There is no doubt that every reference to angels in Scripture refers to them in  the masculine gender. The Greek word for “angel” in the New Testament,  angelos, is in the masculine form. In fact, the feminine form of  angelos does not exist. There are three genders in grammar—masculine (he,  him, his), feminine (she, her, hers), and neuter (it, its). Angels are never  referred to in any gender other than masculine. In the many appearances of  angels in the Bible, never is an angel referred to as “she” or “it.”  Furthermore, when angels did appear, they always appeared dressed as human males  (Genesis  18:2, 16; Ezekiel 9:2). No angel ever  appeared in Scripture dressed as a female.

The only named angels in the  Bible—Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer—had male names and all were referred to in the  masculine. Revelation  12:7 – “…Michael and his angels.”; Luke 1:29 –  “Mary was greatly troubled at his (Gabriel’s) words.”; Isaiah 14:12 – “Oh,  Lucifer, son of the morning.” Other references to angels are always in the  masculine gender. In Judges 6:21,  the angel held the staff in his hand. Zechariah asked an angel a question and  reports that he answered (Zechariah  1:19). The angels in Revelation are all spoken of as “he” and “his” (Revelation 7:1; 10:1, 5; 14:19; 16:2, 4, 17; 19:17; 20:1).

The  confusion about genderless angels comes from a misreading of Matthew 22:30, which  states that there will be no marriage in heaven because we “will be like the  angels in heaven.” The statement that there will be no marriage has led some to  believe that angels are “sexless” or genderless because (the thinking goes) the  purpose of gender is procreation and, if there is to be no marriage and no  procreation, there is no need for gender. But this is a leap that cannot be  proven from the text. The fact that there is no marriage does not necessarily  mean there is no gender. The many references to angels as males contradict the  idea of genderless angels. But we must not confuse gender with sexuality.  Clearly, there is no sexual activity in heaven, which we can safely derive from  the statement about no marriage. But we can’t make the same leap from “no  marriage” to “no gender.”

Gender, then, is not to be understood strictly  in terms of sexuality. Rather, the use of the masculine gender pronouns  throughout Scripture is more a reference to authority than to sex. God always  refers to Himself in the masculine. The blurring of the distinction between male  and female can lead to heresies such as “mother/father God” and the Holy Spirit  as an “it,” ignoring the references to Him in Scripture (John 14:17; 15:16; 16:8, 13-14). The Holy Spirit is  never described as an “it” or an inanimate force. God’s perfect plan for the  order and structure of authority, both in the church and the home, imbues men  with authority to rule in love and righteousness, just as God rules. It would  simply be inappropriate to refer to heavenly beings as anything other than  masculine because of the authority God has granted to them to wield His power  (2 Kings  19:35), carry His messages (Luke 2:10),  and represent Him on earth.