Biblical Sexuality, Pt.2 - What is Gender?

This is the second post in my discussion of biblical sexuality taken from a chapel workshop I did at the school where I currently teach. The previous post is entitled "What is a Human?" and in it I make the case that, before we can understand biblical sexuality, we must define what a human being is. Scripture teaches that humans are made in God's image, are the crowning glory of creation, and are therefore of infinite value to God, and should be valued and treated as such by other people.

The Problem: Rejection of God

I referred briefly in my first post in this series to the manifold problems modern society is experiencing with regard to gender; I will list some of them here in more detail.

• Homosexuality: Engaging in sexual relations with a member of the same gender
• Bisexuality: Engaging in sexual relations with members of both genders
• Transgenderism: Either living as or receiving an operation to resemble the opposite gender
• Multi-genderism: Belief that there are more genders than just male and female
• Toxic Masculinity/Femininity: Belief that the opposite gender should be oppressed or eliminated

But these issues are only symptoms of the real problem. The problem is that we fundamentally do not know or understand what gender is, but even that assessment does not go deep enough. Ultimately, the problem is a rejection of God and His authority.

In Romans 1:18-32, Paul presents the digression of human beings from rejecting God to utter moral incompetence. Three times in this passage he uses the word "exchange," each time referring to humanity's rejecting of God and replacing Him with something else.

• They exchange worshiping the almighty creator for worshiping false gods they themselves made (1:22-23)
• They exchange the truth of the all-knowing One for lies (1:25)
• They exchange God-designed sexuality for unnatural lust (1:27)

At each instance of their "exchange," Paul states that God responded by "handing them over" to the consequences of the sin they chose (1:24, 26, 28). The end result is the list of sins at the end of the chapter, where we find such practices as pride, arrogance, betrayal, sexual sin, and disobedience to parents, all of which are equally deserving of God's judgment (1:29-32)

The point of this passage is not primarily to condemn homosexuality; rather, Paul makes the case that the end result of rejecting God's authority as Creator is complete moral incompetence. Those who reject God are no longer truly able to discern right and wrong, as they have abandoned they very basis upon which those values rest: God's authority [1].

This is the problem we find ourselves in today. The world is a mess because the world rejects God's authoritative perspective and chooses its own truth. God has responded by allowing them to continue down that path to the point where they have no clue what sexuality is, and so they make their own rules.

And it is no wonder that there is such anger and hatred surrounding these issues, for James says that following the world's perspective is marked by "jealousy and selfish ambition ... disorder and every vile practice" (James 4:16).

What is Gender?

Before we can identify the truth about gender, we have to identify the lies that our culture tells us about gender. essentially, before we see what gender is, we must say what gender is not.

• Merely a mechanism for procreation: Some believe that the only reason male and female exist is so that there can be children. I contend that based on Scripture this is not true.
• A social construct: Others contend that gender is something that humans came up with, and that therefore we have the authority to change or overrule it. Again, Scripture contradicts this idea.
• A personal choice: Hand-in-hand with the previous lie, this one insist that humans have the right to override the gender they are born with. Ultimately, this is an affront against God, who makes a person with the gender they have.
• A scale of value/inferiority: Through the ages, some have insisted that one gender is naturally superior or inferior to the other. Again, Scripture rejects this entirely.

So what is gender?

Significant

The first thing we have to realize is that gender is significant. In my last post, I developed the idea that part of the image of God is the existence of male and female human beings. That means that gender is intrinsic to what a human is.

Purposeful

Next, we must understand that gender is purposeful. It is not something that God made by accident, or that He made merely out of pragmatic necessity; God's plan was for male and female to exist within humanity. We see this clearly in chapter 2 of Genesis, where God leads Adam to the conclusion that he needs a companion by having him name all the animals [2]. God observes in 2:18:

"It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

This idea of "a helper fit for him" is the origin of the Christian nonsense word "helpmeet," which is a colloquial rendering of the King James translation "help meet," meaning "suitable helper" in the language of the day. The idea behind this expression is "suitable counterpart," or another way to say it would be "the right kind of opposite." She corresponds to Adam and is equal to him [3].

God created woman as both different from and similar to man in all the necessary ways. She is human, not an animal - this makes her the right kind; but she is female, not male - this makes her an opposite.

“'Helper,' as we have seen from its Old Testament usage, means the woman will play an integral part, in this case, in human survival and success. What the man lacks, the woman accomplishes." [4]

Lest this idea of woman as a 'helper" be though of as demeaning, we must recognize that the same word is used of God in Scripture (Ps. 70:5; 121:2). This is not a subservient role, but a role of one who is an equal and makes up what is lacking in the other; women are made strong by God so that they can give their husbands strength they do not have [5].

When God finally brings Eve to him, Adam exclaims in the first-ever love poem that Eve is the perfect woman for him, the best match she could ever find.

"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

All of Adam's exasperation at not finding his suitable counterpart among the animal kingdom is assuaged when he meets his perfect companion, designed for him by God himself. Gender is purposeful because God designed men and women to perfectly complement each other.

A part of this complementary design is the fact that males and females are capable of procreating together, as Genesis 1:28 points out. However, this is not the sole purpose of gender, as gender is necessary for the complete imaging of God, as we saw earlier.

Binary

One might think it unnecessary to specify such, but these opening chapters of Genesis also teach that gender is binary; there are only two genders - male and female - and there never has been and never will be anything else.

There are, of course, physical defects which people can be born with or acquire, but these do not detract from their maleness or femaleness; they are merely incomplete male or female external traits, but gender is more than genitalia. Gender has to do with the fundamental way in which God has designed an individual.

Fallen

Finally, we must understand that gender is fallen. When Adam and Eve chose sin in the garden over respecting the authority of God, everything in creation experienced the results of that decision. We are told in the New Testament that all of creation groans as it waits for the time when the curse will be removed (Rom. 8:22-23). Gender is not excepted.

In Genesis chapter 3, God finds Adam and Eve after they have chosen to sin, and rather than accusing them out right, he asks them questions, thereby giving them a chance to repent. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve respond by shifting blame rather than taking responsibility for their sinful actions.

The result is that God explains how, because of sin, their created roles will become more difficult. Adam was to work the ground, and that task will become more difficult through the presence of vines and thorns. Part of Eve's job was to bear children, and that job will become more difficult through the addition of pain. 

But God also says that gender will suffer because of the Curse. In Genesis 3:16, God says to Eve:

"Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you."

There have been various proposed ways of interpreting this passage; I will explain the one that makes the most sense to me. God says that wives will tend to resist and attempt to usurp their husband's authority, while husbands will tend to abuse their authority and thus domineer their wives [6]. The original plan for marriage is now harder.

Battle of the Sexes

What is the source of all contention between the genders? To put it plainly, it is sin. The Fall has damaged God's original plan for the genders to perfectly complement each other in marriage. And unfortunately, it is often women who suffer the most from this fallen state of affairs. As Kathy Keller points out:

"Under the influence of the curse in Genesis, every human culture has found a way to interpret male headship in a way that has marginalized and oppressed women." [7]

The solution for this "battle of the sexes" is found in Ephesians 5:33. After waxing eloquent on the theological implications of human marriage, Paul states as a summary:

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

When understood in light of Genesis chapter 3, this verse has deepened meaning. Paul is instructing spouses to fight the effects of sin in their marriage relationship. Husbands, rather than abusing their authority and domineering their wives, must instead love them self-sacrificially just as Christ did the church. Wives, rather than resisting their husbands' authority and trying to usurp it, should respect their husbands, recognizing The authority God has given them.

Conclusion

Gender is part of the image of God in that God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to have humanity consist of two counterpart genders which together complete His image and so are able to fulfill the purpose of humanity.

The implications of this study are many, but I propose these broad-brush applications:

• We must be content with the gender God chose us to have.
• We must be seeking to live out the peculiarities of our gender in a God-honoring way.
• We must reject the lies of the world about gender and embrace the truth of God's Word.
• We must value both genders equally and eliminate all sexist ideas or practices.

Note: In this post I did not examine the roles of the genders any more than to say that husbands are to lead their households and wives are to acknowledge the authority of their husbands. That says nothing about those who are not married. We are still left asking, "What are biblical masculinity and femininity?" I plan to write a post on this later, as this one has gone on long enough.

Sources:
1. Douglas Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: Romans

2. John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative

3. Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon
4. Kenneth Mathews, The New American Commentary: Genesis 1-11:26
5. Kathy Keller, in Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage
6. Wayne Grudem, in Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood 
7. Kathy Keller, in Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage
All Scripture references come from the ESV