Biblical Gender Identity
Section: Intro ⋅ Single ⋅ Marriage ⋅ Adultery ⋅ Living Together Not Married ⋅ Prostitution ⋅
Disclaimers:
1. This is a mature topic only intended for people who've at least begun puberty. If you are less than 13 years old then I pray you don't have any reason to concern yourself with this yet, and you should ask a trustworthy adult before reading this. (My Family in the Bible page (here) is meant for all ages.)
2. This summary is not intended for general counseling, it is for those who want to know what the Bible says on this topic, and for those who claim the Bible is silent or says the opposite, plus a little commentary to get us started on what it means and how all this fits in a Biblical worldview.⚧
Direct
- Deuteronomy 22:5 hub, int
Notice the tone here. Whether we're reading from the original Hebrew (link) or any translation, the wording is clear. Sometimes God says "don't do that". Other times He says "don't do that, it's disgusting." Sometimes He says "I hate it when you do that." And rarely does He say "I hate you when you do that." There are degrees of "don't" and this activity falls on the bad end of the spectrum.1 One response might be "but there's only one reference in the whole Bible! It's never reinforced." A response to that could be "Yeah, that's right, the only reference is extremely negative and it's clear enough it didn't need to be revisited." Further, this is not a random quote from some obscure Bible character. Moses, Israel's greatest leader (Matthew 23:2, Luke 9:30, Luke 16:29), fit this into his greatest sermon (the book of Deuteronomy). The only response Jesus gave Satan in their only recorded head-on confrontation was to quote Deuteronomy 3 times (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13).
Note, this verse isn't justification to expect women to wear dresses and not wear pants. It's not that prescriptive. Neither men nor women wore pants back then. Check the original (int). Plus, it could easily have been referring to weapons and battle gear as much as clothing, which has implications for our modern military.
- Deuteronomy 23:1 hub, int
This was spoken in the middle of a sermon when Moses was giving a bunch of instructions about sexual misconduct, just a few paragraphs after the above verse. It's possible he would have been primarily concerned with fighting or some other involuntary circumstance. But none-the-less, it tells us that God disapproves of a man being emasculated (separation or destruction of his reproductive organs) and is reinforced just a couple chapters later in Deuteronomy 25:11-12. (And an exasperated Paul refers to it as a punishment in Galatians 5:12.) When a man undergoes a sex change, he is choosing to emasculate himself, and the consequence and tone of this verse should be taken seriously. If a woman were to choose a sex change, this verse still applies just as much to her as it does to a man, it just wasn't a scenario Moses had to write about since the medical tech didn't exist.
- Genesis 1:27 hub, int
- Genesis 5:1-2 hub, int
God always has and always will make every human binary sexual: either male or female. There is no third sex, or other, and our thoughts and feelings make no difference to our sex. Our thoughts and feelings legitimately determine how we identify or behave, such as when a man acts feminine or a woman acts masculine. But subjective behavior isn't justification to overrule or ignore objective biology, especially when (but not exclusively when) public safety is involved.
- Leviticus 19:11 hub, int
God disapproves of deception. If God gave you an XY chromosome and you want the world to think you have XX, then that's lying at best, or worse, telling the world that God gave you the wrong sex (it's unwise to try to correct God, as Job found out beginning in Job 38:1-3, and Paul warned in Galatians 6:7).
- Proverbs 3:32 hub, int
- Proverbs 11:20 hub, int
The author here, Solomon, has an impressive credential: 1 Kings 3:10-12. This doesn't mean he was perfect, even he messed up royally: 1 Kings 11:9-12. But the point is he used the same word in Hebrew as Moses used in Deuteronomy 22:5, so this is at least remotely relevant to document the cultural expectation of purity. Verses like this are not here to condemn us, but to remind us that God has and deserves to have an opinion on our choices. Remember, if we choose to align ourselves with Him, He longs to embrace us, even in the Old Testament: Ezekiel 18:23. (And remember that Jesus came, taught, died, and resurrected for sinners, not for the self-righteous, which counts for all kinds of sin, not just this one: Luke 5:32.)
- Jeremiah 30:6 hub, int
The idea of men being pregnant was preposterous to God as pointed out in this rhetorical question which lead into a very unpleasant warning.
- Hosea 8:7a hub, int
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it, and be unhappy with the result. The number of ex-trans and ex-gays are growing, telling their stories.
- John 8:32 hub, int
Believing our thoughts influence our sex (our genes) is a lie. Identifying with a gender that is misaligned from our sex is another lie. Lies hurt people. Truth leads to wholeness. (The antithesis of this is contained in 2 Timothy 2:25-26.) Claiming God made us gender dysphoric is not advisable. Acknowledging that our sinful world did that and God both designed life and can help us overcome confusion, is.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 hub, int
- 1 Corinthians 11:4-5 hub, int
- 1 Corinthians 11:14-15 hub, int
- 1 Corinthians 14:40 hub, int
These 4 from 1 Corinthians are simply New Testament validation that gender distinction is important and, according to Paul, founded in nature (independent of individual or cultural opinion, preference, or tendency). Also, consider how cross dressing gets a foot in the door towards homosexuality (which will be our next topic).
- Galatians 3:28 hub, int
A queer pastor has said this was the ultimate queer-positive statement. It might be a compelling idea if there wasn't the rest of scripture. Paul (the one who wrote Galatians) advised against sexual immorality more than 2 dozen times, one of which was less than 2 chapters later in Galatians 5:19-21. Claiming this verse is queer positive is a sadly perfect example of reading into scripture what you want to find (which is called eisegesis, as opposed to exegesis which is letting the text speak for itself). Being "one in Christ Jesus" is referring to how God loves everyone, it's not a statement meant to reset moral standards. It's noteworthy that Paul made a similar comment in Romans 10:12-13 and Colossians 3:5-7,11, reinforcing he was making a spiritual comparison, not a moral declaration.
Everything God makes has integrity. Meaning what you see on the outside is indicative of what's on the inside. People prefer to be more nebulous and mysterious, and when we dislike ourselves after comparing to others then we'll quickly excuse ourselves to be completely fake. Having surgery to change our body features doesn't change our genes. If God disapproves of switching clothes and emasculation, then it's not a stretch to think He disapproves of surgery to switch organs, or otherwise adopting a gender that's misaligned to our genes. That said, there are the thoughts that pop into our brain, the thoughts we dwell on, and our actions. God doesn't condemn us just because we had an idea, it's what we do with that idea (Genesis 4:7). For those who struggle with sin (this sin or others) then I sympathize, it's not fun. But we must rise to the challenge, make choices to architect our environment to be a healthy influence, find good role models who make it easier, and sometimes even break loose from our bad role models (1 Corinthians 15:33). Society owes everyone good role models, but when it fails don't let that be an excuse for resentment (nor sin), because the world is what we make of it. Seek good role models and avoid bad ones, even if you have to go out of your way (Romans 12:9).
Males competing in professional sports or any serious sport against females just because they claim they are females are clearly just gaming the system, and this is immoral. Males playing with females in co-ed sports teams are perfectly fine as long as all players and stakeholders are aware upfront and ok. But allowing men to compete with women for no reason other than because they claim they are women is just men abusing their political power and turning women into victims.
If we take the clothing verse literally then we can't even allow actors (thespians) to wear the costume of opposite gender characters. Acting is understood to be fiction, and isn't the point here. When we take this seriously (as opposed to literally) we can make the distinction that acting is a tolerable exception to this because it's fake. Same for children pretending to be grownups. This concept is intended for reality, not the world of fiction. Similarly, this isn't a question of whether the jeans that girl's wearing came from the men's or women's department. When we ask why God said what He did above in Deuteronomy 22:5, in the context of God's character it's pretty clear He doesn't care about our fashion style, rather He cares when we appear to be the opposite gender than He created us with, with the intent to deceive. And it's not just that God is lazy and hates transvestites. He loves people, He is love (1 John 4:8), but He is jealous (Exodus 34:14) and hates sin (Isaiah 61:8). When we choose to sin and then tell God He's wrong for defining our actions that way, He understandably gets ticked (Isaiah 45:9).2 Related, it's conceivably possible to wear drag without displeasing God (like acting), just as it's possible to dance or drink alcoholic beverages without displeasing Him, but these are activities you have to be careful with because they can easily and quickly degrade with lack of intentionality. And there's a difference between a man trying to make people believe he's a woman and a man who people perceive as effeminate. Being labeled as "effeminate" by society (such as a sports jock picking on a non-jock) is not a sin of the accused but of the accuser (Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 14:10). But don't use this as an excuse. (By the way, this isn't to say all judging is sin. We were commanded to judge, too: Luke 12:57, John 7:24. The key is we're to show discernment while leaving condemnation up to God.)
What's permanent is fundamentally different than what's superficial. Even surgery to change organs and constant hormone treatments don't change the genes in the DNA in every cell in your body. DNA can be used to tell if you were designed by God to be male or female regardless of what's been done to your organs and hormones. Getting a so-called sex change is inadvisable from a Biblical perspective, coping with your God-given sex is advisable. But if a person has bothered to make the switch, it's not productive for the rest of us to worry about how they were born in every circumstance. Namely, bathrooms and locker rooms are supposed to be segregated by sex, not by gender/race/marital status/etc. When people need to use a bathroom the golden rule should apply. (Jesus gave us this in Matthew 7:12/Luke 6:31.) Because there's a huge difference between spending thousands of dollars and undergoing serious permanent surgery to change your biological sex (however superficial) versus simply claiming you identify with the opposite gender than your DNA declares. As a general rule, if you have the reproductive organs of those represented by the label on the door, then you should be allowed to enter. However, which gender you identify with should be irrelevant to which bathroom or locker room door you may pass through.3
Despite it's cultural popularity and recent recognition by medical organizations and courts, transgender doesn't exist, only gender dysphoria. The transgender movement is misguided at best, and the recently invented term cisgender is the only Biblical advice. Whether someone we know or one of our kids "comes out" as "trans" makes no difference what-so-ever on God's opinion on human sexuality, as clearly expressed in His word. Worse than being gender dysphoric is encouraging others to be so. Here's a great quote on the self-contradictory nature of the transgender movement:
Many of those who feel distress over their bodily sex know that they aren’t really the opposite sex, and do not wish to “transition.” They wish to receive help in coming to identify with and accept their bodily self. They don’t think their feelings of gender dysphoria define reality. But transgender activists do. Regardless of whether they identify as “cisgender” or “transgender,” the activists promote a highly subjective and incoherent worldview.God doesn't want us to be confused with our identity, it's supposed to be easy (Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Isaiah 45:19). Sex reassignment surgeries and cross dressing add unnecessary complications. Churches, church schools, and church camps should lead the culture and be the guardian of God's word, which is our most valuable asset. A Christian sending their kid to a Muslim camp would expect their kids to learn accurate instruction from the Quran, or a Hindu camp with the Gita, or an atheist camp and evolution. Christians should never apologize for teaching morality from the Bible, rather we should brag about it. But we should only do it if we're going to accurately represent the God of the Bible, which requires knowing His word and His will, and knowing science that He invented. Men are born male and die male, and women are born female and die female, no matter how many surgeries they have, shrinks they visit, tears they shed, or insults they endure. Everyone will be healthier when the church helps people confront and cope with this reality, and learn to recognize and reject the lies our culture is forcing on them. This will always be better than if the church tries to meet people where they are and help them "make decisions" about their gender, or help them "feel comfortable" about a decision they previously made to misalign their gender from their sex. The Bible warns us against thinking and acting the way the world does many times (Leviticus 18:3, Isaiah 8:11, Ezekiel 11:12 GNT, John 15:18-19, James 4:4, Revelation 3:15-16). We don't choose the body we're born into (our sex) any more than we choose the family we're born into. Pretending our slightly subjective gender is all important and our objective sex is irrelevant is at best wishful thinking.It’s hard to see how these contradictory positions can be combined. If you pull too hard on any one thread of transgender ideology, the whole tapestry comes unraveled. (quoting Ryan Anderson, from here)
- On the one hand, they claim that the real self is something other than the physical body, in a new form of Gnostic dualism, yet at the same time they embrace a materialist philosophy in which only the material world exists. They say that gender is purely a social construct, while asserting that a person can be “trapped” in the wrong gender.
- They say there are no meaningful differences between man and woman, yet they rely on rigid sex stereotypes to argue that “gender identity” is real, while human embodiment is not. They claim that truth is whatever a person says it is, yet they believe there’s a real self to be discovered inside that person.
- They promote a radical expressive individualism in which people are free to do whatever they want and define the truth however they wish, yet they try ruthlessly to enforce acceptance of transgender ideology.
Last Modified: Friday, December 08, 2023
