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Late in 2024, Congresswoman Nancy Mace went on a very public crusade against allowing biological males who identify as transgender to use women’s restrooms in the U.S. Capitol. A survivor of sexual assault, Mace took an unquestionably brave stand against progressivism’s latest trend. She understands the real vulnerabilities of being a woman subjected to a male’s unwelcome presence. Mace’s opposition testified that the stark difference between males and females is a sacred divide that society should uphold.
The problem and irony in Mace’s stance is that she considers herself a more culturally progressive Republican and has actively championed—and capitulated to—the same cultural forces that undermine complementarity—namely, the LGBT lobby. What she fails to see in her affirmation of LGB to the exclusion of the T is that both share a common origin: the rejection of human telos, or embodied purpose. The T rejects telos at the level of our individual embodiment, while LGB rejects telos at the level of our relational complementarity. We should welcome all who oppose the T, but consistency requires opposing the LGB, too.
The failure to see this consistency stems from an inadequate accounting of human embodiment or, to put it differently, the moral logic of Scripture’s declaration that God makes us male and female in His image (Gen. 1:26–27).
According to Scripture, the body tells us a story. Scripture describes humanity as gendered image bearers. In Genesis 1 and 2, Adam and Eve are depicted as archetypal and purposeful beings with created natures within a purposeful world. God provides them with a habitable environment and commands them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth (1:28). Therefore, our reason for existing is intrinsically tied to fulfilling this divine mandate, which inherently involves two distinct bodily forms. In essence, the opening chapters of the Bible present an ordered and purposeful creation guided by God’s providence.
the design of the body tells the story of creation order
We can understand the purposefulness of that creation by looking more intently at how maleness and femaleness narrate the story of God’s will for creation order. The design of the human body at all levels of our embodiment tells a profound and beautiful story about creation.
The body and the self. Creation reveals a purposeful order established by God: He creates human beings as male and female, designed for one another. Together, male and female form the catalyzing foundation of social order, reflecting a divine pattern in creation that gives humanity a vocation at every level of our existence. God grants us, as individuals, agency—the capacity to act, experience, and enjoy His creation. Our bodies allow us to take part in life’s pleasures, from eating to appreciating beauty, working in skilled vocations, engaging in physical activity, and enjoying the physical pleasures that attend to marital intercourse. This personal embodiment reminds us that our bodies are not merely vessels; they are integral to who we are.
The body and relationality. Yet our individuality is neither generic nor an undifferentiated sameness. It is expressed through our maleness and femaleness, revealing a relational design. The body is made for relationship, and this embodied complementarity endows men and women with unique capacities that find their fulfillment in marriage. That embodied complementarity imbues males and females with their respective natures and capacities—namely, reproduction. This makes the family the cornerstone of social order. In this sense, the body tells not just the story of the individual but also the story of relationality and society. The creation order includes the individual existence of the body, the union of male and female, and the extension of life through family—an order that God declares “good.” Our bodies are designed for another.
The body and society. A healthy culture depends on the strength of its families, which are built on the bond of marriage originating from our individual embodiment. The well-being of a society can be measured by its ability to foster and sustain this bond. When we disregard the limits set by God’s design, we do not achieve greater freedom but instead lose the path to true human flourishing. Today, declining fertility rates and the erosion of marriage signal an inverted creation order, one that threatens social stability. Historically, theologians and political philosophers have recognized marriage as the most vital pre-political institution, the bedrock of a stable political order.
This connection between marriage, family, and society is underscored by the fifth commandment, which emphasizes well-ordered authority—from God to parents to children. When this model is replicated across families, it creates the framework for a healthy and flourishing society. Thus, respecting and upholding God’s design for the body, marriage, and family is not only a theological imperative but also a social necessity. Our bodies create societies.
The realities of the individual, relational, and social are all inextricably bound up and united in our embodiment. While our individual, relational, and social capacities are conceptually distinct realities, they are not severed realities.
the body’s moral signpost
The logic of bodily sex difference provides a foundation for understanding the moral framework of biblical sexual ethics. In Scripture, the normative context for sexual relations is intrinsically linked to the body’s design. When God created humanity, He did so with intention, shaping male and female bodies in a reciprocal and complementary manner. This design is not arbitrary; it conveys purpose, guiding how our bodies are to be used. Respecting the natural design of the body is essential to comprehending biblical sexuality, since the body’s organization—specifically its capacity for reproduction—defines which sexual actions are proper and which are immoral.
Maleness and femaleness are not abstract concepts but embodied realities rooted in our nature and purpose as men and women. This purpose finds its fulfillment in marriage and family life, where the complementary union of male and female results in the continuation of life. Thus, biblical sexual ethics flow naturally from the understanding that human bodies were created with a specific design and a clear purpose.
To understand what is “good” biblically requires a true knowledge of a thing’s nature and what brings it to fulfillment. Therefore, experiencing goodness involves recognizing ourselves as God’s image bearers, accepting our created nature, and living in harmony with it. Any violation of a creature’s nature can never truly be called “good.”
By understanding the purpose or end of something, we can establish moral principles that guide us toward its proper development and fulfillment. These principles, in essence, exist for our benefit. By following them, we align ourselves with God’s design and experience the goodness He intends for us as His creatures.
resisting willed obscurity
One does not need to be a Christian to discern the uniqueness of male and female design. History is replete with non-Christian societies that have honored this design.
I’ve seen Christian theologians suggest on social media that sin has so thoroughly corrupted our perception of nature that only special revelation can provide the proper means to interpret it. While I partially agree with this, I also find it problematic. If we fully adopt this view, we inadvertently accept David Hume’s “is/ought” dilemma, the idea that we cannot derive any normative statements from the facts of our nature. This dilemma has had a devastating impact on ethics. It is true that Scripture offers the definitive interpretation of general revelation (nature), but the fact that humanity’s perception is flawed does not mean that it is wholly incapable of discerning any truth whatsoever. Nature, even without the aid of Scripture, is imbued with moral meaning and divine signposts, as Paul affirms in Romans 1:18–20.
For example, when non-Christians recognize the absurdity of the transgender movement, they are acknowledging a genuine (albeit incomplete) understanding of the created order. To deny that nature has any intelligibility apart from Scripture is to suggest that irrational interpretations of nature—such as “gay” marriage—are as legitimate as Christian interpretations. Such a stance effectively concedes the ground of natural teleology to nihilism and implies to non-Christians that they are justified in their rejection of moral order. This is catastrophic for public ethics.
Humanity’s primary problem is not epistemological but volitional. People naturally suppress the truth in unrighteousness, yet this suppression does not erase the truth’s existence or its knowability. As Romans 1:19 states, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, for God has shown it to them.” In other words, while sin distorts human understanding, it does not render nature unintelligible or strip humanity of its accountability to the moral order inherent in creation.
conclusion
In 2021, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that he and his “husband” had become parents to two children through surrogacy. The two men took a now-viral photo of themselves sitting in a hospital bed holding their children. Noticeably absent from the photo was the mother of the children. But that did not stop them from playacting the scene with which we are all familiar, that of a new mom holding a newborn on her chest after giving birth. Here, there was no mother. There were only two males denying these children their natural right to know the differentiated love of a mother and father and instead cosplaying a reality that they could never achieve with their own bodies.
How should we understand this photo in light of the arguments of this article? We can understand it only as an untelling or false narration of the body’s story. The misuse of the body toward its appointed end terminates in a false view of family formation. The photo vividly demonstrates what rejecting the individual, relational, and social dimensions of our body results in and thwarts God’s original plan for creation.
The disruption or distortion of the organic unity between the body’s design and its intended purpose can have profound effects. Homosexual acts misuse the body by obstructing both its design and its purpose in procreation. Nonmarital sexual acts similarly misuse the body by divorcing sexual activity from its proper context—marriage, which is a comprehensive union requiring a comprehensive commitment because of the potential for new life that arises from that union. In each case, the integrity of embodiment is undermined, and the natural order intended for human flourishing is disrupted.
In place of the falsehood that we saw with Buttigieg, the truth of the body’s logic bursts through. Marriage—the joining of opposite-sex persons in a permanent covenant—is the foundational unit of human society, a microcosm of civilization. It is the primary organizing principle of society, for society itself is ultimately the sum of the families within it. While not all marriages result in children—often due to circumstances beyond the couple’s control, such as infertility—the structure of marriage is defined by the complementarity of male and female, which inherently allows for the possibility of procreation. This complementary union is what gives marriage its unique and essential role in the social order.
The most crucial element of Christianity’s public witness regarding sexuality and gender is its ability to connect these teachings to the broader framework of the common good. This perspective calls believers to take an active and confident stance rather than retreating into a defensive posture. While Christian Scripture and tradition on human embodiment remain highly contentious in contemporary culture, the core message is straightforward: man and woman are designed to become husband and wife, father and mother. This sequence reflects a purposeful logic in our embodiment.
Human embodiment, culminating in marriage and family life, offers a guiding ethic for all of creation and social order. Consequently, Christians must articulate the relevance of these teachings within the framework of biblical natural law. Though secular society may not soon embrace the tenets of revealed religion, the undeniable realities of human embodiment endure. We should hope that rejecting marriage and bearing children outside its protective framework will ultimately compel society to reconsider its own assumptions.
Signs of this reconsideration are already appearing. In September 2023, The Atlantic acknowledged a truth long upheld by both biblical teaching and natural law: children fare better in households with both a mother and a father. While this revelation may seem novel to a secular audience, it comes as no surprise to Christians. The fact that a mainstream, secular publication considers this discovery noteworthy should remind believers that Christian teachings on the body, marriage, and sexuality are not relics of the past but are essential principles for human flourishing.