Jonathan Manning

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench I’d been asking you to tell me if you thought God is male, beyond the obvious maleness of the Son’s humanity. You only talked around it, rather than giving a straight “yes” or “no” (no, not “exceedingly clear”). The statement has serious implications.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Isaiah 42:14, 49:15, 66:13; Deut. 32:11-12; Matt. 23:37; Psalm 22:9-10. Our shared patristic teaching (I’m EO) tells us that God is not male. See St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. John of Damascus. The most explicit is St. Gregory of Nazianzus.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench I’m very sorry. I stated arguments, mostly, to make my position more clear so you could help me figure out what our conversation was about. You first replied to me in relation to my reply to someone else, so there was built-in ambiguity. Didn’t mean to irritate or confront.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Ok, reading it for a third time, my reply looks a little bit more strongly-worded than I first thought or intended. I apologize. I was trying to figure out what you were arguing. Yes, I agree that it is nonsense to separate sex and gender.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench The hypostasis of the Son is truly male (in sex, and therefore gender) according to his human nature. I’m arguing that what the Son says regarding the Father and Spirit is not meant to describe some gender that they possess.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Yes, I apologize if I didn’t make it more explicit early on that I was separating “masculinity” (a mode of behavior) from “maleness” (gender). God does transcend them and relates to His people in both masculine and feminine modes in Scripture, with masculine more common.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Look, are you saying that the Father is male gendered (not simply masculine)? If so, then why can’t some woman say that she is a man, too? Neither she nor the Father is biologically male. That’s what I was getting at: the repercussions of the argument.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench (1) “accusing” is strong language. (2) This gets back to the thing I asked about gender and sex. Gender is inseparable from sex. Sex requires biology. The Father has no biology. Jesus is not saying the Father is male. He is making His character understandable.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench I agree with you. The point I’m trying to make is that gender cannot be separated from the created sexes; therefore, we cannot assign it backwards to God. Fatherhood is a mode of active relationship. The Father can be father, but He is not male.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@Pastor_Gabe @TylerHuckabee When the person of the Son added human nature to himself, was human nature likewise added to the Father and the Spirit? Is maleness proper to the divine nature?

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Is gender a construct or an expression of biological sex?

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Yes, I agree with that. This is why I don’t see why people need to try so hard to push back on “God is non-binary” with “God is male.” It’s a category error. Maleness and femaleness highlight facets of God’s personhood. They are derived from Him but do not define Him.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@ServusDeiVivi @theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Something that strikes me about your response is that you are willing to assign fatherhood and maleness to the Father, even though He doesn’t have that anatomy. You have gender and its roles without corresponding biology. This becomes a potential argument for transgenderism.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@pythagoras999 @predsfan1956 @philvischer Ok, but how is God’s fatherhood different? Are we Mormons here? Is the Father begetting spirit babies? Who is our corresponding Heavenly Mother?

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@DBCooperTX @philvischer Fair enough. “God is non-binary” is just as much a category error as “God is male” or “God is female.”

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@meg_momC @philvischer If that is the case, the response to it shouldn’t be doubling down on reckless theology just because it sounds based.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@JamesHuddl18635 @philvischer @GMRench Except all of the times in Scripture God describes his relationship with human beings in feminine terms, especially motherhood.

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@theaccurateST @philvischer @GMRench Yes? So God is not male, with the exception of the human nature of the Son?

[Jonathan Manning @JJonnyMann]

@Pastor_Gabe I don’t know about his argument in particular, but what most people are pointing out is that the Son’s biological maleness is proper to his human nature. In his divine nature, he is neither male nor female. Gender is the expression of biological sex. Divinity has no biology.