Contemplating Identity: Gender

"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:38-29

If you have read any other posts on this site, you know that we are exploring the Bible through the lens of non-duality. I believe the biblical authors, as with all good spiritual teachers, are trying to help us transcend our dualistic categories. Jesus' message of the kingdom of God represents a worldview in which humanity and divinity are perfectly united, and in that union the dividing lines and distinct categories that separate humanity become less apparent.

Perhaps no category is as fervently defended by religious folks these days than a binary view of gender. Christians looks to verses like Genesis 1:27 to insist that male and female are permanently distinct categories defined by God. This conclusion, however, misses the point of Genesis 1 and the Bible as a whole. If you will, let's put aside our assumptions on this issue and consider those whose experience of gender identity may differ from our own, both in our day and in ancient Israel.

To reexamine the biblical portrait of gender, let's start at the beginning. Genesis 1:26-27 states that both male and female are expressions of the divine image. In a historically patriarchal world where male kings claimed to be divine representatives, the first biblical story pushes against that patriarchal norm by stating that divinity is not restricted to the masculine. If God's being includes both male and female, then God transcends gender as the starting point for an understanding the divine image. God's own being blurs the lines of masculine and feminine, despite language that paints God as male. (If one looks deeper into biblical languages and imagery, there is plenty of feminine language for God as well).

But does the Bible insist on a gender binary for humanity? The first chapter of Genesis starts with distinctions that define human experience. Day and night are separated to give creation a sense of time. The heavens are separated from the earth to give creation a sense of vertical space. Then the seas are separated from the land to give creation a sense of horizontal space. Once time and space are established, God sends creatures to multiply and populate the created world, and in that sense, the distinctiveness of male and female creatures are vital to that end. But the story doesn't end there.

Let's reflect for a moment on these categories. Does anything exist between day and night? Does the water from the sea not rise into the heavens and then return? Do we really observe a permanent distinction between the land and the sea, or do they not overlap and constantly shift with the tide? The distinctions in the creation story are not binary. Dusk and dawn each have their own beauty that remind us that liminal spaces exist between all our distinctions. There is a fluidity between our firmly established categories that requires us to think and experience life with something more profound and nuanced than oversimplified either/or thinking. We learn binary categories of right and wrong as a child as our minds are developing, but with greater wisdom we learn that those binary categories simply don't capture the full scope of our lived experiences. Our existence and the world around us is way more complex, complicated, and mysterious.

Does the Bible include any examples on non-binary gender identity? For this, we can consider the eunuchs of the ancient world. These folks, some of whom were born without the expected genitalia and some who were castrated after birth, were often ostracized from religious society. While eunuchs certainly don't represent the entire spectrum of gender and sexuality, there are several interesting passages about eunuchs in the Bible that can inform our views and attitudes towards trans and non-binary folks.

The first is found in Isaiah 56. God says, "To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 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." This affirmation was a huge shift from prior restrictions against eunuchs engaging in Jewish religious practice. Within these verses we see "a name better than sons and daughters" as a positive affirmation of an identity that transcends binary gender categories and removes procreation as the focus of the discussion around gender.

"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." Isaiah 56:5

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus' disciples question him on the topic of marriage, asking if it is better not to marry than risk being unfaithful to a spouse. His response is unexpected. Jesus says, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can." Jesus, without rejecting the idea of marriage, points towards a type of life that transcends that social norm. While the term "eunuch" can also include folks who have chosen celibacy, Jesus clearly intends to include everyone who doesn't fit the traditional gender roles of society. Again, the focus on procreation and gender is taken off the table as Jesus affirm these identities that are fully able to live "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven".

The book of Revelation circles back to the distinctions of the Genesis 1 creation story. In this account of a new kind of life that transcends our current existence, we see the categories of human experience are no longer separated. Night and day are no longer separated, as the light never again fades. Land and sea are no longer separated, as the tree of life unites the land and the sea is no more. And heaven and earth are no longer separated, as the holy city forever joins them together. All of the distinctions of Genesis 1 are brought back together in perfect union. Jesus, when asked about marriage in this new age, says that marriage is no longer needed because we will be "like the angels", implying that the distinction of male and female no longer have any purpose.

So why do we question the spectrum of gender that so many experience as fluid or non-binary? When Philip encounters a eunuch on the road south of Jerusalem who asks, "What prevents me from being baptized?", Philip didn't hesitate to baptize him. There was no condemnation, no judgment, no demands to conform to. Philip had already seen and experienced the new age that transcends human distinctions, and he was ready to welcome anyone into that transcendent identity. Who are we to stand in the way?