The Gender Of God

I keep being surprised by the number of people I meet that seem to think that God is male. Perhaps I shouldn't be, though - most of the language we use for God is, and the most common language (in the New Testament, at least) is either male or not obviously gendered (though we probably wouldn't use the word Lord for a female). Even if we just look at the members of the Trinity - we have God the Father, and God the Son (both very much male terms!), and then God the Holy Spirit; which isn't obviously gendered, but people seem to just assume it follows the trend of the other two. But I think we'll find if we dig even a little, we'll discover that this idea (of God being male) is not only incorrect - but that it severely limits the character of God.

One of the biggest signs for me that there's more to this comes right at the beginning of the Bible. Actually, there are a couple right there, but let's start with this one:

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground. So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27, NLT)

Humans are created in God's image, to be like God. And in the very same line, the same sentence - we are created as male and female. This would suggest that both male and female reflect parts of the image of God. Not just one, or the other - but both. Neither communicates the whole image of God - and, I would even say that both together cannot either, because God is so much greater than anything we can be. In many respects, then, we could say that God is beyond being called by any gender or sex - because God is not human. Jesus is, and we can say that Jesus, when they are human, is a human male. But for God as a whole - or the other members of the Trinity - it's not necessarily helpful to talk about their gender, though we tend to do so as a matter of course.

Indeed, throughout the Bible, we see God using various titles and ways to refer to themselves that could be seen as male, or as female, or not specifically gendered at all. And interestingly, the Hebrew word for "spirit" that is used in the Old Testament is ruach, which is gendered feminine (in Hebrew language, many words are inherently gendered). This same ruach is the first member of the Trinity we are introduced to, in Genesis 1:2;

The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

From the very beginning of the Bible, we are shown that God is not just male - or just female. Both male and female are found within God, and God is greater than both. Masculinity and femininity both find their origin within God; and these are not narrow or negative ideas of masculinity and femininity that we seem to see in some places today, but broad and positive. You see women in the Bible that are warriors, and men that are poets. Neither are considered to be "less of a woman" or "less of a man" for those roles.

Believing that God is male - or female - paves the way for sexism (others are literally not in the image of God, as you are), as well as a limiting of who God can be. If you believe that God can be only male - you are restricting how God can interact with you. God can never be like a caring mother that birthed you and nurses you. If you believe that God can be only female - again, you are restricting how God can interact with you. God cannot be a protective father, or the loving bridegroom, pursuing you relentlessly.

As I've already noted, however, God is beyond gender. And we certainly can't say that God has a sex, because God doesn't have a body - Jesus had a body, and we can say that that body's sex was male. But trying to define God by our own terms (as usual) always falls short. Trying to define God by this gender, or that gender, is unhelpful. God is not defined by our culture - God simply exists, and did so well before we were around. The metaphors in the Bible that are gendered are only meant to illustrate parts of God's character, and nature - not define their gender. God is more than male, and more than female - God is beyond gender.