Gender Identity, The Fall, and God's Good Creation

Jerry Brown, the Governor of California wound up in the news recently for signing legislation that allows "equal access" in schools for students who believe themselves to be "transgendered." That is, students in California schools who believe that they are not the gender into which they were born, will have the option to use whichever restroom they choose. This same access will be accommodated by athletic teams as well. For instance, a boy who feels himself to be a girl will be allowed to try out for the girl's volleyball or soccer teams. The complexities and moral hazards for such an arrangement are legion.

Russell Moore, the newly appointed President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, has written a helpful piece for the Washington Post.

Dr. Moore writes:

Laws such as those in California will quickly test the boundaries of society’s tolerance for a psychological and individualistic definition of gender. There are reasons, after all, why societies put boys and girls in different bathrooms, men and women on different sports teams.  When gender identity is severed from biological sex, where does one’s self-designation end, and who will be harmed in the process?

As conservative Christians, we do not see transgendered persons as ”freaks” to be despised or ridiculed. We acknowledge that there are some persons who feel alienated from their identities as men or as women. Of course that would be the case in a fallen universe in which all of us are alienated, in some way, from how God created us to be.

But we don’t believe this alienation can be solved by pretending as though we have Pharaoh-like dominion over our maleness or femaleness. These categories we believe (along with every civilization before us) are about more than just self-construction, and they can’t be eradicated by a change of clothes or chemical tinkering or a surgeon’s knife, much less by an arbitrary announcement in the high school gym.

The transgender question means that conservative Christian congregations such as mine must teach what’s been handed down to us, that our maleness and femaleness points us to an even deeper reality, to the unity and complementarity of Christ and the church. A rejection of the goodness of those creational realities then is a revolt against God’s lordship, and against the picture of the gospel that God had embedded in the creation.

Read the entire article HERE.

The Language of God and the historicity of Adam

It is lengthy but Dr. Ardel Caneday's article in the latest issue of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology is worth the read. Dr. Caneday challenges those within evangelicalism who are now dismissing the Bible's teachings concerning the historicity of Adam and the Fall.

Check it out HERE.

Adam matters... a lot

Specifically, it matters that Adam was a genuinely historical figure.

On Sunday I preached a message dealing with Genesis chapters two and three. One of the things that becomes quite clear is that Adam and the fall are, indeed must be historical realities. This is confirmed by Paul in Romans five. If Adam and the fall are mere metaphors then the gospel itself must be reformulated.

Little wonder then why liberal Bible scholars and emergent's like Brian McLaren who deny the historicity of the fall also diminish Christ and His cross. They deny the atonement because if there was no fall then there need be no sacrifice for sins.

H. Richard Niebuhr's summation of liberal protestantism still rings true:

"A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."

Check out this helpful article on the importance of Adam to Paul's epistle to the Romans.

A heretic by any other name (2)...

Mike Witmer continues to review and comment on Brian McLaren's latest book "A New Kind of Christianity." The discerning reader will understand that what McLaren is promoting is not a new kind of Christianity but an old kind of heresy.

He does not believe that there was a Fall (or original sin or total depravity or hell) but that what we have traditionally called the Fall is actually “a coming-of age story” which—wait for it—describes “the first stage of ascent as human beings progress from the life of hunter-gatherers to the life of agriculturalists and beyond.” I have quoted him verbatim so you know I am not making this up. I asked my Old Testament colleague where Brian may be getting this from, and he said that this sounds like modern Judaism (which doesn’t believe in a Fall or original sin), except that even it wouldn’t say that Genesis 3 represents a step up.

Brian says a lot of other things in Part 1, but as you can see, he is no longer having a Christian conversation. He prefers the Hebrew God Elohim over the Greco-Roman God Theos, for the former prefers the messiness of story and evolution while the latter is a “perfect—Platonic god” who “loves spirit, state, and being” and is “perfectly furious” with his fallen creation and just wants to smash it all to hell. Theos may be popular with the “fire-breathing preacher” (does anyone know anyone like this?), but he “is an idol, a damnable idol.” Brian writes that he would rather be an atheist than believe in the God that most of us think is found in the Bible.

Four other observations:
1. Brian seems to be offering a modern Jewish rather than Christian perspective on the opening chapters of Genesis. His flat-out denial of a Fall, original sin, and total depravity and his dismissal of Theos raises questions about his view of Paul, who clearly teaches the former in Romans 5, and the New Testament, which refers to God with the Greek term Theos.

2. Brian does not seem to believe that there was a first man and a first sin, but that Genesis 3 is a myth which describes how the entire human race became farmers. This view fits with his acceptance of evolution, as most who embrace evolution find it hard to believe that there was a first man who rebelled in a cataclysmic Fall. I don’t know how the farmer bit fits, but it is funny.

3. The fourth question which Brian will address in this book is “Who is Jesus and why is he important?” Given that Brian doesn’t believe in a Fall, original sin, or hell, that is a very good question. I can’t wait to hear why God would come and die for a world that didn’t need his help.

4. Brian seems incapable of writing a book without taking repeated cheap shots at seminary education. He often reminds us that he missed out on seminary and is better for it, that he would not see what he sees in Scripture if he had gone to seminary. On that we agree.

Read the entire post HERE.

Far as the curse is found - The Fall

It was common among the ancient Greeks to picture time as moving in a circular fashion. You will still find that same idea in our own day. We speak of “the life cycle” and history repeating itself. Belief in Karma and reincarnation portray time in repetitious cycles. As a recent study by the Pew Forum demonstrates, those beliefs are no longer confined to eastern cultures.

Among atheists time is seen as a completely random movement. There is no God so there is no purposeful direction in time and space.

Endless repetition of cycles.

Meaningless movement toward an unknown end.

Of course the biblical understanding of time is radically different. God’s Word portrays time as moving purposefully in a particular direction not repeating itself in cycles. Time on a universal scale as well as the days allotted to each of us is under the sovereign direction of God. This means that history tells a story. It tells God’s story. And that story is punctuated by events that impact not only our individual lives but the entire cosmos. And standing at the ultimate pivot point of history is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

These were actual historic events, not metaphors. They are exclamation points in actual history.

The story of Christmas begins long before the birth of Jesus some 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. It begins before the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit. It begins before Isaiah’s prophecies of a suffering Messiah who would bear away the sins of his people. It begins before God’s covenant with Abraham to make from him a nation of people made up of people from all the nations.

As far as human history is concerned the story of Christmas begins in a garden long ago. If we understand the events surrounding the advent of Jesus to be the most significant events in history then we should expect the story of his coming to be foretold from the earliest days of the human family. What is surprising is the context of that first announcement of the coming Saviour.

The story begins with…
The Fall

God created the man and woman as an expression of his joyful creativity and love. He created humankind to live on the earth, to multiply and be the crown of all creation. God created humankind for fellowship; for a unique relationship whereby we would glorify Him and He would pour out his love upon us. But the man and the woman, having listened to the voice of the Deceiver chose to be their own moral authority. They chose to reach for godhood themselves. They chose to do the one thing God had told them not to do.

In that single moment sin entered humanity, corruption entered creation, and what was innocent became guilty. We refer to this event as “the Fall.” Oddly enough this is where Christmas first enters the consciousness of God’s people.

God had warned the man and woman that if they chose to do the one thing he had commanded them not to do then it would constitute rebellion against him. It would be a wicked act of mutiny which is what sin always is. It is an attempt to dethrone God and place ourselves in His place. God had warned them that if they chose to sin then they would surely die.

In that moment of rebellion death surely entered the created order. What was incorruptible took on corruptibility and the man and the woman were driven out of that place of perfection. Mankind had been given the task of spreading throughout the earth and multiplying that paradise through their earthly dominion. But what happened instead is that paradise was lost. What is more God announced to Adam and Eve the curses which would follow in the wake of their sin.

Genesis three records perhaps the most tragic words in Scripture.

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (vv. 16-19).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “This third chapter of the book of Genesis is absolutely essential to a true understanding of life, the whole of life as it is at this moment for each individual.”

Our story as individuals and as a people is in so many ways shaped by what we are told in Genesis three. It’s the story of how sin entered the world. It helps us understand why things go wrong and why people do wrong. The fall has had an incalculable effect on us all. Sin has effected us in ways that, whether we know it or not, we experience every moment of every day.

We are wronged and we do wrong. We seek things that are beyond our grasp. The happiness we search for is never quite within our reach. When we do have peace of mind we still live with the nagging sense that it could all change in a second. Our work is toilsome. Our marriages are hard work. We will not understand ourselves and our world unless we understand what sin has done.

Genesis three is not a fanciful story. It is not a metaphor. It is written in the style of genuine history. No less than Jesus the Son of God and the apostle Paul understood Genesis three as genuine history.

Again, from Lloyd-Jones:

“Here is the most important key to history that is available at this moment. It explains the past. It explains the present. It explains the future. Let me put it as plainly as this: this is not allegory. I have no gospel unless this is history. In addition, I have been pointing out that as well as being a literal historical record of something that actually happened, Genesis 3 is also, in the most amazing way, an account and a description of the very thing that happens to us one by one. For the astounding fact is that every one of us repeats the action of Adam and Eve.”

We carry within ourselves every day the consequences of the fall – the bitter fruit of sin. This is where the story of Christmas begins.

Not Home Yet

I have been reflecting a lot the last few days about the painful reality of being a sinful man living among other sinners. The weight of our collective fallenness often seems too hard to bear. When I am hurt or sinned against it is not long until I realize my own culpability in the events that caused my pain. It is an intricate web woven by my own sinful desires and motives. Calvin observed that the heart is a labyrinth. It is very difficult to sort out. We don't even understand ourselves.

One of the afflictions I see in my heart is the desire to be in control; to be sovereign. When things don't go my way then I fight hard to gain control. My style is often passive aggressive. But of course the notion of truly being in control is nothing more than an illusion and the desire to be in control nothing less than idolatry.

Through it all I am reminded once again that I am not home yet. I am still living east of Eden. As a result I will continue to disappoint be disappointed. I will continue to offend and be offended. But hope is not lost. In fact Christians are unapologetically future oriented. Hope, for us, is like air. We can't live without it and God does not intend for us to live without it.

I have been helped by the writing ministry of Paul Tripp. It's not that Tripp has stumbled upon brand new truth. He is refreshingly un-trendy. Tripp does what all good Bible teachers do. He takes the Scriptures and like a mirror holds them up in a way that helps me see my heart. Specifically Tripp takes me time and again back to the centrality of the Gospel as God's great means of transformation.

I was challenged this morning as I continued reading in his new book Broken-Down House. In particular I was confronted with my idolatry of control.

"[When] we encounter an area that we cannot control, we tend to see it as out of control! We need to understand that God's sense of order is very different from ours. What looks like utter confusion to us is actually a discrete piece of divine planning, every time. But in the finiteness of our understanding, wisdom, and experience, it is often hard to see the order...

When you question or lose sight of the good and perfect rule of the Lord, you can end up fearing the power of another. Whether a malevolent hidden terrorist, a very real and immoral relative, or a pure figment of your imagination, you will perceive someone as having character and intentions that tempt you to anxiety...

Only when you are comforted by the fact that God's ultimate, comprehensive, flawless, holy authority, can you stop being afraid of human authority. When you truly know that the 'king's heart is in the hand of the Lord' (Prov. 21:1), you can be freed from the anxiety of flawed human rule...

We simply need to accept that the reasons God does what He does in our lives, or how our life fits into the whole of his grand redemptive plan, will never be completely clear in this life. This is why real rest and peace is not found in knowing and understanding. It is only found in trust. Only when you have a quiet confidence in the Lord behind the plan and have come to know his love, wisdom, power, and grace, will you be able to rest in hope - even when you do not understand what God is doing in a particular moment in your life. This is exactly the experience expressed in Psalm 33:2021, 'We wait in hope for the Lord; his our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.'

What happens to the Fall?

I am curious about something because I have seen this dealt with in a variety of ways. I am wondering what those Christians who do not accept the historicity of Eden, Adam and Eve, etc. do with the fall. Let me assure you this is not rhetorical nor am I trying to play "gotcha". I am genuinely interested given the prominent role that the fall's reality plays not only in the Old Testament but the New. Romans for instance depends heavily on the fall as a reality for its anthropology and soteriology. If the fall was not a real event then how does that effect our understanding of man's lostness and Christ's atonement? Help me out.

What I do not want is a discussion on the age of the earth and whether or not the creation account presents a strict chronology or a theological/literary construct. That is, in my opinion an in house debate among inerrantists. If you want to make it a test of orthodoxy then we'll have to part company.