God is not the author of gender confusion

Whether you consider gender confusion a mental illness, a physical ailment or a psychological condition, trans-genderism or gender identity disorder is a confusion of gender identity. It is confusion and God is not the author of confusion.

I like to look at trans-genderism from every angle within the word of God. It is a stand that I believe is necessary as a response to the argument that the Bible is silent on the subject of trans-genderism. The Bible is not silent on any subject. The Word of God provides guidance and wisdom on every aspect of life and is full of promises that cover “all things that pertain to life and godliness”. These great and precious promises allow the Christian to partake of the divine nature and escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4). Every circumstance, issue and condition that is known to humanity is covered in the Bible. God has not left us to our own devices nor has He left us in a state of confusion. God has clearly given us direction and wisdom so that we may make right, godly decisions regarding every aspect of our life.

Paul wrote in his first letter to the church at Corinth “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace …” (1 Corinthians 14:33). The truth that God is not the author of confusion makes a defining statement regarding the confusing trans-gender condition.

Trans-genderism, trans-sexuality is a confusion of gender identity. The person who wrestles with trans-gender urges and experiences trans-gender desires is a person who is confused, unable to clearly identify and walk in the true gender that God created them to walk in.

First let us look at some other scriptures which clearly place confusion, not as a characteristic of God, but as a characteristic of God’s enemy, the devil.

In the Old Testament, when God clearly outlined His intensions for creation either to live under His blessing or under a curse, He positioned confusion in the category of the curse. “The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.” (Deuteronomy 28:22) and again it is written as a consequence of disobedience “The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.” (28:28). There is a consequence of not obeying God’s ways of doing things. It is the curse that comes upon those who choose to disobey God and do not walk according to His commandments. Confusion, whether it is confusion of heart or confusion of mind, is one of the characteristics of the curse.

In fact the Lord used confusion to scatter and defeat those under the curse, who were the enemies of God’s people (Exodus 23:27; Nehemiah 4:8). When David’s enemies came against Him, he knew that it was confusion that would cause their demise “Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who rejoice at my hurt; Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who exalt themselves against me” (Psalm 35:26; 4; 40:14).

Some would argue ‘but Christians have been redeemed from the curse’. That is correct. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written. ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14).

That is why confusion should not be a characteristic of God’s people nor of believers in Jesus Christ. When Jesus looked at those who did not know Him, He described them like sheep that were scattered and lost (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34). They were lost, scattered and had lost direction because they were without a Shepherd.

A person who is confused is in this state because a lie has been allowed to enter in. The product or effect of a lie is confusion. Confusion is ultimately a diffusion of the truth or a distraction to divert a person away from the truth.

Indecisiveness is also a symptom of confusion. This is the picture of the one who lacks the wisdom and knowledge of God. Because that person has not diligently sought to obey God’s word, but has doubted not believing God’s word he is “like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).

There is no confusion in God. The One who is all-knowing, knowing the beginning to the end, cannot be confused and therefore cannot author something in a confused state. That is why no person can say “God made a mistake when he created me in this body”. This is impossible! God does not author confusion nor can confusion come as a product of His creative hand.

In regards to the inter-sexed condition, I realize this is a defining statement. God does not create imperfect forms. Deformity, inter-sexed genetalia, ill-formed bodily functions all occur because of the presence of sin in the world and the work of the enemy. It is not the sin of the person born in deformity, nor their parents, that caused the deformity it is the sin that is in the world through the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12). There was no presence of deformity in the Garden of Eden when God created Adam and Eve. The creation of every person is in the loving hand of God. It is the Lord who forms us in the inward parts of our mother. It is the Lord who weaves or knits us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). When this process of formation gets disturbed or disrupted or damaged it is not because of God’s error, but the work of the enemy. Yet God is also the one who can put right what has gone wrong. Every area of our life is under His orchestration, if we open our hearts and invite Him to have His way. He takes a full and complete interest in our life for He has written in His book all our days before they even took shape (verses 1-24). Nothing that ever happens is a surprise to God.

God’s name is “God the healer” (Exodus 15:26). He is the one who “heals all your diseases and redeems our life from destruction” (Psalm 103:2-3 and 107:20) and His Son Jesus “healed all” who come to Him (Matthew 8:16; 12:15). Jesus was a demonstration of the will of God. He was sent to heal, deliver, restore and set free (Luke 4:18). Healing is not something that God does. Healing, restoration and deliverance are part of His character because of who He is.

When medical science takes upon itself to heal, correct and fix physical abnormalities, or correct wrongly formed bodily functions or eradicate disease it is working to align the physical body once more to the pattern that God set in place in His original creation. Medical science has studied how the body should work they do so, so that they may restore the body back to its original properly functioning pattern. It is God who gave humanity the ability to use medical knowledge to aid the restoration to His pre-defined pattern. It is not God who needs medical knowledge, it is humans. Yet, through God’s grace, we use medicine to align that which is out of order so that it once again resembles that which God originally created.

God is the same God who heals, rebuilds and puts right the inter-sexed condition, trans-gendered, and all who are oppressed or in need of restoration. Whether healing and restoration come through God’s supernatural healing power or His corrective power working through the hands of medical science, it is God who is the author of the healing.

In the life of the non-Christian, confusion is a symptom of the devil’s activity in their lives. While the devil is at work in every non-believer’s life (2 Timothy 2:26), even the Christian needs to be aware of the arrows that the devil uses to bring confusion into their life. James writes, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there” (James 3:16). He prefaces this verse with revealing the source of this confusion “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (verse 15). Confusion, haziness of mind, indecisiveness, lack of clarity and purpose are not from God, but are diffusing tools of the enemy used to distract us from a singleness of purpose in obeying and glorifying God.

Never let it be said ‘God was mistaken when he created me’. No! "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:16). If God determined in His perfect knowledge to form a male body, it is in this form that His divine will and purpose will be accomplished. The same is true for those born into a female body.

In rare situations when a child is formed whose body has sexual ambiguity, because of the presence of sin in the world, it is for one purpose “that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3). May the lives of those who have been born with a body in an inter-sexed condition be able to testify “This condition was not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).

All people are to come to God with a desire for their lives, their minds, their bodies to be used to bring glory to God. How God is glorified will differ in different people’s lives. There are no exceptions, however, in whatever condition sin has marked a person, whether they are trans-gendered, inter-sexed or held by trans-sexualism: God is their deliverer. He is their healer. He is their Saviour. He will forge a path for them to glorify Him if they are obedient to the prompting of His Spirit.

What looks impossible, incurable, confusing and unchangeable may be that way with men. But Jesus answers, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26). May we hear the testimonies of God’s work in the lives of those who were trans-gendered, inter-sexed and trans-sexual continually glorifying God, testifying of His marvellous transforming work in their lives.