I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. – Matthew 23:37
How practical is a Christian view of God’s masculinity and maleness? God’s gender was not a major topic of theological debate in previous centuries. Perhaps this is because the original languages of both the Old and New Testaments (Hebrew and Greek) made it abundantly clear that God is a “He.” Recognizing God’s maleness and masculine gender guides our understanding of His other characteristics:
God is personal and His personhood includes necessary aspects, such as being alive and having a gender that is associated with living beings (as opposed to being an “it” of impersonal “stuff”). God’s gender differentiates Him from being like the impersonal Star Wars “force.”
God is eternal and unchangeable, so gender fluidity for Him is untenable. He is primarily masculine and, like other masculine beings, has feminine qualities. God’s character is represented and understood through analogies. He calls us to be Christ-like. He does not call us to emulate some vague being. Instead, His specific gender affirms the specific states in which He created us, male and female, and gives us confidence to live within our assigned gender.
God is true, so showing us His maleness / masculinity cannot be a deceptive ploy. While it is true that our understanding of Him relies upon metaphors from our own existence, it is also true that His revealed Word depicts Him as masculine. His masculine gender sets the stage for our emulating His example. God is the one true Father; fathers are to echo Him.
God is merciful, so His masculine, tender loving kindness sets an example for all people. To the extent that a society regards women as more gentle and tender, God’s example is even more significant in His call to males to emulate Him with strength and gentleness. His nurturing compassion affirms societal understandings of femininity and sets a standard for all.
God is righteous and just, so His declarations of distinctions (such as who is to go into battle, who is to lead the church) are pure, even if we do not grasp His rationale for such distinctions.
God is gracious, so we can recognize how He has accommodated the representation of Himself to be something that we can grasp on our terms, through historical and societal lenses, and with confidence that He has bent down to speak to us using simple words so that we, like small children, can comprehend. The gender-simplicity of the God of Scripture is a gift to us.
God is holy, so what He distinguishes and sets apart must be honored (and His pattern serves us well). Throughout Scripture, God declares things to be clean and unclean, holy and unholy, male and female, right and wrong. We must attend to the truth of His revealed natural order and gender. We must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
Given recent challenges to
traditional roles, it might be tempting to think that God is gender-less. However, Scripture affirms that, consistent with His personhood, God has a specific gender. He is not gender-fluid. He establishes a pattern for male headship that is grounded in His headship. God also establishes a pattern for sensitivity, caring, and compassion that is for all who bear His image. A masculine God calls men to be loving like He is. We must not lose sight of God’s created order that is based on His character and Fatherhood.
