Our identity is not found in the passions that wage war within us. Our deepest identity is found in our covenant representative. You are either in Adam or you are in Christ. Every other identity is far too small to carry the weight of an immortal soul.

One of the strangest ideas ever smuggled into the modern mind is the notion that a person’s deepest identity can be discovered by where he inserts his genitals.

Think about that for a moment. Of all the things that could possibly define a human being, modernity has settled upon sexual preference as the most important. Not whether a man loves God. Not whether he is faithful, courageous, honest, sacrificial, holy, wise, or self-controlled. Not whether he is a husband, father, son, brother, neighbor, church member, or citizen. Not whether he is dead in Adam or alive in Christ. We are told instead that the deepest truth about a human being can be discovered by examining his sexual desires and practices.

The idea is so absurd that previous generations would scarcely have known how to respond to it. Imagine introducing yourself this way: “Hello, my name is Bob. I enjoy medium-rare cheeseburgers, India Pale Ale, and having heterosexual intercourse with my wife.” No sane person talks that way because we instinctively understand that appetites are not identities. The fact that I enjoy burgers does not make me a burger-person. The fact that I enjoy cigars does not become the defining feature of my existence. The fact that I enjoy a particular style of music does not transform itself into the deepest truth about who I am. Yet modern civilization has elevated one appetite above all others and crowned it king. An entire generation has been taught to believe that the defining reality of a human life is sexual desire.

This did not happen accidentally. It happened because modernity quietly replaced the Bible’s doctrine of identity with an entirely different doctrine. Historically, Christians understood the difference between what a person does and who a person is. Scripture speaks of adulterers, drunkards, thieves, idolaters, liars, and those engaged in various forms of sexual immorality. In every case, the emphasis falls upon conduct rather than ontology. These are descriptions of behavior. They are not descriptions of an immutable self. The distinction matters because behaviors can be repented of, forsaken, mortified, and forgiven. The Christian faith assumes transformation is possible because the Gospel assumes that our sins are not our identity.

Modernity overturned this assumption. What was once behavior became identity. What was once temptation became personhood. What was once sin became self.

The transformation happened gradually enough that many people never noticed it occurring. The sodomite became the homosexual. The homosexual became the gay person. The gay person became a member of a sexual identity group. With each successive step, the discussion moved farther away from conduct and closer to ontology. The language changed because the theology changed. Once a behavior becomes an identity, repentance begins to look cruel. Transformation begins to look oppressive. Correction begins to sound hateful. After all, if this is who I am, then any challenge to the behavior becomes a challenge to my very existence.

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