Ever since the church was established, we have had to contend with false christs. As the days grow darker and sin escalates, a more palatable christ becomes attractive to those who love the darkness rather than the light. No surprise then that there are some who now suggest Jesus could have been transgender.
Of course, we have heard it all before. For some two-thousand years, people have reinvented Jesus to suit their narrative and affirm their worldview. Consider these reinventions of Jesus: Jesus the Marxist; Jesus the Muslim; Jesus the Socialist; Jesus the hippy; Jesus the homosexual; Jesus the Greenie; all-love, no-judgement Jesus; New Age Jesus; sentimental Jesus; the “love is love” Jesus; the social justice Jesus and the life-coach Jesus. The list never ends! So, it was only a matter of time before the secular left – and its cheer squad of apostate clerics and academics – would assure us that Jesus could well have been transgender. In this case, it comes from within the Anglican Church in the UK. One news report tells the story this way: “Jesus could have been transgender, according to a Dean in the University of Cambridge. Dr. Michael Banner – the Dean of Trinity College – said such a view was ‘legitimate’ after a row over a sermon by a Cambridge research student that claimed Christ had a trans body.” What theological nonsense!
During a truly shocking address at a Sunday evensong at Trinity College chapel, Joshua Heath (a junior research fellow) displayed Renaissance and Medieval paintings of the crucifixion that depicted a side wound that he likened to a vagina. Worshippers left in tears, feeling excluded from the church, with one shouting “heresy” at the Dean upon leaving. Heath, whose Ph.D. was supervised by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, also told worshippers that in the Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg from the 14th century, this side wound was isolated and took on a decidedly vaginal appearance.
A congregation member who wished to remain anonymous told Dr. Banner in a complaint letter: “I left the service in tears. You offered to speak with me afterwards, but I was too distressed. I am contemptuous of the idea that by cutting into a man, through which he can be penetrated, he can become a woman. I am especially contemptuous of such imagery when it is applied to our Lord from the pulpit. I am contemptuous of the notion that we should be invited to contemplate the martyrdom of a ‘trans’ Christ – a new heresy for our age.”
The above is not a first: radicals have been making these sorts of blasphemous claims for years now. Back in 2017 a homosexual Pastor in Texas had this to say: “In the beginning God created humankind in His image … so God is transgender. We are all, therefore, created in the image of what is holy, divine, and sacred, and we should all be treated that way.” Yet, what is conveniently overlooked by these “academics” is that even when taking the word “transgender” at its most basic, it can never be used to describe God. The Bible is crystal clear in informing us that God is a spiritual being. We are told this by Jesus Himself in John 4:24 – God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
As to the views put forward by Joshua Heath, there is absolutely nothing in the entire Bible that could lead anyone to even remotely consider such a view about Jesus. Consequently, his views should have been immediately censured by his peers and most certainly should never have been passed as truth in the presence of those who desire to “worship Him in spirit and in truth”. Yet, in this age, it appears that many are trying to outdo each other in being the most controversial.
Those who are called to preach the Word of God are not to dabble in philosophy or vain deceit – they are to proclaim the revealed truth of God as it is recorded in His Word. It is bad enough that the world has been overtaken by deceit, but to see it filtering into churches at an alarming rate is bitterly disappointing.
