The Lord’s prayer beings, “Father, hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:2; cf. Matt. 6:9).[1] Elsewhere, Jesus addressed the Father as “Abba” (Mk. 14:36; cf. Rm. 8:15; Gal. 4:6), which is “the Aramaic word for ‘Papa,’ a term of great intimacy and affectionate respect.”[2] We can address God as “Father” or even “Papa.” But can we refer to the Divine as “Goddess,” “Mother,” “Mommy,” “She,” or “Her”?
“God is Spirit” (Jn. 4:24). Biological gender is inapplicable to spirit. Yet, for the sake having a robust Creator and creature relationship, God self-reveals to us as the Father in heaven. The first person of the Trinity is the Father in heaven. This male imagery of the Father in heaven is God’s self-revelation to humanity. It is Jesus who instructs us to address God in prayer as “Father” or “Abba.” Any idea of the Father in heaven being the result of a patriarchal society inventing a supreme deity in their own masculine image can be jettisoned.
God is revealed with the imagery of the “Father in heaven,” and referred to with masculine pronouns (i.e., “He” and “Him”) but one ought never to say the first person of the Trinity is a biological male. Rather, the male imagery conveys God as the quintessential Father of all creation. He is our Maker. Every good father who cares for his children is analogous to the Father in heaven who cares for His own (Lk. 11:11-12; cf. Matt. 7:6-11). “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas. 1:17).
This father imagery used in reference to God is an anthropomorphism. God applies human characteristics to Himself so that humans can better understand their God. Anthropomorphisms are used throughout Psalm 18, which describes God as having “ears” (v. 6), “mouth” (v. 8), “feet” (v. 9), and “nostrils” (v. 15). What words could David ever use in expressing God’s protection against the maniacal Saul. God’s ears hear David’s prayers. Divine wrath is depicted as smoke from God’s nose, fire from His mouth, and thick darkness under His feet; thus, David’s protector is a force to be reckoned.[3]
Whatever shortcomings earthly fathers display, God the Father is wholly good. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery indicates God is “the ‘one Father’ over all his children (Mal 2:10; Mt 23:9; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 4:6). God is a loving Father who has compassion on all his children (Ps 103:13). He created them (Deut 32:6); he carries them in his arms (Deut 1:31); he provides what they need (Mt 6:25–34); he gives them good gifts (Mt 7:7–11; Lk 11:11–13); he offers them true bread (Jn 6:32); he “disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Prov 3:12 NIV). God has a father’s love for orphans (Deut 10:18; Ps 68:5; Jas 1:27) and little ones (Mt 18:10–14).”[4] The designation of “father” then describes an aspect of God’s character and all that the goodness imbued in the term “father” is experienced in the interactions of the first person of the Trinity within the whole of creation and particularly towards humanity (cf. Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 15:11-32).
But there are instances of feminine imagery for God in the Scriptures too. The New Testament teaching of Christians being born of God (John 1:13; 1 John 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4 and 18) is obviously the employment of feminine imagery. After all, males never give birth but females do. Jesus warned Jewish apostates of the divine judgment that would befall them saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Lk. 13:34; cf. Matt. 23:37). God is also depicted as a mother bird embracing her children. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, “As one whom his mother comforts, | so I will comfort you; |you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (Isa. 66:13) Moreover, the fierceness of God’s wrath is “like a bear robbed of her cubs” (Hos. 13:8). From the biblical writers we find “God [being] portrayed metaphorically as midwife, seamstress, housekeeper, nurse and mother (Ps 22:9–10; 71:6; 139:13; Is 49:15; 66:9, 13).”[5] The feminine imagery of a mother birthing and protecting her children is then applied to God.
On the other hand, Scriptures never refer to God with the feminine pronouns “she” and “her.” No precedence for doing such can be found throughout the history of Christianity. Reference to God as “She” or “Her” is atypical. Neither has there ever been a fluidity of gender applied to God nor to the humans whom God created in His image. To identify divinity provocatively as the “Fluid and Ever Becoming One” is calling upon another god. These are illegitimate modern doctrinal innovations. God created man in His own image, both male and female He created them.[6]
Theologian Donald G. Bloesch observers that, “[God] is the ground of both the masculine and the feminine, yet he chooses to relate to us in the form of the masculine — as Lord, Father, Son and so on. God is described in feminine imagery as well, but the masculine is always dominant, and God is never addressed as ‘Mother.’”[7]
Now we may even say that the biological male certainly applies to the Son of God given the incarnation. Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human in one person —the Word became flesh (John 1:1-14; Rom. 1:2-5; 9:5; Phil. 2:6-11; 1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 1:16-19; Heb. 1:8; 2:14; 1 John 1:1-3). The virgin Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit and bore a male child (Matt. 1, Luke 1). Jesus is none other than Yahweh come down to dwell among His people. The Son of God possesses all attributes essential to God and man. Nothing of true divinity nor true humanity is lost in the incarnation. So, Son of God in His humanity is essentially a biological male.
God is spirit and neither biologically male nor female. Yet God self-reveals to us in ways we can grasp. Male imagery is employed by God to help us understand the divine. God is our Father. He provides for us as a good father. He is the Father who runs to embrace the prodigal son and welcome him back home. God still self-reveals to humanity with female imagery. God is a caring Maker and Protector as a mother loves the children she births. The male and female imagery are anthropomorphisms. Yet, the Son of God through the incarnation comes to dwell with in the man from Nazareth, Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh.
— WGN
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 14:35–36.
[3] Moreover, Psalm 18 likens God to “rock,” “fortress”, “shield,” “horn,” and “stronghold” (v. 2). Of course, God is neither an inanimate stone nor an enclosed fortification. The imagery describes to divine activity within the creation. Despite being on the run and hiding from enemies, David rested in sturdy, impenetrable, and trustworthy protection of the Lord.
[4] Leland Ryken et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 274–275.
[5] Ryken, 959.
[6] For more on the problems with the modern innovation of gender fluidity, see Ellen Mary Dykas, “The Unending Bending of Gender: Helpful or Harmful?” Christian Research Journal, 39, 6 [2016]: https://www.equip.org/articles/unending-bending-gender-helpful-harmful/ and Alisa Ruddell, “What Happened to the Word ‘Woman’? Christian Research Journal [April 26, 2023]: https://www.equip.org/articles/what-happened-to-the-word-woman/
[7] Donald G. Bloesch, God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love (Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1995), 26
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