Is God our Father
or Mother?

Some Bible translations have created new feminine references for God. That God is never addressed as, or referred to directly as “Mother” in the original languages hardly matters to those who think they know better.

One aspect of the beauty of God’s Word is that He uses—even if rarely—feminine or maternal images to picture His care and love for us. For example, Jesus describes His longing for unbelieving Jerusalem to be like that of a “hen gathering her chicks under her wing” (Matt. 23:37). Jesus is certainly no hen (!) but He uses a mother hen’s love to illustrate His love in action.

We can know who God is only in the way that He has revealed Himself to us—as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That God is spirit (Jn 4:24) does not automatically suggest a gender, but God has given His incarnate Son who is both biologically and theologically male. This Jesus refers to God as Father—not as “father/mother” or generic “parent”—but Father—and so He is. And Jesus is Son by whom we are adopted into God’s household as His beloved children—brothers and sisters to each other—but more importantly, co-heirs with Christ (Ro. 8:16-17).

In this household there is another irreplaceable female—she is called, and exalted as, the Bride of Christ, the Church (Eph. 5:22-32). Following Scripture, Martin Luther therefore describes the Christian Church like this: “[She] is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the Word of God” (LC II: 37, 42). So God is not “mother,” but He has provided one for you, re-created you from her (“born again” by water and Spirit), and now cares for you by her. God is your Father (“Our Father”) and the Church is your mother. In this household you are washed, fed, comforted, and cared for by the Father through His Word.

The Rev. Peter C. Cage is Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Muncie, Ind.