Throughout church history, Christians have consistently referred to the Holy Spirit using masculine pronouns. Recent decades, however, brought intense debate about the gender of the Holy Spirit and the language the church uses to describe this person of the deity. Your timely question reflects the renewed interest and allows us briefly to consider the matter as the Festival of Pentecost approaches (May 11).

Adequate biblical reasons

There are biblical reasons why Christians habitually refer to the Holy Spirit with masculine terms. When referencing the Spirit and his work in John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:13, the masculine form of the demonstrative pronoun [ekeinos] is used, although the word used for “spirit” is neuter in Greek. In the first two passages, if the grammar is stretched a bit, one could perhaps say that “he” [ekeinos, that male one] refers to the “counselor” (a masculine word) mentioned earlier in the sentences. However, in John 16:13 there is no other word in the sentence that “he” [ekeinos] could refer to except the word spirit.

God has chosen to reveal himself with a variety of terms, and among the most prominent are the masculine terms “Father” and “Son.” The Son, Jesus, became human, and did so as a biological male. The church’s consistent use of masculine terms in describing God reflects this. Passages like Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 also play a role here (“. . . in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” and “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit . . .”). By correlating and coordinating the Spirit with the Father and the Son, we see the personality of the Spirit affirmed. Also, since “Father” and “Son” are masculine terms, many conclude that referring to the Spirit in masculine terms is most fitting. English Bible translations consistently retain the masculine pronoun for the Spirit.

Inadequate non-biblical reasons