Journal: Interdisciplinary Journal on Biblical Authority
Volume: IJOBA 01:2 (Fall 2020)
Article: Male And Female He Created Them: An Argument For The Biblical Understanding Of Gender
Author: Michel L. Dodds

IJOBA 1:2 (Fall 2020) p. 102

Male And Female He Created Them:
An Argument For The Biblical Understanding Of Gender1

Michel L. Dodds

Professor of Pastoral Ministry
Calvary Theological Seminary

* * * * *

Sex is the binary classification of people either as a man or as a woman and is determined by the 23rd pair of chromosomes, XY in a man or XX in a woman. These chromosome patterns code for the respective reproductive organs and functions as well as for the enablement of differing male and female cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral functions. All people are born one of only two possible sexes: male or female.

Gender is a person’s self-presentation as a man or a woman or how that person is viewed by social institutions and others based on the individual’s gender presentation. In the past, gender and sexuality have been used interchangeably, since a male was thought to necessarily present himself as a man and a female was thought to necessarily present herself as a woman. It was expected that people would act in accordance with their biological or birth sex.

But according to a humanist worldview, gender presentation is determined by one’s personal feelings or self-perception, not by one’s sexual reality in the DNA code. It has become acceptable to express gender contrary to one’s sexual design, and gender is now considered a personal choice that should be protected as a freedom and inalienable right.

According to a biblical worldview, however, gender presentation must match one’s God-given sexuality, for only then does it reflect the image of God—a male must live as a man and a female must live as a woman if God is to be clearly seen in the world and if men and women are to experience God’s created fullness.

IJOBA 1:2 (Fall 2020) p. 103

To present a credible argument for this biblical understanding of gender, there must be clarity concerning the following issues: first, that God created two distinct sexes: male and female; second, that one’s sexual design enables a corresponding, God-intended gender presentation; third, that only gender presentation that matches one’s inherent sexual design will correctly image God; and fourth, that gender presentation contradicting inherent sexual design distorts God’s image and damages personhood.

God Created Only Two Sexes, Male And Female

God created only two sexes, male and female—there is no third sex nor any combination of male and female imaginable. By creation, mankind was differentiated into two kinds of holistic beings: “in the image of God he created ...