By Hank Hanegraaff

It has become increasingly popular in Christian circles to apply politically correct sentiments to language for God. Some have even supplanted the Trinitarian language of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with feminine forms such as Mother, Child, and Womb. This raises an important question: “Does God have a gender?”

First, the Bible tells us that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27 nkjv). As God created both male and female in His image, He does not participate in one or the other gender, but rather transcends gender.

Furthermore, while the Bible uses masculine titles for God, such as Father and Son, it also employs feminine images for God, such as mother (Isaiah 49:14–15; 66:13) and midwife (Isaiah 66:9). Likewise, God’s judgment of Israel is likened to that of a mother bear robbed of her cubs (Hosea 13:8). Whether masculine or feminine, all such images are anthropomorphisms or personifications that reveal God to us in ways we can understand.

Finally, the language we use for God must clarify rather than confuse. In the absence of biblical warrant, we ought to refrain from tampering with the traditional titles for God. Indeed, it would be a grave mistake to sacrifice theological clarity concerning the nature of God and the nature of the relationships between the divine Persons of the Godhead on the altar of political correctness.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:28–29 NKJV

For further study, see Leslie Zeigler, “Christianity or Feminism?” in William A. Dembski and Jay Wesley Richards, eds., Unapologetic Apologetics (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 179–86.

 

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