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¹⁵ Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all ¹⁶ and ordered them not to make him known. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ¹⁸ “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; ²⁰ a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; ²¹ and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” (Matthew 12:15–21 (ESV)

One of the characteristics of Matthew’s Gospel was his extensive use of Old Testament references. He did this as comprehensive evidence and fulfillment concerning the identity of the Messiah. Matthew showed his Jewish readers that the LORD’s covenant with Israel was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth (Matt. 1:18-23). Jesus Christ was/is the Messiah.

Following Jesus’ healing of the man with the withered hand, and knowing that the Pharisees were seeking to destroy Him (Matt. 12:14), He withdrew from where He was. Many, presumably sick, followed Him. Matthew recorded that Jesus healed them all but HeSer commanded them to not make Him known. This was because Jesus did not want His ministry to primarily be about displays of His miraculous power. He came to provide a substitutionary atonement on behalf of sinners.

Matthew commented that this was a fulfillment of Isaiah 42:1-4. Jesus came to bring justice to victory and hope to the Gentiles.

“If the people really knew what the Messiah would have to do, Jesus could proclaim Himself as the Christ. But the Israelites want a conquering king, not the Suffering Servant who goes to the cross before receiving the crown. Thus, as Matthew says in verses 17–21, Jesus’ hiding of Himself fulfills Isaiah 42:1–4. As the prophet predicted, the servant does not cry aloud; that is, He does not make His identity known at first. Christ will wait until He has fulfilled His mission to broadcast the truth about Himself far and wide (Matt. 28:18–20),” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

“The son of David comes first as the Suffering Servant unwilling to break the bruised reed and smother the smoldering wick (12:20) — to discard what may otherwise appear useless. His army will be made up of the broken and oppressed who through their suffering help usher in God’s kingdom.”

Even today, people misunderstand who Jesus Christ is and why He came to earth 2,000 years ago. There are really only three conclusions. He was either a liar and was not the Messiah, even though He claimed to be. Or, He was a lunatic who insanely thought He was God, but wasn’t. Or, He truly was who He claimed to be; Lord of heaven and earth. The evidence Matthew, and the three other New Testament Gospels, presents a clear and present verdict. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

⁹ “He went on from there and entered their synagogue. ¹⁰ And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. ¹¹ He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” (Matthew 12:9–14 (ESV)

Today’s title sounds like it could be the name for a Sherlock Holmes detective story. Rather, it is Matthew’s account of one of Jesus’ most dramatic and impacting miracles. Like any narrative, biblical or otherwise, today’s text contains the basic elements for a story: plot, setting, character, and theme.   

Matthew provides a straightforward narrative. Jesus, and presumably His disciples, left the grain fields (Matt. 12:1-8) and have entered their synagogue. Since Matthew identified the synagogue as theirs, it is presumed that this was either in the town of Nazareth or Capernaum. Both Mark and Luke record this event (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11).

The Pharisees question drives the plot: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Matthew comments that the Pharisees posed this question so they might accuse Jesus of breaking God’s Law; and their traditions. They knew how He would answer. The reason for their specific question was because attending the synagogue that Sabbath was a man with a withered hand. Withered (ξηρός; xeros) can mean either paralyzed or shrunken from illness or deformity.  

Jesus responded by saying, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Jesus posed a scenario to the questioners. The obvious answer would be that anyone would make the effort to rescue a sheep caught in a pit. Therefore, if it was a good thing to save a lamb, it would be better to heal a human being. Jesus emphatically declared that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath. He could make such a proclamation because He is Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8).

Jesus then commanded the man to stretch out his hand. The man did so. Immediately, Jesus healed the man’s withered hand. Jesus restored it. To restore (ἀποκαθίστημι; apokathistemi) means to cure and to reinstate what previously existed or what was originally intended.

“In both instances — that of the disciples eating the grain and of Jesus healing the man’s withered hand — the scriptural principle that Jesus applies from God’s Word is that “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matt. 12:7).

The Pharisees response was also to be expected. The Pharisees went out of the synagogue and conspired against Jesus regarding how to destroy him.

When faced with the decision between doing what is good vs. what is best, always go with what is best. What is best, according to our Lord, is mercy rather than sacrifice.

Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

³ “He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? ⁶ I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:3–8 (ESV)

“The most proximate cause of the Pharisees’ antagonism toward Jesus, however, lay in His ignoring of their hundreds of elaborate but petty rules that they had devised for interpreting the law of God. Not only did they devise these hundreds of man-made rules, but they had also elevated them to the level of Scripture, so that to break one of their rules was to violate the law of God itself. And yet these rules not only obscured the true intent of God’s law, but also, in some cases, actually violated it (see Mark 7:9–13),” explains Jerry Bridges.  

“What really got the Pharisees upset with Jesus was the way He ignored their trivial and burdensome rules for keeping the Sabbath. The Pharisees objected to the disciples of Jesus plucking and eating heads of grain as they walked through the grain fields on a Sabbath. According to their oral tradition, plucking the heads of grain and eating them was work — a violation of the Sabbath.”

In replying to the criticisms by the Pharisees, Jesus referred to the Old Testament Scriptures. The first was from I Samuel 21:1-6. This was when David’s hunger and need for food prompted him to transgress the ceremonial law by eating the Bread of Presence in the Tabernacle. Only the priests were allowed to eat the ceremonial bread.

Additionally, Jesus cited the example of the Old Testament priests. They labored on the Sabbath with the Sabbath offerings (Numbers 28:9-10). Yet God held them guiltless.

Jesus’ point to the religious leaders was that He was greater than David and the O.T. priests. He was also greater than the temple. He was/is the Lord of the universe.

Jesus said that what He desired, and still desires, is mercy and not sacrifice. Quoting from Hosea 6:1-6, Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and their perversion of the Sabbath. Their multiplication of traditions, regulations and restrictions minimized God’s merciful purpose in graciously providing salvation (Matt. 11:29-30; Mark 2:27).

Jesus concluded His comments by saying He alone was Lord of the Sabbath. This was an inescapable claim of deity—and as such it prompted the Pharisees’ violent outrage (Matt. 12:14).

“We need to be careful that we do not add our own man-made rules to the Scriptures. Some convictions that we hold dearly may be derived more from our particular Christian culture than derived from Scripture, and we need to learn to discern the differences. It is okay to have cultural convictions, but we should be careful that we do not elevate them to the same authority as Scripture. So much judgmentalism among Christians today occurs because we do this. But that is basically what the Pharisees were doing. So, let’s be careful that we are not modern-day Pharisees,” concludes Bridges.

Soli deo Gloria!

“At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1–2 (ESV)

We return to our study from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 12 continues the theme, begun in chapters 10-11, concerning the Mission of Jesus Christ the King of the Jews. This follows Matthew’s earlier treatment of the Advent of Jesus Christ the King of the Jews (1:1-4:25) and the Authority of Jesus Christ the King of the Jews (5:1-9:38).  

Matthew 12 chronicles Jesus’ mission as Lord over the Sabbath (12:1-13), facing opposition from religious leaders (12:14-45), and defining eternal life by spiritual, not physical, ancestry (12:46-50). Today, we begin studying Jesus’ Lordship of the Sabbath.

The word “sabbath” (σάββατον; sabbaton) is the day or rest and worship at the end of the seven-day week cycle. The Sabbath lasts from Friday evening until Saturday evening.

It was during this period of rest and worship that Jesus and His disciples traveled through some cultivated grain fields on the Sabbath. This is Matthew’s first mention of the Sabbath. “Though it is the behavior of the disciples which will come under scrutiny, it is Jesus who heads into the grain fields; and he will take responsibility for the subsequent action of the disciples,” explains commentator John Nolland.

As they traveled through the fields, Jesus’ hungry disciples began to pluck (τίλλω; tillo) or pull out the heads grain to eat. The tone of the text suggests that the disciples are seriously hungry, and not just mischievous (cf. 15:32; 21:18). Both Matthew and Luke explicitly make the eating of the grain would first have been separated from the husks by rubbing. Therefore, the suggestion of labor on the Sabbath.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” Apparently, the adversarial religious leaders were following Jesus and observing what He and His disciples did and said. This was probably so they could accuse Him and His followers of sin. For the Pharisees, the disciples’ action was a Sabbath violation.

“Matthew does not say how the Pharisees came to be in that particular grain field, but clearly they were in a position to observe what was done. They complain to Jesus, not the disciples, though it is not said that he was joining in the plucking and eating. But Jesus was the Master; it must be accepted that the disciples were acting with their Master’s approval. In any case it was Jesus who was the concern of the Pharisees. And in this instance, they were not acting on the basis of reliable reports; they were there and saw it for themselves. They were acting on sure knowledge. They said that what the disciples were doing was not lawful to do on a Sabbath,” states biblical scholar Leon Morris.

“Actually, no law prohibited the plucking of grain in order to eat on the Sabbath,” explains Dr. John MacArthur. “Gleaning handfuls of grain from a neighbor’s field to satisfy one’s hunger was explicitly permitted (Deut. 23:25). What was prohibited was labor for the sake of profit. Thus, a farmer could not harvest for profit on the Sabbath, but an individual could glean enough grain to eat.”

How does Jesus respond to the Pharisees accusation of violating the Law of God? How does this apply to believers in Christ today and our actions on the Lord’s Day of worship?

Soli deo Gloria!

In navigating the morass of Gender Identity, what resources are recommended for further study and a biblical perspective on this subject? The following authors and titles are submitted; courtesy of Ligonier Ministries.

Rewriting Gender? You, Your Family, Transgenderism and the Gospel by David Martin. The world today claims that your identity is entirely defined by you. As parents raising children in this world, how do we teach children the gospel and explain how it impacts gender identity?

This book of letters written to the author’s children follows the overarching story line of the Bible, making it clear that transgenderism is a symptom of a far deeper problem that only Jesus can heal. Written with biblical clarity, sensitivity, and an awareness that people affected by these issues are people who need Jesus, just like everyone else, this book will help parents who are looking for guidance on how to explain gender issues to their children.

Gender Ideology: What Christians Need to Know by Sharon James. The secular culture has embraced the idea that gender is something that can be decided by individuals. As Christians encounter colleagues, friends and family members who identify as a gender other than the one they were born, we need to be informed and equipped with knowledge about what the issues are, what different terms mean and what the Bible has to say about the subject.

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman. The subtitle is Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism and the Road to Sexual Revolution. Dr. Trueman (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College.

Dr. Trueman examines modern culture obsession with identity. Since the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015, sexual identity has dominated both public discourse and cultural trends—yet no historical phenomenon is its own cause. From Augustine to Karl Marx, various views and perspectives have contributed to the modern understanding of the self.

Trueman analyzes the development of the sexual revolution as a symptom—rather than the cause—of the human search for identity. Trueman surveys the past, brings clarity to the present, and gives guidance for the future as Christians navigate the culture in humanity’s ever-changing quest for identity.

Does God Care about Gender Identity? A Biblical Vision of Gender Identity by Samuel D. Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is rector of The Falls Church Anglican in Metro Washington, DC, and author of The Spirit and Relational Anthropology in Paul. 

Since the beginning of humanity, people have recognized the distinct creation of the male and female gender in God’s design. But with today’s gender revolution, people are increasingly questioning who they are designed to be. In our society, gender identity has been divorced from biology and rerouted in psychology. Do the core teachings of the Bible uphold these modern ideas?

Dr. Ferguson carefully and compassionately compares the core beliefs and practices of the transgender movement with fundamental truths expressed in Scripture. Ferguson argues human identity is not determined by the individual but is given to us by our Creator, who designed our bodies and minds with purpose and encourages us to live in Christlikeness—choosing the path of God-given transformation over man-made transition. 

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27 ESV)

God called me into full-time pastoral ministry approximately 45 years ago. As a young, idealistic pastor, I never imagined the cultural, social, educational and ecclesiastical changes that would occur in understanding what it means to be human. I was unprepared for the quickness of the sexual revolution and the secular culture’s relentless demand to submit to an unbiblical anthropology.

Admittedly, my essays on Gender Identity are an all too brief treatment of an increasingly controversial subject; not only in the secular culture but also within the evangelical church.

Recently, the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) at its annual meeting in June, 2023, approved by a vote of 1,089-793 an overture urging the United States Federal Government to ‘renounce the sin’ of promoting irreversible sex change procedures for children. A commission within the denomination is tasked with drafting the petition. I am curious as to why 793 pastors and voting members present at the annual meeting voted against this overture?  

The proposal cited multiple scientific studies that suggest such medical and surgical interventions are a rejection of science and that the epidemic 900% increase in gender dysphoria among girls during the past eight years is primarily driven by social contamination from contemporary social, educational, and cultural influences

Concurrently, the PCA congregations in Canada are facing an even greater crisis. In 2022, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-4 which makes counseling that does not affirm homosexuality or transgender identity, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

In contrast, the liberal Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) has supported transgender procedures for minors. In Kentucky, the denomination recently petitioned the governor to veto a bill banning such procedures in the state.

“We can no longer take it for granted that non-Christians around us agree on the basic definition of male and female,” writes Pastor Christopher J. Gordon, of Escondido United Reformed Church, Escondido, CA. “Our institutions have embraced concepts such as gender fluidity and call believers to declared their preferred pronouns and accept whatever view of gender is espoused by those around them.”

How is the evangelical church, and individual believers, to respond to such a sexual quagmire? Here are a few biblical suggestions.

First, we must never compromise biblical truth. We must preach and teach the Word of God, in season and out of season. We must reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching in the church (2 Tim. 4:1-2). Pastors, and church leaders, must never cater to people’s rejection of sound teaching and their desire to accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions (2 Tim. 4:3). We must never turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Tim. 4:4). We must remain sober-minded and if called upon, to endure suffering (2 Tim. 4:5).

Second, believers in Christ must demonstrate the fearlessness of Daniel and his three companions (Dan.1-6). We must continually heed God’s call to be strong and courageous like Joshua (Joshua 1:1-9). We must continue to renew our minds with the Word of God and not be conformed to the fallen world’s systematic rejection of God and His truth.

Thirdly, leaders in the church and the home must faithfully demonstrate and pursue a holy sexuality. God has not called us for impurity but to holiness (I Thess. 4:1-8). We must live out what we say we believe. Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must never be a part of our lives as believers in Christ (Eph. 5:3).  

Fourthly, parents and grandparents must resolve to teach, and demonstrate, a pure, holy and biblical sexual ethic to our children and grandchildren. We must answer their questions with a commitment to Scripture. We must alert them that secular and social institutions will communicate a different message. We must prepare them to know biblically what to believe and why they are to biblically believe it. In other words, we must raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

Jesus instructed His disciples that in this world they (we) would have tribulation (John 16:33). He also taught to take heart for He has overcome the world. Be encouraged as you live for the Lord today.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27 ESV)

How is the believing community of the evangelical church to respond to the issue of Gender Identity? It must respond with the truth of God’s Word in general and the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ in particular. Attention is given to John 1:1-14.

Gender Identity at its core is a rejection of God’s work in creating the male and female. The rejection of the binary male and female gender is a rejection not only of God’s creativity but also His sovereignty is assigning our gender even prior to our conception. God assigns the individual’s gender, and not the individual in question. God is sovereign and we are not.

The Gender Identity issue must be met head on with the initial truth that the God of the Bible exists and is sovereign over all.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1–3 (ESV)

Second, Gender Identity must be identified as sinful rebellion against God. This truth is not popular, and never has been. It confronts the dark, rebellious heart and core of the individual. Sinful mankind has always questioned the authority of God and the light of His truth (Gen. 3:1).

⁴ “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4–5 (ESV)

However, there is an answer to the issue of the individual’s sinful condition. It is the Gospel of salvation from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and eventually the presence of sin. The fallen world has always sought purpose for life; void of God. This has never been successful. It never will be. Therefore, God historically entered this fallen world to deliver it from the ultimate consequence of its sinful rebellion.   

¹⁰ He (God) was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:10–13 (ESV)

The ultimate answer to Gender Identity, as is the answer to all of man’s sinful problems, is justification, redemption and reconciliation with God through the person and work of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-26). Gender Identity is a sexual expression of the sinful, rebellious human soul. It is a rejection of God’s authority over the individual’s sexuality. Gender Identity is no different in principle than any other letter in the LGBTQ+ acrostic.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:14–18 (ESV)

Currently, and within the last sixty years, the fallen world has heralded a sexual revolution. It has rebelled against God heterosexually, homosexually, and now in the subject of one’s gender identity.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ not only delivers the sinner from the penalty of sin, but also the power of sin. This includes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (I John 2:15-17). In Jesus Christ alone, there is true liberty to live a life pleasing to God and fulfilling for the individual.

How may we practically minister to anyone caught in the trap of sexual sin: whether it be heterosexual sin, homosexual sin or gender identity sin?  We must uncompromisingly herald God’s truth to them. We must pray for them. We must love them by telling them what the need to hear when it is not what they want to hear. This is true, biblical love.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27 ESV)

How has the issue of Gender Identity impacted the culture? How is it impacting the church? While it can be argued that Gender Identity is trendy, the consequences of many current decisions and practices supporting Gender Identity have far reaching, and long lasting, implications.

A girl from the United Kingdom, who had both of her breasts removed during a medical gender transition, is calling out the gender clinic that was involved in some of her care, according to a report from The Daily Telegraph, June 20, 2023. Jasmine, a former patient at the Travistock Gender Clinic, says she regrets medical interventions to change her gender.

The girl reported that transitioning made her feel worse at every stage. “I don’t really know what it’s like to have the body of an adult,” she said. “I kind of feel a little bit mutilated and like an experiment gone wrong walking through society sometimes. I feel, like, sometimes jealous of other people, women, who are biologically female. That they still have their natural voice, their natural characteristics. And I don’t anymore,” she continued. 

In a report published by Fox News June 6, 2023, Boston Children’s Hospital said to the media and the public that it does not perform genital surgeries on minors at its gender surgery clinic. However, Children’s senior leadership revealed it had policies to allow vaginoplasties on minors in published medical literature years and months before public scrutiny. Boston Children’s Hospital originally faced a wave of backlash in August 2022 over since-deleted wording found twice on the hospital’s website which claimed teens as young as 17 can get vaginoplasties. The hospital doubled down, claiming it was “misinformation” that it would offer genital surgeries on minors, and the media uncritically parroted the narrative.

In a report dated June 1, 2023, Twenty Republican attorney generals are joining forces in an amicus brief against several LGBTQ+ groups that are pushing to allow minors to receive gender reassignment surgery and hormone altering drugs. 

A professor at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine who is involved in a LGBTQ+ “special interest group” claimed that parents must start including gender ideology in their families before a baby is born. “This is my favorite topic,” Lauren T. Roth, is a professor of pediatrics at Einstein and a physician in the division of Academic General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, New York. Said she has specialized knowledge of transgender medical interventions on children diagnosed with dysphoria. “Like, this is a normal thing. And we have to understand that gender is on a spectrum. There’s not just men and women,” she said. “Sometimes [a child’s gender identity] matches the chromosomes or the genitals that they were born with, but sometimes it doesn’t.”

In a report published by Fox News June 20, 2023, a federal judge ruled an Arkansas law that bans hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery for transgender minors is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody said that the first-in-the-nation law violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and their families and it violated the First Amendment rights of health care providers by prohibiting them from referring patients elsewhere. 

In a news report published June 21, 2023, former college championship swimmer Riley Gaines was a witness at the United States Senate’s hearing on LGBTQ Civil Rights. She pushed back on allowing transgender students to participate in the school sport of their chosen gender. Gaines has become an activist on behalf of biological female athletes after graduating from the University of Kentucky, where she competed against trans-swimmer Lia Thomas in championship-level events.

This is but a sampling of the recent reports chronicling the ramifications Gender Identity is having psychologically, athletically, legally and politically. By the time this blog is published, there may be many more stories concerning the subject of Gender Identity.

How is the believing community of the evangelical church to respond? It must respond with the truth of God’s Word in general and the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ in particular. This is what we will consider when next we meet.

Soli deo Gloria!