.

[jimmyjimmy]

.

 

[dysert]

In recent weeks there has been some talk about God's gender. I pose one question:

Is God male, female of genderless?

John 4:24 says that God is spirit, and I don't know that spirits have gender. I do know, though, that Jesus referred to God as the Father, and fathers are male. So I conclude that He's genderless in essence but manifests Himself to us as male.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

So I conclude that He's genderless in essence but manifests Himself to us as male.

Thanks for the reply.

Is gender limited to the physical realm? In other words, if a man suffered injury to his genitalia in war or a motorcycle accident. . . would he still be a man?

I understand God as spirit. I do not imagine the Father as a physical being, but if He is genderless in essence, why didn't He simply tell us that? It could have been the eleventh commandment. . .

 

[dysert]

Thanks for the reply.

Is gender limited to the physical realm? In other words, if a man suffered injury to his genitalia in war or a motorcycle accident. . . would he still be a man?

I understand God as spirit. I do not imagine the Father as a physical being, but if He is genderless in essence, why didn't He simply tell us that? It could have been the eleventh commandment. . .

If a man suffered such an injury he'd of course still be a man. Although it's PC now to self-define your gender however you want, I still think that a man is a person with both X and Y chromosomes (I hope I have that right). God has no chromosomes and no genitalia, so the best we can do is some anthropomorphism based on what He has revealed.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

In recent weeks there has been some talk about God's gender. I pose one question:

Is God male, female of genderless?

God is a spirit. Jesus was born a Male. Male and female were both made in the image of God, so Eve's appearance and personality must have come from somewhere. Galatians says people who are born again are no longer male or female but one in Christ Jesus.
.
Any more questions?

 

[jimmyjimmy]

If a man suffered such an injury he'd of course still be a man. Although it's PC now to self-define your gender however you want, I still think that a man is a person with both X and Y chromosomes (I hope I have that right). God has no chromosomes and no genitalia, so the best we can do is some anthropomorphism based on what He has revealed.

What troubles me is the common answer to this, "God is a spirit, but He chose to reveal Himself to us as a man." I don't think that's a good/accurate way to describe God's masculinity. In other words, He's not acting. He is male in essence.

The fatherhood of God is essential to who He is.

 

[Paidiske]

I see the attributing of either gender to God as projection from our limited human experience.

God is not a physical being, does not have physical sex or gender, and transcends such things. The best of all that we consider "masculine" or "feminine" are part of God's nature.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

I see the attributing of either gender to God as projection from our limited human experience.

God is not a physical being, does not have physical sex or gender, and transcends such things. The best of all that we consider "masculine" or "feminine" are part of God's nature.

I don't think it's that mysterious. We know what men are (at least we used to) and we know what fathers are. It's not an unreachable concept for us, and it's not our projecting the physical to the spiritual. It's God revealing the spiritual i.e., his nature, through the physical.

If God is both masculine and feminine, why not simply tell us that? Just as in the second commandment we are not to make images, He could have simply told us that He is neither or both, but instead, He refers to Himself, and tells us to, refer to Him in the masculine.

 

[Hieronymus]

I see the attributing of either gender to God as projection from our limited human experience.

However our reading capabilities and the Bible make it quite clear that God is not female.

God is not a physical being,

Are you sure?
How then did He wrestle with Jacob?

does not have physical sex or gender, and transcends such things. The best of all that we consider "masculine" or "feminine" are part of God's nature.

Father, Son.

 

[Hieronymus]

Even the angels are male, at least the fallen ones.
They went into the women who bore giants, also after the flood.
(Genesis 6)

 

[Hieronymus]

According to Genesis 3 Eve is the mother of all living.

 

[Job8]

In recent weeks there has been some talk about God's gender. I pose one question:

Is God male, female of genderless?

Since God has revealed Himself in the Bible as Father (masculine), Son (masculine), and Holy Spirit (masculine) is there any reason to doubt this (other than Feminist rants)?

 

[Job8]

According to Genesis 3 Eve is the mother of all living.

Meaning the progenitor of the human race. Nothing to do with God's masculinity.

 

[Hieronymus]

Meaning the progenitor of the human race. Nothing to do with God's masculinity.

Look at the topic title, it's a question.

 

[graceandpeace]

In recent weeks there has been some talk about God's gender. I pose one question:

Is God male, female of genderless?

I think it makes sense to say God has no gender, but that both genders - indeed, all of creation - are reflections of who God is.

As Christians we look to what the creation shows us & what the stories of our Scriptures tell us. We can imagine & speak of what we can gather from those sources, but at some point I think we must acknowledge that there is some mystery, & we are not able to know everything.

 

[Tree of Life]

In recent weeks there has been some talk about God's gender. I pose one question:

Is God male, female of genderless?

God exclusively reveals himself in Scripture in the masculine, though there are some instances in which feminine qualities are ascribed to him. Some metaphors liken God to a mother-hen, for instance, brooding over her chicks. But far and away the dominant analogue is to the masculine.

But we should recognize that this is analogical and condescending language. God reveals himself to us in the masculine because we are male and female and these ideas make sense to us. But I don't think that it's right to say that God is literally a man (apart from the human nature of Jesus) or literally a woman. Strictly speaking God is not gendered.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

God reveals himself to us in the masculine because we are male and female and these ideas make sense to us.

Isn't it the other way around? Or, putting it another way, was God Father before He created?

 

[Tree of Life]

Even the angels are male, at least the fallen ones.
They went into the women who bore giants, also after the flood.
(Genesis 6)

This is a controversial reading of Genesis 6, though. It is not at all clear that the "sons of God" refer to angels. As a matter of fact, it seems from other biblical data (Matthew 22:30) that angels are genderless and, if so, then the sons of God in Genesis 6 could not refer to angels.

 

[Tree of Life]

Isn't it the other way around?

I don't think so. Apparently gender is not something that we will carry with us eternally (Matthew 22:30, Galatians 3:28). The primary function of gender in this age is to teach us about Christ's relationship with the church. Perhaps in the New Heavens and New Earth gender will pass away, having become obsolete.

 

[Hieronymus]

This is a controversial reading of Genesis 6, though.

It is what the text says, in Hebrew and in most translations.