The sky is blue, no matter who says it.

If the biggest liar you know says the grass is green, it still is. You don’t change your mind about it.

If someone you really dislike tells you Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla is great, they are telling you the truth. You don’t stop believing the truth just because you dislike the person who says it.

And if a politician you would never vote for says God is non-binary, he is correct. You don’t change your mind about what you have always believed, what the Bible has always affirmed, and what the Church has always taught, just because a politician outside your preferred party said it. God is still, yes, non-binary.

Our God transcends human gender. God is Spirit, not human. We cannot use human categories to define God. Our God must always be defined in ways that go beyond our human limitations. You probably know this.

God created both male and female to bear his holy image on earth together. Both. The Bible uses both male and female language and metaphors to describe our God. He is the King and he is the Father. He is also the nursing mother and the hen gathering her chicks under her wings. The Scriptures describe God’s Spirit with more female language than male language. God is non-binary. You’ve probably always known and affirmed this truth.

Now, I use male pronouns when I am referring to God–all three persons–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When the will of God, his holy Word, became human flesh and blood, it was in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, the Son. Jesus calls God the Father, as do most of the biblical authors. So I do, too. You probably do, too. Even so, you are probably always very aware that God is not really male.

Our God is non-binary, no matter who says it.

There are many reasons to dislike James Talarico’s politics. His comment about God being non-binary came on the Texas House floor in 2021 when he was arguing against a bill that would ban transgender athletes from women’s sports. I think allowing transgendered women to compete in women’s sports would be a terrible public policy. And I think calling our God non-binary to support a policy like that is a horrible misuse of our Christian faith; it’s out of context and out of line. But it doesn’t mean all of a sudden God is binary now. He’s not. You can’t change your understanding about that just because Talarico said it and you don’t like Talarico. We cannot interpret the Bible through the lens of our politics. We must interpret our politics through the lens of the Bible.

The sky is blue. No matter who says it.

Peace,
Allan