agrogersGod has tried to communicate with us what He and Jesus are like. The language He has chosen is that of a father and a son. So I am comfortable thinking of God as masculine. The alternative is to conclude that words, even the most fundamental, have no inherent meaning.
Paul went into more detail. 1 Cor 11: 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
I think this is actually getting closer to the heart of the current sexuality debate. Satan wants to destroy the image and glory of God. He can’t easily get to God so he attacks that image in His creation. He has done that historically by having one human physically destroy another. But now he is doing it at an even more fundamental level – by destroying all distinctions within the genders themselves.
This informs my understanding of why God was so opposed to cross-dressing in the OT. Rom 11:36 “For everything [even the clothes we wear] comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.” Cross-dressing is the first step to destroying the image of God in humankind. I think we are now taking the final steps.
I understand gender, gender roles and marriage to be intended primarily for His glory and secondarily for our benefit. Marriage is a fairly easy one to see in this context. Ep 5:31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, *and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church*.” Ultimately, Jesus says, human marriage will cease and be replaced by a Divine marriage. It is this Divine marriage that human marriage is (supposed to be) pointing all men and women to. We, the church, are supposed to be the chaste bride, He the glorious Bridegroom. The church is not at liberty to make Jesus the bride and ourselves the groom (or perhaps both grooms or both brides). Nor, for that matter, is it at liberty to facilitate divorces and remarriages.
That God chooses to describe Himself as a ‘groom’ would be another reason I would say God is masculine 🙂
