It turns the acquisitiveness of our culture on its head and seeks to imitate, in the handling of money and resources, the very graciousness of God. A commitment of officeholders to generosity is a commitment to a lifestyle of contentment, simplicity, compassion, and service. The first definition of the word in all the major English dictionaries refers to abstention from unlawful or religiously proscribed sexual intercourse. For Christians, chastity is the commitment to place one's sexuality under the authority of Scripture and to direct one's sexuality toward faithful, committed, love and toward the good of the other. At the most basic level, it is the exercise of restraint over one's impulses in order to give space for love, commitment, and concern for the other to grow.
Chastity is thus just as important in marriage as it is in singleness.
For leaders in the church, the cultivation of chastity is a necessary antidote to the pervasiveness of sexual misconduct and sexual impurity in our culture. It is rather the exercise of restraint on our natural desire for power, control, and prestige. Paul speaks of boasting only in his weaknesses. Officeholders need humility, both to submit to the discipline and guidance of their peers and to avoid the tendencies toward the abuse of power that are rampant in our culture. By including this promise in the ordination vows, the Reformed Church in America affirms an explicit moral framework for officeholders while avoiding the problems of legalistic interpretation that might accompany definitional language placed elsewhere in the Book of Church Order.