Answer
Some people believe that, in heaven, all people will be genderless; others believe that we will retain our gender in heaven and that the resurrection of the body will not change one’s sex. Males will be males in heaven, and females will be females.
Those who promote the genderless view sometimes use Matthew 22:30 as a proof text. In that verse, Jesus speaks of people after the resurrection not participating in marriage—they become “like the angels.” Jesus does say that people will not marry in heaven; however, He says nothing about gender in heaven.
Another passage cited by the supporters of the genderless view is Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (emphasis added). Some say that this verse presents the reality of the new creation: in Christ, who makes all things new, gender will be literally removed. In reply, we would say that Galatians 3:28 speaks of a spiritual unity in which neither men nor women have any special advantages or disadvantages in salvation. Heaven does not show favors on account of gender.
If there is no such thing as gender in heaven, then why did God create Adam and Eve as gendered beings? Some say that God knew gender would be necessary in a fallen world—that procreation would be needed to make up for the losses incurred by death. In the new earth, death will be abolished, thus making procreation (and gender) unnecessary. This explanation, however, is based on inference and assumption rather than anything explicit in the text of Scripture.
In fact, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates people will lose or change their gender in heaven. On the contrary, the Bible implies that we will remain who we are in heaven, and gender is part of who we are. Gender is part of our very nature and affects the way we relate to each other and to God. In paradise, Lazarus was still Lazurus, and Abraham was still Abraham (Luke 16:22–24). Elijah and Moses appeared in glory as themselves (Matthew 17:3). And the post-resurrection Jesus was still a “he” (see Luke 24:27). In each of these cases, the men are still men. No one lost his gender in heaven.
Augustine correctly saw the eternal state as a restoration and renewal of God’s work, not an eradication of it. Augustine had “no doubt that both sexes shall rise. For there shall be no lust, which is now the cause of confusion. For before they sinned, the man and the woman were naked, and were not ashamed. From those bodies, then, vice shall be withdrawn, while nature shall be preserved. And the sex of woman is not a vice, but nature. . . . He, then, who created both sexes will restore both” (City of God, Book XXII, ch. 17).
In the eternal state, “there shall be no more curse” (Revelation 22:3, NKJV). So, the curse of sin is done away with. But gender was never part of the curse. God created humanity “male and female” (Genesis 1:27) before the fall. Gender, therefore, was part of the “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31). Life in heaven will be much different than it is now, but there is no reason to think that gender will be lost in heaven.
