IS GOD GENDERLESS?

IS GOD GENDERLESS?

I have devoted much time toward demonstrating by Scripture that the Holy Spirit is functionally feminine. I have written two Christian nonfiction works and four novels largely focused on that topic. For much of that time I had thought that the biggest stumbling block preventing more Christians from perceiving what I have considered to be obvious is the use in our Bibles of masculine pronouns when referencing the Holy Spirit. I had placed the blame for those “he” references on overly-zealous translations from the original autographs by misguided Christians.

That supposition is indeed true: things did get changed in the translations, for reasons that I have noted in Marching to a Worthy Drummer. But the situation is worse than that. Lurking behind that error has been a misperception, rampant within mainstream Christianity, that gender itself doesn’t belong in the heavenly realm. Quite recently, one person remarked to me “But there’s no procreation in heaven!”

That says it all. From whence came such a stupendously sterile assessment of the spiritual domain? Let me guess – perhaps the notion came from Scripture itself in Jesus’ words to the effect that in heaven men don’t marry, or in Paul’s words that there is neither male nor female. The first comes from Matthew 22:29 and 30, and the second from Galatians 3:28:

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven.”

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Since when is the lack of an attribute associated with the “power of God”? In failing to understand Scripture beyond the level of the most shallow thought processes and refusing to appreciate every word and phrase, the readers acquired a notion that directly contradicts the rest of the Bible. How then do they handle The Song of Solomon, with its vivid description of passion and romantic love? They can only gloss over it without thought, never asking themselves why, if gender doesn’t belong in the Godhead, the Song was canonized in Scripture, or why Jesus’ first miracle occurred joyfully during the wedding in Cana, or why Paul wrote what he did in Ephesians 5, the bottom line of which is repeated below:

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

What those two passages regarding the lack of gendered function in individuals really meant, if one truly thinks about them, is that the Church is a composite of individuals, not the individuals themselves. Our physical bodies contain a large number of organs, most of which have nothing to do with gender. But if a spleen is genderless, that certainly doesn’t mean that the person to which it belongs is without gender. The exact same principle applies to the distinction between the individual Christian and the Church which consists of many individual Christians. In more than one passage, Paul attempted to make that clear. An example of the aggregate nature of the Church is given in Ephesians 4:11-16:

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ; from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-27 also represents a passage describing the Church as an aggregate of individual persons, and is even more detailed in its depiction of our individuality as parts of a greater and different whole than the passage in Ephesians 4:

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences in administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit. For to one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, various kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greeks, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it, therefore, not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it, therefore, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need; but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

Tongue-in-cheek, I emphasized the distinction between the individual and the aggregate in Marching to a Worthy Drummer, hoping to clarify the issue:

“If, now, we revisit the passages noted above dealing with the lack of gender in the individual spiritual person, we see the basic shallowness of an attempt to claim, on that basis, that there is no gender in the spiritual realm. “For what would a gendered ear look like? Or how would a sexual foot accomplish that function? At the very least, it would impart a brand new meaning to the term “playing footsie”. Would one have to make special provisions, for the sake of modesty, toward prohibiting the practice of walking barefoot? Shoe salespersons would have to be watched very carefully – perhaps making them submit to licensing. Of course, it would open an enormous market for suggestive footwear.

“But as to the Church as the composite spiritual Bride of Christ, that’s an entirely different story.

“What do Christians think this marriage will involve? An unconsummated, virginal union basically empty of the natural meaning of union itself? A union in name only, incapable of bearing fruit, as suggested by the natural generation of offspring by almost every life form on earth, including humanity?

Think about that: from Genesis in the very beginning of the Bible, we know that the spiritual realm involves creation, which is an order of gender above mere procreation. Yet further, should we simply ignore what Paul wrote in Romans 7:4 regarding our spiritual existence?

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”