How Shall We Refer to God?

One of the things you will quickly notice as you read through the content on this site is some seemingly odd, but entirely intentional ways of referencing the various persons of God.

We maintain a Christian Trinitarian view of God as three distinct persons, expressed in an eternal dance (Greek: perichoresis) of mutually lifting one another up in an endless cycle of joy, honor, and love. This is key to the basis of how and why we gather together at the Open Table. However, we believe the language we commonly use to talk about God can be difficult and awkward because frankly, English is a stupid language.

We believe that God is neither male nor female, and transcends any human gender or pronoun. However, we also recognize that the unique relationship of the Trinity typifies the metaphorical roles of a family and how a healthy, loving family relates to one another. Referring to our Creator in merely masculine terms may be accurate to the majority of text seen in scripture, but can also miss the implications of other metaphors used to demonstrate God’s motherly characteristics. The fact is that metaphors are the only way we have to describe God, and so we will simply have to try our best.

Creator God can be like a good Father and Mother to us. Is God literally a father? Or is God literally a woman? No – of course not. They are only metaphors to help us understand the relational ways we can connect with the spiritual reality of who God is.

When referring to the separate members of the Trinitarian God-head, we may sometimes refer to each as: God the Father/Mother (in the person of our Maker – the one who gave birth to our spirit), God as a Son (in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and risen Lord), and God as a Spirit (of which we each share, regardless of any gender label).

In general, we prefer using gender neutral terms for God. Instead of using pronouns, we may simply refer to God as “God” – i.e. God’s own Spirit, or God’s own Son.

When referring to the historical person known as Jesus of Nazareth, we may simply use “he” as he clearly did so himself.

Oddly enough, even scripture has no consensus on how to refer to God’s own Spirit. (Ancient Hebrew uses a feminine noun, while Greek uses both a neutral and a masculine one.) A biblical scholar could probably tell you why that is, but it could be that no one is really sure how God’s own Spirit really works. Therefore, we will attempt to eschew the use of any clunky English pronouns and refer to the Spirit as either “Spirit” or “God’s own Spirit” or the “Holy Spirit.”

We know that this may not be ideal for everyone, but we do this to try and avoid giving preference to any specific gender of which God ultimately transcends.

If you don’t use the right pronouns or labels for God, God does not care. If you care however, we ask that you humbly “get over it.”