Declaration are included as a supplement to this report. The bibliography on Christianity and Apartheid will be available from CTI [Christian Training, Inc.] at synod.
THE "PRINCIPIAL STATEMENTS" OF THE KOINONIA DECLARATION 1. We as Christian citizens are convinced that we must continue to practice love towards those people in authority. We also believe that the prayers of just men have great power. We therefore urge all Christians to pray without ceasing for those in authority that: i. they may seek and know biblical truth; When there is a conflict between the law of God and the state's expectation of us, it is, however, our firm conviction that we should always obey God rather than men (the latter including the bearers of authority). 2. The Bible gives us guidelines as to what the duties of the citizen as well as the civil government are. Accordingly we believe that it is the duty of the civil government to protect everybody within its territory, and further that each man has the right to such protection, in order to enable him to do good, that is, to fulfill his calling (without obstruction by anyone whatsoever) towards God and therefore also towards his neighbor as his fellow citizen and fellow human being, in all human relationships. This means inter alia that: i. the citizen as human being has the divinely ordained right and duty of displaying charity, that is, inter alia, in being merciful, practicing community, promoting justice and mutual admonition, towards all people, irrespective of who they are, and especially to the weak and underprivileged; a. he is able to obtain sufficient information, having a bearing on his calling and/or duties in the state; 3. We believe that freedom, sufficient to fulfill one's calling before God, is essential. i. any form of state absolutism or totalitarianism, seeking to absorb non-political spheres of society as well as the whole life of the citizen (in its rich diversity) into the structure of the state in such a way that the state obtains determining control of areas which are, principially speaking, non-political, should be rejected, and that the state should restrict itself to the organizing of justice inside society without organizing society as such: ACTION: Dr. Jones moved that synod send this report to the Christian Reformed Church as our response to the Koinonia Declaration. Adopted. Back to the Table of Contents of Documents of Synod ©PCA Historical Center, 12330 Conway Road, St. Louis, MO, 2018. All Rights Reserved. |