Transgendering Of God In The Bible

Church for LGBT - Open Table MCC - Philippines

Does God have a gender and if God does, what is God’s gender? Biblically speaking, God is anthropomorphically presented with both male and female attributes.

Biblical verses that present God as Female or Feminine:

Deuteronomy 32:11-12 – As mother eagle – As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions, the Lord alone guided him; no foreign god was with him.

Deuteronomy 32:18 – As a mother who gives birth – You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Isaiah 42:14 – A woman in birthing labor – For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.

Luke 15:8-10 – A woman who lost and found her coin – “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Biblical verses that present God as Male or Masculine:

Isaiah 64:8 – Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 42:13 – The Lord goes forth like a soldier; like a warrior he stirs up his fury; he cries out; he shouts aloud; he shows himself mighty against his foes.

Hosea 2:16 – On that day, says the Lord, you will call me “my husband,” and no longer will you call me “my Baal.”

The same Bible presents God as someone beyond any human condition.

Biblical verses that present God as non-human:

Exodus 3:1-4 – God as burning bush

Exodus 13:21 – God as Flame by night & Cloud by Day

1 Kings 19:12-13 – God as Silence

1 Chronicles 7 – God as All Consuming Fire

Exodus 20:21 – God inside a thick darkness

John 8:12 (Light is gender neutral) – God as light

In a world of conquest and domination between peoples, physical strength and the brute force of the male became the standard and became divine. Therefore imperial (monarchical) patriarchy privileged man, masculine, and paternal, therefore God became (mostly) male, masculine, and paternal.

But is God only expressed as female and male or is God exclusively male and father?

We know that the first created human in the Genesis (1:26) mythos – the adam from adamah – earthling is not man or male is interpreted as being genderless, intersex, or genderful.

In the beginning God also created male and female, in God’s own image, God created them. So in the same way that God created realities in between, outside of, and beyond night and day, land and sea, or fish and birds, so God also created people with genders beyond male and female. Trans and non-binary and agender and intersex, God created us.

Rev. Asher O’Callahan

Biblical verses where God favors Eunuchs:

God’s eternal promise to Eunuchs:

For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. – Isaiah 56:4-5

Eunuch’s life seems to be better than heterosexual marriage:

“If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” – Matthew 19:10-11-12

Eunuch conversion: Eunuch and Philip – Acts 8:26-40

Sexual or Gender Diversity in Creation

Creation itself reveals the diversity of sex, sexuality, and “gender”. From simple life forms who can reproduce asexually and life forms who can interchangeably become “male” and “female” at the same time up to other insects and animals who can also be male and female or a combination of it up to animals who exhibit same sex behaviors or relationships as well as what humans may interpret as cross gendering functions. All manner of creatures and life forms in a multitude of maleness, femaleness, something in between or something totally outside or beyond male and female. The classification of male and female and its functions is a human categorization but not necessarily an exact definition or even a fundamental description of life forms. The diversity of creatures and lifeforms as signatures not only of natural selection and multiplicity of evolution but also the intentionality of God and God’s creative and playful power.

Sexual or Gender Diversity in Humanity

So it is no wonder that through human history and civilizations across different cultures from many different places, there have been humans who cross gendered between male and female. There are those who were a mixture of both or something entirely different or beyond male and female. And even within European patriarchal societies and colonization of other peoples, divergent genders and sexualities have always emerged even in the face of oppression and suppression.

If God incarnated and became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ… If Christians believes that God can transubstantiate ordinary bread into the same flesh of Christ… Then there is no reason not to believe that God has always been transubstantiating and incarnating transgender people since the dawn of humanity.

Jesus describes himself as a mother hen, a cross gendering self-description:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! – Luke 13:34

Lesson 1: God is presented in the Bible as female and male and cross gendering between the two. God is presented in other forms, images, names, and elements. The writers of the Bible had no problem presenting God in a variety of ways.

Lesson 2: Diversity is a mark of God’s creation including diversity of genders and sexualities, and all of it are equally holy and loved.

Lesson 3: Gender identities and expressions barely has anything to do with being good or bad. Acceptance and celebration of the totality of one’s self and potential often always leads to a meaningful and good life.

Lesson 4: Gender and Sexuality is one important part of your totality as a human being. Embrace it and express it in the most fabulous and creative way you feel. It is a way to honor the God who has creatively made you. While at the same time, do not reduce nor define the totality of who you are with your SOGIESC. You are so much more than your SOGIESC.

Lesson 5: Transgender and gender diverse persons are created in the image of God and an expression of God’s creative power. To reject them is to reject God. To speak abusively against them is to speak against God. To hurt them simply because they are trans is a sin against the One who created them. To kill them is both a crime against humanity and an mortal offense against God.

Lesson 6: Even if you do not understand the gender identities and expressions of others, respect, honor, and celebrate other people who are different from you. Call them by the name and pronoun they wish to be called. Advocate for them and their rights. Help them find their voice and creativity. Love them and hold them accountable by that same love. Encourage them to tell their stories. Receive their blessing and bless them also.

Our Triune God who has created and continues to create diversity delights when we co-create justice and joy for our trans, gender fluid, and gender non-binary siblings.

The story and names of God of many genders and beyond human understanding has been spoken.

May our faith be enlightened. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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