Should we use masculine pronouns to refer to God?
Because God is a spirit being, He does not have a gender. Throughout the Bible, however, God uses masculine pronouns and imagery when revealing Himself to mankind. Because God has referred to Himself using specifically masculine terms, we do the same thing when referring to Him.The Old Testament was written in Ancient Hebrew, which had no gender-neutral pronouns, so God deliberately chose to use masculine pronouns for Himself. In the New Testament, which was written in Koine Greek, God is also consistently referred to using grammatically masculine pronouns, even though the Greek had gender-neutral pronoun options.
Grammatical pronouns aside, biblical metaphors for God are also male—the primary ones being Father and King, and sometimes Husband. Jesus told us to pray to God as our "Father" (Luke 11:2) and there are multiple other verses that describe God as our Father (Psalm 68:5; Isaiah 64:8; Matthew 23:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6). God is called a king in many passages, but never a queen (Psalm 24:10; 47:2; Isaiah 44:6; 1 Timothy 1:17). In some of books of the prophets, God is also referred to as a husband (Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:2, 16, 19). Isaiah 66:13 says that God will comfort us like a mother comforts a child, however, this is a simile and is not saying that God is a mother. Jesus Christ came to earth as God incarnate and He came as a physical man rather than as a woman. Jesus referred to God as "Father" more than one hundred times (Mark 14:36; John 5:18; 10:30; 14:6).
To reiterate, God is spirit, which means He doesn't have physical genetics or characteristics that would make Him a "male." He is outside of gender. However, in spite of this, God has chosen to intentionally reveal Himself to humankind using masculine terms. Throughout the Bible, God is consistently a "He." Because of this, we too, use masculine pronouns when referring to God.
God is spirit – What does that mean?
Is God male or female?
The attributes of God, what are they?
Is God/the Bible sexist?
Are all angels male or are some female?
Truth about God
