With Neurodiversity often comes Gender Diversity. Sadly a lot of gender-affirming Christians and parents are met with prejudice, judgements and rejection (or at least conditional acceptance that labels any type of gender-affirming care and transitioning as sinful). These churches claim a “Biblical perspective” without really even knowing where the Bible stand on this issue.
We all know that Christians can’t agree about theology and that there are different viewpoints and interpretations of Scriptures across different denominations and church communities about many different subjects.
My hope and prayer is that the Body of Christ may humble themselves before the Lord, and search the Scriptures and seek the Lord’s face about this issue. Is it really right to deny gender diverse people (including trans, intersex and non-binary people) access to the Kingdom of God? Is this really the Father’s heart for children, teens and adults who love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength?
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalms 139:23-24 AMP
What does the Bible really say about Transgender people?
BLESSED & AFFIRMED BY THE FATHER, JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Mistakenly, some Christians have suggested that taking the Bible seriously requires people of faith to stand in opposition to the existence, health and humanity of transgender people.
Consequently, gender-expansive people of all demographics and Christian traditions have been made to feel that they must choose between their faith and living a whole, healthy and authentic life.
The Bible’s affirms the full inclusion of transgender, non-binary and other gender-expansive people in the full life of Christian community.
When we use the term affirming, what we are referring to is the theological view that all expressions of gender are an integral part of God’s design for diversity within the created order.
When we use non-affirming, we are referring to the theological view that transgender and other expressions of gender variance are either a) sinful within themselves or b) that they are morally neutral but nevertheless a kind of disorder, mental illness or other brokenness.
Whether you already feel confident in your position or are searching for new possibilities, our hope is that researching, studying and wrestling with the Scriptures and questions most relevant to trans experiences are part and parcel of what it means for Christians to “love God with all of one’s heart, soul, and mind” (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37, Luke 10:7).
♡ Creation and the Gender Binary – Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:18-24
When Christians think about gender, they tend to go back to the beginning. In Genesis, we find two stories about how things came to be, one of which says “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NRSV).
If you grew up hearing these stories and living with people who seemed to fit inside these gender boxes, the existence of transgender people might seem to fly in the face of God’s created order.
However, when we look just a little closer at each of these passages we find a much more complex and beautiful world. For instance, when God creates men and women in Genesis 1, it’s after creating opposites in every other corner of creation–day and night, land and sea, flying birds and swimming fish.
Humans, then, are also created in an opposite pair–male and female. But the problem with a literal reading of this text that even though Genesis 1 sets up these binaries, God’s creation exists in spectrums.
In between day and night we have dawn and dusk; between land and sea we have coral reefs and estuaries and beaches; between flying birds and swimming fish we have penguins and high jumping dolphins, not to mention that uncategorizable favorite the platypus! No one would argue that a penguin is an abomination for not fitting the categories of Genesis 1, or that an estuary isn’t pleasing to God because it’s neither land nor sea.
In the same way, God gives every human a self that is unique and may not always fit neatly into a box or binary. Among cisgender people — that is those whose gender identities align with the sex they were assigned at birth, or non-transgender people — there is a wide variety in height, strength, hair distribution, size and shape of reproductive organs, and nearly all other physical characteristics, which makes it hard for every single person on earth to fit neatly inside one culture’s categories of man or woman. There is, too, a diversity among transgender and non-binary people when it comes to bodies, personalities, beliefs and experiences.
But rather than writing Genesis 1 off as fiction that doesn’t match reality, many affirming Christians recognize that the stories set down in this chapter were never meant to catalogue all of creation (in which case, it would just be an encyclopedia), but rather to point us towards God’s power and love. Not every microbe and constellation must be named in this chapter in order to have a purpose and a blessing.
♡ Eunuchs as an example of gender diversity – Deuteronomy 23:1; Isaiah 56:1-8; Matthew 19:12; Acts 8:26-40
The word “transgender” is relatively new, but it speaks to a host of age-old experiences. If you got in a time machine and interviewed people in the Bible, you wouldn’t find anyone who would use this word, because it didn’t exist, but you’d still find transgender and non-binary people. Some trans biblical scholars today are especially interested in the experiences of people in scripture referred to as “eunuchs.”
Typically, eunuchs were people who were assigned male at birth who had their reproductive organs changed or removed prior to puberty, but the word “eunuch” in the ancient world would also sometimes be used for those who we would now call intersex. Trans scholars today aren’t interested in these individuals because they believe that eunuchs identified as transgender, but rather because some of the things the eunuchs in scripture experienced are similar to what trans people — and intersex people — experience today, particularly in terms of discrimination, oppression and dehumanization.
We see that eunuchs are allowed to move back and forth between men’s and women’s spaces, that they take on tasks and roles related to both genders, and because they were either intersex or physically changed before puberty they often looked different from cisgender men and women. This was normal in Babylonian and Persian society, but still looked down on by the Israelites.
Once the people of Israel are freed from captivity, several prophets, including Isaiah, guide them in the rebuilding of their homeland. In Isaiah 56:1-8 God speaks through Isaiah and says that even though Deuteronomy 23 outlawed the participation of eunuchs in Israelite society, in the new Israel they will have a special place–God says, “I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:5, NRSV). This wide welcome would have been a relief for the eunuchs, but warring theological factions meant that as far as we know, this prophecy was never fulfilled.
Many years later, Jesus mentions eunuchs in Matthew 19:12, where he notes that there are many kinds of eunuchs, including “eunuchs who have been so from birth,” “eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others,” and “eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (NRSV). While the first group might include intersex people, and the second group people who were castrated by force, Christians have been arguing for centuries about who might be included in that third category.
Regardless of whom he was referencing, what we do know is that in this moment, Jesus first of all does not denigrate eunuchs like others in his society may have done, and beyond that he actually lifts eunuchs up as a positive example. The fact that Jesus positively mentions people who are gender-expansive in his own time and place gives hope to many gender-expansive people today.
Finally, we see another important eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 who travels all the way from Ethiopia hoping to worship in the temple in Jerusalem, and who meets Philip, one of Jesus’ followers, on the way home.
Up to that point, we don’t have a record of eunuchs becoming part of the early Christian church, but in this story in Acts we hear about this Ethiopian eunuch who, after hearing about Jesus, asks Philip “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36, NRSV). While Philip could have said that there was no precedent for this situation–that the Ethiopian’s ethnicity as a non-Israelite or his identity as a eunuch might indeed prevent him–instead, Philip baptizes him with no questions asked and no strings attached. This story of a gender-expansive person of color welcomed as one of the first Christian converts is a powerful part of our spiritual history.
THE FATHER
This is what the Lord says, “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths And choose what pleases Me, And hold firmly to My covenant, To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it And holds fast to My covenant [by conscientious obedience]; All these I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” . Isaiah 56:4-8 AMP
2. JESUS
But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.” Matthew 19:11-12 NKJV
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT
So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch [a man of great authority], a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning, and sitting in his chariot he was reading [the scroll of] the prophet Isaiah.
Then the [Holy] Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Then Philip spoke and he preached Jesus to him [explaining that He is the promised Messiah and the source of salvation]. As they continued along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch exclaimed, “Look! Water! What forbids me from being baptized?” [Philip said to him, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] And he ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. Acts 8:29-31, 34-38 AMP
♡ Being wonderfully made – Psalm 139:13-14
Psalm 139:13-14’s reference to “being wonderfully made” in the “womb,” is frequently referenced within non-affirming theologies to support the idea that being transgender or non-binary and pursuing medically necessary health care is a rejection of God as the designer of life.
But that is a severely limiting interpretation, with implications well beyond transgender experiences. Psalm 139 implies that we are all created with love and intention and that every part of us was divinely formed with dignity –both our bodies and our inner knowledge of self. There is no textual reason to believe this excludes our gender identities or gender expressions.
While it is true that physical transformation can be rooted in shame, unrealistic beauty standards and body-negativity generally, for many people it can also stem from a position of love, care and stewardship for their body.
Transgender and non-binary people pursue physical change, not as an act of revulsion, but as an expression of being committed to integrity in body and spirit. They are acting on the conviction that being “fearfully and wonderfully made” means that peace and wholeness is actually what God wants for us and for the world, whatever that journey looks like to each person.
Often times, transgender people know God through their transgender journeys. Trans experiences can be a rich source through which God speaks different words both to that person and to the people around them; a message that God loves diversity and variation; a message that God invites people into collaboration and co-creating how we will move in and shape the world around us; a message that sometimes knowledge about who we are and who God made us to be can come in different stages and evolve over time.
♡ Conclusion
If you are new to this conversation, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed, or fearful that other people will accuse you of affirming transgender and non-binary people merely because it seems politically correct or trendy.
However, even though it is true that there has been an increase in transgender and non-binary visibility in media, our society has never seen as many trans-exclusionary bills in state legislatures, public faith statements made against transgender people in churches or higher rates of recorded crimes and violence committed against transgender people.
Having the biblical and theological precedent demonstrated throughout this writing doesn’t guarantee anyone protection from continued discrimination. It is always a profound act of courage to come out to yourself and to your community.
Similarly, for the friends and family of transgender and non-binary people, to publicly express your love and support in many contexts can be an act of critical solidarity.
In the midst of fear, stress or confusion, it’s important to remember that we are invited to pause, breathe and simply observe the work God is already doing. The experiences of gender diversity can be found in nearly every culture throughout recorded human history.
Traditionally gender non-conforming people were given communal roles as spiritual leaders, healers, conflict mediators and cultural conduits.
What this tells us is that the real issue here is not whether a person can be transgender and Christian, but whether the church will acknowledge and empower those whom God is already working through to enrich the whole life of the body of Christ.
As we all approach this topic with compassion, humility and courage, we may call to mind the words of Gamaliel, a teacher who defended the persecuted apostles of the early church: “…[I]f this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” (Acts 5:34-39, NRSV).
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