Biblical Sexuality Pt. 2

Weekly Update – February 16th, 2023

About a month ago, I explained what it is we believe about our first point in our statement on biblical sexuality.  You can find that explanation HERE.  This week, I want to move on to point 2 of 9, as we continue to understand why we, at First Baptist Church, believe what we do about sexuality. 

The second point we believe about sexuality states this:

The differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male and female. Physical anomalies or psychological conditions do not nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.

The main thrust of this statement leads us back to an understanding of a clear definition of what it first means to be male and female.  Therefore, like we did on point one of our statement on sexuality, we must begin with the image of God.  Again, Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”  Here, what is so significant about being made in God’s image is that man, both male and female, resemble a reflection of God himself. 

Beyond being made in God’s image though, Genesis 1:27 continues with a deeper reality that is being explained here.  Verse 27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”  Now there is clear distinction in how man is to display God’s image.  This distinction, as Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock says, “does not trace back to chaos, randomness, luck, chance, or happenstance.”  God specifically designed his image to be displayed, not only in men and in women, but in the differences between men and women as well. 

Deuteronomy 22:5 specifically dives into the importance of maintaining this difference between male and female when it comes to attempts to confuse gender.  The text says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.”  Now, it might be easy to read a text like this and dismiss it as only a law for ancient Israel, but, the way that Moses, the writer of Deuteronomy, says this is meant to convey, as Jason DeRouchie says, a durative command or a lasting prohibition for God’s people, always.  Additionally, this passage is not referring to a relationship between husbands and wives either, but between men and women in society.  This means that from God’s perspective, there is never a time in which a biological male is permitted to resemble a female or is a biological female permitted to resemble a male. 

In many ways, Deuteronomy 22:5 practically prohibits the clearest negative reaction to Genesis 1:27, and that is a desire to confuse the biological differences between the two created genders.  What is clear from this prohibition is that, first, one’s individual expression of gender should align with their biological sex, and second, one should guard against gender confusion so as not to misrepresent how it is that God created them.  This prohibition is so serious, that Moses calls it an abomination to purposefully misrepresent one’s gender.  This is likely because purposefully misrepresenting one’s biological sex misrepresents humanity’s ability to image God rightly before the world.

Are there cases in which someone might struggle with gender confusion?  Yes, and we as the church should be sensitive to this.  We should long for those who struggle with their gender identity to find hope in Jesus Christ in their midst of their confusion.  What scripture speaks against is the purposeful confusion of one’s biological sex and the promotion of others misrepresenting their gender.  Ultimately what is at stake in the midst of a gender confused world, is a misunderstanding of the way Christ and his relationship with his bride, the church, is understood (Eph. 5:22-33) as well as how God himself desires to be imaged in his people, to the world around them.  Therefore, at First Baptist Church we hold to the direct connection between gender and biological sex and believe that, as men and women created in God’s image, we should live within the way that God created us. 

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson