{"id":609,"date":"2017-01-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=609"},"modified":"2017-01-14T19:59:47","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T00:59:47","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-marriage-and-human-gender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2017\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-marriage-and-human-gender\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about marriage and human gender?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cAnd He answered and said to them, \u2018Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,\u2019 and said, \u2018For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh\u2019? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.\u201d Matthew\u00a019:4\u20136<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We live in strange days when a minority within our culture would have all civilization abandon the natural distinctions of gender that have been commonly recognized since the dawn of human existence and force full embrace of what every previous generation, in every culture, would have rejected out of hand and en masse. These people are not merely satisfied with toleration; no, they want the upper hand in all matters civil, legal, and religious. For this reason they hate authentic religion, because religion, by definition, cannot change, especially biblically sound religion since fidelity to the Bible is a central cornerstone to real Christianity.<\/p>\n

Theirs truly is a twisted, dangerous and illogical worldview. For instance, if you look up the meanings of cisgender and transgender you invariably discover an explanation that includes the phrase \u201ca person who identifies with the gender he was assigned at birth\u201d or \u201cidentifies with a different gender than he was assigned at birth.\u201d How curious that in their own words they use a phrase that could be interpreted to bow to the fact that the Creator God made a decision concerning their gender from conception! They unwittingly admit that, at least in the area of gender identity, most of us (cisgender) yield to the Lord of the universe and embrace His decision, while some (transgender) rebel against God and reject His wisdom in the matter. While they may think that a doctor \u201cassigns\u201d rather than \u201cmakes an observation\u201d about gender, they have chosen a word that rings true to the observable fact of Intelligent Design. Their rebel hearts must also writhe against a literal definition of gender since its root concept is genus, \u201ckind or sort,\u201d especially in regards to \u201cbegetting and procreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus spoke the words found in Matthew 19 and He affirms the words Moses wrote in the book of Genesis concerning the beginning of natural history. God does the making, assigning, and designing. God is always a God of order which means He establishes the norms and He sets the boundaries. If man is smart, he will conform to and pursue God\u2019s order because \u201cevery man will stand before God and give account for what he has done [doctrine of Individual Soul Liberty].\u201d An individual account will be given, and therefore a judgment will be rendered, based upon the revelation of God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n

Our Lord quotes a verse found in Genesis\u00a01:27f describing the work of God in making both male and female in the Garden of Eden. Though verse\u00a027 sounds a bit general, simply seeming to identify that there are only two sexes, the very next verse is what begins to define the order of the sexes and their interaction with one another. \u201cSo God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion.\u2019\u201d Our Lord stays true to context as He begins to identify the unique roles of the sexes in creating the first household. It stands as a model for every household to follow. Male and female become husband and wife as He also quotes from Genesis\u00a02:24: \u201cTherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word \u201cone\u201d is a plurality of unity, just as the same word found in Deuteronomy\u00a06:4, \u201cHear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God.\u201d Plurality of oneness is seen in the Tri-unity of God and this stands as a model for the household. It is not where individuals cease to become individuals, but it is where two distinct individuals of opposite sex are married together to fulfill the purposes outlined in Genesis\u00a01:28. Headship, leadership, accountability, submission, and unity of purpose are in view in Matthew\u00a02:24.<\/p>\n

Our Savior teaches the monumental significance of every marriage between a man and a woman. Incidentally, He leaves room for no other combination to be defined biblically by the word marriage because His last statement is \u201cwhat God hath joined together, let not man separate.\u201d God is the Lord over marriage. He instituted it, performed the first wedding, and retains ownership over it. While man instituted divorce (Matthew\u00a019:7\u201310, Malachi\u00a02:16), God instituted marriage, one male and one female.<\/p>\n

Psalm\u00a0139:13\u201316 sheds further light upon the issue of gender roiling our day. Though there are some who would like to bend language, logic, common sense, nature, and God Himself, it is inescapable that biblical thinking must submit to the fact that God superintends (assigns) everything about us in-utero, including our sex. Human life is a precious thing, it is loaned by God to every human being (Genesis\u00a02:7, Job\u00a033:4) and upon death it returns to the God who gave it (Ecclesiastes\u00a012:7).<\/p>\n

Stand confidently on the Word of God; you are not only on the side of history, you are on the side of His-story. Biblical thinking is critical for saints and sinners alike because all give account! Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd He answered and said to them, \u2018Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,\u2019 and said, \u2018For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh\u2019? So then, they are no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}