“So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).
Patriarchy is a real thing. In this passage, we are clearly told that the image of God is “male and female.” Yet where do we see the feminine aspect of God.
Holy Ruach
Actually, we see it in the fact that the Holy Spirit (ruach) in the Hebrew language is a feminine noun. In the New Testament, she becomes neuter. Even the pronoun is neuter, “the Spirit itself” (Rom. 8:16 KJV). This is the correct literal translation.
But modern translators change this to “Himself” (NKJV, NIV, NASB). But why not translate it “Herself?” There is no precedence for the masculine, but there is for the feminine. So why is there no translation reflecting this?
Holy Sophia
We also see in the Old Testament another feminine figure named Sophia, usually translated as Wisdom. When God established the heavens, Sophia was there. The Bible says that Sophia was beside him, like a master worker. She was daily His delight (Prov. 8:22-31).
In the Book of Wisdom, Sophia is described as guiding the Israelites during the Exodus through the wilderness: “she gave the holy ones the reward of their labors, conducted them by a wondrous road, became a shelter for them by day a starry flame by night” (Wis. 10:17 NAB). Could Sophia be the name of the Holy Spirit?
Holy Mary
The lack of the feminine was later filled by the exaltation and veneration of Mary as the Mother of God. Clearly, the void caused by the lack of the feminine created a felt need in the Church.
But patriarchy will not allow the feminine to reach all the way up to the Divine. That even though the “image of God” is both “male and female.” Nor can it accept that the Holy Spirit is not a “He.” Perhaps it’s true that in the beginning, man created God in his own image.
