Estimated reading time: 5 mins.
Is God really a male?
No. God is a Spirit.
Thanks for reading!
Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
(We’re about to go on a bit of a ride. I’m not asking you to agree, just to keep an open mind.)
When we ask “is God male?” what we’re really asking is, “If God isn’t male, why is the Lord referred to with masculine language in the Bible. Words such as warrior, father, king, and shepherd are all used to refer to God in the Bible, and they all use the masculine form. If God is not male, why does the Bible use this language?
Before we discuss that, we must first understand this truth. In his textbook “Christian Theology: An Introduction”, Alister McGrath explains it this way:
“The fundamental challenge is the inability of human language to do justice to the transcendent. One of the central themes of Christian theology and spirituality is that there are limits placed on the human ability to grasp the things of God. God knows our human limitations, so He discloses divine truths and enters into our world in forms that are tempered and adapted to our limited abilities.”
In other words, our finite language will always be found lacking when it comes to attempting to explain an infinite God. Because the Lord understands this, God is revealed to us in ways that we can understand. One of the earliest ways God was revealed to us was as “Father”. Therefore, some people say, since God was revealed as Father, then God must be male. There are two challenges with this…
First, when God used Father as a model to reveal himself to Israel in the Old Testament, it was not about being male. It was about the cultural context of the time and what it meant to be a “Father” back then. The writers referring to God as “Father” were not referring to “maleness”, rather to the roles and responsibilities of fatherhood that God so perfectly embodied.
God is the Father because He is the originator of all things, He protects His children, and He provides for those who rely on Him. When the Old Testament spoke of God as “Father”, these are the characteristics of God that they were attempting to get the children of Israel to embrace; it was not about his “maleness”.
The second issue is this: if using male analogs as a way to get humanity to understand His character makes God male, then God is also just as female. Even in the patriarchal cultural context of ancient Israel, God’s female characteristics were not hidden.
In Deuteronomy 32:18, God gives birth (something only a female can do): “You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth.”
In Isaiah 66:9, God is a midwife helping to give birth to Israel: “‘Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?’ asks the LORD. ‘No! I would never keep this nation from being born,’ says your God.”
In verse 13 of Isaiah 66, God is a mother: “I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”
In fact, in ancient Israelite culture, the giving of bread was a distinctly feminine characteristic. This allows us to understand more fully Exodus 16:4, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you…”
If descriptions like “Father”, “King”, and “Lord” make God male, then certainly the ability to give birth, being a midwife, and a mother make God just as female.
There’s something else to consider as well…
God was revealed as Father to humanity so that we could have an instant and personal connection with the Lord. At that time, the word “Father” brought an instant feeling of joy and comfort. But, in today’s context, the word “Father” does not bring joy and comfort to everyone. There are some people who hear the word “Father” and all it does is bring up feelings of neglect, abandonment, fear, or even hopelessness.
Then, instead of adjusting our language to be more inclusive, we almost force those individuals to connect with a patriarchal view of God by saying things like:
“If you didn’t have a father, maybe your father abandoned you, maybe he touched you inappropriately, you have a Father in Heaven who loves you…”
The truth is, there are some people that will always struggle to connect with God as “Father” because of their personal experiences. But, if we encourage them to connect with God as a mother, they would make an instant connection! Or even as a friend as Jesus said in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants…but I have called you friends…”
Church: as we understand our new cultural context, I truly believe that it is time for us to become just as comfortable with female representations of God as we are with male representations of God. Let’s begin to use she/her/hers as it relates to God just as much as we use he/him/his. God is just as much our Mother as She is our Father.
Here’s a radical idea: what would it be like if we replaced all the masculine pronouns in our favorite songs with feminine ones?
“She’s an on-time God
Yes, she is!”
“Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh
She’s able!”
“I am a friend of God
She calls me friend”
(What are some other ones? Leave them in the comments below.)
What God was able to do in the scripture was identify what Her people needed to hear, then deliver Herself to them in a way that they could receive. What if She is requiring us to do the same thing today? What if God wanted us to disrupt our preconceived notions of who He is in order to bring the world into a deeper relationship with Herself?
Does this feel uncomfortable? Good!
Check out Isaiah 66:13, “I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”
“Oh, She walks with me
And She talks with me
And She tells me I am her own…”
Very insightful article, bro. Understanding cultural context is super important and brings another level of clarity to the Word. If Paul became all things to all people, why should God be any different?
That’s a good one!
Cultural context is so important! Only by truly understanding that can we begin to really unlock the Word.
This is good! I believe we are just naturally taught to refer to God as Father and I have never thought about it before now…. but He is all things! Our minds can’t even comprehend. Great article!!
Yes! God is ALL things. We should be just as comfortable with female analogs for God as we are with male.
Thanks so much for explaining it in this way. Sometimes we get so stuck in our patriarchal society and our religious traditions that we forget to just focus on God. Although some will leave this post being shook, others will welcome an opportunity to view God in a new way that brings them both peace and comfort. That’s the blessing in really being able to discover and uncover who God is.
One of the most dangerous things that the church can do is get stuck. My pastor Bishop Lester Love says one of the worst places that we can be is where God WAS. Just because God revealed Himself one way long ago doesn’t mean that SHE can’t reveal herself in a new way today!
Bro, you’ve done it again. This is a discussion I’ve had on several occasions. Being comfortable having this dialogue does not diminish the “isness” of God. In fact, if more people could be open to other perceptions (within reason), perhaps Love would be stronger, nurturing would be better, and overall compassion would be better in the Church and world at large. IJS
Blessings bro!
Thanks, DJ. We are smart, capable humans. We should be able to hold two or concepts in our minds at one time. Just because we start referring to God as “her” doesn’t diminish her at all. We must be open to new revelations of God.
When I think about the goodness of Jesus and all that she’s done for me; I can dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance all night…
“She’s a good, good Mother!”
This was an extremely thought-provoking read! And also a serious challenge for some people… but I cannot argue with your logic here.
Thanks, bro! I really want people who disagree to comment so we can get some dialogue going. 🤷🏾♂️
Thanks for enlighting our insight. I never considered that Jesus wasn’t a male/man) before this.
Jesus of Nazareth was a man for sure. But the divine part of him, the Christ, was just as female as male.
This is good!! We’ve been taught since kids that God is referred to as father/he/him! Never thought to think of God in another light until this!
Oh how she loves us, how she loves us so!
Oh yes “she loves us, oh how she loves us!”
I will admit, this is quite challenging to my southern Baptist roots. We clearly have an established patriarchal church, and it is something that I have fought against, but is deeply ingrained. This will cause me to definitely think more.
When we discuss proper cultural context I am very curious of your interpretation of this, especially when you think about it in the greater conditions of our LGBTQ+ society. I would be interested in your thoughts on how the interpretation of understanding the lack of pronouns of the spirit of God can be interpreted within that context.
There was a part of me that cringed at calling God “Her”, that’s how I knew I had to say it.
The LGBTQ conversation is definitely coming. What do you think though?
Very insightful and a reflection of your exposure and expansion of thought as you matriculate through seminary. Continue to push and challenge the capacity and limits of your thinking as you see that the Divine is not exclusive to a single revelation but has and will continue to reveal itself in many and various forms that creation may respond in relationship.
Earlier this year, I ministered a message on the “Whole Counsel of God” using the introduction of the other Divine body (Eve) as a balancing act in the revelation of God. Yahweh (the supreme divine body) says, “Let US make man in OUR image,” the creation story demonstrates the intention of God and it’s only in interpretation that we dismiss the revelation: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV
God called itself an US and an Our. I don’t believe that this is a revelation of the doctrine of the trinity, but rather the solidarity of the supreme body in connection to its creation. The divine created being (Adam) contained the whole revelation of the supreme divine body “Male and Female created He them.” I agree with you that the pronoun used for God doesn’t mean male but is a linguistic shortcut used for human expression. For us, to receive the Whole Counsel of God, requires that we acknowledge that God is both Father and Mother and created in humankind the same as a reflection of Its divine character.
Lastly, I think it is noble to want to wrestle with the pronoun and gender usage in reference to God and to use it to usher human thinking closer to the divine but I wonder if our effort to understand God creates a theomorphism that is more dangerous than God. Can God be an it and a they to which we refrain as much as possible to not ascribe human qualities. I dunno. Just something else to think about.
Welcome to Expanded Consciousness.
Bless you, Pastor!
I started to include non-gendered pronouns, such as “it”. I decided against it because I would not want to take away one of the central aspects of God, mainly the fact that God is personal. It’s challenging for humanity to have relationship with an “it”. “It” feels cold and impersonal. I think we start to wander into the territory when we are attempting to change the very nature of God. I’m not sure that referring to God as “her” as much as we do “him” changes God’s nature. However, to refer to God as “it” feels like a change in her nature to me. She is close to us, desires to have relationship with us, longs for us to be with her. That just doesn’t sound like an “it” to me.
What do you think?
I agree that “It” feels impersonal. Perhaps, we should approach the God-head as we do transgendered persons. Many transgendered people decided their own pronoun and even go as far as using the pronoun “they or them”. Considering the Trinitarian doctrine, perhaps God should not be he or she but they and them. Even God said “let us make…in our image.” What if God as female is equally limited in its relatability? Could it be possible that transgenderism is another way through which the God of the Universe reveals its divine connection with its creation? Hmmm.
You’re getting into the deep stuff now, Pastor! LOL..I Love It!!!
I truly think this is the power of God, Christ, the Spirit, and (dare I say) the church. Unlike other expressions, we serve a God, Christ, Spirit, and a church that can be whatever you need them to be.
You need God to be a mother, then that’s what she is. There are artistic renderings of Christ all over the world that match the demographics of the artist. So, there are Asian representations of Christ that imagine an Asian Jesus. Same with black, Caribbean, and (of course) white.
Reza Aslan says that the Jesus of history is frozen in time, but the Christ of faith is infinitely malleable. Christ has the ability to be whatever we need!
My challenge is that for too long, we have held on to one revelation of God without appropriately making room for others.
Alexa, play “God is a Woman” by Ariana Grande! 😂 Love this thinking! Keep challenging us!
That’s the goal…challenge!
Awesome insight Torrey! Thinking or referring to God as She/Her immediately brings about a new level of emotional comfort to my spirit. This has always been a question in my mind…if I was created in God’s image, wouldn’t God in fact be a female? Just thinking of one of my favorite scriptures, Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Her and She will direct your path.”
Thank you, Alice. My heart breaks thinking about all the women who could have received that same level of emotional comfort but were denied because the church was uncomfortable referring to God in this way. But the truth is God is just as much female and she is male. The language that we use makes a difference. I pray that this begins to help you experience a new level of freedom!
Yes indeed Torrey. Thank you!
This is beaucoup good!!! I think in this day and age, we have become so uncomfortable with the challenges to male and female attributes as absolutes instead of on a scale that this just simply won’t compute for some folks because their own insecurities and conceptions of gender. God has always been bigger than that. And just like those who struggle with the concept of fatherhood, there are those who did not have good mothers and struggle with the concept of motherhood. What a blessing that he is a father to the fatherless and a mother to the motherless. He is all things and everything we need.
Oh yes, she is!
Pastor Torrey,
Thank you for sharing your very interesting point of view. I always thought of God as a masculine spirit. I never questioned it. One thing I often thought about, however, was the trinity. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one. 1 John 5:7.
Do all three of these Powers represent/reflect a masculine spirit? Here are my thoughts and how I worked things out in my spirit…
Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. God, H430 in the Strong’s, says that Elohim is plural. Further down, in Genesis 1:26, it says, “and God/Elohim (H430) said Let “US” make man in our image.
Romans 1:20 says, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. The Lord’s Prayer even says, “On earth as it is in heaven.” So I began trying to comprehend to the best of my abilities how all of these scriptures could make since without contradiction. Father = Masculine. Son = Masculine. Holy Spirit, Masculine? The Holy Spirit; also known as Wisdom, Understanding, The Spirit of Truth, and The Comforter to name a few.
Proverbs 8:1 says, does not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth HER voice? In the same book, verses 23 to 31 says, “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains, abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills were, I was brought forth: When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth. When he established the clouds above; when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; When he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then, I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. This to me sounds exactly how I support my husband. He sees me as the best part of himself, helping him to bring all of his dreams to manifestation. We all have our roles to play. And it’s very interesting to me that the only sin that is considered unforgiving in the scriptures is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, lol.
So I see it like this: God (The Great I Am/ Most High/Our Father) pulled the Holy Spirit from himself the way Woman was pulled out of Man via the scriptures. Man plus Woman = Creation.
The Holy Spirit as the feminine aspect of God has been discussed as early as the 1st Century.
You are right in line with their thinking by equating the Spirit with wisdom which the Bible explicitly refers to as feminine.
Being able to critically think about these things is the essence of Theology.
Very interesting…you mentioned that I’m in line with their thinking. I would love to know more. Could you point me to any sources so that I may look into this subject matter more? I’ve never really heard many people talk about The Holy Spirit in the way that I’ve rationalized it for myself lol. I’ve never gone to any seminary school or anything. I’m just a lover and researcher of the scrolls.
Here’s a book called “The Holy Spirit: The Feminine Nature of God: How the feminine component of Jehovah God was erased from early Christian and Jewish beliefs.”
Full disclosure: If you click the link below to order from Amazon, I’ll get a small percentage of the sale.
https://amzn.to/2VuE4k5
Torrey, I continue to say and even further believe that this platform is SO necessary for this age, time and space when God is clearly calling is us to disrupt and dismantle all of the preconceived notions that we mostly believe because someone else told us to. It is time out for us to continue being Pharisees and Sadducees perpetuating truths that we don’t even value. It is time to deconstruct so that God can rebuild.
God was literally having this very same conversation with me about a week and half ago. But without the cultural, historical and scriptural context I was not able to dive into it like I wanted to. Now this post is an answered prayer as I sat just some time ago and asked the questions: “Why DO we refer to God as masculine only? Why DO we perpetuate this belief that God is male? When presented with the truth that God IS Spirit, would we allow ourselves to believe that both masculine and feminine characteristics must be attributed? Are we comfortable in being uncomfortable when presented with truth that disrupts what we have always believed and will we be open to exploring these truths or will we shut them down and remain in what we have always ‘known’ simply because it’s familiar?”
That last question has so much more to do with so many other constructs than simply this one but I believe it is the question we will keep revisiting as we are presented with more unlearning and more revelation. Thank you for your continued obedience. It is reassuring to know that 1. God speaks and I hear clearly and 2. there is confirmation for the path that God has set me on and while others may be uncomfortable with readjusting, the path is clear and the time is now.
Love how you do all the studying and I gain all the knowledge. Thanks for sharing.
She’s working it out. Shirley Caesar.
Great read this morning.
God to me is a divine energy that is both Shiva & Shakti, which means both masculine and feminine energies. When I reference energy, it is not male or female because that puts us in a physical construct (black/white, Chinese/French, or whatever label we put on ourselves), which is not who we actually are. We are representations of Gods energy; a mind & soul protected by something physical. This is where we can try to stop putting ourselves in categories to find oneness, but that’s a whole other topic. Our energy is on that spectrum of theses masculine & feminine characteristics. You can’t have one with the other. You can’t have strong without vulnerability (bring on the analogies). If you look at how are chakras (energy systems) work, the 2nd chakra dealing with creation (feminine energy), comes before the 3rd dealing with fire & strength (masculine energy). It’s a balance. It’s the “our” and “us” and on some days that energy is shifted in one direction vs. another.
In the East there is something known as the third gender, or Hijras, and have actually their own affiliation other than male and female. They have been subjected to being less than for years, so now you see a lot as sex workers and very poor…but in ancient times they were known as the people with the greatest devotion. The divine gave them the ceremonial privilege during wedding and child birth as a way to bring the masculine and feminine energies together through song & dance.
ReallY loved this blog and look forward to reading more.