Although sex-change operations are not specifically mentioned in Scripture, human sexuality is spelled out clearly, starting in Genesis: “So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them. God blessed them and told them, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:27-28a).

On the sixth day of creation, God created people in His own image. Verse 31 tells us that His creation was excellent in every way. To say that a sex change is okay is to say that when God created a certain individual, He made a mistake. Those who have given testimony to having a sex change almost always say the same thing. “I was made a woman but put in a man’s body” or “I was made a man but put in a woman’s body.” This denies what God has said about His creation—that it was excellent in every way. God is saying that He made men to be men and women to be women.

What does the Scripture say about having sex with the same gender? The story of the two angels that visited Lot in Sodom makes it clear: “He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.’ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, ‘No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing’” (Genesis 19:3-7). The rest of the story is that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexual sins. God said that it was wicked in His sight.

Paul writes in Romans, “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes. So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done” (Romans 1:27-28). Here, God calls the things that men do with other men shameful, vile and degrading. Therefore, how can one say that a sex change is within the will of God?

Scripture consistently teaches from the beginning that God made men and women to have a relationship with the opposite sex and to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Even if a man has a sex change and becomes a woman in some form, he is still a man inside and does not have the ability to reproduce. The passage in Romans shows that if men lust for each other, this is a shameful thing. God puts sexual immorality on the same level as idolatry—neither is acceptable to God. Scripture also says that if you believe this is an acceptable practice, you believe a lie. The world is full of people who believe anything they want to believe and will not listen to anyone who doesn’t tell them what they want to hear.

One last Scripture: “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing. The Lord your God detests people who do this” (Deuteronomy 22:5). Those who undergo a sex change have no choice but to wear the clothes of the opposite sex, which God has deemed to be detestable. God made man to be man and woman to be woman, and He does not allow any alterations to His creation, because as God said, it was excellent in every way.