About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

A Metamorphic Transformation  

A recent news report featured a person who looked to me to be female, but apparently wasn't.  This person claims to be genderless.  While this person claims to be neither male nor female others claim to be a man trapped in a woman's body or a woman trapped in a man's body.  All this gender confusion that our culture has legitimized is delegitimizing God creating them male and female (Genesis 1:27).  

The Province of Ontario where I live in Canada funds the cost of surgical procedures that reconstruct the physical appearance of a person to match what gender the person claims to be.  This funding, along with the legal recognition of transgendered distinctives, has cemented the delegitimizing of Genesis 1:27 into our cultural conscience.  In the midst of our atmosphere of tolerance I propose that our government recognize my distinctive identity as a man who has been transformed into a new creation by the process of being born twice.  This would provide me the same legal recognition as being distinctively different offered those of the transgender community.      

2 Corinthians 5:17 (also Galatians 6:15) states that "if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come."  As one who is in Christ, I am not the person I once was.  There is a component within me, namely the Spirit of the Almighty God, that makes me distinctly different from those who are not in Christ.  Biblically speaking, those like me form a distinct society, a community of people possessing a spiritual identity unknown to the general public.       

Canadians understand what "distinct society" means.  Imbedded in Canadian constitutional democracy is that French speaking Canadians are classified as a "distinct society," having specific constitutional rights based on their distinctiveness.  I suggest that the same distinct society status be designated to Christians based on our distinctiveness as being new creations.  We, therefore, should have certain inalienable rights like other distinct peoples have.  Of course that will never happen in our culture where Christians are progressively losing what legal rights we once possessed.              

2 Corinthians 5:17 says that the old has gone.  The words "has gone" are a Greek aorist indicative verb.  This means that as a Christian there was a specific time in my life when I was transformed into a new creation.  This took place when the Holy Spirit entered the core of my being.  This divine surgical, albeit spiritual, procedure reconstructed the very essence of who I am.  Jesus called this transformation a new birth in John 3:3, and so do I.  

I am not transgendered.  I am transformed; "metamorphoo" in the Greek New Testament, meaning "to be changed into something other than what once was."  2 Corinthians 5:17 states that all is new for those who have been so transformed.  The words "is new" are a Greek perfect indicative verb.  This means that at one specific time in the past I underwent a metamorphic transformation that has continuous implications in my life, both now and throughout eternity. 

Biblically defined Christians have undergone a metamorphic transformation.  It's not important if our governments fail to recognize our new identity.  It is important that we recognize who we have become.  If we fail to grasp our identity in Jesus, we will fail to live to our potential as being new creations in Christ.