Three (Faulty) Objections to Feminine Language for God

A few years ago, a good friend of mine was criticized both personally and professionally, repeatedly and harshly. Why? Because she explained that she considers it biblically permissible and spiritually healthy to call God “Mother” in addition to “Father.” Both her positive explanation and her negative experience have prompted me to pay more attention when some Christians use feminine language for God—and when others object.

I would like to deal with three such objections (though there are more), based on how we speak to God in worship.

Objection 1: “There Is No Biblical Precedent” 

A common argument against referring to God with feminine terms such as “Mother” is that the Bible doesn’t. People state this objection in a variety of ways; some who aren’t aware of feminine language and images for God in the Bible make an absolute claim: “The Bible doesn’t, so we don’t!” (Others make more nuanced statements, two of which I’ll address as Objections 2 and 3 below.) 

This stark statement, that the Bible doesn’t speak of God using feminine language or metaphors, is not true. The Bible portrays God, for example, as giving birth (Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 42:14, James 1:18, etc.), as a nursing mother (Isaiah 49:15), and as a midwife (Psalm 22:9–10). Many CBE publications address this—too many to list here. I recommend Abigail Dolan’s essay as a starting point 

In addition to the premise being false, Objection 1 reveals a deeper fallacy: It depends on the assumption that we shouldn’t speak about God, or even to God, with titles and descriptions the Bible doesn’t assign to God. This assumption is faulty, of course, for the church around the world and across the centuries has done this very thing when singing praises to God—and has done so without controversy. 

Friend

One example is the word “friend.” In the Bible, no one describes God the Father, the Holy Spirit, or Jesus as “friend.” Someone might ask, what about Abraham? Yes, he “was called friend of God” by others (James 2:23, see Isaiah 41:8), but we don’t see Abraham himself calling God a “friend.” Yet we do that! “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” written by Joseph Scriven in 1855, promptly comes to mind. Another song, Charles Fry’s “The Lily of the Valley” (1881), begins, “I have found a friend in Jesus.” 

Lighthouse 

As a second example, the image of a lighthouse is a somewhat common way to refer to Jesus in worship. I think of the 2013 song “My Lighthouse,” written by Chris Llewellyn and Gareth Gilkeson (recorded by Rend Collective). And numerous artists have recorded “The Lighthouse,” composed by Ronny Hinson in 1970. In both these songs, the lighthouse is a metaphor for Jesus. Jesus is, of course, called the Light of the World in John 8:12, and I affirm that God is our “light and salvation” (Psalm 27:1). But the Bible doesn’t call Jesus—or God the Father, or the Holy Spirit—a lighthouse. 

Jesus is indeed our friend, and the image of a lighthouse is a helpful picture of his guiding care. But the Bible doesn’t use these descriptions. To be clear, lighthouses did exist during Bible times and would have been familiar to many Bible authors. It seems that an aversion to using a feminine description or title, such as “Mother,” for God or Jesus isn’t based only on the Bible’s supposed lack of such language. 

Objection 2: God Is Described but Not Addressed as Such 

Another argument states that the Bible’s feminine terms and images for God do not justify actually addressing God with a feminine title. This is sometimes the view of people who formerly held to Objection 1 but who have become aware of the Bible’s feminine God-language. 

But again, as with Objection 1, in our worship we regularly do the very thing that Objection 2 challenges. Many examples come to mind; three will suffice: 

Lion 

Revelation 5:5 refers to the exalted Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Hosea 11:10 says God will roar like a lion. God is also lion-like in Job 10:16, Isaiah 38:13, Jeremiah 25:38, Lamentations 3:10, Hosea 5:14 and 13:7, and in a few other verses. In Hosea 13:8, in fact, God is “like a lioness” (CEB, CSB, LSB, NASB, NLT, etc., use “lioness”). 

But no one in the Bible addresses God—prays to God, sings to God, cries out to God—as “Lion” (or “Lioness.”) Yet Charles Wesley does, in a 1762 hymn that begins by addressing God as “Lion of Judah’s tribe.” Recently, in 2022, Christopher Joel Brown, Steven Furtick, and Brandon Lake published the song “Lion,” which repeatedly uses “Lion of Judah” as a direct address. 

Well 

In the 2022 song “Abide,” by Aaron Williams, Aaron Keyes, and Jake Fauber (recorded by Christy Nockels), worshipers sing to Jesus: “You’re the well that never runs dry.” The imagery is from John 4, where Jesus tells a woman at a well in Samaria that he can give her living water. Because Jesus provides living water to her and to us, we sing to him as “the well”—and no one gets upset about this poetic adjustment of the biblical metaphor. 

Anchor 

Hebrews 6:19 refers to our hope in Christ as an anchor. Edward Mote’s 1834 hymn, “The Solid Rock,” and its contemporary spinoff, “Cornerstone” (Hillsong, 2012), use the King James Version’s wording of this verse to proclaim, “my anchor holds within the veil.” An example that more explicitly uses direct address is the 2015 praise song, “My Anchor,” by Jason Ingram and Christy Nockels, which repeatedly calls Jesus “My Anchor.” 

If Christians can use a biblical third-person description, such as “Lion,” switch from Jesus being water to Jesus being the well, and refer both to hope in Jesus and Jesus himself as “my anchor,” then the argument that we shouldn’t adjust feminine God-language from description to address loses its power.

Objection 3: The Terminology Is Infrequent

A third argument against using feminine language for God is that the Bible only does so infrequently—much less often than it speaks of God with masculine words and images. This objection is easy to refute, given the large number of ways to refer to God that are only used infrequently in the Bible. 

Potter 

In the 1906 song “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” by Adelaide A. Pollard, we sing, “Thou art the potter, I am the clay!” This line closely follows Isaiah 64:8 (compare Isaiah 29:16 and Jeremiah 18:6). Can we call God “the potter,” given that the Bible does so only once? Yes, of course we can. 

Silver, Gold, Diamonds 

Many times I have sung, “Lord, you are more precious than silver. Lord, you are more costly than gold. Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds.” This song, composed by Jason Wright, adapts its lyrics from Proverbs 3:14–15 (compare Proverbs 8:11). These comparisons describe wisdom, not God, and they are not frequent in the Bible. 

Alpha/Omega, Ancient of Days, etc. 

Again, it is easy to think of titles for God that are infrequent but still appropriate for our use. We worship God as “Alpha and Omega” because of Revelation 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13. Only three times, but still enough for us to borrow this language. And let’s not stop praising God as “Ancient of Days,” even though the Bible does so only once (Daniel 7:9). 

King of Angels 

I finished this blog essay shortly after the Christmas season. Please know that I didn’t storm out of our Christmas Eve service when the congregation sang, “Come and behold him, born the King of Angels.” I gladly sang along, even though “King of Angels” isn’t in the Bible. 

If you feel I’m being picky, you’re right. But that’s part of the point: people who argue against using feminine God-language often resort to fine-tuned objections—so fine that they don’t stand up to scrutiny. I trust you agree that Christians do not get upset when we talk about God, or even to God, using the descriptions and titles above and many more like them. Therefore, we should also not criticize Christians for using feminine words for the God of the Bible! 

Image by Віщун. Size of image was adjusted to 1200 px by 600 px.

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