How language puts God in a box
Language is subject to cultural influence, and if you’ve ever studied the origins of words, you know how culture and technology have changed our language. If we would’ve told our grandparents thirty or more years ago that we would ‘google’ the weather forecast, they wouldn’t have known what we were talking about. Culture also affects the language we use in Christianity, which shapes our experience and perception of God.
Many Christians only talk about God using masculine terms or father metaphors, as if this is the only acceptable symbol or picture of God, rather than a reflection of the ancient patriarchal culture of the biblical writers. But Scripture provides us with a diversity of images: masculine, feminine, and non-gendered images.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. (Deuteronomy 32:18 NRSV) [Rock and Laboring Mother]
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1) [Light]
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:13) [Mother]
When we exclusively use male-gendered metaphors for God, it’s easy to assume God exists as a gendered being. But John 4:24 tells us ‘God is Spirit,’ and spirit doesn’t have a gender.
Consider biblical examples where Jesus disrupts gender norms, especially in his actions toward women and children. Jesus came to break down the cultural norms of his day that boxed God into the patriarchal system that marginalized non-Jews, women, and children. By expanding the language we use to think about God, we can grow into the awe and mystery of being in relationship with our Father/Mother God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Light of Life and lover of our souls, expand our hearts’ ability to see your love and care in new and meaningful ways. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Nan Kuhlman
Note: In Grace Communion International, we normally call God ‘Father’ because that is the way Jesus taught us to pray, and the name by which he told us to baptize. Some people misunderstand, and think that the term indicates God’s gender, but it does not. God has roles similar to a human father, similar to a mother, similar to a shepherd, and similar to a king, but God cannot be equated with any of those terms. We continue to use the terminology Jesus gave us and seek to help people understand what the term does and does not mean.
First published on 8 March 2023 in GCI Update Devotionals https://update.gci.org
Nan Kuhlman is a member of the Grace Communion International, Monrovia, CA, US congregation.
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