A Male God?
A (non-Christian) friend of a friend asked this question: Is God male - always refered to as a he - and if so do men and women relate differently to Him because of that? I wrote quite a long answer to the question and i thought i'd put it up here to share...
Firstly: 'is God alway a he?'
The bible doesn't ever refer to God as a woman and we shouldn't. However greek (im not sure about hebrew or aramaic but i think they're similar) doesnt leave us much choice. Much like English they have 3 choices - he, she or it. The Bible is at great pains to explain to us that God is not an 'it'. God is a personal being who relates in a personal way to individual persons. He is not some cosmic force. To refer to God as 'She' would imply that there were definite feminine attributes to God at the expense of male attributes. To refer to God as 'He' can be read in the same way as we say mankind or guys - kind of a generic term referring to humans. It can also be read as attributing male characteristics to God AT THE EXPENSE OF FEMALE CHARACTERISICS, which i'm convinced is wrong.
Fundamentally, God is good. He contains all the attributes which we know to be good: wisdom, power, love, faithfulness etc. To limit him to being either male or female would be to say that either male or female is better, or that one of the sexes has something God does not. God shows us that he has the ability to be a father to his people, or a mother to his people. Luke 13:34 (mother hen) Matt 6 'Our Father who art...'
Secondly: 'does this constitute a different relationship for men and women?'
God is related to in the bible in a million and one different guises. Judge. Holy. Father. Lord. Healer. Eagle. Shepherd. Provider. Saviour. Warrior. Comforter. King. And many more.
Can God be a judge and a provider? A shepherd and a King? A healer and a warrior? Of course he can, but he is not one at the expense of the other. He has the good attributes of all of these things. We only use terms like these - he only uses terms like these in the Bible so we can get a grasp of how to relate to him. In my sin i know God as a judge. In my faith i know God as gracious. In my sickness i know God as a healer and a comforter. When i'm lost i know God as my shepherd.
God relates to all of us differently yet He is fully consistent, he is fully God. God has remembers us like a mother remembers her child who she's breast feeding. God relates to us like a father who disciplines his son.
God is able to relate to us in an infinite number of ways, and he's picked some analogies to help us understand the way he feels about us. Some of the most prominent are Husband, Father and Lord. These are not more important than the other ways, the analogies can just be stretched further than warrior, eagle and hen.
How should we relate to God? I dont have a general answer, but the Bible is very very clear about 2 things. We can only relate to God without being judged for our sin through Jesus. Secondly, when Jesus disciple's asked how they should pray he said pray like this:
Our(plural) Father who resides in heaven and is not contained by this Universe
Let your reputation grow and be held in high esteem across this world
Let your rule and dominion take over people living here on earth
Let them live their lives the way you designed
Give us(plural) today the stuff we need to stay alive because it is only you who provides
Forgive us from our sins and dont hold them against us as we do likewise for our fellow men
Help us in our struggle against sin and give us the power to overcome through your spirit
Firstly: 'is God alway a he?'
The bible doesn't ever refer to God as a woman and we shouldn't. However greek (im not sure about hebrew or aramaic but i think they're similar) doesnt leave us much choice. Much like English they have 3 choices - he, she or it. The Bible is at great pains to explain to us that God is not an 'it'. God is a personal being who relates in a personal way to individual persons. He is not some cosmic force. To refer to God as 'She' would imply that there were definite feminine attributes to God at the expense of male attributes. To refer to God as 'He' can be read in the same way as we say mankind or guys - kind of a generic term referring to humans. It can also be read as attributing male characteristics to God AT THE EXPENSE OF FEMALE CHARACTERISICS, which i'm convinced is wrong.
Fundamentally, God is good. He contains all the attributes which we know to be good: wisdom, power, love, faithfulness etc. To limit him to being either male or female would be to say that either male or female is better, or that one of the sexes has something God does not. God shows us that he has the ability to be a father to his people, or a mother to his people. Luke 13:34 (mother hen) Matt 6 'Our Father who art...'
Secondly: 'does this constitute a different relationship for men and women?'
God is related to in the bible in a million and one different guises. Judge. Holy. Father. Lord. Healer. Eagle. Shepherd. Provider. Saviour. Warrior. Comforter. King. And many more.
Can God be a judge and a provider? A shepherd and a King? A healer and a warrior? Of course he can, but he is not one at the expense of the other. He has the good attributes of all of these things. We only use terms like these - he only uses terms like these in the Bible so we can get a grasp of how to relate to him. In my sin i know God as a judge. In my faith i know God as gracious. In my sickness i know God as a healer and a comforter. When i'm lost i know God as my shepherd.
God relates to all of us differently yet He is fully consistent, he is fully God. God has remembers us like a mother remembers her child who she's breast feeding. God relates to us like a father who disciplines his son.
God is able to relate to us in an infinite number of ways, and he's picked some analogies to help us understand the way he feels about us. Some of the most prominent are Husband, Father and Lord. These are not more important than the other ways, the analogies can just be stretched further than warrior, eagle and hen.
How should we relate to God? I dont have a general answer, but the Bible is very very clear about 2 things. We can only relate to God without being judged for our sin through Jesus. Secondly, when Jesus disciple's asked how they should pray he said pray like this:
Our(plural) Father who resides in heaven and is not contained by this Universe
Let your reputation grow and be held in high esteem across this world
Let your rule and dominion take over people living here on earth
Let them live their lives the way you designed
Give us(plural) today the stuff we need to stay alive because it is only you who provides
Forgive us from our sins and dont hold them against us as we do likewise for our fellow men
Help us in our struggle against sin and give us the power to overcome through your spirit
posted by Dan | 7:10 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Dan - great to have a new post from you (although has one disappeared?).
Interesting. I liked the way you pointed out that there are so many different ways of knowing God, and we shouldn't relate to God in one way at the expense of the other.
So the relationship men and women have with God shouldn't be different, because we should be relating to all of those characteristics (although, as you point out, it will depend on where we;re at at a particular point in time).
But do you think this is how it works in reality? Do women relate to God differently to men because he is primarily spoken of as male? I read an article recently which suggested that the reason the number of men in churches is declining is because of the 'feminine' way they're expected to relate to Jesus (singing about love etc). I'm not sure how far I'd go along with that, but it's interesting.
I guess I'm wondering whether the reality matches up to the ideal you described, and whether any of our thinking needs to change as we help people get to know Him. I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts on this.
Gareth
Post a Comment
<< Home