God's Creation of Gender
How God created gender at the beginning of creation should inform our views on gender. This article gives a biblical perspective of the origins of human gender.
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Introduction
Western culture has forced Christians to defend what we believe is the right way to think about gender and gender expression. Some Christian families are struggling over the issue of gender. Maybe one of their children has come out professing they no longer identify with their birth gender. Unfortunately, not every Christian and denomination group agrees about gender. Nonetheless, God has given us an opportunity to be a voice for God’s truth to our gender-confused society, our families, and future generations who will need the clarity of God’s truth when it comes to gender issues.
We need to make sure, as Christians, that we are clear about the Bible’s teachings on gender. This is part one of a two-part article. My goal for these articles is to show what the Bible says about God’s creation of gender and God’s plans for gender expression.
In this article, we will see that Scripture teaches God created gender, God created only two genders: male and female, and God designed that only male/female partnership fulfills the one-flesh union and mandate to fill the earth.
God Created Gender in the Beginning
Let’s go back to the very beginning. In the beginning, when God created everything, we often think of animals, trees, plants, sky, sea creatures, and people. However, God also created gender
Part of God’s creative actions was He created gender, and He created only two genders: Male & Female
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).[1]
God Created Mankind on the Sixth Day
Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth” (Genesis 1:26).
The creature God wanted to create on the sixth day was called “mankind.” The Hebrew word אָדָם (ʾā·ḏām) in this verse describes all mankind, human beings. Later it becomes the proper name for the first male, Adam.
This new creature, mankind, was created on the sixth day of God’s original creation week, and this creature was to be special and unique from all others. Mankind will be made in God’s image. Humans are not gods, but we reflect the image of God. Theologians have debated the precise meanings of being made in God’s image for centuries. Let me suggest a few basic concepts. Being made in God’s image means God made humans according to His likeness. God shared with humans some of His attributes. For example, humans are spiritual creatures. Humans have a mind that can reason and make moral decisions. Humans can worship God and know God personally. Unlike other creatures, humans were made with capabilities and capacities so we could carry out God’s mandate to rule over the earth on God’s behalf.
Let’s look at how God further made mankind.
God Created Mankind to be Male & Female
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).
Man is the Hebrew אָדָם (ʾā·ḏām) again. God created this human creature in a specific way. First, God created mankind in His image. Second, God created mankind to be a gendered creature.
The verse says God created mankind according to two genders: male and female. These two genders are part of God’s design for mankind as a creature. Notice that there are not three, four, or more genders mentioned. God only created two genders, male and female.
Male
The Hebrew word used in this verse for male is זָכָר (zā·ḵār). This is the Hebrew word used to describe the male gender among mankind. It can refer to humans or animals. This word explains that a living creature has male reproductive organs.
Za-kar (male) in the Old Testament frequently describes a man (male person) or a boy (male child). It can also refer to a male animal.
Female
The Hebrew word in this verse for female is נְקֵבָה (neqē·vah). It describes an animal or human that is the female gender. It delineates a person or animal as having female sexual reproductive organs rather than male ones.
Neqē·vah (female) in the Old Testament describes a female human (adult woman or girl) and can describe a female animal.
These two words in the Hebrew Bible (zā·ḵār & neqē·vah) describe the physical differences and differences in reproductive organs in living creatures. Males have different physical features from females and vice versa. Females and males have different sexual reproductive organs.
Conclusions So Far
The observations we have seen so far lead us to draw these conclusions:
1. God created gender
God is the one who created gender. On the sixth day of creation, when God created mankind, He created them male and female. The argument presently from society is that gender is a man-made social construction. The Bible’s case is the exact opposite.
Gender is a creation from God’s mind. Gender is God-made, not man-made.
All conversations about gender must start with this point. However we want to describe and define gender, we must begin with God’s definition of gender. Because gender is something God made, God has the right to define gender; humans do not.
2. By God’s design, there are distinguishable differences between male and female genders
The two Hebrew words for male and female in Genesis clarify this concept. The fact that there are two words to describe these two genders, implies that there are distinguishable differences in male and female genders. These differences include, at a minimum, differences in sexual reproductive organs, differences in physical features, and differences in bodily capabilities.
3. God only created two genders, male and female
This idea is hotly debated in Western societies presently. One website lists at least 107 different gender identities for 2024.[2] One of the significant claims of the transgender movement is that gender is much more than merely being male or female. The current transgender theory claims gender can be a mixture of male and female. Gender is whatever the individual believes their gender is.
The Genesis account does not allow for this type of thinking. God created only two genders, described as male and female. God did not create three, four, or more genders.
God Designed Male & Female to Fit Together
As we keep reading in Genesis, we see God’s design for gender is that only male/female partnership can fulfill God’s plan for mankind.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
God wants the first man and woman to have more men and women. God created the first male and female of each ‘kind’ of creature, including humans, and gave them the charge and physical capabilities to reproduce more of their kind to fill the earth to God’s glory.
God’s design for reproduction is that it takes both male & female genders to reproduce.
God could have designed any number of possibilities to make reproduction possible. He could have said there are three genders, and these three genders are necessary to reproduce, but God did not do this. He said there are only two, male and female, and this pairing is required to fit together for sexual reproduction to be possible.
In Genesis chapter two, more details emerge to help us understand God’s design for males and females to fit and partner together.
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him (Genesis 1:18, 20).
Adam is busy in the Garden of Eden, naming all the animals God made. God told him to manage the Garden on God’s behalf. Adam looks around and sees that the lion has his mate, the bull has his mate, and the bird has his mate, but Adam has no one to partner with him.
There was no other creature suitable for Adam, verse twenty says. The word suitable means that which is opposite to something, corresponding to something as in a counterpart. Just like putting together a puzzle requires that you find pieces that match up with their perfect fitting partner pieces, Adam needed a perfect puzzle piece to match him. God decided to create the woman to solve this problem.
Adam was excited when God presented Eve to Adam in a covenant wedding arrangement.
22 And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:22-24).
The Hebrew word for woman in this passage is אִשָּׁה (ish-ah), and in the Old Testament, it refers to the female gender but most often describes more specifically a woman or a wife. The Hebrew word for man here is אִישׁ (ish). This word refers also to the male gender and is sometimes used to describe humankind. However, its most common usage is to refer to a man or a husband. I point out these words so we can see that the Hebrew Bible had specific words to distinguish between male/female, man/woman, and husband/wife.
Adam finally had someone like him, but different from him in gender, who could fit together with him. Eve, the woman, was the only acceptable gendered creature (female) who could fit perfectly with Adam and be his helper to carry out the mission God gave mankind.
Genesis 2:24 tells us this is how God designed marriage. Man (male) leaves his parents and joins a covenant partnership with his wife (female). The man and woman unite in marriage and become “one flesh.” The one-flesh union describes that a male and a female come together in the sexual union and become one. When they have children through this one-flesh union, man and woman fulfill God’s mandate to “fill the earth” and produce children in God's image.
Male and female genders must correspond to each other so they can fit together to become one flesh & fill the earth
This is the only partnership God has authorized by design. Males are with females; females are with males. There are no alternative divinely accepted partnerships of gender. Why not? Because any other combination of gender partnerships violates God’s intention for gender. It is also impractical. Males uniting with males or females uniting with females cannot form the “one-flesh” union and produce offspring.
Someone could object at this point, “These are Old Testament ideas. We live in the New Testament era.” Interestingly, the New Testament completely affirms the Old Testament’s teachings about gender. I will give one example from Jesus.
Jesus affirmed the same ideas about gender and marriage.
3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” (Matthew 19:3-6).
In verses four and five, Jesus quotes from the same verses we have explored from Genesis. He affirms the teachings of Genesis about gender and marriage to make His point to the Pharisees.
Jesus used two Greek words that are gender specific, just like Genesis explained through Hebrew words. The Greek word ἄρσην (arsēn) Jesus used describes the male gender of any living creature. The Greek word θῆλυς (thēlys) Jesus used describes the female gender of any living creature.
Jesus affirmed only two genders, male and female, as per the Genesis creation account, and He affirmed that only these two genders can come together and make the one-flesh union.
Summary Conclusions
The information presented from Scripture in this article leads us to certain conclusions about gender if we wish to view gender from God’s perspective.
1. God created gender; therefore, God defines gender
However we think about gender, we must first ask, “How did God design gender to be?” God created gender on the sixth day of creation when He made mankind in His image. God defines gender, no one else. Gender is God’s creation, not mankind’s creation. Gender is a God-designed concept, not a man-made social concept.
2. God created only two genders, male & female
I threw some Hebrew and Greek terms out because they are essential to see this idea. God’s design for gender is it is either male or female. God created only these two genders, not three, four, or more. Jesus affirmed this idea in the New Testament as well.
3. God designed that male and female fit together to carry out the one-flesh union
As we saw in the Genesis chapter two marriage scene between Adam and Eve, God’s design is that a male unites with a female and these two become one flesh. This male/female partnership is God’s plan for how humans carry out the mandate to fill the earth and rule over creation.
In part two, I will continue showing God’s plans for gender and how our birth genders are part of God’s plans for how He wants us to live our lives. We will also explore if gender is fixed at birth or not.
God created gender from the beginning of time, and this should inform how we understand gender identity and expression.
Continue reading the companion article where I examine God’s plans for gender identity.
[1] Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible, 2000 ed.
[2] https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/sexuality/lgbt/genders.php