As Western culture moves farther and farther away from its heritage, a growing divide exists between Western culture and historic Christianity1 on the question of what it means to be human. This question lies at the foundation of numerous contemporary debates both in and outside the Church about sex and gender, sexuality, ordination, and much more. Because these debates regularly raise questions and provoke responses from congregants, neighbors, and friends, I’ve set out to outline the basics of the Christian vision of what it means to be human and to address many of the questions raised by the present confusion. The following posts are primarily addressed to my own congregation and those in similar contexts, but I certainly hope what’s written will be helpful to others both inside and outside the Church.
Contemporary debates about sex and gender, sexuality, and ordination tend, in my view, to involve three parties that each provide problematic answers, or sometimes inadequate reasons for their answers, to the questions because they lack a proper understanding of the story in which humanity exists, the ends for which we exist, and the nature of our existence.
First, many secular and non-Christian people exposed to these debates are repelled from embracing Christianity. To most modern people, it’s offensive and befuddling that Christians condemn homosexual practice and gay marriage, resist the transgender movement’s call to honor people’s preferred pronouns, and refuse to ordain women as pastors. Secularizing Westerners generally see Christians as hateful bigots stuck in the past. To be fair, some self-professed Christians are bigots out of step with Christian teaching, but in what follows, I want to argue that the Christian teaching on these matters flows from a positive vision for the blessed life of the world and not bare rules rooted in the antiquated ideas of a different time. Yet, secular people are finding that their own answers to debates about sexuality and transgenderism have serious flaws for which they cannot adequately account and serious social consequences for which they are not fully prepared to embrace.
Second, many Christians feel attacked by the radically new answers being given to these contemporary questions and have resorted to simplistic answers and stereotypes. Worse still, some have attempted to revive an abusive patriarchy under the guise of affirming the “traditional” teaching of the church which perpetuates the very evils that have led to the distrust fueling the growing secularism. Much of the literature written by these “traditionalists” on masculinity/femininity, marriage, sex, and ordination employs a method of proof-texting that rarely satisfies or convinces skeptics and further entrenches the traditionalist's sense of feeling attacked. Additionally, much harm in the form of abuse and idolization of “purity” has resulted from this so-called “traditionalism.”
Third, many committed Christians concerned by “traditionalists” or perhaps embarrassed by the historic teaching and practice of the church have sought to find a more palatable, egalitarian understanding of Scripture on these questions. Unsurprisingly, these progressive Christians have discovered that for 2,000 years, the church has been wrong and missed what Scripture really teaches or has silenced voices that just so happen to line up with contemporary values. While it’s true that Christians now and in the past have often embraced distorted and even hateful views of women, Christianity has actually been the greatest force in the history of the world for the good of women. We should reject the wrongs of the past, but there are good reasons to be hesitant to adopt an egalitarian vision that’s foreign to the historic understanding of Scripture which brought about so much for women.
In the following three posts, I aim to address these debates, avoiding the errors of secularists, “traditionalist” Christians, and progressive Christians by setting forth the Christian vision for humanity, starting with the foundation of what it means to be human. I hope to say more than what I can offer in a brief conversation but say less than a book. These posts seek to provide clear, balanced, and nuanced explanations for the historic Christian teaching on 1) what it means to be human as men and women, 2) how Christians must approach and practice our sexuality, and 3) who may be ordained in Christ’s church to the office of elder/pastor/bishop.
At the very heart of the confusion about what it means to be human is an ancient error that identifies our truest self with an invisible spirit contained or trapped by the body needing to be released to join with the divine. This error goes all the way back to the beginning in the Garden of Eden when the first liar tempted the Woman to eat what God had said not to eat, claiming that eating would make her “like God.” This claim likely meant several things, but on one level, it was a promise that the Woman, through knowledge, would become a spirit, escaping the body. At bottom, all the discussion below is an attempt to reclaim the importance of the human body in what it means to be human.
In each post, I’ll lay out a summary of the argument to try and bring as much clarity as possible.
Continue to…
Part 2 On Being Human: Sexuality
Part 3 On Being Human: Ordination
Further Resources:
For those interested in doing a deep dive into these questions, I recommend the following articles and books as helpful overall without endorsing everything these authors argue.
Man and Woman in Christ: An Examination of the Roles of Men and Women in Light of Scripture and the Social Sciences by Stephen B. Clark
Man as Male and Female by Scott Swain
Beautiful Difference: The Complementarity of Male and Female by Andrew Wilson
Sex Without Bodies: The Church’s Response to the LGBTQ Movement Must Be That Matter Matters by Andy Crouch
Man and Woman: Toward an Ontology by Patrick Schreiner
The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale
Feminism Against Progress by Mary Harrington
Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
What God has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel Is Good News for Our Physical Selves by Sam Allberry
Men and Women in the Church by Kevin DeYoung
The Christian Family by Herman Bavinck
Emerging Gender Identities: Understanding the Diverse Experiences of Today’s Youth by Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky
Understanding Gender Dysphoria by Mark Yarhouse
I use this term to distinguish those that follow the doctrine and practice of the Church throughout history from modern Christians that have, to varying degrees, adapted Christianity to Western, individualistic, egalitarian, rationalistic, secularism. Hereafter, I will simply use the term Christian or Christianity rather than adding “historic.”
Good stuff, Derek, and much needed in our circles. It seems like it's becoming harder and harder to remain a moderate complementarian, holding to sincere exegesis without having to make extra-Scriptural commitments to the roles of men and women. These articles are needed. Thank you!