Bible Question: why is the church, nations and organizations when spoken of given the female desription she or her. Why are they spoken of using the female gender? |
Bible Answer: astafford - Traditionally in English usage the pronoun 'she' (her, hers) has been applied to anything considered, as by personification, to be feminine, e.g., ship, country, the church, etc. To refer to one's country, for instance, as 'she' makes sense: it is the land of one's birth, the mother country. (But this usage is inconsistent with the term 'fatherland.') The New Testament refers to the church as the bride of Christ (see Rev. 21:17; 19:7-9; 21:9), so it follows that the church of Christ would be referred to as 'she.' ..... The usage of the feminine gender prounouns to refer to nouns that are not specifically feminine -- 'countries' is a notable example -- has begun to give way and to be replaced by 'it' (its), as, for example, "America is blessed not only by its freedoms but by its wealth of natural resources. It is truly a land of opportunity." --Hank |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 2 | Author | ||
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John Reformed | ||
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GeorJoy | ||
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LuckyCharm | ||
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warstorm77 | ||
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Pandy | ||
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mlcorry | ||
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arapga | ||
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newoldstock | ||
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peter.kuria@tetrapak.com | ||
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astafford | ||
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Morant61 | ||
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Hank |