Does God have feminine attributes? At first blush, many of us in conservative Christian circles may squirm a bit at this suggestion, but should we?
To be sure, Jesus, in his human nature, was male. It is also true that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each consistently referred to in the Bible with the male personal pronoun “he.” As such, it is biblically faithful to refer to God as “he,” and he delights in revealing himself by way of a number of male metaphors, such as father or husband.
However, we must never make the mistake of claiming that God, in his divinity, is intrinsically male. The Bible is clear that God is spirit (John 4:24), and as such, he is not gendered. When we call him father we do not mean that he is male, like human fathers are. Rather, we mean that he relates to us LIKE a human father does. He provides for, protects, leads, and even disciplines us like the best human fathers do, only better (Matthew 6:25-30, 6:7-11, James Hebrews 12:7-10). Likewise, when the Bible speaks of God as a husband, it does not claim that God is male, but that God jealously guards his relationship with his people like a good husband loves and protects his wife (Hosea 2:16, 19)
Consider this: it is only when BOTH man and woman are created in Genesis 1 that God is fully imaged:
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” – Genesis 1:27
In fact, the first time we see God declaring something to be “not good” is when Adam finds himself alone in the Garden:
“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that a man should be alone: I will make him a helper fit for him.” – Genesis 2:18
Why did God need to create BOTH genders before mankind fully displayed the image of God? One reason is that God is intrinsically one and yet three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (three persons) and one divine being. Especially when man and woman come together as “one flesh” we see the trinity on display: unity and diversity (Genesis 2:24). Through their diversity in maleness and femaleness, Adam and Eve displayed something of the diversity within the godhead. Yet, in their oneness as human beings, created of the same stuff, and coming together in mission and sexual union, they displayed the oneness within God.
So, what does all of this imply for God’s attributes? Just this: God has feminine attributes as well as masculine. Or, perhaps better said, God has attributes which both men and women image uniquely! There are things about God that men more directly put on display, and there are things about God that women more directly display. Here are just a few examples of ways in which the Bible reveals God through feminine characteristics and metaphors:
- God comforts his people like a mother comforts her child (Isaiah 66:13)
- Like a woman would never forget her nursing child, God will not forget his children (Isaiah 49:15)
- God is like a mother eagle hovering over her young (Deuteronomy 32:11)
- God seeks the lost like a housekeeper, trying to find her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)
- God cares for his people like a midwife that cares for the child she just delivered (Ps 22:9-10, Ps 71:6, Isa 66:9)
- God experiences the fury of a mother bear robbed of her cubs (Hosea 13:8)
- Jesus longed for the people of Jerusalem, like a mother hen longs to gather her chicks under her wings (Luke 13:34)
Having four children of my own, I’ve seen firsthand how uniquely gifted women are to nurture as I’ve watch my wife care for each of our babies. Women are specially designed with heightened capacity for care and relational tenderness. And who would ever criticize a mother’s child in front of her? They had better be ready for mama’s wrath! Likewise, when we think of God’s love for those who are reconciled to him in Jesus, we not only think of a strong, protective and wise father, but we can also bask in his tender, nurturing, comforting care seen most beautifully in a mother’s love for her child. What a dynamic God we worship!
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This was well understood. It was simple, yet, so profound. I love it!
Well said.
I love how GODS attributes in femininity is so pure through male and female.
Beautifully worded!.
Thank you for this!!! I was wanting to talk about how God is not a person and that putting human labels on God removes the fact that God is just that… God. I feel like that human personification removes a layer of respect that we should have to God. Excited to talk about this to the youth at my church??
Good article – I teach a “Questions and Answers” Bible Study (Sunday School) class and our lesson last week was the question, “Is God male or female (or, obviously, neither)?” I dealt last week with the fact that God is neither, that He is Spirit (John 4:24), yet chose to reveal Himself as male, or in masculine terms, and we discussed the why of it as being possibly being related to the family structure of authority, etc. In the course of the lesson, one man brought up the fact that he was reared in a fatherless home, and his mother had to be both. That got me to thinking. God choose to reveal himself in male terms, though He is not male, but does He also have “feminine” attributes, though He is not female, that speak to, and comfort the “motherless”? Next week’s lesson (8/22/21) will be on that subject. God has already steered me to some great resources about this and put it in my mind to “google” the words “the feminine side of God”, and I found your article. I love the thought provoking line, “Consider this: it is only when BOTH man and woman are created in Genesis 1 that God is fully imaged”. Wow!
Hello Rev. Eric Naus. Very well articulated. Thank you so much. Adam says in Gen2:23 that Eve was flesh of his flesh, and she shall be called woman BECAUSE SHE WAS TAKEN OUT OF MAN. So as you say, although we see Adam as male, it seems to me that he was actually both, and God separated his feminine side for Adam to gain a full appreciation of it in order to have full communion with God to recognise His feminine side. Thank you for the scriptures demonstrating these feminine attributes which is most helpful. I see myself as having fairly evenly balanced masculine and feminine attributes. One has to be careful who one talks to about this because a lot of people do not understand that this has nothing to do with sexuality, and definitely not homosexuality.
Great article! I especially loved this line: “Or perhaps better said, God has attributes which both men and women image uniquely! “
God created male and female, and in them he images different facets of himself. We often put male and female first in our minds, then try to shoehorn God into one of those categories.
Thanks a lot it really helped
Thank you. I facilitate Making Peace with Your Past (Tim Sledge) and minister to individuals who have both mother and father issues. One young lady has extreme father issues; therefore, has problems with God (male). Your list of the female characteristics of the Holy Spirit/Jesus has given her hope that God may love her. Again, thank you!
Well presented. I especially appreciate the last post concerning individuals who struggle with a purely male Godhead and may explain the attraction of praying to Mary as a female alternative?
Two things puzzle me however. First the idea of spirit being neuter. I know Greek makes it so as it doesn’t have a gender for spirit ? Is spirit in Hebrew feminine?
Also I see the picture of family in the Godhead. Father, Son, and Mother?
Family unit.
I know this can be divisive and I have no intention to push any of this as it is not in my world a salvation issue. Just thinking.
Thanks for the article