Gen. 1:26-28, Gen. 2:18-22, Matt. 19:4-5, Mark 10:6 (Interpretation Series)

The first installment of the sub's Interpretation Series is here! This is a thread dedicated to exploring the variety of different interpretations people can come out with when it comes to verses that are often weaponized against trans people. Everyone is invited to respond: Christians, non-Christians, lay people, clergy, scholars, cis people, and (especially) trans people. You can address one passage, only a few, or all of them. Whatever you wanna do!

Here are the verses in question.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NRSV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Genesis 2:18-22

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man[a] there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Matthew 19:4-5

4 He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

Mark 10:6

6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

The logic many people use to use these verses against transgender people tends to say that since God "created them male and female" there can be no other genders (i.e. non-binary transgender people) and that gender isn't something that changes but is given by God. Through this logic, transgender people are inherently in rebellion against God. How do you interpret these passages?

Some questions/points one could consider. Feel free to answer these or come up with your own:

• The two gospel passages are quoting Genesis 1:27, and are considered to share a source for their writing of these two passages (see also: Q Source).
• Can these passages be reasonably applied to trans people? Why or why not?
• If they can be applied to trans people, should we obey it to the letter?
• Are there theological, eschatological, ethical implications if these passages is or is not applicable to trans people?