The Gender of God
I’m struck by the absurdity of this title, as if God could have a gender identity.
On the one hand, by definition, gender is a biological construct of this planet. It is core to the reproduction of many species on Earth. For humans it holds a special power of identity – gender potently guides how many of us see ourselves and how others see us. Gender differences have also been the source of great pain (e.g. the fear women face every day about violent men) and ongoing confusion (some choose to transition in their gender identity, and some view themselves as non-binary). All this is vital and real for humans as created beings.
But if you believe that there is a One who is the source of love and creation and gravity and, dare we say, evolution, then confining that Power to a human gender is dangerous. We may use the He pronoun to describe and pray to God, but that Author of our lives is not male. We can use He in referring to Jesus because as a human he took the form of a man. And the Holy Spirit? In Hebrew, the word for ‘spirit’ is actually feminine, but that also doesn’t make the Holy Spirit female.
Our language is gendered. Our gender identities run strongly in us. Our traditions, our scriptures, our songs all refer to the Creator as a He. And, thank God, it is also obvious that God is no man. Consequently, my view as the author of Sudarium: since God made us male and female and more, let’s commit to understanding how expressions of gender among us reflect amazing facets of the One who brought us into being.
Twenty-seven verses into Genesis, the Bible’s first book, we learn that male and female are equal aspects of God’s image. The role of gender in being human flows from that. In Galatians 3:28, Paul refines the lesson: there is neither male nor female in the fellowship of faith. He explicitly means to say that gender differences must not divide us.
The fact that the Creator chose to appear as a human is beyond imagination, but not beyond belief. Let’s explore better questions, like:
What could it mean for our own potential that such Power can occupy a human body and soul?
How do the traits we tend to identify as masculine and feminine reflect the nature of God?
What are the implications as we consider that gender itself is not binary — God as male and female and beyond?
Fighting about the pronouns for God is to profoundly miss the vast, inclusive grace in the universe and in us. Instead, we can affirm that She calls us to love one another. We can live in response to the His expectation that we will “do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed.” (Isaiah 1:17)
A final thought:
God is not He or She, although the Trinity—God in three persons—can rightly be referred to as Them.
We have a lot to learn together.
