Are Angels Strictly Male… or Male AND Female?
The question we want to answer here is: Are there male and female angels or are they all male? Or are they genderless? This topic is somewhat interesting, but relatively inconsequential. For those interested, however, let’s honestly consider what the Bible says…
Angels are consistently referred to in the Bible in the masculine sense (he, him, his) rather than the feminine (she, her, hers). Actually, the Greek word for angel—angeles (ANG-el-os)—is masculine and there is no feminine form.
There is one exception, however, where Zechariah sees two female spiritual beings with wings carrying out a service in a vision (Zechariah 5:5-11). While Ezekiel doesn’t technically call them angels, what else are spiritual beings with wings conducting a service, if not angels? We’ll examine this passage momentarily.
Another thing to consider is that on every occasion when angels appeared to people in human form they were male (Genesis 18:1-3,10, 16-17,22-23 & Ezekiel 9:1-2). This obviously includes the evil spirits—the “sons of God”—who transgressed when they adopted human garb to have intercourse with women, which gave birth to the infamous Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4), as covered here.
Something else to consider is that the only three angels named in Scripture are male—Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer—as detailed here.
While all this is true, there are several things that need kept in mind on the gender of angels…
1. Just because angels are shown appearing in human form as males doesn’t mean an angel couldn’t appear as female, particularly if the angel is female.
Consider, for example what the writer of Hebrews instructed believers:
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2
This shows that angels can appear to believers in human form without us discerning that they’re angels. The verse describes them as “strangers” and does not distinguish whether they’re male or female. Notice that it doesn’t add something to the effect of “But if the strangers are female they can’t be angels because angels only appear as male.” Actually, it’s assumed that some of the “strangers” would be female.
Incidentally, the phrase “hospitality to strangers” is one word in the Greek—philoxenia (fil-on-ex-EE-ah)—which means “love to strangers; hospitality.” It doesn’t mean “love to strangers, but only male ones.” It refers to hospitality to people, whether male or female.
I said above that there’s no reason to assume that angels couldn’t appear in human form as female, particularly if the angel is female, which suggests, of course, that some angels are female. This brings up the next two points…
2. Christ said that people—male and female—would become like the angels at the time of their bodily resurrection.
Let’s read the text:
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.”
Luke 20:34-36
This passage shows that people will become “like angels” at the resurrection in two ways: A. they “will neither marry nor be given in marriage” and B. “they can no longer die.”
Concerning the first point, people—male and female—will become like the angels in the sense that they won’t marry. This doesn’t mean that they will become genderless or that females will morph into males. It just means that marriage as an institution shall cease, perhaps because we’ll all be genuinely one in the Lord as the “bride of Christ” and so there will be no need to become “one flesh” with a person of the opposite sex.
The very fact that Jesus said believers—male and female—will become like angels in the sense that they won’t marry presumes that some angels are female. Think about it. Christ did not say “neither will people marry… for they will be like the angels and will all be male in gender.”
Regarding the second point, angels possess intrinsic immortality whereas unredeemed human beings do not. Immortality is only available to people through the gospel of Christ (2 Timothy 1:10 & Romans 2:7).
3. In a vision Zechariah sees two female spiritual beings with wings carrying out a service, which suggests that they’re angels.
Let’s read the passage:
Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”
6 I asked, “What is it?”
He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”
7 Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! 8 He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.
9 Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.
11 He replied, “To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”
Zechariah 5:5-11
These two women with wings carrying a basket between Heaven and Earth are obviously angels because angels are spiritual beings, often described as having wings, who perform services for God, traveling back and forth from Heaven to Earth. The latter is reminiscent of Jacob’s dream where he saw a stairway (or ladder) to Heaven with angels going back and forth from Heaven to Earth (Genesis 28:12). Thus Zechariah’s vision suggests that angels can be female.
Some disagree on the grounds that A. they’re not technically called angels, but rather “women,” which is translated from the Hebrew term ishshah (ish-SHAW), meaning “female” or “wife”; B. this is the same word used for the symbolic “woman” in the basket, which isn’t a woman, but rather figurative of wickedness; C. this is contrasted by the “angel” whom Zechariah is actually talking to, which is the Hebrew word for angel, malak (mal-AWK), and this angel is repeatedly referred as “he” (verses 6, 8 & 11); and, lastly, D. the two women with wings appear in a prophetic vision and visions do not necessarily illustrate actual beings or items; a good example is the “flying scroll” noted earlier in the same chapter of Zechariah (verses 1-2).
Response: A. this is a God-given vision imparted to one of the LORD’s Old Testament prophets and is included in the Holy Scriptures; B. whether they’re called angels by Zechariah or not, the two women carrying a basket are spiritual beings with wings performing a service “between heaven and earth,” which implies that they are angels (after all, what else would they be?); C. God made a point to distinguish these two spiritual beings’ gender as decidedly female; and D. Jesus himself gave a parable—which is a symbolic story, not reality—where he referenced the angels who carried a dead beggar’s soul to Hades (Luke 16:22-23); while this parable is a fictional story containing symbolism* it presumes that these ‘death angels’ actually function in the spirit realm. Why would it be any different with Zechariah’s vision?
* For details see this article.
A pastor who objected to the existence of female angels argued that the women with wings in Zechariah’s vision are demons. Answer: Demons are fallen angels, so if there are female fallen angels there must also be female heavenly angels (unless Lucifer misled all the female angels, which isn’t likely since he only misled a third of the angels anyway).
4. The Hebrew term adam is used to describe the faces of cherubim in the Bible and this term can denote male or female.
This can be observed in Ezekiel’s two visions where he describes the four faces of cherubs, one being that of a “man” (Ezekiel 1:6,10 & 10:14). This is translated from the Hebrew word adam (aw-DAWM), which means “man” or “humankind” and can refer to male or female, as clearly shown here:
So God created mankind (adam) in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27
“Mankind” (or “man”) refers to both male and female and were created in the image of God, which shows that the feminine nature originated with God.
5. The Holy Spirit is referred to with masculine pronouns, but the Spirit’s nature is decidedly feminine.
Before anyone cries “HERETIC” consider the obvious evidence:
God has a “feminine” side in that Scripture gives evidence of his softer traits (feminine), as well as his sterner side (masculine). Some good examples include Psalm 103:8, 1 John 4:8 and Matthew 11:28-30.
Also consider this verse:
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.Psalm 123:2
The LORD is compared with both a master (male) and a mistress (female). And the Creator has no problem including such a passage in the God-breathed Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Think about that.
Yet when it comes to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which one especially suggests the feminine nature? (Please understand that this is not a question of sexuality, but of nature). Obviously not the Father or Son because, after all, they’re the Father and Son — both clearly masculine.
I would offer that the Holy Spirit generally reflects the feminine nature. For instance the symbol for the Holy Spirit is a dove, which suggests gentleness and harmlessness (Luke 3:22). Also, the Holy Spirit is referred to as a “Helper” of believers in John 14:16, 26 (also translated as “Comforter” and “Counselor”). One of Eve’s main purposes was to be Adam’s “helper” (Genesis 2:18, 20). In addition, the Holy Spirit is shown to be sensitive — easily grieved — in Ephesians 4:30 and Hebrews 10:29.
The most glaring evidence of the Holy Spirit’s feminine nature can be observed in John 3:6 where the Messiah pointed out that “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Christ was comparing human birth with spiritual regeneration. Just as a woman gives birth to a child (“flesh gives birth to flesh”) so the Holy Spirit gives rebirth to a person’s spirit when he or she turns to God. Giving birth clearly bespeaks of the feminine nature.
By contrast, in 1 Peter 1:23 believers are said to be “born again” of the imperishable seed of the living Word of God, who is Jesus Christ. This is also conveyed in 1 John 3:9 where “Seed” in the Greek is sperma, the Greek word for sperm. You see, believers are born-again of the sperm of Christ, but given spiritual rebirth by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
Furthermore, this may spur chuckles, but when the Messiah said, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32), I can’t help but think of the way men get irate when someone says something insulting about their Momma.
In regards to being sure not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30 & Hebrews 10:29), I can’t help but think of the saying: “If Momma ain’t happy, no one’s happy.”
It is true that the Holy Spirit is referred to by the pronoun “he” in Scripture (e.g. John 16:13) and Mary was inseminated by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-20), but that seed was the seed of the Word of God, which is Jesus Christ; and the thrust of Scripture points to the Holy Spirit’s feminine nature, as detailed above. Besides, God transcends quaint masculine and feminine associations and there is neither male nor female in Christ (Galatians 3:28). Also, Jesus is the wisdom of God, as seen in 1 Corinthians 1:30, but wisdom is personified as a woman in Proverbs 8-9 and referred to with a feminine pronoun (e.g. Matthew 11:19).
This shows that just because angels are consistently referred to with masculine pronouns (he, him, his) it doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t feminine angels, which is pretty much proven by Zechariah 5:9.
6. Jesus is the wisdom of God, as seen in 1 Corinthians 1:30, but wisdom is personified as a woman in Proverbs 8 and 9.
This isn’t to suggest, of course, that Christ is womanly—far from it, as driven home in this article. It simply shows that, although the Son is decidedly masculine, Scripture is flexible in revealing one part of Him—wisdom—as feminine in a figurative sense.
7. The universality of male & female living beings, which are created by the LORD.
Male and female are God-given genders. Both are blessed, yet they’re different. Loony leftists, who claim that there’s no such thing as gender and, secondly, that a person has the right to reject his/her gender and therefore have their body mutilated to switch over to the other side, are blind fools. ‘Nuff said.
8. A few times in Scripture a group of angels is referred to as “the sons of God” and it’s obvious they’re masculine in nature (Genesis 6:1-4, Job 1:6 & 2:1)…
…yet all this shows is that these groups consisted of male angels; it doesn’t prove that there aren’t female angels.
9. In certain contexts “sons of God” obviously refer to both male and female.
This can be observed in Romans 8:14 where it says “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (KJV). While the original text literally says the “sons of God” (the Greek for ‘son’ being masculine*) the context is referring to believers led by the Spirit of God and therefore to both male and female Christians. This explains why the NIV translates “sons of God” in this verse as “children of God.” Luke 20:36 is a similar example. Thus when Job 38:7 cites that “all the sons of God [i.e. angels] shouted for joy” when God created the Earth (KJV) it’s not definitive proof that all angels are male. They could be, but more likely they’re not in light of the overriding evidence. The usage of the phrase “sons of God” in the Bible to refer to both male and female simply reflects the patriarchal nature of Israel & surrounding regions during biblical times.
* Huios (hwee-OS).
In light of all this, I don’t see the problem with the idea that there are male and female angels, although male angels are the emphasis in Scripture and they clearly don’t marry or procreate.
Nevertheless, the issue is trivial in the grand scheme of things and isn’t worth quarreling over, which is why I only include this data as an appendix in my book…
- The book is available here for a special low-price (345 pages).
- Or pick up the eBook for just $2.99!
Related Topics:
ANGELS — What Are They? What’s Their Purpose?
Evil Spirits (Demons) — What Are They? What’s Their Purpose?
Satan (the Devil) — Liar, Slanderer, Thief, Murderer
Demonic Spirits — How to Deflect Them
How to Enlist the Help of Angels
Why do Unclean Spirits seek out Dry Places?
Women of the Bible / Women in Ministry
Why is this World so Messed Up?
REDEMPTION — God’s Plan of Liberation for Humanity & Creation
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