The first words of the Old Testament are B'reshit bara Elohim—"In the beginning God created." The verb baraagrees with a masculine singular subject. Elohim is used to refer to both genders and is plural; it has been used to refer to both Goddess, and God. The masculine gender in Hebrew can be used for objects with no inherent gender, as well as objects with masculine natural gender, and so it is widely used, attributing the masculine gender to most things. However, the noun used for the Spirit of God in Genesis—"Ruach"—is distinctly feminine, as is the verb used to describe the Spirit's activity during creation—"rachaph"—translated as "fluttereth". This verb is used only one other place in the Bible where it describes the action of a mother eagle towards her nest. The consistent use of feminine nouns and verbs to refer to the Spirit of God in the Torah, as well as the rest of the Jewish Scriptures, indicates that at least this aspect of Elohim was consistently perceived as feminine. Genesis 1:26-27 says that humans were made male and female in the image of elohim. Two of the most common phrases in the Tanakh are vayomer Elohim and vayomer YHWH—"and God said". Again, the verb vayomer is masculine; it is never vatomer, the feminine of the same verb form. The personal name of God, YHWH, is presented in Exodus 3 as if the Y is the masculine subjective prefix to the verb to be. In Psalm 89:26 God is referred to as Father. "He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation." Some literary approaches to the Old Testament have argued that parallels between Biblical stories and earlier Sumerian, Akkadian and Canaanite creation myths show a matriarchal substratum that has been overlaid by a patriarchal approach. "In the Bible, the earth is the feminine complement of God: the two combined to form man, who articulates their relationship, for example, in sacrifice." The New Testament also refers to the Holy Spirit in masculine terminology, most clearly in the Gospel of John 14-16.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church #239 states, in reference to the Father: "God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God." The CCC discusses the traditional imagery and language of God as Father. It notes, however, that God is not limited to this role alone—maternal imagery are also used in the Bible. It also notes that human fatherhood only imperfectly reflects God's archetypal fatherhood. God is referred to as masculine in Catholic teaching and practice. Though Church teaching, in line with its Doctors, holds that God has no literal sex because he has no body, classical and scriptural understanding states that God should be referred to as masculine by analogy. It justifies this by pointing to God's relationship with the world as begetter of the world and revelation.
The Inclusive Language Lectionary published by the American National Council of Churches, to which many Protestant churches belong, states in its introduction "The God worshiped by the biblical authors and worshiped in the Church today cannot be regarded as having gender, race, or color."
differs from most churches in that they believe that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are separate and male as well as masculine. The LDS Church also teaches that God the Father is married to a divine woman, referred to as "Heavenly Mother". Humans are considered to be spirit children of these heavenly parents.
Gender-inclusive language
Multiple groups consider gender-neutral language as inadequate in reflecting the nature of God, however, in recent history, several liberal and mainline Protestant denominations have adopted or encouraged its use when referring to God. These include the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Metropolitan Community Church. Still others object on aesthetic grounds that gender-inclusive constructions, such as invented gender or alternating gender, are clumsy.
, the hymnal of the United Church of Christ, uses inclusive language; one of its concerns while being authored was reducing the solely-masculine use of language for God, and/or balancing masculine images with feminine and non-gendered images, while retaining masculine imagery for Jesus regarding his earthly life. At least two UCC conferences have adopted guidelines for using inclusive language, and the majority of clergy and laity in the UCC report using inclusive language when referring to God during worship.
Metropolitan Community Church
The Metropolitan Community Church encourages inclusive language and uses "God—our Parent-Creator", "Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God", and "the Holy Spirit" in its Statement of Faith to refer to the three persons of the Trinity.
