I love the old hymn Be Thou My Vision , it's one of my favorite songs. And I don't feel weird singing "Thou my great Father and I thy true son" even though I'm a girl. Because of 1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children (sons) of God! In the ancient world women could not inherit, and as Paul says in Romans 8:17 Now, if we are children (sons), then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ The Greek word for children in both verses is téknon, while it's technically gender neutral it's most often translated "son". I think using context we can confidently interpret Paul's use of téknon as "sons" because he makes the connection to a position as heirs, which in ancient Rome did not exist for women. Thus, the statement "if we are children, then we are heirs" would be poor logic to the original audience. Being a child doesn't constitute being an heir unless y