This blog is a part of a series of blog posts that are based on the sermons in this sermon series at MissionWay Church.. If you missed the first post in this blog, be sure to check it out here as it lays much of the groundwork for this series of blogs.
If you could go back in time to the 50’s and 60’s and interview folks from that period, you would get some really puzzled looks if you asked them their thoughts on transgenderism. The word didn’t even appear in the dictionary until 1974. That’s not to say the concept wasn’t around at all, but it certainly wasn’t being discussed in the mainstream like it is today. For that matter, transgenderism really didn’t hit everyday conversations until the past several years. But while this may seem like a new phenomenon, the worldview that fuels the ideas behind this movement have been around for a while.
“The most powerful worldviews are the ones we absorb without knowing it. They are the ideas nobody talks about—the assumptions we pick up almost by osmosis.”
Nancy Pearcey
The above quote by Pearcey, I believe, partly explains how we got here. Our culture, and even many Christians have assumed so many lies about sexuality and our connection to our bodies without realizing it for so long that it’s not that hard to see how so many have accepted the worldview claims of the transgender movement. If we are going to tackle this issue with a biblical worldview, we must be willing to challenge those assumptions and claims with the truth of God’s Word and there’s no better place to start than the beginning of time when God made men and women in the first place.
Genesis 1:26-27 - “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
This passage teaches us essential truths that directly contradict the things taught within the LGBT movement, especially those advocating for transgenderism.
1. God made us in His image
There is much debate among theologians and scholars as to what exactly it means to be made in the image of God, but there is general agreement that it at least means we are made to reflect the character of God. We are made to relate to Him and one another in a way that resembles His character and likeness. And while this image has been damaged in some ways by our sin, it has not been taken away. Every single human being who has ever lived has been made in the image of their Creator - The God of the Bible.
Since this is true, then God is the one Who gets to decide our identity and purpose. He didn’t make us on a whim or at random and then ask us to figure out who we are - He defines those things and, in fact, defined them before we were ever even born. Psalm 139:13-14 - “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Because God made us, we are His and are to commit our whole selves to Him. Therefore, when we fundamentally alter our bodies in ways that God did not make us, we attack the image of God in us.
The question may come to these assertions: What does our gender have to do with the image of God? I’m so glad you asked. That brings us to our next point.
2. God made us male and female.
Genesis 1:27 – “…male and female he created them…”
Jesus Himself reaffirms this truth in Matthew 19:4 for those who want to claim that Jesus never addressed this issue. When God made you, He made you in His image and He made you either male or female. To claim you were made one way but really should be another is to claim God made a mistake.
Some will say, “but my body is saying one thing, and my mind is saying another.” Paul would say: “…be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2). God made your body with intentionality and purpose. Why is our first assumption that there must be some mistake in the design, rather than assuming it’s our thinking that’s wrong?
Some will say that Galatians 3:28 gives permission for transgenderism. Galatians 3:28 – “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Using that same interpretation, you would also conclude that there is no real distinction or difference with Jew and Gentile, slave and free - that any difference is simply a social construct. This passage is not denying differences but denying that those distinctions trump our ultimate identity in Christ. It’s a verse about the fact that the cross eliminates any hierarchy among us; not that there are no distinctions, but that those distinctions do not determine our value and worth.
As male and female, we also have the command from God to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Homosexuality and transgenderism both, at best, distort this command and, at worst, defy it. This is one of God’s purposes in making two genders who are distinct, yet perfectly compliment each other - so that they would join together in marriage and bear children.
There is no getting around the Scriptural principle that God only made male and female and never gave us authority over that aspect of our lives. You can deny it is true, but you cannot deny that the Bible clearly teaches it.
CONCLUSION
As Christians, we are right to want to have compassion on those struggling with gender dysphoria. I am not denying that is a real problem, nor am I suggesting that we should not care for those in that situation. But we are being asked to simply have empathy and allow them to make their own choices, no matter if we disagree or believe it will cause them great harm.
“We are told that we need to show empathy, but empathy is a cheap substitute for God’s grace.”
Rosaria Butterfield
If all we ever do is seek to understand (as we should do), we never give the hope of the Gospel. The Gospel gives us a better picture of ourselves than Transgenderism ever could. We should not primarily rail against false ideologies but seek to promote the Good News that the Gospel doesn’t just change our eternal destination, it changes our lives here and now. We have to love people enough to tell them the truth about the God who made them.
We must tell them the good news that no matter how much harm and destruction their decisions cause to their bodies, the Gospel tells a story of complete Redemption - including our bodies. Romans 8:23 – “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.” Jesus will return one day and clothe us with a perfect heavenly body, free of imperfections and perfectly reflecting the image of God and the perfect design of our creator.
This is much better news than any ideology promoted by those in the Transgender movement. It is truly the best news of all and we must not be afraid to preach it no matter how much our culture rejects it.