Supporting Evidence that the Holy Spirit is Feminine

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SUPPORTING EVIDENCE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS FEMININE

 

If any of you lack wisdom [sophia], let him ask of God, that giveth

to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

- James 1:5

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your

children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy

Spirit to them that ask him?

- Luke 11:13

Perhaps the first argument which can be offered in support of the

feminine gender of the Holy Spirit is Her association with " the

spirit of wisdom " (Exodus 28:3; Ephesians 1:17). In both the Old and

New Testaments, Wisdom is often personified in the feminine gender:

• " Say that Wisdom is thy sister " (Proverbs 7:4)

• " Wisdom has built a house for herself, and set up seven

pillars " (Proverbs 9:1)

• Proverbs chapters 8 and 9 are in fact an extended allegory of

Wisdom depicted as a woman.

• " Wisdom is known by her children " (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35)

• " Therefore also said the Wisdom of God, I will also send them

prophets and apostles . . . " (Luke 11:49). In this text our Lord is

equating the " Wisdom of God " with the Holy Spirit who provided Divine

inspiration to those who wrote the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:21). He

refers to Wisdom in the feminine gender.

• The Old Testament word for " wisdom " is chokmah which has the

feminine ending.

• The New Testament word - in the Greek - is sophia - also

feminine. In fact " Sophia " is the name for a goddess of wisdom in the

Greek pantheon. It should be obvious that the Early Church, when

reading the Greek Septuagint - the translation of the Old Testament

for the Greek-speaking Jew - would have made the connection between

that goddess and the Holy Spirit. Of course, a Gentile Christian

would have known that the Holy Spirit was not a Greek goddess.

Rather, he would have confessed that the Holy Spirit was the true

Sophia in contrast to the pagan imitation.

• The connection between the Holy Spirit and Sophia is more

pronounced in the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are writings from the

Intertestamental Period which was contained in the Septuagint but are

not included in our modern Bibles. (They are regarded as deutero-

canonical by the Anglican Church).

For Sophia is a loving spirit. . . For the Spirit of the Lord filleth

the world.

- Wisdom of Solomon 1:5,7

For Sophia, which is the worker of all things, taught me: for in her

is an understanding spirit, holy, one only. . . For she is the breath

of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of

the Almighty . . . And being but one, she can do all things: and

remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages

entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and

prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Sophia.

- Wisdom chapter 7 (excerpts)

And thy counsel who hath known, except thou give Sophia, and send thy

Holy Spirit from above?

- 9:7

• In the writings of the Early Church, Wisdom (Sophia) is

preserved as feminine (e.g. the Shepherd of Hermes)

• Jesus associates the " spirit of truth " with the Holy Spirit

(John 16:13). Sophia and the Holy Spirit share identical roles (1

Corinthians 2:7-11; Romans 5:5; 1 John 5:6-7 KJV). Were it not for

the masculine bias of later theologians, the Church would likely have

acknowledged the allegorical associations in the Old Testament as

literal theophanies of the Holy Spirit.

The second argument which can be offered in support for the feminine

gender of the Holy Spirit is found in the very names ascribed to God

and the Holy Spirit. The name for God in the Hebrew language

is " Elohim " . Most scholars acknowledge that this word has a plural

ending, which some use to suggest an Old Testament anticipation of

the Trinity. What most scholars either do not know or care not to

inform their constituents is that " Elohim " is not the plural of " El "

the masculine form of the name. It is plural of the

feminine, " Elowah " . Strictly speaking, we can translate the Old

Testament name for God as " goddesses " .

Such a fact is naturally shocking to traditionalists who are largely

ignorant of the origins of their faith. We do not favor, however, a

translation of the name for God into the feminine because masculine

pronouns are used in association with " Elohim " . But we do argue that

the use of the feminine ending by Divine Revelation ought to settle

unequivocally that God's being encompasses both the masculine and

feminine genders. Indeed, when describing man as made in God's image,

the Scriptures say,

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he

him; male and female created he them.

- Genesis 1:27

Thus indicating that both genders exist in the Godhead.

That the Holy Spirit is the designated representation of the feminine

principle is further supported by the Hebrew word for " spirit " . I

quote now Jerome, the author of the Latin Vulgate:

In the Gospel of the Hebrews that the Nazarenes read it says, " Just

now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me. " Now no one should be

offended by this, because " spirit " in Hebrew is feminine, while in

our language [Latin] it is masculine and in Greek it is neuter. In

divinity, however, there is no gender.

- Jerome's Commentary on Isaiah 11

This explanation contains an astonishing admission. First, it tells

us that there was a tradition among a sect of Early Christians which

believed that the Holy Spirit was our Lord's spiritual mother.

Second, Jerome - a more orthodox figure cannot be imagined - admits

that the Hebrew word for " spirit " (ruach) is feminine, meaning that

for the 1st Century Christians - who were largely operating in the

Aramaic world (Paul's churches were tiny in comparison) - the Holy

Spirit was a feminine figure. It was lost in the translation from the

Hebrew into the Greek, and then it was changed to a masculine gender

when it was translated from the Greek into the Latin.

Finally, Jerome's theological bias leads him to believe the

distinction of gender is unimportant. He believes there is no gender

in God, therefore, it does not matter whether God is referred to as

a " he " or a " she " or an " it " , presumably. With many centuries of

misogynist behavior by Christian leaders behind us, I think it does

matter. We are not allowed to change one " jot or tittle " of the Law,

and if God is represented as a being encompassing both the masculine

and feminine genders, then we are foolish to hide that fact in our

translations of the Sacred Text.

The third argument which can be offered is the example of early

Christian leaders in how they handled this doctrine. In his Homily on

Jeremiah 15, the learned Origen argued the case that the Holy Spirit

was Christ's mother. In a more practical application, Methodius -

also a leader with an impeccably orthodox reputation - states

directly that the family is meant to reflect analogously the blessed

Trinity:

[T]he innocent and unbegotten Adam being the type and resemblance of

God the Father Almighty, who is uncaused, and the cause of all; his

begotten son [seth] shadowing forth the image of the begotten Son and

Word of God; whilst Eve, that proceedeth forth from Adam, signifies

the person and procession of the Holy Spirit.

- Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6, p. 402

The Didascalia, a 3rd Century clergy manual, commanded the churches

that, " the deaconess should be honored by you as the Holy Spirit is

honored " . Thus, officially confirming that the role of the Holy

Spirit is of a feminine nature.

It should be emphasized that we are not saying that the Holy Spirit

is a woman. Neither is God the Father a man. We are made in God's

image. God is not made in our image. We must maintain a theistic

perspective, rather than a humanistic one. The Holy Spirit is not

married to the Father, nor is She His wife in any human sense of the

word. Rather, marriage is a creaturely reflection of the glorious

unity which exists within the Trinity. As long as we remain loyal to

the Ecumenical Creeds, we will not go astray with this doctrine.

In conclusion, we affirm that it is not impious, nor does it in any

way diminish the deity of the 3rd Person, to address the Holy Spirit

as a " She " rather than as a " He " . While we do not favor the call for

a gender neutral Bible, we do believe that a new translation of the

Scriptures is in order - under the supervision of the Desposyni -

which will correct the Latin biases which have been carried over from

the Vulgate.

 

For a complete study of this topic, see The Mother Heart of God.

 

 

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And God Himself is love; and out of love to us became feminine. In

His ineffable essence He is Father; in His compassion to us He became

Mother. The Father by loving became feminine: and the great proof of

this is He whom He begot of Himself: and the fruit brought forth by

love is love.

- Clement of Alexandria, 2nd Century leader