God and Gender

“God is not a man” (Numbers 23:19 NKJV).

The true God does not have a body, and therefore does not have male or female sex organs. God has no biology, so God cannot be a biological male or female. God is not literally a Father, Mother, Son, or Daughter.

Sex and Gender

But if we are going to talk about gender, we must make a distinction between sex and gender. “Gender,” states the World Health Organization, “refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed.”

Sex refers to a person’s physical anatomy such as sex organs, sex chromosomes and internal reproductive structures. Gender identity is the inner feelings of whether you’re female or male, both, or neither. This is separate from biological sex.

Is God a Male?

So what gender is God? It depends, are we talking about God’s self view or are we talking about society’s projection unto God. Because of the male patriarchy, God is usually portrayed as male. This is not God’s self identity.

The fact is that in the Bible, God is never directly referred to as being female. This is probably because all the authors were males with a male centric view of things. However, there are times when the feminine slips in under the radar.

The Feminine

For example, it says that “God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Gen 1:26–27). Here, God’s image is both “male and female.”

And God as seen as a Mother, for it is “God who gave you birth” (Deut 32:18). And God comforts Israel “As a mother comforts her child” (Isa 66:13). In the Hebrew language, the word for Spirit (rûaḥ) is a feminine noun. And even Jesus compares himself to a mother hen (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34).

God is Gender Fluid

So what gender is God? God is gender fluid. For God, gender is a social construct, therefore God has no sex or gender. However, when related to humans, God dresses up in a gender that suits the social context. In saying that God is gender fluid I mean God may identify as male one day, female the next, both male and female, or neither.

The Way of Accommodation

However, all this talk of God’s gender being fluid is in the way of accommodation, not actuality.

Personality is a limitation, God is unlimited, therefore God is not a person. God is not a being, but rather is the Ground Of Being.

So God is beyond limiting attributes. So literally God is without personhood, gender, or any other limiting quality. It is just that we cannot relate to an abstract. So ultimately it is language that dresses God up so we can relate to God as a He, She, or Them.

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Jay N. Forrest

Dr. Jay N Forrest is a Spiritual Teacher of the Anglican Middle Way, writing on Prayer, Meditation, and Mysticism. Jay became a Christian in 1983, attended Bible school, and eventually earned his Doctorate in Ministry. Jay served as a Protestant minister for 27 years, took catechism classes with the Orthodox Church of America, and spent about a decade practicing Buddhism. In 2005, Jay was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Church, but has since joined the Episcopal Church.

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