Recently, teachings and comments made by Texas State Representative James Talarico have been circulating online, including claims that God is non-binary and arguments that attempt to use Hebrew language to redefine how God has revealed Himself in Scripture.
As a pastor, I believe it is important to address these ideas because they are not small theological disagreements. They strike at the very heart of how we understand God and His Word.
Let me be clear: God is spirit (John 4:24). He is not a human being. Yet throughout Scripture, God consistently reveals Himself as Father. Jesus taught His followers to pray, "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). Jesus is the Son. The Holy Spirit inspired the biblical authors to refer to God with masculine pronouns and titles such as Father, Lord, King, Shepherd, and many others.
One argument often presented is that certain Hebrew words associated with God are grammatically feminine. At first glance, this may sound convincing, especially when presented by someone with theological training. However, it misunderstands how biblical languages work.
In Hebrew, nouns are assigned grammatical gender, much like many other languages. A word may be grammatically masculine or feminine without communicating anything about the actual nature, identity, or personhood of what it describes. For example, in Hebrew, wisdom is often represented by a grammatically feminine noun. That does not mean wisdom is literally female. Likewise, the grammatical gender of a word associated with God does not redefine who God is.
The question is not, "What grammatical gender does this word have?"
The question is, "How has God revealed Himself?"
And the answer is consistent throughout Scripture. God reveals Himself as Father. Jesus reveals the Father. The Holy Spirit inspires the biblical writers to use the language God Himself chose to reveal His character and relationship with His people.
The issue is bigger than grammar.
The real question is whether we will allow God to define Himself or whether we will attempt to redefine God according to modern cultural preferences.
Whenever we reshape God to fit the spirit of the age, we move away from biblical Christianity and toward creating a god of our own making. History has shown repeatedly that false teaching rarely begins with an outright denial of Scripture. More often, it begins with subtle distortions that sound reasonable, compassionate, intellectual, or enlightened while slowly leading people away from the truth.
This is exactly why Christians must be people of the Book.
Read Scripture for yourself.
Study God's Word carefully.
Test every teaching against Scripture.
Do not assume that someone is teaching truth simply because they hold public office, have theological training, speak from a platform, or quote a Bible verse. The Bereans were commended because they examined the Scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught was true (Acts 17:11).
God has already revealed who He is.
Our responsibility is not to redefine Him.
Our responsibility is to know Him, trust Him, worship Him, and faithfully follow Him.
In a world constantly trying to remake God in its own image, the Church must remain anchored to the truth of God's Word. We do not stand over Scripture as its editors. We stand under Scripture as its students.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God..." — 1 John 4:1
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