Current Issues: The Gender of God

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.Scriptures read or referred to in the podcast:Matthew 6:9 -- "Our Father..."Matthew 23:37 -- Jesus compares himself to a hen.Isaiah 66:13 -- God compares himself to a mother.Ephesians 5:22-32 -- We all stand corporately in a femine relationship to Christ as our bridegroom.1 Thessalonians 2:6-12 -- Paul, his relationship to the Thessalonians, thinks of himself as a nurse, a mother, and a father.John 15:8, Luke 8:11, James 1:21 -- his seed is planted in us, and we are to bear fruit. This is a strongly feminine metaphor.God as husband -- meaning spiritual unfaithfulness is adultery -- is a common biblical metaphor (as in Jeremiah, Hosea, Ephesians, James, Revelation).Genesis 1:26-27 -- God's image is reflected in mankind, both male and female (and even better when the two are together).Nowhere does the Bible tell us to address God as "mother."Conclusions1. God is not lonely. He does not need a consort. (Note: in ancient religions, it was common for a god to have a goddess as a wife/consort. The worship of Yahweh strenuously rejects such thinking.) Among the persons of the Trinity there has always been love.2. God is not sexual. He's neither male nor female, though he created us in his image as males and females. And yet...3. God is personal, and therefore we have no choice but to relate to the Lord in a personal way.4. God is analogically (not biologically) masculine. Nor will he be held captive by a pronoun ("he" or "she").5. One suspects that what really bothers some critics of Christianity is the Lord's sovereign claim over their lives.