The Holy Spirit is Female
The Holy Spirit is female. You may be thinking, “What in the world are you talking about? The Bible uses male pronouns for the Holy Spirit!” Yes, it does. However, we need to consider a few things before proceeding.
The Bible
The Bible has a very long and complex history. It is a collection of books that was written over a span of 1,500 years by several different people. These books were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. These languages ascribe gender to verbs and nouns while English does not. The Hebrew and Aramaic languages give the Holy Spirit female pronouns and verbs while in Greek the pronouns are neuter.
The Family of God
The family of God consists of God the Father, Christ the Son, the sons of God (angles, divine beings, c.f Job 1:6, Dan. 3:25), and believers, human beings who have been adopted into the divine family through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 3:26). Again, there’s Father, Son, sons, and millions of additional children.
Where is the Mother?
The answer is found in other texts.
The Gospel of the Hebrews
The Gospel of the Hebrews is an ancient Jewish gospel that no longer exists today. It was never included in a Bible canon, however its usage among the early church is evident through references of other works from that time period. Also, it is widely believed that the Gospel of the Hebrews is the text Matthew used to write his gospel.
What is known about the Gospel of the Hebrews is that it contains unique information in comparison to the canonical gospels. A principle difference is that in it Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as Mother. This is known from two early church writers, Origen and St. Jerome.
Origen
Origen was a scholar and theologian, and one of the church’s most fascinating figures and influential writers. His teachings greatly influenced the development of the concept of the Trinity.
One of his works, Commentary on the Gospel of John, mentions the Gospel of the Hebrews and gives his understanding of how the Holy Spirit is the Mother of Jesus. He writes:
If anyone should lend credence to the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Saviour Himself says, ‘My Mother (mētēr), the Holy Spirit, took me just now by one of my hairs and carried me off to the great Mount Tabor’, he will have to face the difficulty of explaining how the Holy Spirit can be the Mother (mētēr) of Christ when She was herself brought into existence through the Word. But neither the passage nor this difficulty is hard to explain. For if he who does the will of the Father in heaven [Mt. 12:50] is Christ’s brother and sister and mother (mētēr), and if the name of brother of Christ may be applied, not only to the race of men, but to beings of diviner rank than they, then there is nothing absurd in the Holy Spirit’s being His Mother (mētēr); everyone being His mother who does the will of the Father in heaven. (Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of John)
Jerome
St. Jerome is mostly known as the priest who translated the Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into Latin. He is said to have translated the Gospel of the Hebrews into Greek and Latin. He also produced a number of notable commentaries. These commentaries contain his remarks on the gender of the Holy Spirit as well as the Holy Spirit being the Mother of Jesus.
An excerpt from his Commentary on Isaiah reads:
And also this: (in the text) ‘like the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress’ [Ps. 123:2], the maid is the soul and the mistress (dominam) is the Holy Spirit. For also in that Gospel written according to the Hebrews, which the Nazaraeans read, the Lord says: ’Just now, my Mother (mater), the Holy Spirit, took me.’ Nobody should be offended by this, for among the Hebrews the Spirit is said to be of the feminine gender (genere feminino), although in our language it is called to be of masculine gender and in the Greek language neuter. (Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah)
His Commentary on Ezekiel also states:
… and this relates to the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned with a female name (nomine feminino) among the Hebrews. For also in the Gospel which is of the Hebrews and is read by the Nazaraeans, the Saviour is introduced saying: ‘Just now, my Mother (mater), the Holy Spirit, took me up …’ (Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel ).
Syrian Texts
There is additional evidence of the early church's belief the Holy Spirit is female. An old Syriac version of the Gospels translates John 14:26 as:
… but that (Syr.: hi = she) Spirit, the Paraclete that my Father will send to you in my name, She (Syr. hi) shall teach you everything, She (hi) shall remind you of all what I say.
In addition, Aphrahat, the Syrian author, referred to the Holy Spirit as female. His work is referred to as the Demonstrations, which are twenty-three individual expositions on the Christian faith. He referred to the Holy Spirit as female in at least two of his writings.
An excerpt from Demonstration IV reads:
From baptism we receive the Spirit of Christ, and in the same hour that the priests invoke the Spirit, She opens the heavens and descends, and hovers over the waters [cf. Gen. 1:2], and those who are baptized put Her on.
An excerpt from Demonstration (XVIII) reads:
Who is it that leaves father and mother to take a wife? The meaning is this. As long as a man has not taken a wife he loves and reveres God his Father and the Holy Spirit his Mother, and he has no other love.
Likewise, the Syrian writer Ephrem of Edessa wrote of the Holy Spirit:
It is not said of Eve that she was Adam’s sister or his daughter, but that she came from him; likewise it is not to be said that the Spirit is a daughter or sister, but that (She) is from God and consubstantial with Him. (Ephrem, Commentary on the Concordant Gospel)
Spiritual Birth
Considering the translation difficulties of the ancient texts into English, as well as the early church’s view of the Holy Spirit as Mother, and the fact that Gen. 1:27 says both males and females are made in His image, the Holy Spirit being female accords with God’s design. Women are the carriers of new life by God’s design. As such, the Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual life.
John 3:3-8 reads:
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
Furthermore, it’s only right that the adopted children of God the Father be embraced and cared for by their Divine Mother, the Holy Spirit. As Rom. 8:14-16 reads:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
Also, Rom 8:26-27:
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.