Is God a man or a woman?
God is NOT human, so He is neither a man nor a woman. Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria, “God is a spirit” (John 4:24…NASB), which means He doesn’t have a physical form as we do. He is invisible to human eyes and should not be identified as a man or a woman. You may have noticed that I just referred to God as “He” three times already. Why did I do that if “He” is not a man? Is this a contradiction? No, it simply means that God has been pleased to refer to Himself in masculine terms throughout the Bible. A perfect example of this is seen in the passage already referred to. Listen to what Jesus says in John 4:23-24, “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the FATHER in spirit and truth, for such people the FATHER seeks to be HIS worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship HIM must worship in spirit and truth.” So, even though God is an invisible “spirit,” He has chosen to reveal Himself in the masculine gender with the words Father, His, and Him.
This is consistent throughout the Bible, for in the Old Testament He refers to Himself as a KING (not a Queen). 1st Samuel 12:12 states this clearly, “No but a king shall reign over us, although the LORD your God was your KING.” He also uses the metaphor of HUSBAND at times. Jeremiah 31:32 is a case in point, “Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a HUSBAND to them, declares the LORD.” In using these masculine terms it emphasizes God’s dignity, strength and protection.
We know that God is not only called “Father” but also “Son” (for there are three Persons who make up the holy Trinity….Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Is it not fitting that when God the Father chose to send His Son into the world to provide salvation for Mankind, His Son “became a MAN” (not a woman)? Perhaps we are all aware of the well-known prophecy of the Son’s Incarnation in Isaiah 9:6, “For a CHILD will be born to us, a SON will be given to us.” The “child” was a male child, as we see earlier Isaiah 7:14, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” But He was “the SON of God” BEFORE He became Mary’s son and that’s why our verse says, “A SON will be GIVEN to us.” Again, these passages all serve to teach us that God has chosen to reveal Himself in masculine terms. This is NOT intended to demean women, for both male and female were created in God’s image, as we are taught in Genesis 1:26-27, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image….God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; MALE AND FEMALE He created them.”
In closing, God consistently speaks of Himself in masculine terms and we do well to remember that and to honor HIM by refusing to compromise this truth. I say this because there are those today who refuse to acknowledge God in this way and yet the day is coming when Jesus Christ will be establish His kingdom on earth and all will be made to honor HIM at that time. It is fitting that we quote the rest of Isaiah 9:6 which declares this wonderful truth: “And the government will rest on HIS shoulders; and HIS name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal FATHER, PRINCE of Peace.” (332.3) (DO)