This weeks A.S.K question – but before we look at it some good news. A.S.K is already being reprinted….there will be a couple of minor changes…so if you want the original edition you will need to get it now!
BIBLE READING: Numbers 23:1-26
TEXT: God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil? (Numbers 23:19).
You may have noticed that there is a great deal of confusion about what gender is today. The notion that human gender consisted of male and female, which was based upon biological, social and cultural differences, is now being replaced (at least in the influential areas of our society) with the view that gender is just a social construct (i.e. something made up by society), and that there can be many more genders. What does the Bible say? It clearly teaches that human beings are made male and female.
‘So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them’ (Genesis 1:27).
But notice that this verse also tells us that all human beings, male and female, are made in the image of God. So does this mean that God is both male and female? It can get very confusing. Consider the following: The language used for God in the Bible is that of a male. It is God the Father. God is not ‘it’, he is a he! In an age when we are told to respect the pronouns that people wish to be used, perhaps it would be a good idea for us to use the personal pronouns that God has revealed himself with?
It’s not good for us to change the language we use about God to suit our culture or the fashions of the day. If we do so, we will soon end up creating not just language, but a God in our own image. But that does not mean that God is male. Why not? One reason is that sometimes in the Bible female analogies and language are used of God. For example in Isaiah 66:13, God is spoken of as a mother. ‘As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem’.
But the main reason is that male and female are terms that are used for human beings – not for God. Despite all the caricatures, God is not some kind of superhuman or old man up in the sky. This is, of course, hard for us to understand and so our temptation is always to try and create a god in our own image. But the Bible gives us a different picture. One of the great Confessions of the Christian Church puts it this way,
‘There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions’ (The Westminster Confession of Faith).
Without body, parts or passions … in other words the things that make gender. So in that sense, God is genderless.
We also need to beware of the heresy of teaching that the Trinity is like a human family – God the Father, the Holy Spirit the mother and Jesus the son. That is to read back into the Bible a twenty-first century concept of the family and again create a God in our own image. The Holy Spirit is not an ‘it’, nor a ‘she’. When Jesus speaks of the Spirit he uses the male pronoun.
In all of this, it is important that we recognise two things. Firstly, it is hard for us, if not impossible for us, to conceive of God adequately. We need him to reveal himself to us. And he has done that in the Bible. So it is always best for us to stick with the ‘revelation’ that God has given us of himself.
Secondly, we understand God as he is revealed in Jesus. Hebrews 1 tells us that it is Jesus who is the exact representation of God’s being. When we look at Jesus we see what God is like. Jesus came as a male human being, but his incarnation (God becoming flesh) is for all of us.
Perhaps sometimes we over-emphasise the differences between men and women – as though we are from different planets. We are all made in the image of God. Not in terms of gender, but we are logical beings, we are moral beings and we are holy beings. I wouldn’t worry too much about the gender of God – to do so is to misunderstand who he is. The more important thing is to know God through Christ, and thus enable all of us, whatever our gender, to be better and renewed human beings.
CONSIDER: Why is it important to keep with the language of the Bible? What are the dangers with seeking to change the Bible so that it fits our culture? What are the practical implications of knowing that all men and all women are made in the image of God?
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING: Knowing God – J. I. Packer
PRAYER: O Lord our God, we bless you that you have revealed yourself to us through your name. We bless you that you are Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We thank you that all human beings, male or female are made in your image. Help us to know you are our Creator and Saviour. Amen.
The moderns have in fact provided us with an excellent buzz phrase for the purpose: I simply say that God mostly, but not exclusively, “self-identifies” to humanity as male. He certainly isn’t limited by it or bound to human stereotypes.
To call the Spirit “it” would deny the Spirit personality and suggest we were merely dealing with something like “The Force” – we are so wedded to the idea that anything which isn’t “he” or “she” cannot be a person humans can have a relationship with. We even assign a gender to cars, ships and motorbikes we are emotionally attached to.
How else could God get past this human weakness and encourage us to relate to him as a Person except by doing something similar and choosing a “working” gender for Himself? But it’s so very far short of all that He is.
What an excellent, concise, piece that doesn’t disappear down rabbit holes burrowed by liberal theologians.
As is Karen’s comment on God’s self identity, an idea of God’s self revelation, aborant to atheists and liberals alike.
Abhorrent? How so?
Douglas,
Your point was made to draw attention to spelimg. The rest you know full well as a sniping, captious, atheist of the age related demograph the book is primarily at, in which you are stuck.
But hey-ho, that is (your) self revelation for you. Evidence indeed.
notDisingenuous, as usual.
Sorry, Geoff, not following you here. Are you saying the word you wroter was not meant to abhorrent?
What did you intend, aberrant?