Describing God as “she” as well as “he”, as proposed by some influential Anglican clergy this weekend, is a popular idea—with only one problem.
Jesus.
Jesus could have talked about the first person of the Trinity as his mother, and when his disciples asked him how to pray, he could have begun: “Our Mother”.
But he didn’t.
Jesus could have come to earth as a woman.
But he didn’t.
So it sounds very sensible that Hilary Cotton, chair of Women and The Church (Watch), says: “Until we shift considerably towards a more gender-full expression in our worship about God then we are failing God and we are missing something”… except for the fact that neither Jesus—nor the women who flocked to him and followed him as their Lord (not Lady)—seemed to think that they were missing anything. He could have been more gender-inclusive—he chose not to be.
In fact, knowing God as a “he” is great news, whether or not you happen to be a “he” yourself. And deciding to describe God as a “she”, or an “it”, is bad news. Here’s why.
WHY GOD BEING “HE” IS GREAT IF YOU’RE A “SHE”
We were not created in order to become God. We were created to relate to God. And, through the Lord Jesus, we have been freed to relate to God not only as our King, but as our Father.
The key is not the gender. It’s the relationship. In one sense, it doesn’t matter whether you are told to relate to God as Father or Mother—what is incredible is that you are told you can relate to him at all. And what is mind-blowing is that you are told you can relate to him as a parent, who views you as his beloved child.
We were not created to be God. We were created to relate to God. And, through Jesus, we have been freed to relate to God as our Father.
God tells us to imagine the perfect father. He says: If you have a great earthly father, he’s a glimpse of the Father I am to you. And he says: If you have had a horribly flawed father, then I am the Father you always longed for, the Father you always needed and never had. He both fulfils and redeems the category of “Father”.
Whoever you are and whatever your past, that’s great news. If we get hung up about whether God should really, you know, be more of a girl, then we’ve altogether missed, or at least temporarily under-appreciated, the amazing declaration of the gospel:
Through faith in God’s Son, you are God’s child, beloved and treasured as much as Jesus. So in this sense, it doesn’t matter whether God is a “he” or a “she”—what matters is that he is our parent. But in another sense, it really does matter whether we call God “he” or “she”…
WHOSE IMAGE IS IT ANYWAY?
We were created by God, in his image. And therefore, we don’t get to create God in ours.
God’s always taken it very seriously, and very personally, when people attempt to remould him—especially when they’re people who profess to be his people.
So when in Exodus 32 God was describing himself, and his ways, to Moses on top of a mountain, and the rest of his people were deciding that they most wanted to describe him as a golden calf—after all, it was most helpful for them and most relevant to those around them—who did God side with? The majority, or the one?
He didn't side with the ones who shifted considerably. He cares far more about who he really is than who people would really like him to be (don't we all?)
God is who he is. He made us, and we are never to think that we make him or mould him.
And so, while some of us may think of the first person of the Trinity as possessing a gender, and some of us may think of the first person of the Trinity as describing himself in gendered language, the point is this: God the Father says he is God the Father. God the Son says he is God the Son. They use gender-specific terms to describe each other. Jesus speaks of himself sometimes as being like a mother (Luke 13 v 34) but he speaks of himself as being a Son.
It is bad news when we start remaking God in our image. The Bible has an uncomfortable word for it: idolatry.
God gets to say who he is. We should be delighted about that—which of us would invent a God who is an eternally loving Trinity? A God who is completely just yet wonderfully merciful? A God who has scars?
God’s self-disclosure reveals a divine being who is so much deeper and more wonderful than any God we could make up, and who requires no reshaping. Plus, its just rude to listen to someone introduce themselves, and reply:
“Hmmm… sorry, but that’s not really very helpful for me. It sounds like you’re not very much like me. Frankly, it sounds like you’re missing something. I think you’d be better off being a bit different—a bit more like, erm, well, a bit more like me.”
Don’t remake God in your image. You can only make him less glorious. Don’t want him to be like you. You can only make him less perfect.
Don’t remake God in your image. You can only make him less glorious. Don’t want him to be like you. You can only make him less perfect. Don’t think that if he doesn’t share your gender, you can’t enjoy your relationship to him. Whoever you are, if you trust the Son, then God is your Father. That’s what he offers, and that’s all we need. Enjoy it!
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Carl is Editorial Director at The Good Book Company and is a member of Grace Church Worcester Park, London. He is the best-selling author of The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, and also serves as series editor of the God's Word for You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie, and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.
