A new book seeks to explain how being transgender is compatible with Scripture

How do we as Christians, and as the church of Jesus Christ, respond to the transgender movement? How do we engage broken people seeking answers and hoping to find those answers in the Bible? Is it even possible to be an orthodox Christian while also living as a transgender person?

These questions, among others, are not hypothetical in order to address future scenarios. These questions are for now, today.

I appreciate an article by Andrew T. Walker addressing a new book that seeks to affirm the compatibility of transgenderism and biblical Christianity. The book would like to prove that being transgender, like being homosexual, is perfectly compatible with the tenets set forth in Scripture. But, as Walker makes perfectly clear, such a conclusion is not reasonable.

The first point of concern highlighted in the article is over the issue of inclusion in the church. A very simple truth that many in our culture cannot face is that the church is not about inclusion. At no time did Jesus invite every person into the church and affirm their every thought, feeling, and point of view. In fact, to be blunt, while walking the earth, Jesus was as narrow-minded a person as one could be.

What many get wrong about the church today is their idea that the only way to be a true, proper Christian is to be inclusive. After all, inclusivity is all the rage in our culture. The more inclusive you are, the more celebrated you are. Only those who dare to create any walls are scorned and ridiculed.

But the church is not your personal social club. It’s not the place where you decide who you get to be friends with and have the right to shut down any ideas or views you don’t like. The Bible doesn’t care whether you agree with it’s teachings, the commandment is to “pick up your cross” and die. Jesus was very clear that if you want to be part of His church, you must adhere to His guidelines. And He stated emphatically that the “way is narrow.”

Walker also addresses the hot-topic of identity as it applies to transgender people and the church. The book claims that refusing to include transgender people in the church robs them of their identity and dignity. This is a misconception concerning the church.

Claiming that a lack of inclusion into the church robs transgender people of their identity is to miss the biblically stated purpose for the church. The church exists, not to affirm our individual identities but to unite us under the shadow of the cross as the body of Jesus Christ. The church, by commission from Jesus and historical creed, doesn’t care about any individuals feelings or identity. The mission of the church has been clearly communicated and it stands outside the identity of any one person.

This is why it is entirely impossible to end the church of Jesus Christ, because it is not centered in one human person, it is centered in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The church is the body that unites people of every tongue and race. But it is narrowly defined, narrowly commissioned, and narrowly governed. And yet, despite the narrow nature of the church, it is the one place that welcomes anyone.

This might sound hypocritical but it’s not. The church welcomes any person that is willing to come under the banner of the blood of Jesus Christ. For every soul that is willing to pick up their cross and abandon their identity in favor of identifying with the crucified Christ, the church is a refuge and home.

Walker goes on to address a dangerous practice in our culture: interpreting Scripture in light of personal experience.

To base our theology on our experiences is to assume our experiences hold greater authority than God’s Word. Experiences should be understood in light of God’s Word, not outside of it. Any attempt to bend Scripture and mold Jesus into our image and experience is nothing less than the creation of an idol. We have, effectively, put our experiences above our identity in Christ.

Central to the Christian narrative is the reality that every experience has been ordained by God for His purpose and, ultimately, to bring Him glory. To use our experiences for any other purpose is to seek our own glory rather than the glory of God. A biblical church will rightly encourage people to point to Jesus and glorify God through their experiences, not redefine Scripture and invent theology to justify them.

Theologically, there is no evidence to suggest God intended anything other than biological males and biological females when He created man and woman. From the moment of creation through the text of Scripture the plain text understanding is that God made man, and God made woman. Any attempt to suggest something other than this simple binary is speculation based on theory, not reality (or Scripture).

And while we must recognize that anomalies exist, seeking to change the very plain theology of biblical manhood and womanhood based on feelings would be a terrible mistake. Recognizing that feelings are fleeting, malleable, and shifting is a wise approach to any such anomalies. Treating every person with love, compassion, and the respect due any image bearer of God is demanded.

Christians need to have a clear understanding of this important issue. For the sake of God’s glory revealed in man and woman, for the sake of the church, and for the sake of those trapped by the lie of transgenderism.