“Are You a Boy or a Girl?”
Declaring the Biblical Arguments Against Transgenderism
Having considered the arguments made for transgenderism, it is time to look at the Biblical arguments against this unscriptural belief and practice.
▸ God Created Gender
The argument is the “girls are not always born female.” This his like arguing that all female foals are not born to be mares. The very definition of a “girl” is a female child. A female soul in a male body or a male soul is a female body fails to understand that souls are patterned after God who created either male or female bodies for the souls created in His image. “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).
▸ God Created Sex for Reproduction
God created the two genders and marriage, so they would be able to procreate within the Divinely ordained relationship called marriage. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28).
▸ God Created Marriage
God created the marriage relationship for one man and one woman. When God brought newly created Eve to Adam, He said: “‘This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:23-24). Transgenderism dishonors marriage and the family resulting from this union. Sex is to be between a man and woman in marriage. “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4). Transgenderism destroys the exclusiveness of a heterosexual marriage.
▸ God Condemns Homosexuality
Homosexuality is often expressed through transexuality. Transgenderism promotes and provides support for homosexuality. The Bible considers homosexuality to be an abomination. “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (Lev. 18:22). “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them” (Lev. 20:13).
▸ God has Defined the Gender Roles
When God made male and female humans and designed the marriage relationship, He mandated they have distinct gender roles. Husbands are to be the head of the wife and provide for his family. Wives are to bear children and be in submission to their husbands (Ephesians 5:21-33). Those who are suffering with a gender identity crisis would not know what role God expects them to fulfill.
▸ God Condemned Cross-dressing
Another thing the Bible calls an abomination to the Lord is men and women wearing clothes which conflicts with their gender identity. “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5). The term “abomination” means “a disgusting thing” to God.
▸ God Made Genders to Appear Distinguishable
When God created men and women, He desired for them to have distinctive appearance from each other. In other words, men look like men and women look like women. When Paul was dealing with the issue of head coverings, he told the congregation at Corinth: “does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:14-15).
▸ God’s Chain of Submission is Violated
Paul also told the Corinthians: “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:13). When women are not submissive to their husbands the chain of submission to Christ is broken.
▸ God Forms Gender Identity Before Birth
As God was forming Jeremiah in his mother’s womb, He knew the male child was to be His prophet. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). The psalmist understood that God was the one who fashioned him in the womb and knew all about him. “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16). God knew both of Samson’s manhood and John the Baptist as the male cousin of Jesus before either was born (Judges 13; Luke 1). God’s wonderful work leaves no room for mistakes. No one is born with the “wrong body.”
▸ God Will Not Let Effeminate Men Into the Kingdom
In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul includes a group called malakoi or “soft men” in a list of those “who will not inherit the kingdom of God.” He wrote, “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites.” The King James uses the word “effeminate” here. Effeminate men are those who are attempting to transform their masculinity into femininity (Deut 23:17-18; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; cf. Job 36:14).
Summary
Nowhere does the Bible imply that a person’s sex is negotiable or optional. The Creator says a man is a man and a woman is a woman. If you or someone you know is confused about whether they are a boy or a girl, rest assured God is not the author of such confusion (1 Cor. 14:33).
– Daniel R. Vess