When the Bible uses masculine words for God, it should be understood that only God the Son is human and had a sexual orientation while on earth (Heb. 2:14-18). Gen 1:26-27 states that both male and female were created in God’s image, referring not to androgyny but to personality, and Jesus said (in Matt. 22:30 & 19:11-12) that there is no marriage and thus no need for sexuality in heaven.
First, the verse stating that resurrected believers “neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30 KJV) does not teach that angels or resurrected humans are genderless. The passage addresses marriage, not ontology or the erasure of male and female identity. While it could be argued that the absence of marriage may imply a non-sexual order, this conclusion is not ironclad. Scripture records that angels “left their first estate” and took human wives in Genesis 6, producing the Nephilim or giants, showing that angels were capable of sexual relations when acting outside their appointed order. Furthermore, while I am not negating the possibility that angels may be genderless in heaven, there is no denying that throughout Scripture they consistently appear in masculine form, are identified as men, bear masculine names, and are never presented in a way that leaves observers uncertain whether they are male or female.
Second, I believe the Scriptures teach that God created Adam and his male line in God's image and not women.
God Created Only Adam and
His Male Lineage in His Image, Not Women
(For it is men who are appointed to rule and exercise dominion upon the earth, not women):
Genesis 1:26–27 (KJV)
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
My Stated Biblical Position:
I believe the Bible teaches that only Adam and his male offspring are made in the image of God for authority and dominion, not women. Scripture consistently places rule, headship, and dominion with men, never assigning dominion to women. This view is widely rejected in today’s culture, but it arises from a plain reading of Scripture.
My Biblical Defense:
In Genesis 1:26–27, the order and grammar of the passage are significant. God first declares His intent to make man (אָדָם, adam) in His image and likeness. While the Hebrew word adam can refer either to an individual man or to mankind collectively, context determines usage.
Verse 27 clarifies the matter:
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him…”
The Hebrew word translated “him” is אֹתוֹ (oto), which is singular and masculine. This indicates that the image-bearing act is being applied specifically to the man (singular). Only afterward does the text add:
“male and female created he them.”
This final clause introduces sexual distinction, but it does not restate or reassign the image of God to both sexes. The text never says, “in the image of God created he them.” The image is grammatically and contextually tied to the singular “him,” not to the later plural “them.”
The dominion language in verse 26 (“let them have dominion”) is best understood as referring to Adam and his male lineage, through whom authority and rule would be exercised. Throughout Scripture, dominion, rule, headship, and governance are consistently assigned to men, not women.
This order is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture. Paul states plainly:
“For a man indeed is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.”
(1 Corinthians 11:7 KJV)
This is a decisive statement. Paul does not say that both man and woman are the image of God. Instead, he draws a contrast: man is the image and glory of God, while the woman is the glory of the man. This aligns directly with the structure of Genesis 1 and confirms that image-bearing, as it relates to authority and representation, belongs to the man.
Paul reinforces this order elsewhere:
“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man… For Adam was first formed, then Eve.”
(1 Timothy 2:12–13 KJV)
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.”
(Ephesians 5:23 KJV)
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”
(Ephesians 5:22 KJV)
Scripture consistently places authority, rule, and headship with men. God establishes kings, not queens, to rule His people. He reveals Himself as Father and Son, never as mother or daughter. When God appears, He does so in masculine form or masculine titles. The pattern is consistent from Genesis to Revelation.
Modern Bible translations, such as the NIV, obscure these distinctions by rendering adam as “mankind” and flattening the grammatical and theological structure of the text. This shift moves the passage away from its original emphasis on male headship and authority and aligns it instead with modern cultural assumptions.
Historical Witnesses Supporting This Reading:
The following historical figures articulated views that align with the position that the man alone is described as the image of God, while the woman is defined in relation to the man and his authority.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
On the Trinity, Book XII, Chapter 7
“When she is referred separately to her quality of help-meet, which regards the woman herself alone, then she is not the image of God; but as regards the man alone, he is the image of God as fully and completely as when the woman too is joined with him in one.”
Gratian (12th century)
Decretum Gratiani, Causa 33, Question 5
“Woman is not made in the image of God; therefore she must cover her head, because man alone is the image and glory of God.”
John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)
Homily 26 on 1 Corinthians
“The man is not compelled to cover his head, since he is the image of God; but the woman is subjected, and bears the mark of subjection.”
Ambrosiaster (4th century Latin commentator)
“Man is the image of God, because he is the head; but woman is the glory of man and therefore must be subject.”
Clarifying Statement on Authority:
This conclusion was not reached by appealing to church tradition, but by reading Scripture plainly and allowing it to interpret itself. Genesis 1 and 1 Corinthians 11:7 provide the framework for this understanding. The historical quotations included here are not the source of the doctrine, but evidence that others, at various points in history, recognized the same biblical distinction.
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