Question

Does the OPC reject the unbiblical teaching of evolution? Do you prohibit people from being ministers who believe man evolved from animals?

Answer

My answer can be equally clear and succinct—it is "Yes." And in this instance I can say this with emphasis because of a rather recent judicial case in the OPC. A ruling elder who taught university level courses wanted to be free to say that Adam may have had animal ancestors. Oddly enough, in my opinion, he also seemed quite willing to say that Eve was made by a direct supernatural act of God from a rib of Adam. The session of his church determined that he could not serve as an elder unless he held that Adam was directly created by God. It was when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life that he became a living being. Since animals were already such as had the breath of life in them it follows that no animal was Adam's ancestor.

The elder appealed this to his presbytery and later to the General Assembly. I was present at that General Assembly and was not only impressed by its decision to uphold the session's original decision, but also by the way in which the case was deliberated. Throughout the debate it was to the text of the Bible that appeal was made, and it was quite clear through the whole process that this elder was given ample opportunity to present his case to the assembly. It was also quite clear that the final decision was such that it became crystal clear that the answer to your two-part question is, indeed, a resounding "Yes!"