Is God Male? (I.e. Can Women Represent God?)

It is often argued that God's maleness excludes women from ecclesiastical leadership for only men - being male human beings - can represent God. But is God male? It is possible only if God, who is a spirit without a corporeal body, can be likened to a created being. This, however, is impossible. 

To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,

A goldsmith plates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

He who is too impoverished for such an offering

Selects a tree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman

To prepare an idol that will not totter.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain

And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,

Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

Scarcely have they been planted,

Scarcely have they been sown,

Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,

But He merely blows on them, and they wither,

And the storm carries them away like stubble.

"To whom then will you liken Me

That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high

And see who has created these stars,

The One who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,

Not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,

"My way is hidden from the LORD,

And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable.

He gives strength to the weary,

And to him who lacks might He increases power.

Though youths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous young men stumble badly,

Yet those who wait for the LORD

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary. (Isa 40:18-31, NASU)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Rom 1:18-25, NASU)

God cannot be likened to anything in creation, only created beings can be likened to God. Humans are the only ones who are said to have been created in the image of God, in God’s likeness (Gen 1:26-27). Humans exist as male and female, wherefore God cannot be exclusively male, for both the male and female were created in the likeness of God (how can women be in the likeness of God if God is male?). Who God is and always has been is not based on creation; instead, creation is based on who God is and always has been. Because God is spirit and does not have a gender, both men and women were created in God’s likeness and can therefore represent God.