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Counterpoint
Guest
What gender (if any) is God?
What gender (if any) are the divine persons of the Trinity?
What gender (if any) are the divine persons of the Trinity?
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PietroPaolo
Guest
Jesus is both male and masculine.
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are not male, but are both masculine.
That doesn’t mean that women are not made in the image and likeness of God. People are the image of God because we are rational. Both men and women are rational animals, thus both are equally in the image of God. Dogs, cats, elephants, etc can be male, but none of them are in the image of God.
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4love2God
Guest
Counterpoint asks** : “What gender (if any) is God?”**
It seems to me that God is Male.
I haven’t thought this through before, but I will go through my chain-of-thought on it.
When God created a being in “His” image, God created Adam.
And, Adam is a Male.
Then, why does the Bible use “He” and “His” if God is a she (or, an “IT”)?
When Jesus (another part of the Trinity) came down to Earth, he was in the form of a Man.
As far as the Holy Spirit goes, at the time that the Holy Spirit was created (assuming that it WAS created), there were NO females around (as this was LONG before Eve was created).
So, in my mind (anyway), I think that there was NO such thing as a Female until Eve was made, as a gift for Adam, so he would not be lonely.
It seems to me that God is Male.
I haven’t thought this through before, but I will go through my chain-of-thought on it.
When God created a being in “His” image, God created Adam.
And, Adam is a Male.
Then, why does the Bible use “He” and “His” if God is a she (or, an “IT”)?
When Jesus (another part of the Trinity) came down to Earth, he was in the form of a Man.
As far as the Holy Spirit goes, at the time that the Holy Spirit was created (assuming that it WAS created), there were NO females around (as this was LONG before Eve was created).
So, in my mind (anyway), I think that there was NO such thing as a Female until Eve was made, as a gift for Adam, so he would not be lonely.
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adawgj
Guest
If you want the perfect woman look to the Virgin Mary Our Blessed Mother.
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Razanir
Guest
- In many languages, “he” is the default pronoun when gender is unknown. As opposed to the grammatical weirdness that is singular “they”.
- The Holy Spirit was NOT created!
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Counterpoint
Guest
I thought it would be obvious that I am not talking about genitalia.
I am using the term “gender” as follows: “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex” (source: Merriam-Webster)
So, let me rephrase the question I posed in the original post:
Is it possible to characterize God’s personality (for lack of a better word) as masculine or feminine? Or, is it possible to characterize any of the divine “personalities” as masculine or feminine? (Clearly, Christian tradition has referred to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - in strictly masculine terms.)
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Counterpoint
Guest
One of the titles of the Blessed Mother is “Spouse of the Holy Spirit.”
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Amandil
Guest
“Gender” is a political construct of the progressive/LGBT community. Before that gender was specifically applied only to language.
So in regards to the question its a misnomer.
So in regards to the question its a misnomer.
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Counterpoint
Guest
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27
Do you believe the Holy Spirit was created?
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Counterpoint
Guest
I’m failing to see the relevance of this comment to the subject at hand.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
God has no gender, He has no need for Gender, but in the order of things, since He made man first, people use “he” for God. Also like someone else said, “he” is the default gender used when referring to someone when you don’t know their gender. God doesn’t act male or female, He just acts like God. Male and female attributes are driven by hormones and God doesn’t have hormones so He doesn’t act male or female. He can be strong like a man or gentle like a female but He doesn’t have male or female characteristics the way we think of it. And He’s not an “it” because that refers to something not alive. So we just use the default gender of “he”. 
Plus in the time that the Bible was written, men were the stronger and dominant gender, men controlled everything so they used “he” for God since God is the ultimate person in charge and in control of everything. There is no word for a living person that’s neither male or female because no such human being exists, so we have to choose “he” or “she” and in the order of things “he” is more appropriate since the male is the head of the family and the wife takes the man’s last name etc. It’s the symbolism. 
Plus in the time that the Bible was written, men were the stronger and dominant gender, men controlled everything so they used “he” for God since God is the ultimate person in charge and in control of everything. There is no word for a living person that’s neither male or female because no such human being exists, so we have to choose “he” or “she” and in the order of things “he” is more appropriate since the male is the head of the family and the wife takes the man’s last name etc. It’s the symbolism.
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Counterpoint
Guest
Referring to the Supreme Being in strictly masculine terms may be politically incorrect. But it may also be theologically incorrect.
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Counterpoint
Guest
The “God” of the Bible clearly has a masculine personality. There is no question about that.God has no gender, He has no need for Gender, but in the order of things, since He made man first, people use He for God. Also like someone else said, “he” is the default gender used when referring to someone when you don’t know their gender. God doesn’t act male or female, He just acts like God. Male and female attributes are driven by hormones and God doesn’t have hormones so He doesn’t act male or female. He can be strong like a man or gentle like a female but He doesn’t have male or female characteristics the way we think of it. And He’s not an “it” because that refers to something not alive. So we just use the default gender of “he”.
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4love2God
Guest
Counterpoint asks me a Question : "Do you believe the Holy Spirit was created?"
I don’t spend much time pondering it.
But, when I was taking my Catechism classes, the Nun told me that the Holy Spirit is formed by the will of God the Father and God the Son.
And, that the Holy Spirit is the Outward Manifestation of the Power of God.
I remember this pretty well, because it was a Mind-Bender, and I asked her to repeat it (and I wrote it down in my notes, and read it a few times afterwards).
I may have misunderstood her … or, maybe she was Wrong.
So, that’s what I “know.”
If you’ve got a Better Explanation I would love to hear it.
I don’t spend much time pondering it.
But, when I was taking my Catechism classes, the Nun told me that the Holy Spirit is formed by the will of God the Father and God the Son.
And, that the Holy Spirit is the Outward Manifestation of the Power of God.
I remember this pretty well, because it was a Mind-Bender, and I asked her to repeat it (and I wrote it down in my notes, and read it a few times afterwards).
I may have misunderstood her … or, maybe she was Wrong.
So, that’s what I “know.”
If you’ve got a Better Explanation I would love to hear it.
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Razanir
Guest
The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. But it’s theologically incorrect to say the Holy Spirit is created.
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Sarcelle
Guest
God is masculine, I agree.
However what about the animals? Weren’t there females among them.
There were no female humans but what about female animals?
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Counterpoint
Guest
Interesting. I addressed this issue in the following threads:
The Theology of “Procession”
The Theology of the “Eternally Begotten”
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Amandil
Guest
And why should progressivism and it’s penchant for “political correctness” and “indiscriminateness” have any bearing on the objective meaning of God’s nature or personal revelation?
And what are the premises that this conclusion is based?
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Joie_de_Vivre
Guest
Masculine
That’s actually false, there are cases of it being used to refer to maleness and femaleness since the 15th century though this was a less common usage.
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