God: Identity, Sex, And Gender

God created female and male in God’s “image and likeness.” So why have Christians continued to unnecessarily exclude women from traditional religious language? Why have Christians made female and male so distinct that an inequality has formed? The answer originates with the way Christians have unwarily chosen God as male. All male language for God is idolatrous for the Christian faith (McCabe) and by choosing to give God a gender at all, it has affected the self-understanding of the roles males and females have in society today. The way Christians choose to talk about God as male needs to be reexamined closely, so we can address issues of inequality, and reverse what our identity, sex, and gender truly mean. If Christians describe God as male,

And God blessed them (Genesis 1:27-28), but it is important to recognize that “He” is simply a translation and not the identity of God. God surpasses gender because God is spirit with no form, which is God’s explicit revelation. We are humans, male and female, unlike God. Christians using masculine biblical language for God, as a consequence, refers to grammatical gender, not natural. Man and woman are simply the image of God, not a replica of God as a gender. One is not superior to another, but historically, Christians have formed this idea that because God is male, it requires the other gender to be lesser than. This historical deception then creates a gender injustice amongst male and female in society. By Christians talking about God with a gender, it further explains the reason why male has become some greater over the female. If Christians can change that historical discourse and avoid male language when talking about God, Christians can begin to understand why God wanted both male and female as equals. By further denying the truth of God’s identity in the bible, we deny the rights for equality amongst male and

From the beginning of Genesis, the denial of God’s identity has created a trail of making women second. From linking women’s body to sinfulness to linking women to evil, denial of the rights of a woman became a common theme to abide by amongst Christians (McCabe, class notes). By Christians giving God a male gender and then linking God to no evil or sin, male was immediately made superior on the bases of God as male. For example, Augustine, wrote “the woman with her husband is the image of God in such a way that the whole of that substance is one image, but when she is assigned her function of being a helper, which is her concern alone, she is not the image of God.” This simply denies the fullness of the image of God to woman because of her body and social role in society (Johnson, 50). Christians need to be able to recognize that gender roles in society have been historically conditioned on the premise of God as male. God is mystery beyond all telling. Christians need to talk about God truthfully and without gender because by giving God a male gender, it allows for females to become reduced to a lesser