Introduction
What does it truly mean to be a biblical man in today’s world? This question touches the heart of every Christian man seeking to honor God with his life. In this thoughtful discussion, Pastor Cam Porter, Dr. Sam Renihan, and Pastor Jim Butler explore the difference between cultural expectations of masculinity and the actual biblical calling for men. They remind us that true manhood isn’t found in cultural stereotypes or external markers, but in faithfully fulfilling the roles God has given us as husbands, fathers, and followers of Christ—with Jesus himself as our perfect example of manhood
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Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS Biblical manhood, masculinity, cultural constructs, Dominion mandate, male roles, fruitful and multiply, husband and father, decorum and custom, Paul’s commands, proper roles, Jesus’ example, church culture, external culture, body politic, appearance judgment.
SPEAKERS Pastor Jim Butler, Pastor Cam Porter, Dr Samuel Renihan
Introduction
Pastor Cam Porter 00:00 What is biblical manhood? How should Christian men understand their identity and calling in light of Scripture, not culture?
The Difference Between Male and Masculine
Dr Samuel Renihan 00:22 I’m going to be honest and say I don’t like this question—good!—because there’s a difference between being male and being masculine. Being male is objective. God made us male and female, and we know what a male is. We’re surprisingly not confused about that the way the rest of the world is confused about what is a male and what is a female.
The question then becomes, but what is masculine or what is biblical manhood? Biblical masculinity? And many of the things that go by the name of manhood or masculinity are really just cultural or social constructs which may not be bad in themselves—they may be perfectly lawful or fine—but they’re not binding on anyone.
My perception is that many of the things that are touted and proposed as biblical manhood or biblical masculinity are still really just cultural or social expectations and preferences that have been wrapped up in certain biblical truths. So there’s a degree of truth in them, but ultimately it’s smuggling in some man’s view of masculinity that is then imposed upon all men.
Our Identity and Calling as Men
So what is our identity and our calling as men? Well, it just starts as creatures, as male and female in Genesis 1 and Genesis 9. God tells us who we are and what we are to do. We’re His creatures, and he wants us to be fruitful and multiply. He commands everyone—Christian, non-Christian, all people—in the Noahic Covenant Genesis 9, to be fruitful, to multiply, to exercise dominion in a fallen world.
So I, as a man, am supposed to be fruitful, multiply and exercise dominion in a fallen world. Every woman is supposed to be fruitful and multiply and exercise dominion in a fallen world. And then each of us, we use our resources that God has given us to build and advance and excel for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor.
The mandate is for man—and by man, I mean male and female, because that’s the original meaning of the English word man. You have man, and then you have males and females and so on. We all fulfill this one Dominion mandate in complementary ways.
Particularly Male Roles
What roles are particularly male roles? Well, in the common kingdom: husbands and fathers. In the church: officers. Those are particularly male roles. So being a good husband, being a good father, that would be masculine. Being a good deacon or a good pastor would, in a sense, be masculine, but in a much narrower and limited sense—those are male roles within the Dominion mandate.
The Realm of Decorum and Custom
But even then, if you say, “Okay, but how? But what?” I’m very reluctant to insist on some form of male behavior as biblical manhood, because beyond the basics of just moral uprightness, we essentially enter into a realm of decorum and custom, which are valid categories. I believe that Paul uses them in First Corinthians 11, when he speaks of nature: “Does not nature itself instruct you what is fitting, what is proper?” But he also says to the Corinthians, “Judge for yourselves. What do you think is fitting and proper for men and women, where you are and in your context?”
If you go to India or you go to China, or you go to Russia, or you go to Brazil or to Argentina, or to Mexico, to France, to anywhere in the world, you’re going to find different expectations of what is proper decorum for male behavior or what is most fitting for women. I’m not saying that anything that they think in those contexts is right and okay, but you can’t necessarily impose some form of masculinity on all men.
Maybe you can, and I’m just a terrible man and I just don’t know. But being a good husband according to God’s law, being a good father according to God’s law, and following Paul the apostle’s commands in Scripture, in the epistles, about how to do that—okay, that’s clear enough.
Avoiding Cultural Impositions
But we have to be careful not to say, “Well, a man drinks bourbon and smokes cigars and shoots guns and bench presses this much.” If you make that sort of the standard of masculinity in your church, then some guys aren’t going to want to hang out with the guys. They’re going to feel excluded because they’re just not like that.
And if we talk about decorum and fitness, you would say, “But as men, we want to be strong, and so health and diet are important.” Okay, but how much do they have to bench press? You see what I’m saying? There are basic principles, yeah, but you have to be very—I think we should be very hesitant to create some paradigm of masculinity and impose it.
We need to teach masculinity—or it’s not even teaching masculinity. It’s just teaching the proper roles that God has given to us and how to glorify Him in those roles. But masculinity tends to be a cultural, social, personal construct that’s shaped by many things, in some cases for the better, in some cases for the worse.
For the worse: the man who says, “I’m a man, it’s not my job to change diapers—no way. Wash a dish—absolutely not. I’m a man.” Well, you’re a bad man. You’re a bad man, and your idea of masculinity is not helpful, and in fact, it’s wrong.
Jesus as Our Example
So I know that everyone today wants to be told exactly how to be a man. If you want true biblical masculinity, be like Jesus. Be like him. Be like Jesus. He was a man. He is a man, a perfect man. He never did anything wrong. So if you just follow his example, follow Jesus, you will never go wrong. He’s the perfect man. That’s where I’ll just say: Look to Jesus. Be like him. Follow him. There’s your example.
Pastor Cam Porter Excellent, yeah.
Practical Biblical Masculinity
Pastor Jim Butler 07:16 Yeah, that’s what I was thinking in terms of biblical masculinity. I agree. We don’t want to obligate people to a norm that is cultural or that is preferable. “We in our church, we like this. So in order to conform to us or conform in this group, you’ve got to take on these characteristics.”
So bottom line: you’re a man before God. You’re a husband to your wife, you’re a father to your children, you’re a grandfather to your grandchildren, and then you’re a hard worker in your workplace, you’re a faithful citizen in the body politic, you’re a good church member. You pursue those things in a way that brings glory to God.
There’s obvious things. If a man does not provide for his own, he’s worse than an infidel or an unbeliever. Biblical masculinity: Make sure your wife has food, make sure she has clothes, make sure she has shelter. And that goes for your kids as well. You wanna be a man? Put a roof over their heads. You wanna be a man? Make sure you bring up your children in the training and admonition of the Lord.
And if you wanna eat steak and hold a gun while you do that, that’s fine, but don’t make that everybody else’s requirement as well.
Church Culture vs. Gospel
So anytime we impose—we need to be careful of this. I mean, we both shave our heads. We both drive Jettas. We both like really, really black coffee. We don’t want to send that message that, “Hey, to really be in that church, you gotta do these things.” No.
And beyond even the external culture, churches all have cultures. Every church has a culture. I’m not saying that’s bad. I’m not saying it’s wrong. I’m not saying it’s anything other than we need to remind ourselves that our culture is not the gospel. In other words, a person comes to our church, it’s not “believe on Jesus and eat a steak,” “believe on Jesus and go get a gun.” “Believe on Jesus and”—biblical femininity—”bake sourdough bread.” “Believe on Jesus” and name any other thing.
So culture—we cannot shake it in terms of church life, but we cannot preach it as something that is necessitated by Christ. If you don’t want to eat meat, that’s fine. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, live in light of what you know, be a good man, husband, father, grandfather, worker, citizen. We forget that sometimes we are citizens in a body politic, and there are certain obligations placed upon us in that regard as well.
Historical Perspective on Imposed Standards
Dr Samuel Renihan 09:54 There’s nothing new under the sun. There’s a man who’s buried in Bunhill Fields in London, and he was a pastor, and his name—I think his surname was Jones, but his nickname was Whiskers—so I think it was Whiskers Jones. And this guy required that all the men in his church have a beard like his, and so that’s why he was known for his beard, Whiskers Jones. I could get the surname wrong, but his nickname was Whiskers.
I just thought, this is just like some of the men today who have a platform online or a church, and “this is what a man looks like, and you should look like this.”
I hesitate to get into it, but you have all of these accounts, often anonymous accounts on social media who will just look at a person’s appearance and immediately call them all kinds of derogatory things, because “how much do you lift?” They will just judge you by your appearance, just like Whiskers Jones, as though—and it’s so funny to me, because they’re basically teenage girls with a Cosmo magazine.
They’re just so concerned with people’s looks, how they look and how other people look, and just judging everyone based on—”I’ve sized you up in one second based on your outfit,” like a girl might do. These guys are just Cosmo teenage girls, just sizing up everyone based on what they think a man should look like, like a girl sizes up girls based on what they think a girl should look like. It’s so juvenile and ridiculous, but it’s spreading, and it’s very frustrating.
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