We recently posted part 1 of a piece by Professor Denny Burk where he tackled the intersex condition called 5-ARD that affects male sexual development. At the Olympic games an athlete with the testosterone level of a man competed as a woman and won the gold medal in the 800m. In part 2 Burk explains how Christians can deal with sexual development issues biblically and with compassion. He writes:
Yesterday, we looked at a controversy about an Olympic athlete who is reported to suffer from an intersex condition. Today, we acknowledge that from a Christian perspective, there are larger issues for us to consider than the male and female divisions of Olympic competition. Cases like this one raise questions about the givenness of the male-female binary. Christians have always affirmed the teaching of Genesis 1:27, which says
“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Jesus himself reaffirmed the givenness of this binary in his remarks on divorce in Matthew 19:4. This distinction between male and female underlies the very fabric of biblical anthropology. It is no small point to the Christian faith.
