For centuries, the creation story in Genesis has inspired countless debates about human identity, gender, and divine purpose. Today, as society grows more aware of the diversity of gender experiences — including transgender and nonbinary identities — some theologians and readers are re-examining the earliest chapters of Genesis to ask: What if the Bible’s first human already contained both male and female within one being?
Understanding Transgender Identity
The word transgender refers to a person whose gender identity — their deep internal sense of being male, female, both, neither, or somewhere in between — differs from the sex assigned at birth.
It’s about who you are, not who you’re attracted to.
Many transgender individuals express their identity through social changes (name, pronouns, or appearance), and some through medical steps such as hormone therapy or surgery. But not all do — what unites them is the understanding that gender is a spectrum, not a strict binary.
Adam: Created Male and Female
The book of Genesis 1:27 declares:
> “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Some ancient Jewish commentators — and a number of modern theologians — have noted something remarkable here. If Adam was created first, yet already described as “male and female,” this could imply that Adam initially embodied both aspects of humanity in one being — a kind of original androgyny.
When we turn to Genesis 2, we read that God formed Eve from one of Adam’s “ribs.” However, the Hebrew word “tsela” is translated “rib” only twice in the Bible, but “side” nineteen times elsewhere (see Strong’s Concordance). Many scholars therefore suggest that God did not merely remove a bone, but divided Adam’s side, separating the feminine and masculine aspects to create two distinct beings.
As theologian Phyllis Trible and other scholars of Genesis note, this reading supports the idea that “the original human was a whole being — later differentiated into male and female.”
Seth in the Image of Adam — Not God
Later, in Genesis 5:3, we read:
> “Adam fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”
This subtle shift is significant. Whereas Adam was created in the image of God, Seth — and by extension, all humanity after him — is said to be in the image of Adam. Some interpreters take this to mean that humanity no longer perfectly reflected its original, unified state. The human image had changed — not just spiritually, but possibly even in its physical and psychological balance.
From this perspective, it’s not unreasonable to imagine that Adam and Eve each carried remnants of both male and female traits, hormonally and emotionally. Their descendants, therefore, might express these traits along a continuum — what we now call the gender spectrum.
Faith, Identity, and the Spectrum of Creation
While traditional theology maintains the binary view of male and female, others see Genesis as describing a far more dynamic creation — one that contains diversity, fluidity, and balance. The original Adam may have represented the full range of human potential before being divided, symbolizing the unity of opposites found throughout nature and spirit.
This interpretation doesn’t negate the sacredness of gender; rather, it celebrates all people as reflections of the divine image, each expressing unique aspects of God’s creative design.
Modern understanding of gender diversity — including transgender and nonbinary experiences — may therefore not oppose the biblical story, but rather echo its deeper truth: that humanity is vast, multifaceted, and wondrously made.
As theologian and psychologist Karl Jung once observed, “Each man carries within him the eternal image of woman; each woman carries within her the eternal image of man.”
Perhaps Genesis was telling us that from the very beginning.
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