God Created Us Male AND Female

In an earlier post I mentioned the report by the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR): Human Sexuality: A Theological Perspective. Since marriage, gender relations and the human family as we know them are under so much attack, I've decided to take you through that report in some detail and add some comments of my own along the journey.


The study offers three purposes:

1. to place the order of marriage within the larger framework of human sexuality as God's creation
2. to discuss the purposes or ends which marriage serves, as these are taught in Scriptures and understood in the history of the church
3. to discuss, in the light of these purposes, certain problems or "issues" which must inevitably engage the attention of those who think about human sexuality. 

Many talk about marriage these days. For instance, every day I receive emails and links to articles that seek to redefine marriage, seeking to make gay marriage both moral and legal. This church or that clergyman claims proudly that he is ready to perform a gay marriage, etc., etc. To do so, obviously, means that we have redefined the estate of marriage. We've changed what we have understood marriage to be over these long centuries.

But on what basis? Some new insights into human sexuality? Some evolving understanding of creation? Notice that this study points us to human sexuality as God's creation and discusses the purpose of marriage as taught in Scriptures and understood in the history of the church. In other words, the source of our understanding of marriage is the Word of God and the reflections of believers upon that Word. The Creator Himself has revealed very clearly why He made us male and female and created the estate of marriage. Since the world in which we Christians live has other sources of authority and other basis for making decisions, we can only speak to one another about marriage and then bear witness by our lives to the unbelieving world. The rulers and the diverse cultures we live in may redefine sexuality and marriage on the basis of some so-called new knowledge or insights. We followers of Jesus Christ depend upon our Creator and His revealed Word.

So we turn to the Scriptures and where they begin: 

"So God created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27; italics added)

We exist in this duality. We are male. Or we are female. One is not both, although there are rare conditions that produce true hermaphroditism (a child is born with both genetalia). That condition is very rare. One of the other issues that must be discussed is homosexuality. This study does not. That requires another detailed study. For the purposes of this study the focus is upon this truth: 

we are male and female and there are differences between us.

That's the way God created us. This is basic. We are created to be in fellowship and community as male and female. We are either male or we are are female, never simply "persons".


At this point the study urges us to "think Hebrew," in other words to remember that we are not spirits or souls who just happen to have bodies, but we are embodied souls. What we do in our bodies, WE do. It is done by us as a whole person. Our bodily deeds have an effect upon us inwardly, in the deepest recesses of our souls. They also effect our relationship with the Lord Jesus to whom we are bound by the waters of Baptism.


The Apostle Paul speaks about this in his discussion of sex and what today is commonly called consensual sex, whether it is paid for or simply the result of some kind of sexual attraction, an affair for one night or many. Here's what he says, 

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh."

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:15-18)

When you join your body to a prostitute—someone other than your marital partner—whether for money or for lust, you have become one body with her or him—or at least that was the Creator's original intention. When you ignore this and join yourself to many you are sinning against your own body. What does that mean?


It means that you reject God's purpose and how and why God made us male and female. The joining of our bodies is intended by our Creator to be done in the context of commitment and love. It is to be done within the bonds and the protection of the marital union. That is how He made us. That is also why He made us male and female. We do grave harm to ourselves and to one another when we ignore His plan. We cannot be untouched by our physical commitments. There is, for instance, no such thing as an open marriage.


Next time we'll look at celibacy, an acceptable way of life, but not a way of life more acceptable than the union of a husband and a wife in marriage.