Is God a Male or a Female?
God is a Spirit and does not possess human characteristics of a male or female. The Bible says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). As an infinite spirit Being, He is not subject to the same limitations as finite human beings.
Then what does the verse in Genesis 1:26-27 mean? “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 were created in the image of God. That image was most evident in terms of their spiritual nature. Man and woman became “living souls,” or rather living beings, endowed with a free will, a self-conscious personality. The male and female had the ability to have a mind, will, intellect, emotions, and moral capacity. Unlike them, animals do not possess a moral conscience.
The human nature reflected the divine holiness of its Maker until sin shattered the divine likeness. It is only through Christ, the brightness of the glory of God and the “express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3), that our nature is transformed into the image of God again (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24).
However, God chose to reveal Himself to humanity in a male form (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21). In the Old and New Testaments, male pronouns are used in reference to God (Genesis 1:16; John 1:1-3…etc.). And in the New Testament, there are nearly 900 verses where the word theos—a masculine noun in the Greek—is used in direct reference to God. Also, in the gospels, Jesus Christ referred to God as the Father using male pronouns in reference to God.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
