Maternal Images
Christianity has been guilty of a patriarchal history that has been
oppressive of women. Our conception of God as masculine, e.g. God as
Father or King, certainly contributes to our slide into patriarchy.
Although written in patriarchal contexts, the Bible itself does not refer to
God exclusively in masculine metaphors. There are, albeit few, feminine
metaphors used to describe God in the Bible. In this post, I want to
highlight the maternal or motherly metaphors used.
The biblical maternal images for God to help us see further truths
about God. “People described God in feminine terms, not because God
is actually a woman, but because feminine or maternal traits say
something true about God and about their experience with God.”
(Japinga, Feminism and Christianity, p. 66) The same must be said of
masculine and paternal images for God. We must not confuse these
metaphors with God’s reality.
Born of Water and Spirit
In Jesus’ explanation of “born again”, He says that we must be
born of water and born of the spirit. Some people think Jesus is
referring to baptism (water) and spiritual transformation (spirit) as two
necessary parts to salvation. Others think that water and spirit refer to
physical birth and spiritual birth. However, a more likely explanation for
Jesus’ phrase “born of water and born of the Spirit” is that both water
and spirit refer to the same thing: spiritual rebirth.
Jesus says the Spirit is like the wind. We can’t see Him and don’t
know where he is coming or where He is going. But we know the effect
the Spirit has! Like the wind, we can feel the difference between Spirit
and no Spirit!
Pharisees
Were members of a party that believed in resurrection and in
following legal traditions that were ascribed not to the Bible but to “the
traditions of the fathers.” Like the scribes, they were also well-known
legal experts: hence the partial overlap of membership of the two
groups. The Pharisees were a Jewish group mentioned, either
collectively or as individuals, ninety-eight times in the New Testament,
mainly in the Gospels.
Rabbi,
(Hebrew: “my teacher” or “my master”) in Judaism, a person
qualified by academic studies of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud to act
as spiritual leader and religious teacher of a Jewish community or
congregation.
Ruler of the Jesus
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is
to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from
Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the
ruler of kings on earth.
