Biological Gender

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NKJV) 

 

What do Americans think about Jesus Christ, the Bible, truth, and ethics? Ligonier Ministries has partnered with LifeWay Research to survey the beliefs of Americans on a number of theological and ethical issues. Like past surveys, the 2020 State of Theology survey reveals some encouraging results, but it also reveals modern-day confusion and a lack of theological knowledge among evangelicals. 

 

The fourth survey question inquires of people’s belief that God created male and female. In the Scientific field of Biology, a fundament aspect of human nature is that human beings are male and female. The survey commentary points out that the Bible is clear that this is the case because God created human beings as male and female: “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). Note for clarity: The word “man” in this Bible passage is the Greek word “âdam”, meaning a human being (mankind).

 

The same truth is repeated a few chapters later: “When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. Male and female He created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created” (Genesis 5:1–2). Jesus refers back to this basic fact of creation when the Pharisees pose a question about divorce. He begins His response by saying in Matthew 19:4, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?”

 

Nature teaches this same truth, as any student of biology knows. Fact: The human genome has 46 chromosomes, arranged in 23 pairs. There are two sex chromosomes (one pair) among them known as X and Y chromosome. These two chromosomes are designated as gender determination chromosomes. Every man has X and Y chromosome and Y chromosome decides the male sex. Every woman has two X chromosomes. There are noticeable physical differences between males and females due to the way God created the human reproductive system. 

 

Every other system in the human body can fully function in a single human body. The digestive system, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, the immune system, etc., can all fully function in an isolated single human being. The reproductive system, on the other hand, requires a male and a female to fully function and to actually reproduce human beings. Because of “the fall of man” in the Garden of Eden, where sin entered the world, birth defects and other abnormalities in the reproductive system sometimes occur, but we recognize these as abnormalities only because we clearly know what the normal reproductive system is. 

 

The survey concludes the obvious, maleness and femaleness are given biological realities for human beings because God created that reality. Don’t be confused; it is as much a part of reality as gravity.