The concept of referring to God as a motherly figure has become popular in some Christian circles recently. Groups like the World Mission Society Church of God teach that God should be referred to as “God the Mother” alongside God the Father. They base this belief on certain passages of Scripture that use feminine imagery to describe God. However, does the Bible really support referring to God as a mother? Let’s take a comprehensive look at what the Bible says about God’s nature and how we should address Him.
The Bible presents God as Father
The most common way the Bible refers to the first person of the Trinity is as God the Father. Jesus called God “Father” numerous times and taught His disciples to pray to “our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). The New Testament letters also frequently refer to God as Father (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:1, Ephesians 1:2, etc). Jesus Christ is presented as God’s Son, implying the Fatherhood of God. While feminine metaphors are sometimes used for God, the overwhelmingly dominant biblical paradigm is of God as Father.
The Bible never refers to God as Mother. The second person of the Trinity is never presented as God’s Daughter. Nowhere are Christians instructed to address God as Mother in prayer or worship. God inspired the biblical authors to refer to Him with male pronouns and the familial title of Father. Though God transcends gender, He has chosen to reveal Himself to us as our Father. We should respect how the biblical authors, under divine inspiration, chose to refer to Him.
Feminine metaphors used for God
At a few points, the Bible uses feminine imagery to describe God. Passages like Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 42:14, Isaiah 49:15, and Isaiah 66:13 liken God to a mother for the purposes of metaphor and analogy. God compares His compassion for His people to the compassion a mother shows for her child. But these feminine metaphors are the exception rather than the norm in Scripture. They appear only at specific points to illustrate God’s tender love and care.
Using feminine imagery does not mean God is biologically female or should be addressed as Mother. The passages that liken God to a mother still use masculine pronouns for Him. They do not present God the Mother as a separate person in the Godhead. Rather, they creatively compare God’s attributes like gentleness, tenderness, and compassion to those of a loving mother. The metaphors highlight these attributes but do not redefine God’s essential nature.
The Holy Spirit also referred to in masculine terms
Those who advocate referring to God as Mother sometimes claim the Holy Spirit is the maternal member of the Trinity. However, the Holy Spirit is consistently referred to with masculine pronouns in the Bible. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper or Comforter (John 14:16) using the masculine Greek word parakletos. When the pronouns used for the Spirit in John 16:13-14 are transated literally, they are masculine, not feminine or gender-neutral.
There is no biblical basis for viewing the Holy Spirit as the feminine member of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is fully God just as the Father and Son are. The Spirit is likened to feminine images on occasion, as God the Father is. But the overwhelming linguistic pattern is to refer to all three persons of the Trinity with masculine pronouns and imagery.
Etymology of God’s names
Another argument proposes that etymologically, the Hebrew words Elohim, El Shaddai, Shekinah, and Ruach all have feminine roots. This shows God has a maternal as well as paternal nature. However, while the linguistic history of these words may be debated, etymology doesn’t determine theological meaning. The words as used by the biblical authors carry a clear masculine sense when referring to God.
Ruach is used to mean wind, breath, spirit, or Spirit over 375 times. While the word may possibly derive from a feminine noun form, the Old Testament uses ruach with masculine grammar when referring to God’s Spirit. Any alleged ancient feminine connotation is overwritten by how the inspired authors chose to use it. The same applies for the other Hebrew names for God. The revelation progressivelly given in Scripture takes precedence over debatable etymological theorizing.
New Testament affirms God’s fatherhood
Some claim that referring to God’s feminine aspects corrects an imbalance in how He is addressed. But the New Testament continues the paradigm of God’s fatherhood from the Old Testament. Jesus’ primary address for God was Father and He commands His followers to do the same. The apostolic letters repeat this model. The scriptural pattern is clear we should relate to God primarly as our Father based on how Jesus revealed Him.
This fits with Paul’s statements that “there is one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:6) and “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). God relates to us through the Son as our divine Father, not mother. We relate back to Him in that context through Christ our mediator. The incarnation of Jesus as male also points to the sonship paradigm being integral to how God discloses Himself in Scripture.
No biblical case for God the Mother
Some contemporary movements claim that failure to acknowledge God as Mother de-emphasizes the Bible’s feminine metaphors. But Scripture itself keeps these metaphors limited to a minority of passages. The consistent model throughout both testaments is of God revealed to us as Father. Nowhere is God presented as Mother within the Trinity or addressed in prayer as Mother. The biblical authors avoid this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
There is no textual support for the assertion that a separate female God the Mother exists alongside the masculine God the Father. This idea depends entirely on isolated verses ripped from their contexts. The metaphorical feminine imagery used at points cannot be elevated to trump the Bible’s overarching revelation of God’s fatherhood. Though God transcends gender, the names and pronouns He chose to reveal Himself through are intentionally masculine rather than feminine or gender-neutral.
God desires us to humbly respect how He discloses Himself in Scripture, not reimagine His nature based on limited metaphors. The biblical pattern from Genesis to Revelation is consistently of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no biblical basis for the novel notion of God the Mother as a distinct fourth member of the Godhead. Christians should adhere to the way God and inspired Scripture refer to Him, not how contemporary culture wishes to redefine Him.
Church history affirms God as Father
Referring to God as Mother is a relatively new concept that stands at odds with how He has been addressed through centuries of church history. The early church fathers referenced God overwhelmingly as Father rather than Mother. The Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed both begin affirming belief in “God the Father Almighty.” No historical creeds, confessions, or catechisms include God the Mother.
While a few church fathers noticed the feminine metaphors for God, they did not conclude He should be referred to as Mother. Augustine wrote about how Scripture balances masculine and feminine imagery for God, but maintained God is rightly called Father not Mother. The model prayer Jesus taught addresses God as Father, and the church has followed that model for nearly 2000 years up to today.
Implications of God as Father
Casting God as Mother rather than Father affects how we understand the nature of God and God’s relationship to human beings. Seeing God as Father fits the biblical themes of His authority, power, discipline, provision, and role as Creator. Addressing God as Father honors how Christ modeled prayer and the predominance of masculine language for God in Scripture. Humans are described as God’s children, not His wife/husband or sexual partner.
The Bible never presents God the Father as inferior to a God the Mother. The Father alone is the unoriginated source within the Trinity, described as the fountainhead of divinity. While men and women are equally created in God’s image, the Father-child relationship rather than husband-wife best captures how God relates to human persons. Losing sight of God’s transcendent fatherhood risks distorting the Creator-creature distinction.
Concerns with God the Mother theology
Those advocating God the Mother theology essentially argue that the Bible is wrong or incomplete about God’s nature. It privileges isolated metaphors while ignoring the dominant biblical model of relating to God as Father. This risks making human intuitions or extrabiblical theories authoritative over Scripture itself. But no church council, Pope, or new revelation has the authority to add a second Mother to the Trinity. God has definitively revealed Himself as triune Father, Son, and Spirit.
Seeing God as Mother also risks projecting human traits onto God rather than accepting Him as the wholly other I AM. The finite cannot fully comprehend the infinite. Feminine metaphors can help us understand God’s love and care without making God’s motherhood central to His identity. He remains ultimately beyond gender as pure Spirit. We must allow God to define Himself rather than recreating Him in our own image by projecting limiting maternal attributes onto His transcendence.
God desires us to know Him as Father
God purposefully chose to reveal Himself to us as Father rather than Mother or genderless Spirit. He could have removed all familial and gendered language from Scripture to avoid this controversy. But in His wisdom, God accommodated our finite minds by disclosing Himself through the metaphors of Father and Son. This familial paradigm helps us know and relate to our infinite Creator.
We must avoid the temptation to be wiser than God by second-guessing His chosen self-revelation. Our calling is to humbly conform our thinking and speech to how God inspired the biblical authors to refer to Him. Rather than insisting on referring to God as Mother, we glorify Him by following Jesus’ model of relating to God as our perfect Father in heaven. Our words about God should align with the words God first used about Himself in His written Word.
Conclusion
In summary, the Bible provides no warrant for referring to God as Mother or addressing Him in prayer as God the Mother. While feminine metaphors are occasionally used, God’s dominant self-revelation across Scripture is as Father, Son, and Spirit. Church history affirms this pattern by consistently addressing God as Father rather than Mother. Seeing God as Mother risks distorting His transcendent nature and relationship to humanity as Creator/Father. Christians should adhere to the language Jesus and the biblical authors used in humbly referring to our infinite, loving God as Father.