God's Expectations for Gender Identity
God expects gender identity to match birth gender. This article gives a biblical perspective on gender identity and expression.
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Introduction
A major current ethical issue in Western culture is gender identity. Can gender be fluid? How many genders are there? Can a person express a gender that is different from their birth gender? This tidal wave of confusion has hit the church as well. Not all Christians agree on gender issues. Some Christians have accepted the secular dogma of gender theory. Other Christians know that the secular teachings about gender are not correct, but they cannot yet articulate a biblical critique of modern gender theory.
This article is a continuation of the one I previously published, God’s Creation of Gender. In that article, we saw the Bible teaches God is the one who created gender, and He created only two genders, male and female. This means God is the one who defines gender, not society.
In this article, we will explore God’s plan for gender expression. Scripture teaches us that since God created the concept of gender, He has a plan for it. Understanding God’s plan for gender and gender roles helps us address the wrong-headed secular ideas of gender identity and expression. The Bible teaches that God expects a person to identify with their birth gender.
God’s Plan is Birth Gender Matches Gender Expression
“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).[1]
Modern gender theory, transgenderism, argues that gender is not fixed. A person’s birth gender can differ from their gender identity and expression. Someone can be born a male but later identify as a female and vice versa. Transgender theory also asserts that a person can identify and express any combination of male/female or even identify as never before known gender identities. The American Psychological Association defines transgender as “an umbrella term used to describe the full range of people whose gender identity and/or gender role do not conform to what is typically associated with their sex assigned at birth.”[2] The Bible’s perspective on gender expression does not agree with transgender theory.
Genesis 1:26, 27 says God created mankind in His image and created mankind to be male or female. One of the clear teachings from Genesis 1:27 is that God made both male and female genders equally in His image. Gender is significant to God. Since gender is significant to God, then gender expression must be just as important to God. A person’s gender is part of how God made them, and gender is God’s way of showing them how He wants them to live faithfully before their Creator. God expects us to live out our lives according to our birth genders. Males are to be men; females are to be women. Someone who rejects their birth gender and identifies as a different gender is rejecting God’s plan for their life.
God’s plan from the beginning is that a person expresses the gender they were born with.
God’s Plan for Males
The Hebrew words for male in the Old Testament are zā·ḵār or ish. The Hebrew word for male found in Genesis 1:27 (zā·ḵār) focuses primarily on describing the physical parts or reproductive organs that make a person the sexual male gender. The other word for male is the Hebrew word ish. It can represent the male gender, but it often describes that the male is a man or a husband. For example, in Genesis 2:23, the final word, man, is ish. Also, in Genesis 2:24, ish is the Hebrew word translated as man.
The Hebrew Old Testament’s use of the word ish shows us God’s plan for male gender expression. Sexually reproductive males (zā·ḵār) are men and husbands (ish). These Hebrew words used in the Old Testament directly link the male gender with the gender expression of being a man and (or) husband.
Males express the male gender by being men and (or) husbands in families and societies.
God’s Plan for Females
The Hebrew word for female found in Genesis 1:27 is neqē·vah, and it primarily refers to the sexually reproductive female gender. The other Hebrew Old Testament word, ish-ah, most often describes a woman or a wife. In Genesis 2:22, we read, “And the Lord God fashioned into a woman (ish-ah) the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.” Genesis 2:23 uses the Hebrew word ish-ah for woman again. In Genesis 2:24, it says, “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife (ish-ah); and they shall become one flesh.” Again, in Genesis 2:25, the English word wife is translated from the Hebrew word ish-ah.
Just as is the case for the words describing males, men, and husbands, the words neqē·vah and ish-ah directly link that the sexually reproductive female gender expresses this gender by being a woman and (or) wife.
Females express the female gender by being women and (or) wives in families and societies.
Gender is a gift from God and part of His plan for a person’s life. God’s plan for gender is that a person lives in agreement with their birth gender.
God’s Plan for Gender Expression in Society
Unfortunately, we cannot assume that people agree with what we intuitively used to consider common sense logic, that boys become men and girls become women. Birth gender determining gender identity is no longer a universally accepted idea, thanks to modern gender theory. The Bible is clear that God expects a person to fulfill roles and functions in their life determined by their birth gender. Let’s look at more biblical cases that reinforce the claim birth gender cannot be separated from gender identity and expression.
Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” This is a law against cross-dressing. The word abomination from the original Hebrew in this context means that cross-dressing made the person abhorrent, detestable, and loathsome in God’s sight. This law for Old Testament Israel was part of God’s way to keep them pure and holy.
Why is this such an issue to God? We must see the higher-order moral principles behind this law. The problem with cross-dressing is that someone portrays themselves to others as being the opposite gender from their actual birth gender. The person is lying to others by cross-dressing. They are lying about their gender by expressing themselves as something other than their birth gender.
The issue is more than lying. The underlying problem is God finds it to be an abomination when someone rejects their birth gender by expressing a different gender. The action of cross-dressing is a visible symptom of the deeper sin. It is the sin of denying one’s birth gender by expressing an alternative gender.
Critics may point out that I am referencing an Old Testament law that is no longer valid today. How Christians should interface with the Old Testament Law has been debated for centuries, and I do not intend to wade into that debate. Let me make this one point. Old Testament laws are based upon higher-order moral principles. Those higher-order moral principles never change.
For example, it is wrong to murder in the New Covenant era, just as it was in the Old Covenant era. The sixth commandment says do not murder (Exodus 20:13). Did murder become a sin once God had Moses put it in the Ten Commandments? Of course not! Murder has always been wrong since the beginning of time. Is murder no longer wrong since Christ came and fulfilled the Old Testament Law? Of course, murder is still wrong! The reason murder is wrong is not because it is written down in the Ten Commandments. The reason the command to not murder is written in the Ten Commandments is because it is always wrong to murder.
Higher-order moral principles underwrite the law in Deuteronomy 22:5. The first principle is we cannot lie. Thus, a person cannot lie about their gender by expressing a gender that is not their birth gender. The second principle is that God expects people to express the gender they were born with.
These facts from Scripture show that God does not permit gender identity or expression that is different from birth gender. God intends for gender to be a fixed concept directly linked to birth-gender. God made gender identity inseparable from birth gender.
God designed that birth gender determines gender identity and expression.
Critics may point out that different cultures have different norms for gender expression. However, cultural norms for gender expression differing across cultures does not mean people can express a gender different from their birth gender. Each culture clearly defines customs and norms for how men and women dress and function. God held this standard high in Old Testament Israel. Whatever the Hebrew customary clothing was for men, males wore that, and the same goes for females wearing clothing customary to Hebrew women.
God’s Plan for Gender Roles in the Family
The Bible’s teaching concerning a healthy, God-honoring family is proof that gender identity and expression must match birth gender. The husband, wife, and children have roles assigned to them by God in the family unit.
22 Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22-24)
Paul begins with the wives. Wives are to place themselves under the leadership of their husbands. Some reject this teaching because they think it makes the wife a servant to her husband. That is not what Paul said. Wives are to place themselves under the leadership of their husbands voluntarily.
Husbands and wives are equal in God’s eyes. They are both equally made in God’s image. Paul’s point is that God has called men and women to different roles within a family. Wives support their husband’s leadership in the home as head of the family. When she does this, she follows the example of Christ and the church
Husbands have responsibilities in the family also.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; (Ephesians 5:25-28)
Husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loved the church. This is the highest level of love a person can express. Christ loved the church to the degree He sacrificed His life for the church. Husbands care for their wives, cherish their wives, and seek what is best for their wives, even at the expense of the husband if need be.
“Nevertheless, as for you individually, each husband is to love his own wife the same as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:33). Right before this verse, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 about God’s plan for marriage between a man and woman. Paul says he is using the concept of the marriage union as an analogy to represent the relationship between Christ and the church. Paul’s use of Genesis 2:24 proves he affirmed the Genesis account that God created mankind as male and female and that God intends for a man to join with a woman in marriage.
Here is the more significant takeaway from Paul’s teaching of marriage as we apply it to the issue of gender expression.God has different roles and functions for men and women in the family, and these are based on a person’s birth gender.Husbands lead their families and love them sacrificially. Wives support their husband’s family leadership and nurture children. Birth gender determines the role God wants someone to carry out in society and the family
Notice that birth gender directly determines God’s plan for a person’s gender identity and expression. Birth gender determines the role a person plays in a family unit. Since this is the case, we can rightly affirm that gender expression matters to God.
We can prove this by considering the biological differences between males and females. Hormonal composition differs between men and women. Men produce sperm, and women produce eggs. Men cannot get pregnant and give birth to children; women can. Our bodies prove that God created us to be gendered creatures, and our birth gender directly informs the functions and roles we carry out in families and societies. God shows us through nature that men and women are different, equal, but different by design.
God expects us to fulfill roles in families according to our birth genders; therefore, gender identity and expression cannot be separated from birth gender.
Summary Conclusions
God’s plans for gender identity and expression are as follows:
1. Birth-gender is part of God’s plan for a person’s life. It is how we faithfully live out the image of God.
2. Birth gender is inseparable from gender identity and expression in God’s Kingdom.
3. God expects a person’s gender identity and expression to agree with their birth gender.
4. Birth gender determines the roles and functions God has planned for a person in their society and family.
Our birth genders are a gift from God. Gender is part of how God made us, and our birth genders are part of God’s calling on our lives. The best thing for us is to trust God knew what He was doing when He made us male or female. One of the best ways we honor God is by living in agreement with our birth genders.
Christians must reject the modern transgender theory. Scripture argues against the transgender theory. Christians have an opportunity to equip themselves with the truth of God’s word about gender identity, pray for those caught up in the false-hope trap of transgenderism, and share the hope and love of Jesus Christ by helping them see their greatest fulfillment in life can never be found in a self-derived identity. Our greatest hope is to know God through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins. Then, let God define our identity as male or female and realize God has called us to live according to His plans for us from birth, including living according to our birth genders.
[1] Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible, 2000 ed.
[2] https://dictionary.apa.org/transgender