‘Is God male?’ by Claire Lynch, 27 October 2024

When we form pictures in our minds, does God have a gender? Claire Lynch looks at the history of people forming views on this, and considers the range of Bible references to God which might seem more male or female in different places. The talk concludes with time for meditation for you to notice what comes to mind in response to the Bible’s descriptions of God. Could fresh images of God help you relate to God better?

Transcript

Introduction

Many years ago, when I was growing up, a well known book was being circulated in the Christian world, called - “ Your God is too small” by J.B Philips.  A  few year later, writer John Young, maintaining that not enough progress had been made since the Philips’ book, wrote his own, entitled “Our God is still too small.”

Now I have to confess I don’t think I ever read either of those books or at least I don’t remember - but I do and always have remembered the titles, because even those titles impacted me and communicated the crux of what I imagine the message to be.

The idea, that “Our” God, the God that we, as humans, have created in our minds, is so much smaller than the reality of who God actually is.

That our experiences, the way we see the world, the cultures we have grown up in, the biases we are unaware we even hold, our limited human brains can all reduce our perception of God to less than He actually is.

And that concept, that limits not only our understanding but also our experience and relationship with God, is really at the core of this series that I’m doing of  “What is God like?”

Here, I’ve been taking us on a journey, of rethinking through some of the ways we have understood or possibly misunderstood God.  It’s a journey that I have been on personally, and although it can sometimes feel unsettling or even unfaithful to question some things, my experience is that this journey has only expanded my faith and love for God, not diminished it.  That to me, God is even bigger, better, more beautiful than I could ever have imagined.

Sometimes, rethinking something is about exchanging one way of seeing something for a new way, laying something down and picking something up.

But sometimes, rethinking may not be about discarding but expanding.  That  we recognise that some aspect of the way we’ve been seeing God, is not strictly wrong but just limited, that our God is, too small!

And the belief that God is male, falls into this category I believe.

I have attended and grown up in Church all my life, and for the majority of that time, it never even occurred to me to think of God as anything other than male, why would we?  God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit - it’s as plain as can be.  Jesus was a man, he referred to God as Father, there’s nothing to discuss surely?

But thinking that way, is a little bit like looking at leaf and only seeing one side of it.  I love leaves, I love the autumn, the beauty that we see all around.  Most of the time, on these gorgeous trees that we are seeing change colour at the moment, it’s the top of the leaf, that draws our attention.  The upper surface is called the adaxial side, and responsible for harvesting light, and then the lower surface is known as the abaxial side which is responsible for gas exchange.  Both sides are equally important for efficient photosynthesis and health and colour of that leaf.

And sometimes with God, we can get so focused on one thing that we fail to see other sides of his nature.

Just like there are 2 sides of a coin, or as my son once discovered a bit too late there are 2 sides to an exam paper!

But why is this even important?  For some of us here, we may be thinking,  “Duh!  Isn’t this obvious, of course God’s not actually male, he’s a divine being that far transcends gender!”  But for others of us, it might feel uncomfortable to be thinking about this.  This might be a new concept that you haven’t thought about before.

So why does it matter?

Well I’d like to suggest a few reasons, in no particular order, why this really matters, you may well think of some others too.

Firstly, for some of us the image of God as Father is a really difficult and painful one.  And the thought of relating to God as Father, at best leaves us cold, at worst we wouldn’t want anything to do with a God like that.   That we’ve been so damaged by the way our father has treated us, that the thought of being able to put the simplest of trust in God as Father, is beyond us.

I suspect all of us sat here, have found a way around this if it’s been a problem, but what about those people who would never set foot in a church, who don’t want anything to do with a male figure of a God in their life.  What about them?  How might it be different, if we spoke about God using all the varied images the Bible uses?

Secondly, for some of us the opposite is true.  Maybe it’s our mum who has been absent, neglectful or abusive.  Maybe for some of us there is a gaping hole that can only be healed by knowing the nurturing love and care of a mother.   How might God, who we’ve been used to thinking of in only Father terms, be able to help us in that healing, ?

And thirdly, might it be the case that people throughout the centuries have read too much into the “male” language describing God and seen that through the lens of their own patriarchal worldview — one that, let’s be honest, has been dominant throughout human history and has led to the suppression of women. How might that be different if we have a more balanced view of what the Bible was and wasn’t saying — even though it was written in a patriarchal male-dominated world?”

So there’s some big topics here and hopefully some compelling reasons to at least consider the question of whether God is in fact male male or whether we have made God too small.

So with all that in mind lets take the next few minutes together, to take a look at what we can learn from the Bible on this.

This assumption that God is a man, has been pervasive in Western Society and around the world for centuries, however, when we take the time to dig a little deeper into the Bible, we see that it offers a far more colourful picture, presenting God using language that includes both male and female, while also transcending biological sex or gender stereotypes.

Genesis :God creates humans

So let’s start by turning to the book of Genesis at the beginning of the Bible.  Remember, that the creation story at the beginning of Genesis is not a literal scientific account of how the world was made, but an ancient story, written to communicate why God made the world and to communicate the type of God, that God is, as understood by the Israelites.

In the creation story in Gen 1:26-27 we read:

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind [humankind] in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27 NIV

The first thing to note here is that God is first presented as plural, “ Let US make…in OUR image, according to OUR likeness.”   Here, we now understand that as referring to the mystery of the trinity - God being both one and 3 persons.

And humans are referred to as being made in God’s “image” and “likeness.” - which would therefore imply plural.

In some versions of the Bible, in verse 27 it says “So God created man in his own image”.   

The use of the word man in these verses, has created confusion and the belief that a man named Adam was made first, and a women came later.

The word ‘man' here, comes from the underlying Hebrew word adam.  adamah means ground or earth.   And so adam, is a pun, meaning dirt creature or as we would say, human.  And because the word adam, from Genesis 4:26 onwards is used as a name for a person, it can give the impression that where the word ‘adam’ is used here in the creation story, that the first singular human, is a biological male, rather than a description of a human who includes male and female.

The use of the word adam in the first 4 chapters of Genesis is mostly preceded by the definite article in Hebrew.  So it reads ha adam

A definite article in the English language would be ‘the’, so it’s like saying the book or the door or in this case ‘the dirt creature, the human’.  So the use of the word adam in the first 4 chapters of genesis is a generic term for human beings.

Of course if the word ‘adam’ in verse 27 meant exclusively male, that would make no sense of the last part of the sentence which says “male and female he created them.

So it’s a little complex to say the least, but in short in these verses, where we see the gender specific term “man”, it is more accurate to use the non-gendered term ‘human' instead.

Humans reflecting God’s image

It’s important to note here that only human beings are made in and reflect God’s image and likeness.  None of the fish, birds, cattle, wild animals, creatures that move along the ground are made in the image of God.

And the fact that humans are identified in the text using the Hebrew terms for biological male (Zakar) and biological female (neqebah) suggests that God’s image is not solely male nor female, but includes both male and female human beings.

Further more, in Genesis 1:28 God blessed and spoke to them saying,

“be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God giving these 5 commands to them both, suggests that God deliberately chooses to be represented by both sexes, whom God has put over the entire non-human creation.

Helper (Ezer)

If we look a little closer into the story of how God forms the human in Genesis 2, it continues to reveal more to us about the nature of God.  So in Genesis 2, God forms the human being (the adam) from the ground, breathes into it’s nostrils the breath of life and places it in the garden to serve and to guard.

In Gen 2:18 - “The Lord God states, “It is not good for [the adam] (human) to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

It goes on to say how God forms all the animals, bringing them to the human, but no suitable helper among the animals could be found and then in verse 20, the narrator describes God’s fashioning of a woman, where he causes the human to fall into a deep sleep, and out of the human’s side creates the woman and the now-differentiated male.  Their creation is simultaneous, not sequential.

But let’s look at this term suitable helper.  The underlying Hebrew term for ‘suitable’ is nagar - which primarily means “in front of” or “opposite to” or “before”

And the Hebrew word preceding nagar is kaph, which means “as”, “like” or “corresponding to”. So a better translation of suitable helper would be “helper like his opposite” or a “helper like him”.

And if we look at the word ‘helper’ which in the Hebrew is ‘Ezer’. Unfortunately, our English word ‘helper’ is misleading and doesn’t really convey the meaning of the Hebrew word Ezer.

In the English language, the word ‘helper’ suggests an assistant, a subordinate, someone who is inferior.

But the word Ezer, in the Hebrew has no such meaning.  Ezer, characterises deity.  God is the helper of Israel.

Exodus 18:4
The God of my father was my help (ezer) and saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.

Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not be afraid, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, I will help you (ezer) you.  I will also uphold you with my righteous right hand

Isaiah 41:13
For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, do not fear, I will help you (ezer) you.

Isaiah 44:2
This is what the Lord says, He who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you (ezer) you.

And there’s more!

The fact that the word Ezer is used for both the woman and for God is significant.

Firstly no-one would suggest that God is subbordinate or inferior, so the same would apply to the woman.

And secondly, here we see a clear example of God identifying with the female.

Relating to God through human metaphors

God’s identification with humans does not however, mean that we should then project back onto God a human female or male identity, or a combination of both.  That would go beyond the text.   The word for that is anthropomorphism.  God is NOT human, not actually male or actually female, he’s God, the invisible God, being described in human terms.

But the reason we describe God in human terms, with the many metaphors and images, which we find in the Bible, is to help us to understand who God is and what God’s like.  In order for us, as humans,  to be able relate to God personally, we need to understand God as a person, not an ‘it’.   Which is also why God chose to reveal himself to us in the form of a person, Jesus.

Human language and female metaphors for God

So let’s look at some of those metaphors now.

God is described as having a face (Lev 20:6, Num 6:25-26), eyes (Ps 34:15, Deut 11:12), ears (2 Kings 19:16, Neh 1:6), hands (Exod 7:5, Isa 23:11), arms (ps 89:10, Deut 4:34), and feet (Isa 66:1)

God is described using non-gendered imagery in

Hosea 11:3-4,

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by the arms;
but they did not realise
it was I who healed them.
I led them with the cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed them.

And there are many other places where God is described with overtly feminine and maternal imagery.

Isaiah 66:13

As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.  And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

God’s name is described as El Shaddai (or God Almighty) which literally signifies the two-breasted God.

God is presented in Scripture as merciful, using a Hebrew term, redeem, meaning “womb”.

God is like a bear robbed from her cubs (Hos 13:8), a mother eagle hovering over her young and carrying them on her wings (Deut 32:11-12).  God is like a woman in labour (Isa 42:14) and a mother giving birth (Deut 32:18)

Psalm 123:2

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female servant to the hand of her mistress, so our our eyes look to the Lord our God.

In Psalm 22:9-10 God is described as a midwife, assisting in the psalmists birth.

“Yet you are He who brought me forth from the womb, you made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.  I was cast upon you from birth; you have been my God from my mother’s womb.”

In the NT Jesus himself likens God to a woman who looks for her lost coin until she finds it (Luke 15:8-10) and compares himself to a mother hen:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. (Matt 23:37, see also Luke 13:34)

Father imagery

However, despite the variety of female imagery to describe God,  God is still predominantly identified throughout Scripture as Father.   We see in Isaiah 63:16

For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not know us.  You, Lord, are our Father, Our Redeemer from ancient times, this is your name.

In the Psalms God is depicted as a Father to the Fatherless (Ps 68:5-6) and a Father who forgives and has compassion on his children (Psalm 103:12).

In elaborate detail, Jesus presents God as Father in the sermon on the Mount - who loves his enemies (Matt 5:44-45), knows what they need before we ask (Matt 6:8), feeds the birds (Matt 6:26), and clothes the fields with flowers (Matt 6:28-29), and how much more for us!   We read that God is a Father gives good gifts to his children (Matt 7:11).

In 2 Corinthians, God is described as a Father who comforts  (2 Cor 1:3).

So why is this, why is God identified as Father, but not overtly called Mother?

One possible reason is the patriarchal nature of the biblical ancient-world worldview.  For the Israelites, who believed there to be only one God, God must be either male or female.  Just as they had Kings rather than reigning Queens, it would have been obvious to identify God as Father rather than Mother.

Also, God’s way is always to work with people in real time, in the times that they lived in, as he does with us today.  So when God became human in the person of Jesus, it would have made most sense within that culture for Jesus to be a man and again within that culture to identify God as Father.

But to quote Bob Ekblad, a writer and theologian, who’s material I have drawn upon for this talk.…

“God’s fatherhood, however, never associates God directly with a biological male, but more accurately, as a motherly father who behaves in ways that are distinct from and go beyond even the best human fathers and mothers, who will always fall short.”

We see this in Isaiah 49:15 which says,

“Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.”

Here, the healthy mother is depicted as not forgetting and a having compassion on her nursing child, before being described as capable of forgetting.   But in contrast, God goes beyond even the ideal mother, never forgetting.

This image of a maternal father, that goes beyond even the best father or mother, is the one we see revealed in Jesus.

Jesus reveals the maternal Father

In John 1:18, we read, “

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

Whilst being born male and and being the visible image of the Father, Jesus shows us non-typical masculinity and embodied a way of life that was markedly different from the dominant patriarchal systems of his time.

Women normally shunned by the religious culture felt accepted and were defended by Jesus.  (Matt 9:20-22, Luke 7:36-50, John 8:1-11)

Jesus had male disciples yet many women were among his closest allies and it was to these women, not then men,  that Jesus first revealed himself to after his resurrection. (John 20:1-2, 11-18)

Jesus demonstrated compassion and great emotion, weeping at his friend Lazarus’s tomb.  To the surprise of his disciples, who tried to stop him, He welcomed the children to Him.  His whole ministry was reaching out to the the outsiders, the hopeless, the rejected, the broken.

Jesus reveals the Maternal Father to us, the same God we’ve seen displayed throughout the whole of scripture.

Summary

So in summary, from what we can understand from the Bible, God is Spirit, he is beyond gender, however both female and male attributes are found in God, evidenced by humanity being made to reflect God’s image.

There are many images and metaphors in the Bible reflecting the feminine and maternal aspects of God as well as the masculine aspects.  Describing  God in human terms, helps us, as humans, to relate to God personally, to be in real relationship with him.

For reasons, not entirely known to us, God chose to represent himself in Jesus, as male and as a Father - however in Jesus, we see the maternal Father of the Scriptures revealed.

So I just want to take a moment to pause here and lead us in a reflection to close, because this is all about relationship, relating to God, God relating and reaching out to us.

As we go through this mediation, I don’t know about you, but sometimes my mind drifts with this kind of thing, and I find it much easier to write it down as I am considering it.  So if that’s you, please do take some paper and a pen.  Or feel free to get your phone out a journal on there as I lead us through this and ask you questions to consider.

Bern’s going put up on the screen a few of the different images of God that we have been talking about today.  Some emphasise God’s maternal qualities, some his fatherly qualities, or it may have no gender attached at all.

• Ezer/ helper

• Father of compassion

• A mother eagle hovering over her young and carrying them on her wings

• A Father who gives good gifts

• One who leads with the cords of human kindness and with ties of love.

• A mother who comforts

• El Shaddai (God Almighty)

And I’d like you to look at them, and then pick just one of those images that draws your attention.  If you are writing this down, start by writing the word more phrase you have chosen at the top of your paper.

Then based on what you pick, I’ll will lead you through some things to consider.

So take a moment now to choose just one image.

1) Now that you’ve chosen one image.  I’d like you to take a moment to mediate on that image - what does it mean, what are the character traits of that image, how might you describe that image.  Write these down.

2) Now, with that image in mind, I want to you to consider these last few weeks or months, and reflect on how God has been that image for you.  How he has been there for you in this way.   If you can’t think of a time, ask the Holy Spirit to show you.

As reflect on this memory, how does it make you feel?

Safe? Loved? Peaceful? Happy?  How does it make you feel, what emotions rise up for you?

Now, based on the memory,  take a moment to thank God for who he is.

3) And finally, as you look ahead to today, this week, this next month.  Where do you need God to be this image for you again?  Invite him in to your situation, and ask him to reveal more of who he is in this way.

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