Moriah Grace
Throughout the ages the Bible has been used to back up many views of gender, oftentimes even opposing views. Taken out of context, or purposely misinterpreted, anything can be used wrongly, including the Word of God. While the Bible is infallible in that it itself is correct and does not include mistakes, humans can twist it, or even in some cases change it to meet their agenda. Proof of this is found in Revelation 22:18-19, which states the punishment of adding to or taking away from God’s Word, implying the possibility of doing so, as otherwise there would be no need for punishment.
Due to discrepancies in translations themselves, I want to take a step back and look at the original language of each verse. That said, I am not a scholar, I speak none of the original languages of the Bible. I will be relying heavily on translations of individual words and my limited knowledge of grammatical structure. This may well result in some discrepancies and misinterpretations on my part as well. I urge you to do your own research, as well as come to your own conclusions. I will do my best to give accurate and unbiased information, and when including my own notes make it clear that they are my notes, not a part of the scripture. As a human, the chances of me being wrong are at least as high as the chance of me being right. This is why I hope to keep myself out of this research as much as possible.
This research will rely heavily on the Interlinear Bible translation. I encourage you to read the Bible this way at some point, but please note the English translations may still vary slightly from the original language. Also of note, a brief research into how to read the different languages can be quite helpful, as not all languages read left to right as English does, and some grammatical structures may differ.
While I refer to the interlinear version, for ease of reading, verses will be presented in the ESV translation, with words marked in the English character version of the original. Some of these words will be defined below, others will simply be marked “as translated”, meaning that there is no translation for that word to my knowledge beyond the translation used in the text. Some references may occasionally be made to other translations of the Bible, but unfortunately I do not have time to explore every translation, so I will typically stick to the ESV and Interlinear Bible. You will also notice in my writing I often will include the phrase “assumed word”. This is used to indicate that this word does not appear in the original language, but was added later to make more grammatical sense.
Occasionally the term “untranslatable” will also be included, meaning that I was unable to find a translation for a particular word. This does not mean the word does not have meaning, or even a known meaning in some cases, only rather that I am unable to uncover a definition for it. Of note as well, when animals are referred to by gender I will typically skip over it as animals are not sentient beings. On the other hand, I will include references to God’s gender, as this has been used as an argument in several different ways. My understanding, although until my research is complete I will not know for sure either way, is that God (in this case meaning God as a whole, or the essence of God) is not directly mentioned as being of a certain gender anywhere in the Bible. The most common theories are God is genderless, God’s gender does not matter, or both.
Considering briefly the theory that God is genderless, some have stated this as evidence that God is non-binary. While this could be considered technically correct in the sense that perhaps God (still considering the essence of God, not individual parts of the trinity) does not fall into a category of male or female, the more common connotations of non-binary is having aspects of both genders, which does not seem to apply here. While some of God’s aspects may seem to vaguely tend towards one gender or the other, it is a stretch to say God fits into both categories. More accurately, God does not seem to have a use for gender, so a lack of gender is more likely than gender fluidity under this theory. The second theory, namely that God’s gender is not of importance, is not dependent on whether first theory is true or not. Given God’s (in essence) gender does not appear to be mentioned, it would seem it is not of consequence to us, or we would have been told. That said, since it has become an arguing point, I will give translations of words referring to God’s gender throughout so that the reader may come to their own conclusion. Now considering God as three persons, we do have evidence of gender throughout the Bible. God the Father and God the Son are both easily proven to be male, although the emphasis is more on what God has done for humans than the gender of God. God the Holy Ghost is a bit more of a mystery.
Considering first God the Father, in Mark 14:36 “Abba Father” translates to mean two different versions of “father”. Some may say that this is a typically male role, rather than a direct reference to gender, however, if this passage was referring to a gender neutral or female party, “parent” or “mother” would make more sense. From this I believe we can assume God the Father to be male. God the Son is specifically mentioned as male in Luke 2:7, when Mary gives birth to a son. Here the masculine version of the word is used, rather than “child” or “daughter”. From this I believe we can assume God the Son to be male.
The Holy Spirit does not appear to be given a gender that I can find. This could mean I have overlooked a key passage in my research, a lack of gender, or simply it is not necessary to know. Some have speculated that the Holy Spirit does not have a physical body, and thus does not have a gender. While arguments have been made for either gender, I do not readily find scripture to back either up.
Due to the number of arguments around this topic, some of which relate to how human gender is seen, I will mark all mentions of God’s gender throughout. Human’s genders will also be included. Animal’s genders will only be briefly alluded to at best however.
In summary, this series is my best inadequate human attempt to dig deep into what the Bible says about gender, one passage at a time, word for word. My own notes will be included, but I urge readers to do their own research and draw their own conclusions. I hope this series will be enlightening as to what God says about gender, rather than what humans say.
- Part 3-Gender in Genesis: The Downfall of the Family of Adam and Eve
Author’s Note: This article will cover all mentions of God’s and humans’ genders in Genesis 4, inspecting the Hebrew language of each verse. New to… Read more: Part 3-Gender in Genesis: The Downfall of the Family of Adam and Eve - Sticks and Stones…Proverbs about Our Words
Intro - 1 Corinthians 13 – A More Excellent Way
Intro - Matthew 23:23-39 – Are we the baddies? (Pt. 2)
Intro - Matthew 23:13-22 – Are we the baddies? (Pt. 1)Intro
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