God has traditionally been described using masculine terms in Christian scripture and theology. While this has sometimes given rise to the idea that Christians consider God to be male, the majority of Christians believe that God transcends gender.[1][2][3]
The exception to this is Jesus Christ, who is considered God incarnate by the vast majority of Christians, and is clearly male.[4][5]
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The first words of the Old Testament are B'reshit bara Elohim — "In the beginning God created."[6] The verb bara (he created) agrees with a subject with masculine grammatical gender. Elohim also has masculine grammatical gender. The masculine gender in Hebrew can be used for objects with no inherent gender, as well as objects with masculine natural gender.
Two of most common phrases in the Tanakh are vayomer Elohim and vayomer YHWH — "and God said". Again, the verb vayomer (he said) is masculine; it is never vatomer, the feminine of the same verb form. The personal name of God, YHWH, is presented in Exodus 3 as if the Y (Hebrew yod) is the masculine subjective prefix to the verb to be.
In Psalms 89:26 God is referred to as Father. "He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation."[7]
Some literary approaches to the Old Testament have argued that parallels between Biblical stories and earlier Sumerian, Akkadian and Canaanite creation myths show a matriarchal substratum that has been overlayed by a patriarchal approach.[8] "In the Bible, the earth is the feminine complement of God: the two combined to form man, who articulates their relationship, for example, in sacrifice."[9]
The New Testament also refers to the Holy Spirit in masculine terminology, most clearly in the Gospel of John 14-16.
The Holy Spirit has variously been considered masculine, feminine, and non-gendered.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #239 states, in reference to the Father: "God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God."[1][2] The CCC discusses the traditional imagery and language of God as Father.[2] It notes, however, that God is not limited to this role alone—maternal imagery are also used in the Bible.[2] It also notes that human fatherhood only imperfectly reflects God's archetypal fatherhood.[2] God is referred to as masculine in Catholic teaching and practice.[10]
The Inclusive Language Lectionary published by the American National Council of Churches, to which many Protestant churches belong, states in its introduction "The God worshiped by the biblical authors and worshiped in the Church today cannot be regarded as having gender, race, or color."[3]
Latter Day Saints (Mormons) differ from most churches in that they believe that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are separate and male as well as masculine.
A common source of confusion on this issue is the continued use of masculine language to describe God by many Christian groups. Such language does not necessarily imply a belief in the masculinity of God, although it is sometimes taken as such. For example the Catholic Church continues to describe God using masculine terms, in spite of the clear doctrinal statement that God "transcends gender".[1][2] For most groups this language is traditional, though it also reflects a belief that some gender-neutral language (such as referring to God as "it") does not adequately reflect the personhood of God. Devices such as invented gender-neutral terms and alternating masculine/feminine terms are seen as clumsy.
Many churches have however adopted inclusive language in the description of God. In recent history, many liberal and mainline Protestant denominations have adopted or encouraged the use of inclusive language (such as both feminine and masculine language, or non-gendered language) when referring to God; these include the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America[11] and the Metropolitan Community Church.
The New Century Hymnal, the hymnal of the United Church of Christ (UCC), uses inclusive language; one of its concerns while being authored was reducing the solely-masculine use of language for God, and/or balancing masculine images with feminine and non-gendered images, while retaining masculine imagery for Jesus regarding his earthly life.
At least two UCC conferences (Massachusetts[12] and Ohio[13]) have adopted guidelines for using inclusive language, and the majority of clergy and laity in the UCC report using inclusive language when referring to God during worship.[14]
The Metropolitan Community Church encourages inclusive language[15] and uses "God - our Parent-Creator", "Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God", and "the Holy Spirit" in its Statement of Faith to refer to the three persons of the Trinity.[16]