gendered god

God’s gender is something I’ve pondered and studied a lot.

Most Christians would agree that God is not male in a biological sense, since God does not have a body. So then why do we call God “he?”  Is “he” male more than female? What do we mean by that anyway?




The Hebrew language requires all pronouns to be either masculine or feminine. Linguistically, there is no genderless option in Hebrew. For an assortment of reasons, ancient Israelites used the pronoun “he.” 

As a linguist, I can’t help but wonder if our idea of God might look different today if the Israelites had spoken a different language that had a genderless pronoun option, like Mandarin.




The scriptures do present female imagery for God, such as: 

“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Is. 66:13)

But the God of the Bible’s dominant portrayal is male. If God is not actually biologically male, is this portrayal ultimately helpful? Or does it limit our understanding of this divine being? 





What impact could this male-ness of God have had on us? 

First, it aligns men with God and differentiates God from women. This contributes to a hierarchical mindset that we see in many New Testament passages (like 1 Corinthians 9:7-12).
Second, we miss out on a more full, integrated, holistic God. The linguistic alignment of God with “male” but not “female,” or “father” but not “mother,” means we are set up to lose a deeply valuable aspect of God. 




So I’m trying to carefully change my language and shape my view of God. I don’t call God “she,” though after thousands of years being called “he” I think it would be fair to do so. For now, I just say “God” because I don’t want to attribute gender to a genderless being. I have high hopes that shifting our language here could mean a far more whole and inclusive perspective on both divinity and humanity!

This is the beginning of a Q&A that took place on my instagram this week! If you're interesed, follow @shelbyreneebennett for more like this.