Is Jesus a specific gender?

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My limited understanding is that God is neither male nor Female. Let me know if you feel that I am wrong. It seems easy for me to visualize the Father and the Holy Spirit as being neither male nor female, despite the name “The Father.” Now is there is one God, this leads me to believe that it would be accurate to call all three, Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost neither male nor female. But wait, Jesus was obviously a male in His human form. Is he considered a male? What is a male? Spiritually speaking?

I’m wondering if anybody has pondered this before or if The Church has an official position on this matter.

God Bless!
 
St_Redemption said:
My limited understanding is that God is neither male nor Female. Let me know if you feel that I am wrong. It seems easy for me to visualize the Father and the Holy Spirit as being neither male nor female, despite the name “The Father.” Now is there is one God, this leads me to believe that it would be accurate to call all three, Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost neither male nor female. But wait, Jesus was obviously a male in His human form. Is he considered a male? What is a male? Spiritually speaking?

I’m wondering if anybody has pondered this before or if The Church has an official position on this matter.

God Bless!
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Jesus is God incarnated (made flesh) as a male. The Church recognizes that Jesus is a man.

“Theology of the Body” is a good read regarding the meaning of -our- physicality, although it goes into areas that do not pertain specifically to Jesus.
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys. Does the church have a position on the Father and the Holy Spirit with regards to gender? Do They have no gender?
 
The Son is male insofar that He was incarnated as a human being. The divine essence of Christ, which the Gospel of John calls the Word or logos, has no sex. Neither do the Father or Holy Spirit, for since they are spiritual beings with no matter, they have no biological parts which would classify them in either sex.

That being said: all throughout Scripture, the Holy Trinity has chosen to reveal Himself in masculine language, which is why we use the terms “Father” and “Son”, and use masculine pronouns when referring to the Holy Spirit.

There was a recent discussion about whether baptizing “in the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier” invalidated the Sacrament of Baptism entirely, or was merely illicit. The Holy See ruled that this made the baptisms invalid, i.e. anybody christened in a gender-less formula had to be properly re-baptized. The reason I bring this up is that it’s a big deal! It’s not just a tradition or custom that we speak of God in masculine terms, it is how He revealed himself, and departing from that is quite a serious infidelity to our Lord.
 
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Father revealed by the Son
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238 Many religions invoke God as “Father”. The deity is often considered the “father of gods and of men”. In Israel, God is called “Father” inasmuch as he is Creator of the world. Even more, God is Father because of the covenant and the gift of the law to Israel, “his first-born son”. God is also called the Father of the king of Israel. Most especially he is “the Father of the poor”, of the orphaned and the widowed, who are under his loving protection.
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**239 *By calling God “Father”, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God’s parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God’s immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. **We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. **He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.
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240 Jesus revealed that God is Father in an unheard-of sense: he is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father in relation to his only Son, who is eternally Son only in relation to his Father: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
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*Cf. ⇒ Ps 27:10; ⇒ Eph 3:14; ⇒ Is 49:15.
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The Son has no gender. The Son manifest into the flesh was Jesus, and he was a human male.
 
Rich_C said:
And still is, since His Glorified Body ascended to Heaven.
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An excellent point to remember that really brings home the point that we are not merely spiritual beings. And something for us to look forward to in hope as our bodies will likewise be resurrected.
 
St_Redemption said:
Thanks for the quick replies guys. Does the church have a position on the Father and the Holy Spirit with regards to gender? Do They have no gender?
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Spirits have no sex. Bodies have sex. To the extent God (as Jesus) has a body, God is a male; to the extent God does not have a body (in what we might call his “natural form”) he has no sex.
 
St_Redemption said:
My limited understanding is that God is neither male nor Female. Let me know if you feel that I am wrong. It seems easy for me to visualize the Father and the Holy Spirit as being neither male nor female, despite the name “The Father.” Now is there is one God, this leads me to believe that it would be accurate to call all three, Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost neither male nor female. But wait, Jesus was obviously a male in His human form. Is he considered a male? What is a male? Spiritually speaking?

I’m wondering if anybody has pondered this before or if The Church has an official position on this matter.

God Bless!
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Jesus is a Man yes

but let me make this clear about the three persons of the trinity. They have no Gender they are not male and female or one or the other. If they where one or the other that would not make the trinity simplistic. I believe the reason we call God Father Son and Holy Spirit is to help our human understanding of the divine. In No way ontologically is God actually a Father, but the way he acts in creaiton the way he acts in our lives he is like a Father. God is simply one any categories given to God takes away the simplicity in God and his oneness.

So to make it simple. Yes we do Call God Father and God Son and God Holy Spirit and these where reveled to us by Jesus Christ. The reason I believe the he did this is to help us understand the nature of the relationship that the God head has to each-other. Jesus in order for us to fall more deeply in love with God gave us an analogy to help us relate to them.

(note I think this is the case, if I’m wrong please correct me)
 
catholictiger said:
Jesus is a Man yes

but let me make this clear about the three persons of the trinity. They have no Gender they are not male and female or one or the other. If they where one or the other that would not make the trinity simplistic. I believe the reason we call God Father Son and Holy Spirit is to help our human understanding of the divine. In No way ontologically is God actually a Father, but the way he acts in creaiton the way he acts in our lives he is like a Father. God is simply one any categories given to God takes away the simplicity in God and his oneness.

So to make it simple. Yes we do Call God Father and God Son and God Holy Spirit and these where reveled to us by Jesus Christ. The reason I believe the he did this is to help us understand the nature of the relationship that the God head has to each-other. Jesus in order for us to fall more deeply in love with God gave us an analogy to help us relate to them.

(note I think this is the case, if I’m wrong please correct me)
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Hello catholictiger,

I believe your statement “in no way ontologically is God actually a Father” is incorrect. Our whole catholic doctrine of the Trinity is based on the paternity of God the Father, the filiation of God the Son, and the spiration of God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is Father in the most perfect sense conceivable. For God the Son is begotten by the Father from all eternity. God is one but the relationships of the three persons to each other is what distinguishes the three persons from each other. St Thomas Aquinas says that the proper and personal name of God the Father is Father.

God bless you in your studies towards the priesthood!
 
sw85 said:
Spirits have no sex. Bodies have sex. To the extent God (as Jesus) has a body, God is a male; to the extent God does not have a body (in what we might call his “natural form”) he has no sex.
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Spirits don’t have sex, but that doesn’t mean that don’t have gender. To answer the original question, yes Jesus was a male. He has a male body and will have one forever. The Father and the Spirit are not incarnate, they don’t have bodies, thus they are not male, but they are masculine, not feminine, not neuter. This is obscured in English, but in Latin (or Italian or Spanish) this is easily seen. DEUS (masculine) not DEA (feminine) is always used for GOD. God is PATER (masculine) not MATER (feminine). He is the CREATOR (masculine) not the CREATRIX (feminine). The Holy Spirit is the SPIRITUS SANCTUS not the SPIRITA SANCTA. Examples could be multiplied. Again, this can be seen in all the romance languages, I used examples from Latin, b/c Latin is the official language of the Church, her Liturgy, and her magisterial teachings in which all three persons of the Trinity are always and everywhere referred to solely as masculine.

In short, God is three persons and they are:
The Father - Masculine from all eternity, but not Male
The Son - Masculine from all eternity, Male b/c of the Incarnation
The Spirit - Masculine from all eternity, but not Male

God bless.
 
Jesus taught us to pray 'Our “Father” ’ Therefore if language means anything at all then He is Male.
 
God is neither male nor female; but as we are made in the image of God, then God must have attributes which are male and which are female.

God is pure spirit, and we are not. We experience ourselves in the context of male and female; our experiences are significantly based on the physical world, and that in turn significant;y colors our language.

In the Old Testament, God is revealed through the writers; and we find that illuminated, clarified and brought to fruition in Christ. And Christ teaches us in terms we understand (although not perfectly); our relationship with God is as Father and child.

In looking at the Old Testament, however, God is often referred to in female terms; birthing; nurturing, consoling, feeding, and other terms that for eons were understood as female characteristics. Which, of course, has led not a few to babble on about “MotherFather God” (one has to say it so the two words blend as one). More than a bit distracting, generally done by those of a more radical feminist agenda, and we all don’t want to go there. What the radicals forget is that which Christ taught, and it would behoove us to not think we know better than The Teacher.
 
Richca said:
Hello catholictiger,

I believe your statement “in no way ontologically is God actually a Father” is incorrect. Our whole catholic doctrine of the Trinity is based on the paternity of God the Father, the filiation of God the Son, and the spiration of God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is Father in the most perfect sense conceivable. For God the Son is begotten by the Father from all eternity. God is one but the relationships of the three persons to each other is what distinguishes the three persons from each other. St Thomas Aquinas says that the proper and personal name of God the Father is Father.

God bless you in your studies towards the priesthood!
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I’ll say this (if the Church has made official statements on this issue please let me know)

revelation has made it clear that there is a trinity consiting of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But just because we call God Father son and Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that in their natures they are a Father a Son and a Holy Spirit. I think it was Augustine who said that the three persons of the triniy are distinct from each-other in relation as you said. Revelation is ultra clear on the names of the trinity but not so clear on the nature of the trinity with the exception of a few things.
  1. God the Father is invisible
  2. Jesus revels the Father Through Himself
  3. Jesus or the Son is the Word of God
  4. The Holy Spirit is the breath or spiration of God ]
    etc.
revelation gives qualities of the divine Godhead but it never reveals to us what the nature of God is. It is through great Catholic thinkers like Augustine Anselm Thomas etc. who posited ideas about God’s nature that seem very probable.

What I’m saying is that we call out abba father not because The head of the trinity is in nature a Father but this how he was reveled to us through divine revelation. When it comes to the nature of the divine it is pretty simple I believe. In its nature the trinity is nothing more nothing less than esse aka existence. God has no essence and according to philosophy can’t have any essence, if we are to actually give God’s nature qualities other than simply existing than we give God an essence which would then make him not God.

We call God Father because Jesus revealed to us that he calls him this and we should call him this. But when it comes to the nature of God I believe that God is simply one and has no essence other than existence. IF you add anything to the essence of God than he can no longer be God.
 
PietroPaolo said:
This is obscured in English, but in Latin (or Italian or Spanish) this is easily seen. DEUS (masculine) not DEA (feminine) is always used for GOD. God is PATER (masculine) not MATER (feminine). He is the CREATOR (masculine) not the CREATRIX (feminine). The Holy Spirit is the SPIRITUS SANCTUS not the SPIRITA SANCTA. Examples could be multiplied. Again, this can be seen in all the romance languages, I used examples from Latin, b/c Latin is the official language of the Church, her Liturgy, and her magisterial teachings in which all three persons of the Trinity are always and everywhere referred to solely as masculine.
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This is true. Gender comes more into play in other languages when it is being modified or referenced. English is more influenced by political correctness and sex has become almost the equivalent of gender. Some people have trouble referencing hurricanes (or the Church, for that matter) as “she,” for example. Not to add to the confusion but in Latin animus (m) is more the mind; anima (f) is more the soul.
 
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