This should be a fun discussion.
As the article points out, “nowhere in the Bible are we told that God is a woman.” But, really, my question is, why do you think it’s such a popular concept in modern media and with influencers to call God a woman and refer to God as “she”? In my opinion, it’s pretty sacrilegious to refer to God as “she.” What do you all think?
I think I’m almost out of time, but I will DEFINITELY respond in the AM on Friday. This could most definitely be an interesting conversation.
Peter
In examining Scripture, two facts become clear. First, God is a Spirit and does not possess human characteristics or limitations. Second, all the evidence contained in Scripture agrees that God revealed Himself to mankind in a male form. To begin, God’s true nature needs to be understood. God is a Person, obviously, because God exhibits all the characteristics of personhood: God has a mind, a will, an intellect, and emotions. God communicates and He has relationships, and God’s personal actions are evidenced throughout Scripture.
As John 4:24 states, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Since God is a spiritual being, He does not possess physical human characteristics. However, sometimes figurative language used in Scripture assigns human characteristics to God in order to make it possible for man to understand God. This assignment of human characteristics to describe God is called “anthropomorphism.” Anthropomorphism is simply a means for God (a spiritual being) to communicate truth about His nature to humanity, physical beings. Since humanity is physical, we are limited in our understanding of those things beyond the physical realm; therefore, anthropomorphism in Scripture helps us to understand who God is.
Some of the difficulty comes in examining the fact that humanity is created in God’s image. Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Both man and woman are created in the image of God, in that they are greater than all the other creations as they, like God, have a mind, will, intellect, emotions, and moral capacity. Animals do not possess a moral capacity and do not possess an immaterial component like humanity does. The image of God is the spiritual component that humanity alone possesses. God created humanity to have a relationship with Him. Humanity is the only creation designed for that purpose.
That said, man and woman are only patterned after the image of God—they are not tiny “copies” of God. The fact that there are men and women does not require God to have male and female features. Remember, being made in the image of God has nothing to do with physical characteristics.
We know that God is a spiritual being and does not possess physical characteristics. This does not limit, however, how God may choose to reveal Himself to humanity. Scripture contains all the revelation God gave to humanity about Himself, and so it is the only objective source of information about God. In looking at what Scripture tells us, there are several observations of evidence about the form in which God revealed Himself to humanity.
Scripture contains approximately 170 references to God as the “Father.” By necessity, one cannot be a father unless one is male. If God had chosen to be revealed to man in a female form, then the word “mother” would have occurred in these places, not “father.” In the Old and New Testaments, masculine pronouns are used over and over again in reference to God.
Jesus Christ referred to God as the Father several times and in other cases used masculine pronouns in reference to God. In the Gospels alone, Christ uses the term “Father” in direct reference to God nearly 160 times. Of particular interest is Christ’s statement in John 10:30: “I and the Father are one.” Obviously, Jesus Christ came in the form of a human man to die on the cross as payment for the sins of the world. Like God the Father, Jesus was revealed to humanity in a male form. Scripture records numerous other instances where Christ utilized masculine nouns and pronouns in reference to God.
The New Testament Epistles (from Acts to Revelation) also contain nearly 900 verses where the word theos—a masculine noun in the Greek—is used in direct reference to God. In countless references to God in Scripture, there is clearly a consistent pattern of His being referred to with masculine titles, nouns, and pronouns. While God is not a man, He chose a masculine form in order to reveal Himself to humanity. Likewise, Jesus Christ, who is constantly referred to with masculine titles, nouns, and pronouns, took a male form while He walked on the earth. The prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament refer to both God and Jesus Christ with masculine names and titles. God chose to be revealed in this form in order for man to more easily grasp who He is. While God makes allowances in order to help us understand Him, it is important to not try to “force God into a box,” so to speak, by placing limitations on Him that are not appropriate to His nature.
J.
The article effectively articulates a complementarian or traditionalist view: God reveals Himself in the masculine, and to alter that is to alter the integrity of scripture, yet this masculinity should not be used to oppress women.
However, the article overlooks the standard theological distinction between biological sex and metaphorical gender, as well as the scattered but present maternal imagery used for God throughout the Old and New Testaments.
Personally? I think God created Man and Woman after His own likeness. He “gives birth to us” (creates us), Psalm 139. He loves and raises us. He provides for us. He defends us. He keeps us safe. His nature is both. Father and Mother. However, the Bible does make it clear God is male, so to speak.
Peter
GOD IS spirit…
We are made in the image of God
God made man male and female
So in God male there is God female maybe
What does a female do? Gives birth to males…lol
What the Bible assumes in using male pronouns for God, I accept, @JennyLynn. Could people’s reference to God with female pronouns be the result of their fathers’ abuse or emotional distance from them? If so, they are reading into the Bible meaning that isn’t there at all. God is not a human parent!
I’ve heard that the Holy Spirit is female, as in Father-Son-Mama but I don’t believe that. Not even once is a female God spoken of in scripture.
I’ve heard people talk about, there’s no marriage for us in Heaven so you never know, something like that. What those people are missing is that when we leave this earth and go to heaven we will be living on a higher plane of existence, where biological reproduction is not needed. Our sex drive will not exist there so it’s living as hgher beings and we wont biological. We will have a body but a spiritual one on a higher level that sex doesn’t come into any dynamic. There will be women in heaven, I believe that. And rumor has it that will be absolutely Master Sandwich makers in Heaven! 
Why do we have to bring this up? Of course no one here believes God is a woman. It’s just something stupid atheist say to mock Christianity.
ANYTHING’S possible in Churchainty!
Ever see the movie, The Shack. GREAT Movie. God is portrayed as both a Mother and a Father figure, and the Holy Spirit is this beautiful girl. Jesus, well, is Jesus. It was very emotional and well put together.
Peter
No I’ve never seen that movie. It sounds good. I should look around for it and watch it.
Jesus refers to God as “Father,” and Jesus is 100% truth.
Yes, @PeterC, it’s a parable about the Trinity, but God’s oneness can never be portrayed as God’s oneness in threeness, because God’s divine nature is ultimately a mystery.
Funny, I just said this to someone else. Let me try to share with you in more detail. Historically and theologically, Christianity is strictly monotheistic. The doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t say Christians worship three different gods; it states that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It is definitely a profound mystery that has kept theologians busy for centuries, but Scripture is very clear on keeping both truths intact. The Bible never wavers on the fact that there is only one ultimate reality, one Creator, and one God.
The Shema, which is the bedrock of Old Testament theology, is Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
Jesus quotes this exact verse in Mark 12:29, affirming it completely.
Isaiah 45:5 states it bluntly:
“I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.”
At the same time, the New Testament introduces a deeper revelation of who this one God is, showing three distinct Persons who all share the same divine nature, power, and essence.
All three are present and distinct at once. The Son is baptized, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven, Matthew 3:16–17. Jesus commands his followers to baptize " in the name [singular] of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [plural]" Matthew 28:19.
Polytheism believes in a plurality of separate divine beings (like the Greek or Roman pantheons), often with different wills, powers, and territories. Trinitarian Monotheism believes in one infinite, undivided divine Being who exists in a perfect, eternal community of three Persons who share one single will and purpose.
People often struggle to wrap their minds around it because we don’t have a perfect earthly parallel for something being simultaneously three-in-one without being divided. But from a biblical perspective, holding to the Trinity isn’t balancing three gods; it’s honoring the full disclosure of the One True God.
Peter
Amen, @PeterC. I completely agree with you!