The problems associated with applying personal pronouns to God are well-known.  Is God a ‘he’, a ‘she’ or an ‘it’?

In A More Christlike God, A More Beautiful Gospel, Brad Jersak writes:

‘Even using the simple pronoun ‘he’ for God is awkward and inaccurate…God is not a ‘him’ or a ‘her.’ Jesus said “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). But God is far more personal than an ‘it.’ Thus, we lean to the language of ‘him’ historically because when God showed up in the flesh, ‘he’ came as a man, Jesus (his ‘son’). Furthermore, Scripture mainly speaks of God as Father and describes God with male metaphors, such as ‘King.’ On the other hand, the Hebrew pronoun for the Spirit is ‘she.’ In fact, God’s caring and nurturing attributes, such as compassion and mercy, are most often associated with feminine traits.’ (My emphasis)

Jersak would appear to be of the same mind as this writer:

‘The languages which formed our understanding of God (Hebrew, Greek and Latin) are “gendered” the same way French is. The word for “spirit” in Hebrew: רוּחַ (ruacḥ), is a “feminine” word. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Holy Spirit is feminine per se, but it does point us in that direction.’

Clearly, both writers wants to make something (but not too much!) out of Hebrew’s feminine pronoun for ‘Spirit’.  But is it valid to do so?

Bill Mounce, an expert in the biblical languages (especially Greek), comments that if we are to accept the implication that the Holy Spirit is a ‘she’, based on the Hebrew pronoun, then we would also have to refer to the same Holy Spirit as an ‘it’, because the Greek pronoun is neuter.

But, adds Mounce the fact is that both Hebrew and Greek follow ‘grammatical gender’.  And this says nothing about whether the noun itself has masculine, feminine, or neuter characteristics.  (It’s the same in French, where étoile (star) is feminine and ciel (sky) is masculine; but without any implication of feminine or masculine characteristics in either).

Mounce gives the following illustration:

‘“Sin” is a feminine noun, αμαρτια, but sin is not a feminine trait (as opposed to men). “Sinner” is a masculine noun, αμαρτωλος, but that does not mean that men (not using the word generically) are sinners (as opposed to women).’