The term “marriage” has only one meaning: a covenant between one man and one woman, in a single exclusive union, by which their status changes from two individuals to one flesh as God joins them together. This covenant creates a new family such that their lifelong primary human loyalty is now to one another before anyone else. It is an earthly covenant between one man and one woman that God created and sanctioned to image the unbreakable heavenly covenant between Christ and His Church, therefore intended not to be broken by anything but death. From Genesis to Revelation, the authority of Scripture witnesses to the nature of biblical marriage as uniquely bound to the complementarity of man and woman. The Lord Jesus Himself said that marriage was created by God from the beginning, so no human institution has the authority to redefine marriage any more than a human institution has the authority to redefine the gospel, which marriage mysteriously reflects (Gen 2:18-25; Mat 19:3-9; Eph 5:22-33).
Regarding gender, God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. Rejection of one’s biological gender is a rejection of the image of God within that person (Gen 1:26-27; Ps 139).
God created sex as a gift to be enjoyed within the covenant of marriage. God intends sexual expression to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of this marriage covenant. The exercise of sexual expression outside the biblical definition of marriage in any manner, including but not limited to adultery, homosexuality, premarital sex, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography, is contradictory to God’s design for sexuality and marriage. (Gen 2:15-25; Mat 5:27-32; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6:9-20; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4; 1 Tim 1:10).