Bodily Resurrection and Gender Identity: A Response to Trans Affirming Proposals

Against some who have argued for the erasure of sex distinctions in the new creation and others who have seen in the hope of bodily resurrection the promise of a different ontological order, this paper will argue that just as our embodied sex provides the true ground for gender identity in this age, so it will continue to do so in the age to come. I will make my case, firstly, by pointing to the Jesus, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20) and the continuity between his pre- resurrection body and post-resurrection body; secondly, via an exegesis of Matthew 22:29–32; thirdly, via an exegesis of 1 Corinthians 15:50–53. I will finally tease out the implications of Scripture’s teaching for transgender theory, refuting its claim that the sexed body does not determine the gendered self. To the contrary, I will conclude that the sex of the body God has given us in this world will determine the sex of the body he will give us in the world to come. And as it is now, so it will be then: the sex of the body will both determine and reveal the gender of the person.