A Response to Stuff article: ‘God the Mother’
A response to the Stuff article: “God the mother: Faith and feminism in contemporary Aotearoa” (Jan. 08, 2023)
I read articles like this and wonder: ‘People are allowed to define or redefine their gender as they see fit; yet when God does it, it is “gendered language” and exclusive.’ But let me stop there before I create confusion. I’m not making the point that God is a male. God is Spirit (John 4: 24) which means He does not possess physical human characteristics i.e., God does not have a gender. And if God is Spirit, He does not possess ‘flesh and bones’ (Luke 24: 39).
However, when God reveals Himself to Mankind, He chooses to use masculine pronouns. This is seen right at the beginning of the Genesis account, on the first day of Creation. Genesis 1: 5 says,
“God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.”
Throughout the Old Testament, when a gender or pronoun is used of God it is predominantly ‘male’.
“Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. (Isaiah 63: 16)
“But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” And not turn away from Me.’ (Jeremiah 3: 19)
To further support this, the Second Person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ, was born a biological male (Isaiah 9: 6).
Other NT references are:
“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” (John 17: 11)
“…yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (1 Corinthians 8: 6)
God could’ve used any other means to describe Himself, but the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient God chose to use masculine pronouns, so shouldn’t we be consistent and stick to that also?
Referring back to the article, I can understand why these individuals want to redefine the way God is portrayed so that He is more ‘inclusive’: No-one wants to be ‘excluded’; People want to be able to relate; Sexism is absolutely wrong and should be rejected, etc. But the problem these ‘well-meaning’ individuals bring forth, is that they completely reject the way God has chosen to reveal Himself in favour of their ‘feelings’ about how God should be defined. Here’s an interesting quote from one of the individuals who was interviewed in the article:
“I would talk about God more as an experience rather than a person, [an experience] of love, of life, of goodness”.
When someone misrepresents God like this, they’re not honouring the God of the Bible, which is the special revelation of God (catch that, the ‘special’ way God has chosen to reveal Himself). Instead, they’re defining God ‘their’ way, which fits ‘their’ preferences.
The Word of God shows the serious consequences for those who distort God’s character:
- Genesis 3: 1-5 – Satan perverted God’s character to Adam and Eve; look where that’s got us!
- Deuteronomy 13: 1-5 – Israel was told to not listen to a prophet who falsely spoke on God’s behalf. The consequence for these so-called prophets would be death.
- 1 John 2: 22 says “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.”
In current times, there are a few religious groups who also make erroneous claims about who God is e.g., Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, The Shineonji cult, etc. I won’t go into what their claims are in this blog but ultimately, who these groups say God is, is completely against what God says about Himself in Scripture.
When the ‘church’ or any group starts denying who God is, or being inconsistent with the way He chooses to reveal Himself, we need to be wary of them. If the 1 John verse I referenced earlier is anything to go by, the Apostle John would likely class these people as a ‘liars’ or ‘antichrists’, and the book of Revelation tells us where they end up.
To conclude, who does God say He is in the Scriptures? I’ll use two references:
“But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64: 8)
‘“When Jesus came…he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”’ (Matthew 16: 13-17)
Amene ma Amene.
Fresh Truth Ministries