Made in the Image of God: Why we should avoid labels like "gay", "lesbian", etc.

With the rise of gender theory and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) activism, a growing number of people have begun to define themselves with reference to their "sexual orientation" or "sexual identity". Terms like "gay" or "lesbian" are used to define people, and distinctions are made between "heterosexual" and "homosexual" persons. Even many Christians use these terms.

But is this Biblical?

The concept of "sexual orientation" is completely foreign to the Biblical framework, a point that homosexual activists and liberal theologians are especially quick to emphasise. Yet this is precisely the point.

From the Biblical perspective, human beings are not defined by "sexual orientation" or "sexual identity". Instead, the starting point is and has always been Genesis 1:27:

So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them. 

Men and women are created in the image of God. That is our identity.

For Christians, our identity is rooted in being children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in Galatians 3:26-28:

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,  for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, Dr Michael Brown sums this up very simply in "5 Truths About Same-Sex Attraction":

Your attractions do not define you. Despite the fact that much is made today of “being gay” or having a gay identity, the reality is that your romantic attractions and sexual desires do not define who you are as a person. 

More importantly, if you have surrendered your life to the Lord and are living in obedience to Him, your primary identity is found in being a son or daughter of God. 

Many believers struggle when they put gay before Christian in terms of their identity rather than putting Christian (or child of God) first.

Likewise, then-Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict) wrote in his Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons:

16. ... The human person, made in the image and likeness of God, can hardly be adequately described by a reductionist reference to his or her sexual orientation. Every one living on the face of the earth has personal problems and difficulties, but challenges to growth, strengths, talents and gifts as well. Today, the Church provides a badly needed context for the care of the human person when she refuses to consider the person as a "heterosexual" or a "homosexual" and insists that every person has a fundamental Identity: the creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life. 

As disciples of Jesus Christ, let us refrain from using simplistic and reductionist labels like "gay", "lesbian", etc. We are not defined by our desires, sexual or otherwise.

Marred as we are by sin, humans still bear the image of God. And through Christ Jesus, each one of us can be set free from desires that enslave us, to live a life free from sin with the guidance and counsel of His Holy Spirit.