The Gender of God

Recently, as I was looking for things to write on, I came across a heated discussion around the gender of God. If we consider how God shows up in the Old and New testament, while male language is used often, there are nuances and plenty of places where God shows up demonstrating what we would traditionally consider feminine characteristics. What follows is a theological and spiritual exploration abut the Gender of God?.

Sex vs. Gender

Sex is a biological term—based on an individual’s genitalia and chromosomes, a person is either male or female. Of course, determining sex is complicated in cases where sexual features are inconsistent, or when genetics and physical features do not match.

Rabbinic texts recognize that there are more than two sexes in their use of terms such as androgynous and tumtum, but the Bible never does, assuming instead a dichotomous world of males and females.

Gender, in contrast, is a social construct—it refers to masculinity or femininity, and refers to a role that an individual enacts or performs. As we know from our travels, readings, and from National Geographic, different societies have different notions or of how to enact these roles.  And different societies have different expectations of the extent to which males need to behave in a masculine fashion, and females in a feminine one.

God is generally considered to be beyond gender, as many religious traditions view God as a spiritual being without physical attributes. However, in various cultures and religions, God is often referred to using masculine terms, while some texts also present feminine imagery.

This post aims to illustrate that God possesses both nurturing and guiding characteristics, reflecting mothering and fathering qualities. Ultimately, it is held within the religion of Jesus that God’s nature transcends gender. While societal tendencies toward dualism may inform discussion of gender, this consideration is offered solely for conversational purposes. Individual readers are encouraged to interpret these concepts in a manner that resonates with their own understanding.

The Fathering Qualities of God

Historically, we have thought of God’s fatherly qualities as being a creator, protector, and nurturer, as God establishes and cares for God’s creation. In Christian theology, God is seen as a loving and authoritative figure who guides and supports God’s people, reflecting the ideal characteristics of a godly father.

Attributes of God as Father

1. Love and Compassion: God shows deep, parental love and compassion toward His children (Psalm 103:13).
2. Discipline and Guidance: God lovingly disciplines and guides believers for their growth (Hebrews 12:7).
3. Provision and Protection: God provides for and protects His children, meeting their needs (Matthew 6:31-32).
4. Authority and Sovereignty: God exercises supreme authority and is present in the lives of believers (Ephesians 4:6).

When we understand God as father, we are assured of our identity as children of God. In doing so, we are provided a sense of belonging and security. The question for this author then is security and belonging something only a father can give us? The relationship with the father god invites believers to approach God with confidence and trust. Again, this author feels that an attentive mother can garner the same results. Finally, the fatherhood of God also calls believers to reflect God’s character in their own lives, striving to emulate God’s love, compassion, and righteousness.

The Mothering Qualities of God

This afternoon, I was in a short retreat and we were talking about and exploring Julian of Norwich. It is from Julian that I get the deepest exploration of the mothering qualities of God. Julian of Norwich presents the idea of God as a mother, emphasizing that just as God is our Father, He is also our Mother. This concept highlights God’s nurturing, protective, and compassionate qualities, reflecting a deep love akin to that of a mother for her child.

Considering Mathew Fox’s thoughts on Norwich, he offers:

“Julian tells us what constitutes the work of motherhood when she says: “A mother’s service is nearest, readiest and surest.”  And she attributes motherhood ultimately to Divinity when she adds, “This office no one person has the ability or knows how to or ever will do fully but God alone.”

Divinity alone knows the work of motherhood.  Notice that her understanding of motherhood centers not on an “exalted” position but on work and service—this signifies a decisively non-sentimental understanding of motherhood.”

Norwich specifically offers these thoughts:

              “Our whole lives are reflected in three aspects. We have our being in the

first, our unfolding in the second, and our fulfillment in the third. The first is

nature, the second is mercy, and the third is grace. I saw that the exalted Power of

the Trinity is our Father, the deep Wisdom of the Trinity is our Mother, and the vast

Love of the Trinity is our Master. All of this is contained in our human nature and

integrated with our spiritual essence. I realized that the Second Person is really our

Mother. This beloved being works with us as a parent here on earth. We were

created with a twofold soul, sensual and spiritual. Our spiritual essence is with

God-the-Father. Our sensual nature lies with the Second Person of the Trinity,

God-the-Mother, in whom we are rooted by virtue of our creation. In taking on our

flesh, the Second Person become our Mother of Mercy” (LT 58).

“This beautiful word ‘mother’ is so sweet and kind in itself that it cannot be

attributed to anyone but God. Only he who is our true Mother and source of all life

may rightfully be called by this name. Nature, love, wisdom, and knowledge are all

attributes of the Mother, which is God.” (LT 60).

If this concept feels overwhelming or challenging to comprehend, that is understandable. Emotions such as animosity, doubt, and fear can serve as spiritual practices that facilitate deeper connection with the divine. Nevertheless, God transcends human limitations and boundaries. The presence of God is expressed through love, which serves as a model for all traditional gender roles. Just as God encompasses multiple attributes simultaneously in scripture, traditional men are capable of being nurturing and compassionate, while traditional women can exhibit strength and assume leadership roles with confidence.

Attributes of God as Mother:

Isaiah 66:13 – “As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

Here it is demonstrated that God comforts with the same tenderness and nearness a mother shows her child. The verse uses maternal imagery to reveal God’s compassion, not to assign God a gender.

Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!”

Here Jesus expresses God’s protective, sheltering love through the image of a mother bird gathering her young.

Hosea 11:3–4 -“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms… I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love… I bent down to feed them.”

Here God is portrayed as a parent teaching, holding, healing, and feeding—a nurturing, hands-on love that mirrors a mother raising a small child.

God Is Beyond Gender

Hebrew, as a Semitic language, “assigns masculine or feminine gender to all nouns and verbs, with clear distinctions—for example, “you wrote” is כָּתַבְתָּ (katavta) for males and כָּתַבְתְּ (katavt) for females. Likewise, a female cow is פָּרָה (parah), while a male is פַּר (par), with feminine adjectives like שְׁמֵנָה (“fat”).

Hebrew has no neuter gender; every noun is either masculine or feminine, sometimes arbitrarily—שֻׁלְחָן (shulkhan, table) is masculine, קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, bow) is feminine.

Although biblical Hebrew uses masculine forms for God (YHWH), most scholars agree this is linguistically irrelevant, as God is considered nonsexual.

God is represented with masculine grammar and imagery, but even when compared to a woman (Isaiah 42:14), scholarly consensus holds that God is beyond sexual classification.”

Given that Jesus was a Jewish man familiar with these verses, it’s important to note that modern Western Jewish theology, influenced by rationalist and post-Kantian thought, generally rejects the idea of divine gender as incoherent or even offensive. However, some traditional thinkers like Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, and Abraham Isaac Kook have developed approaches to understanding God that move beyond strictly paternal images and offer perspectives that resonate with elements of feminist theology.

Contemporary feminist theologians and liturgists—such as Rachel Adler, Tamar Ross, Marcia Falk, and Zelda—draw from both traditional texts and new interpretations of concepts like covenant and revelation. Their work seeks more inclusive ways to experience and describe God, ensuring that feminine perspectives shape Jewish spirituality and ethics. Ultimately, Judaism’s radical monotheism may guide us toward seeing both “male” and “female” as reflecting the divine, moving beyond gendered understandings of God.

In closing, If you have been hurt by the church because of your gender or because you have questioned your gender, understand that God is beyond gender and that there is a place for you in the kindom of God. God’s love is universal and you were created in goodness and love.