Gender Identity, The Gospel and the World

The cultural redefinition of gender identity and expression is progressing at a breathtaking speed. This redefinition follows our culture’s and government’s rejection of Biblical marriage and biblical sexuality that has unfolded in recent decades. The cultural redefinition of gender identity is a natural consequence of denying God’s plan for human flourishing through his created design for men and women.

For thousands of years’ gender has been viewed as synonymous with biological sex and in exclusively binary terms (i.e., only two options). There were simply no other categories than man or woman. And while gender expression (such as the manner of dress and roles within a society) have varied from culture to culture, we have always seen gender as binary.

The culture says that gender is not determined by biological sex, but rather is based on identity, perception, self-expression, self understanding, your feeling. You can now choose your gender based on whatever gender your feelings identify with. On transgender advocate says “Gender is not about what is in between your legs but about what’s between your ears.” In other words you mind is what determines your gender not your body. Gender has been removed from the arena of biology and placed in the arena of psychology.

Moreover, gender is also considered “fluid” so that whatever gender you identify with today could be different tomorrow. This has led government institutions and companies to allow individuals to select from multiple gender options in their chosen identity. In fact, one large social media company has fifty gender identity options for user profiles in the United States and over seventy options in the United Kingdom.

Key Definitions of terms

Transgender - people who would identify that their gender doesn’t match their biological sex they were born with

Gender Dysphoria - The experience of having a gender identity that doesn’t seem to match your body. The person feels like there is a mismatch. Dysphoria means intense and profound unease, the person is uncomfortable how they were created.

Transgender, gender identity and Gender dysphoria at times, are confused with sexual orientation or homosexuality. There is a difference, Sexual orientation is who I want to go to bed with, sexual identity is who I want to go to bed as, two different issues.

In our culture and society gender identity and transgendered people see this as an equality and justice issue. In other words if I was born as a man but feel like a woman and choose to live that way, then who are you to stop me. Which if you have watched the news in the last year we have seen these conversations go public, from talking about which bathrooms people can use to transgendered people who are transitioning competing in sports.

In the past, we as the church have handled these topics by either avoiding them by building walls around our churches too protect our selves from the world. There are other who have attacked transgender people and have been insensitive and honestly they have acted the opposite way Christ demonstrated for us in the Gospels. We must not panic either and think this is the end of the world as we know, as if God is no longer on his throne.

There are a group of people in the world today, who are transgender or struggling with gender dysphoria and they have either embraced their transgender life or are struggling with gender dysphoria and gender identity, they need Jesus just as much as anyone else. Yet too often we view them as un redeemable so we do not speak Gospel truth to them. The LGBTQ+ community is a mission field, a community that needs Jesus just as much as the 10-40 window, yet we neglect the community, dismiss the community, avoid the community because of how we view the community. We are not loving our neighbor well when we treat the LGBTQ+ community this way. We need to be able to answer questions, answer objections, and try to be empathetic to the struggle of their gender dysphoria or their transgenderism. The Gospel has the answer for them and we are the Gospel messengers.

We need a biblical approach and understanding about gender, our bodies and how the Gospel provides the answer and hope.

Gender

The Bible does not operate in 21st century categories like Gender Identity, but it doesn’t mean the Bible has nothing to say about the topic of Gender Identity. If some one where to say to you, tell me where Jesus talks about gender identity? Or maybe you they Jesus never said anything about gender identity, homosexuality and gay marriage. What would you tell them?

Matthew 19:3–6 ESV

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

When Jesus was asked about divorce, Jesus answers by going back to the creation story. Where we learn that God created humanity in his image and likeness, created them male and female. What does this passage teach us about gender and what the Bible, what Jesus thinks about Gender.

Gender is Binary

By going back to the creation narrative, we see that God created male and female, only two sexes. Therefore gender is binary, we are not given a spectrum of options, we are given male and female.

Gender is Embodied

God made the male and female and created their bodies differently and God in his wisdom created a male body and female body and attached gender to their physical make up, making gender grounded physically or in biology not in psychology or perceived in the mind.

Gender Binary is Foundational

This is the basis that we as people who were created male and female are to relate to each other. In other words we need each other, men need women, women need men, we were created differently to compliment each other.

Gender, the Body and the Fall

The beauty of God’s creation was subjected to sin, because of the fall we now are people who are dead in our sins until we are made alive in Christ. We are corrupted by sin. There is a passage in Rom 8 which says

Romans 8:20–21 (ESV)

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

We should not be surprised by transgenderism, gender dysphoria or any other issue, because all of creation is subjected to futility, we as human beings are part of creation therefore we as people are subjected to futility. We are people who have issues that involve our bodies, we health issues, self image issues, mental issues and we can go on and on. Creation is subjected to frustration and every relationship is impacted which is why we struggle to get along with our wives, kids, coworkers and others, even our selves it is the frustrations of the fall.

Also as a result of the fall, we sometimes have children that are born inter-sexed, meaning they were born somehow with parts of both genders. This does happen, but because it happens doesn’t negate God’s intended creation order. This happened as a result of the fall.

We are all impacted by the fall and someone who is going through gender dysphoria, the pain is real. Christians more than anyone should understand and realize this because we believe the fall has brought chaos into the world and has brought chaos into our bodies.

Gender, the Mind and the Fall

Not only have our bodies been impacted by sin, Paul goes further

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Ephesians 4:18 ESV

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Futile in their thinking, foolish hearts were darkened, darkened in their understanding.... the fall not only impacts our bodies it impacts our hearts and minds which means we are not good at understanding who we are as people.

You see the problem is we take this verse and apply it to the LGBTQ+ community and say they are darkened in their thinking. In reality we all are, apart from Jesus saving us, we are all darkened in our thinking. Sin impacts our thinking and our hearts can lead us astray, we can not trust our hearts and minds to lead the way. The solution is not from within the solution to our problem is to look to our creator.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 ESV

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

What Should We Do

Avoid Gender Stereo types

Almost every sermon I have heard about Esau and Jacob. People describe Esau as manly and Jacob as effeminate. One of my concerns is that we as a church portray one way of what it means to be a man/woman

Imagen de Dios

Should I use Poeple’s preferred pronouns?

Proverbs 26:4–5 ESV

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Redemption and Hope

Romans 8:22–23 ESV

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Colossians 1:22 ESV

he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

POSITION STATEMENT

Scripture makes clear that gender is not a by-product of individual choice, but is rather a consequence of divine design. There simply is no biblical evidence of God designing his creation so that a person may choose their own gender identity. Instead, scripture clearly teaches that God has designed human beings as exclusively male or female without the ability to change that. It is fixed in the womb.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27📷

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13📷

To force a Christian to recognize gender identity apart from God’s design would cause that Christian to deny God’s truth and embrace a man-made truth. This is why Paul warns us in Romans 1:24-25📷:

“…God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…”

Paul wants us to know that how we, as image bearers, view our bodies, and what we do with them, will either hinder or help our worship. Ultimately, the creator, not the creature, must define what is true in our world.

The remedy for transgender struggles is the same as it for every other aspect of brokenness in our world – the Gospel! Because of all that Jesus has accomplished for us, that we graciously receive through our faith in him, we have a new identity that provides a much richer inheritance than any false identity we may create for ourselves.1

APPLICATION POINTS

RECOGNIZE THE ONGOING REALITY

We must recognize that, like those on same-sex marriage, biblical views on gender identity will increasingly become the minority position. We can no longer assume that those with whom we discuss gender identity will agree with or even understand a biblical perspective. We must accept that at times the culture will label us as intolerant.

TEACHING FOCUS

Our Sunday teaching and our family and adult discipleship ministries will continue to teach a biblical perspective of gender identity consistent with this position statement and other doctrinal statements. We will endeavor to present a true picture of biblical manhood and womanhood and not fall into cultural stereotypes promoted by the political right or the left.

OUR HEART FOR THE LBGTQ COMMUNITY

But our disagreement with the concept of gender identity should never lead us to be cruel and unloving toward those who are transgender. A transgendered person’s sin does distort the image of God that they bear, but that sin cannot remove God’s image. James 3:9📷 reminds us it is a sin to belittle, mock, or disrespect anyone who bears the image of God. And because the transgendered person is an image bearer, we should love them and defend them when others seek to harm them.

THE GOSPEL IS THE SOLUTION

We must also remember that the culture’s perspective on gender identity results from the Fall of mankind and the tendency that we all have towards idolatry. While transgenderism may shock our sense of what is appropriate, it really is not a new category of sin. We all, at times, look to things within the created realm to find our validation and identity. The person who embraces transgenderism is no more sinful than the workaholic executive who finds his sense of self in his career or the stay-at-home mom who finds her identity in raising the “perfect” family. Once again we must take Jesus’s words to heart and remove the log in our own eye before we criticize others.2

CONSIDERATIONS FOR MINISTRY PLACEMENT & FACILITIES

Fellowship will always consider a person’s biological sex at birth to be their assigned gender for purposes of ministry placement (where an equipping opportunity is offered solely to one gender). With respect to usage of restrooms and dressing rooms specifically, guests to our church should use either a restroom that corresponds to their biological sex or family bathrooms (where available). We recognize that some governmental authorities may in the future assert that a church cannot lawfully require this. While we hope that does not come to pass, should it happen, Fellowship would resist such an unprecedented government intrusion as a matter of conscience protected by the religious liberty tenets of the U.S. Constitution.

ENGAGING THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY

We must see the transgender community as we would a people group that needs the truth and love of the Gospel. We need for Christian missionaries to go to that community and bring the love of Christ with them. Live among them. Get to know them. Minister to their needs. Teach them the Gospel.

1 2 Corinthians 5:15📷; 1 Corinthians 6:11📷; 2 Matthew 7:5📷