In the Image of God's Gender: Male and Female
- Elaine R Kelly
- Feb 3, 2023
- 10 min read
Updated: Sep 21
How can each individual, woman or man, be in God’s image (Gen. 1.27) when women and men are different?
By realizing God is neither male nor female, but a spirit. Each human is an image of God in the way that ancient peoples used images or statues to represent their gods. Likewise, humans may be male, female, or reflect some of each gender. I have also written about how the original first human may have been non-binary in the image of God.
The Bible never says that God made males in God's image or that only men are made in God's image. The Bible uses the Hebrew word 'Adam' to mean 'mankind' until Genesis 4, when the word 'Adam' begins to refer to the individual man.
When the Bible says God created man in God's image, it is translating the Hebrew word that literally means 'humans' or 'mankind'. In other words, all humans are created in God's image: male and female and everything in between. In fact, after using the Hebrew word for 'mankind', it continues, explaining that it includes male and female (Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 5:1-2).
Where does the Bible show God as Male and Female?
Spirit as Male and Female
The Holy Spirit is wind or breath, giving life in creation (Genesis 1:2, 2:7, Isaiah 42:5, Job 33:4, Ezekiel 37:5-6, Psalm 33:6). The Bible refers to God's breath or wind giving us life.
The Hebrew word for spirit (ruach) is grammatically feminine, yet we know that spirits are not gendered and neither male nor female. The Bible talks about spirits in heaven having no gender:
"For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven." (Matthew 22:30 NLT)
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16 KJV)
When Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, he says that because God is Spirit, those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
The breath of the Spirit raises Jesus to life (Romans 8:11, 1 Peter 3:18). In fact, all three persons of the Holy Trinity are involved in Jesus's resurrection.
After his resurrection, Jesus breathed on them as he gave them the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Jesus describes the Spirit as the wind breathing new life into our spirit. After his ascension, the men and women disciples heard the sound of wind blowing as the Holy Spirit filled them with new life (Acts 2:1-3). The breath of the Spirit is also what gives new life to believers.
In my biblical fiction, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as a life-giving breath:
“At my request, the Father will send the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to your new, eternal life. The Holy Spirit embodies wisdom. She will guide and teach you and remind you of all I have told you.”... “You are sad now, like when a woman is suffering in labour, about to give birth. But when the new life is born, happiness overtakes her pain. In the same way, the Holy Spirit cries and pants in labour, and when she gives birth to new life, I will see you again, and happiness will overtake your pain!”- Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Chapter 32
Giving Guidance as Male and Female
The Holy Spirit is called an advocate/ spokesperson (John 14:16), a source of wisdom, guidance, and teaching (John 14:26) and a comforter, encourager, and helper (Romans 8:26). These actions show God's image and are not unique to gender. The Bible personifies the Wisdom of God with female imagery.
Wisdom is presented as a partner present in creation, a tree of life, and the breath that gives life.
Doesn’t Wisdom cry out and Understanding shout? ...The Lord created me at the beginning of his way, before his deeds long in the past. I was formed in ancient times, at the beginning, before the earth was. Proverbs 8: 1, 22-23 CEB
Lady Wisdom is described similarly to Jesus, raising her voice publicly.:
Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. (Proverbs 1:20)
Lady Wisdom is described similarly to Jesus as the Way:
Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (I Corinthians 1:24),
Lady Wisdom, like Jesus, was rejected by many but proved right by her actions.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” (Matthew 11:19 NRSVUE)
Lady Wisdom, like Jesus, is our guide.
The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. (John 16:13 CEV)
The Book of Wisdom names Lady Wisdom as Sophia [1]. This book is included in the Apocrypha of the Catholic Bible, and was included in the Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation of the Greek Bible, but is rejected by Protestants. The Book of Wisdom shows Sophia guiding the Israelites through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21). In the same way, Lady Wisdom can guide and teach God's people today.
“She led them by a marvelous road. She herself was their shelter by day and their starlight through the night” (Wisdom 10:17)
Christians debate whether Sophia is strictly a metaphor or if she is an expression of God's presence, another name for God or for the Spirit. Sophia is a way of understanding wisdom [2] and revering the female aspect of the God of Israel. Wisdom-Sophia can be a description of an important attribute of God, a counter-balance to the Judge-Father-Male description.
Can prayers toward the Christian God be addressed to Sophia, similar to how our prayers to the Christian God can be addressed to Father, Creator, Prince of Peace? Is wisdom another manifestation of God?
Giving Birth as Male and Female
Can all humans be creators in God's image? Can both women and men be in labour and deliver as co-creators with God?
Just as a woman and a man are both involved in creating a human baby, both women and men work together to give birth to spiritual children. Giving the breath of new life is not a male or female trait.
Paul calls himself a mother in labour to birth spiritual children (1 Tim. 1:2, Gal. 4:19), and in nurturing them as a mother would (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
Peter and John also use female imagery for themselves 1 Peter 5:13, 3 John 1:4. Likewise, the elect lady of 2 John 1:4 has spiritual children.
God uses female pronouns in such things as a mother nurturing her child, a lioness protecting her cubs, and a mother hen comforting her chicks.
Giving Protection as Male and Female
While you may think of the male figure as the strong protector, when the Bible describes God as a helper and protector, it quite often uses female imagery. The Women's Ordination Conference has prepared a list of female Images of God in the Bible [3].
The Bible uses female descriptions for God as a protector, lioness, and mother bear.
So I will become like a lion [lioness] to them [to those who forget God]; like a leopard I will lurk beside the road. I will fall upon them like a [mother] bear robbed of her cubs, and I will tear open the covering of their hearts..." (Hosea 13:7-8 CEB square brackets added).
In a number of places, God is compared to a mother bird protecting her young (Psalm 91:4, Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34).
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, takes them and bears them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead..." Deuteronomy 32:11-12
When the Bible describes the first woman, Eve, it describes her using the same word used to describe God. An ezer is a strong deliverer, ally, and protector [4]
“It’s not good that the human is alone. I will make him a helper [ezer] that is perfect for him." (Genesis 2:18 CEB square brackets added)
We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help [ezer] and our shield. Psalm 33:20 CEB
Hurry to me, God! You are my helper [ezer] and my deliverer. Psalm 70:5 CEB
The Fall's Impact on Male and Female
Creation does not differentiate by gender. Before the fall, from the beginning of creation, God authorized all humans with the same authority and purpose. Males and females were two equal counterparts. The tasks of creating and stewarding creation are not allocated by gender.
"Then God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.'"(Gen. 1:28 NLT )
Katharine Bushnell revealed in her 1921 book that "The Bible nowhere uses such an expression as 'the curse' regarding women. We get the teaching about the woman's 'curse' wholly through tradition. Pain is invariably an outcry of God's natural law against abuse, and pain must be contrary to God's will. This is as true regarding the pain of childbirth as it is regarding any other sort of pain" (God's Word to Women, Lesson 14) [5]
Bruce Fleming shows that after the Fall, God does not curse Eve [6], but the Serpent. The one who attacked and deceived her is the true cause of the Fall. God explains to Eve that there will be sorrow and toil farming the cursed and infertile ground, and God blessed Eve with multiplied conception and fertility. Then God warns Eve that Adam chose to rule himself and her, rather than obeying God's rule.
"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." (Genesis 3:16 KJV)
Fleming also points out that God does not curse Adam. God is the only ruler, and any man or woman acting as a ruler is usurping God's role. Adam intentionally disobeyed God and chose to rule over himself, but God mercifully diverted the curse that Adam deserved and instead cursed the ground with infertility. Our selfish nature has the consequences of sorrow and toil. Being male or female had no impact on an individual's role or function either before or after the fall.
The Image of God as Male and Female
No manmade idol or image can represent God. But humans are God-made images or idols that represent God to the world. We are God's image in the world. Our words and actions show the invisible God to the world. We impact God's name and reputation.
Our actions in nurturing and managing God's earth and all its creatures affect how our Creator is perceived. We honour God when we are the light of the world (John 8:12, Matthew 5:14-16). We show the world who God is by loving others the way Jesus loved us (John 13:35). We show God living in us by how we live and love, which is not unique to gender.
Christians do not need to imitate men. Bravery, courage, and speaking out are the responsibilities of every believer. Paul does not tell women they must "act like men". He tells both women and men to be courageous, stand firm, be strong and loving (1 Corinthians 16:13). Maturity in Christ shows God's image and is not unique to gender. The Bible tells us all, male and female, to 'fear not' 365 times![7]
Being gentle and nurturing, yielding to one another, is not an instruction for women only. Christians are to submit to one another in love (Ephesians 5:21). Paul encourages all believers, regardless of gender, to display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Being thoughtful of others is not unique to gender.
Paul also affirms this equality, saying that in Christ, there is no longer male or female, slave or citizen, Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11). Paul names many women as co-workers in ministry, deacons and apostles (Romans 16). In God's family, sons and daughters receive the same inheritance (Romans 8:15-17, 1 John 3:1, 1 Peter 3:7, Matthew 25:34). Jesus and the Apostles affirm that being male or female has no impact on salvation, role, or calling for Christians.
Jesus demonstrates this equality by reaching out to both women and men to be his followers, affirming their decision to learn as disciples, and authorizing women to go out as apostles. In Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, I tell the stories of women Jesus calls to be disciples, teaching, equipping, and empowering them to go out as apostles.
Conclusion
Each human is made fully in God's male-female image. Men and women are not made partly in God's image. God is a spirit with both male and female traits.
God and male apostles have traits that have traditionally been associated with females, such as childbearing and nurturing. Similarly, God made females as God's image bearers, holding traits that have traditionally been associated with males, such as courage, bravery, prophecy, speaking and leading. The fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience...) are the same regardless of gender. The gifts of the Spirit are given regardless of gender (apostle, prophet, teacher, healer, administrator, speaking in tongues). Spiritual maturity is the goal for both men and women. The Bible shows that no trait is specific to just one gender. God made women and men equal at creation, again after the Fall, and again after Christ rose. Let us celebrate that in Christ, there is no favouritism based on gender. We are free to follow God's individual call on our lives.
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)
The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, A Novel of the Earliest Female Apostles (coming October 2025)
Sources
[1] Joyce Rupp, "Who is Sophia in the Bible?", US Catholic, January 4, 2016, https://uscatholic.org/articles/201601/desperately-seeking-sophia/
[2] Tina Ostrander, "Who is Sophia?", CBE International, April 30, 1994, https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/who-sophia/
[3] "Female Images of God in the Bible", Women's Ordination Conference https://www.womensordination.org/resources-old/female-images-of-god-in-the-bible/
[4] Sarah E. Fisher, "Helper: Defining the Ezer Woman", Hebrew Word Lessons, May 13, 2018, https://hebrewwordlessons.com/2018/05/13/helper-defining-the-ezer-woman/
[5] Katharine Bushnell, God's Word to Women, Lesson 14, 1921, https://godswordtowomen.org/lesson%2014.htm
[6] Bruce C. E. Fleming, "Season One. Genesis 2-3. Not cursed!", The Eden Podcast, October 21, 2020, https://tru316.com/the-eden-podcast
[7] Believer's Portal https://believersportal.com/list-365-fear-not-bible-verses/
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