Recently I have been looking into what exactly was Gods definition of manhood. It struck me as an interesting thing to do some investigating into the matter. In this post I will present what I have found.
One needs to first separate away our information here from the secular or even the Satanic idea of manhood or manliness. The secular view which denies the Creation week and the definition pushed by the Devil are both false views of manhood/masculinity.
One comes from so-called Evolutionary psychology which is not really a true science. Instead it comes from a presupposition that one can link certain behaviors and stereotypes to the Unbiblical idea of millions of years of Earth history. This view denies the very ground of saving Faith which required Christ to die on the cross.
The Satanic view takes things even further by saying that in order to be a full man you need to embrace sexual behavior which is against God's commandments. That those aspects of the evolutionary psychology paradigm that are related to virility and getting women into bed are definitive of manhood. Further he lies and says to men that if you are not being a bad boy going against The Lord you are no true man.
The Bible paints manhood in a much different light. To gird your loins and be men means to follow The Lord. Men are not instructed to be disrespectful or a jerk. They are not to treat women as less than. They are to love their enemies. To be good neighbors. They are to love women as Christ loves his bride the Church.
The beautiful complementary of men and women in the Bible is never to be a machismo chasing macho man. The following is some of what I found in my search for the elusive Biblical manhood.
https://www.familyradio.org/devotional/biblical-manhood-bible-defines-masculinity/ "This doesn’t mean predominantly physically strong, but the meaning is that of an internal strength and fortitude. He is to be resolute in his beliefs, character, and integrity. He is to be firm as to what he stands for and in carrying out justice. He is to do his part to see that God’s will prevails in the kingdom. He is to courageously stand tall in battle, and he is to be courageous when it comes to standing for truth and the laws of God. Part of being a man is to be strong in Christ, recognizing as Paul did, that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
This brings us to the second mark of a man, which, according to David, is obedience to the revealed Word of God. This is foundational to Biblical manhood, and it truly is the very essence of it. If a man obeys God’s Word in terms of how he lives and treats others, he has shown himself to be a man indeed.
There is no rite of initiation or strange set of circumstances that a boy must pass through before becoming a man. There are many young boys and teens who are far more manly than grown adult men. This is because they stand for righteousness, they act in strength, and they obey God’s Word. This is manhood to the max. They treat women with honor, they respect their parents, and they are willing to share the gospel, among many other things which require strength.
Granted, there are physical, mental, and emotional changes that take place as a boy transitions through adolescence and into adulthood, but the main criteria for true manhood is who a person is on the inside in respect to fearing the Lord and trembling at His Word. There are men who live as boys, and there are boys who live as men. The issue isn’t so much age as it is heart.
https://biblicalgenderroles.com/2014/06/28/masculine-women-and-feminine-men-part-1/ "...we must then recognize that there are varying degrees of masculinity and varying degrees of femininity. For instance a man may be very manly in 90% of his physical and behavioral traits, but there may be a small amount of feminine behavior or physical traits in one area of his life.
The same could be said of a woman, where for the most part she is extremely feminine, but there may be some small part of her that is more masculine (whether it is in behavior or physical attributes). Let me give some examples to illustrate what I am saying:
There are some beautiful and extremely feminine women who are extremely competitive. Maybe they like to play sports, it would be mistake to call that type of woman a masculine woman just because she gets a little competitive on the softball field.
There are some men that look very manly, big muscular and hairy, but the minute they open their mouth you hear a high, soft sounding voice. Just because a man’s voice sounds more feminine, does not make him a feminine man.
The reality is no matter how feminine a man you may be, you are still a MAN.
No matter how masculine you may be as a woman, you are still a WOMAN..
https://www.gotquestions.org/biblical-manhood.html "Biblical manhood can be boiled down to five basic principles, which each man is expected to conform to. These are 1) humility before his God, 2) control of his appetites, 3) protecting his family, 4) providing for his family, and 5) leading his family. Men who fail to meet these expectations are not behaving as “men,” biblically speaking, but as something less noble (Psalm 49:20). Some good examples of biblical manhood in Scripture are Daniel, Caleb, Joshua, Paul, and, of course, Jesus.
Men and women are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27), something no other creature can claim. This makes every single human being valuable and worthy of respect. And yet males and females are not identical. We are biologically, psychologically, and emotionally distinct. This is not in any sense a bad thing; God called His original creation, which included distinct genders, “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Biblical manhood must include a godly view of women. Mistreatments of women such as forbidding education, sexual abuse, or denying civil rights are violations of the image-of-God principle. So, too, are attitudes that ignore meaningful differences between the sexes or erase gender roles.
Critically, note those things that Scripture does not include as part of biblical manhood. Men are not called to be tyrants, ruling a home with an iron fist and a dictator’s attitude. Nor are they instructed to be cowed and weak-kneed toward their families. Nor are men called on to enforce, in any sense, the biblical ideals of womanhood in their wives. Humility, self-control, protection, provision, and leadership are the man’s responsibilities and his tools. Men are accountable for spiritual leadership within their families, yet each person is ultimately accountable to God for his or her own life.
The proper perspective for this leadership comes from Ephesians 5:25–32. The goal of every believer’s life is to become more and more like Christ (Romans 8:29). For men in their God-given role, this means leading and loving their wives in the same way Christ loved the church: sacrificially (Ephesians 5:2), through service (John 13:14–15), and in selfless love (Ephesians 5:28). Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal yet serve different roles, so, too, can men and women be equal in value and in spiritual worth yet have different roles to play.
The fundamental requirement for biblical manhood is a proper relationship with God (Micah 6:8). This informs and empowers every other responsibility a man has in his life. Humility means an acknowledgement of his imperfection (Romans 3:23), acceptance of Christ for salvation (2 Peter 3:9), and a continual sense of dependence on God (1 Peter 5:7; Hebrews 13:15). A godly man will study, learn, and understand the will of God (Matthew 6:33; Romans 12:2) through the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). This gives him the tools to meet all of his other obligations; it does not automatically make his life biblically sound (1 Corinthians 3:2).
Knowing what God wants is only the first step, as biblical manhood also requires submission to that knowledge. Men are called on to control their urges and appetites (1 Thessalonians 4:3–5), relying on God to overcome temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13). Men, according to the Bible, are not to twist the Scripture in order to get their way (Mark 7:8–9) or to match their own preferences (Proverbs 14:12). Instead, they are to follow God’s commands (Proverbs 1:7) instead of their own urges (Romans 6:12; 1 Peter 1:14). This includes the other requirements of biblical manhood, which can be difficult to apply in a humble, godly way.
Biblical manhood includes the responsibility to protect one’s family. This may mean physically, to the point of laying down his life (Ephesians 5:25). In the Bible, men are called to fight to protect their wives and children (Nehemiah 4:13–14); women are never called to do the same for their husbands. This also involves spiritual protection—consider that Eve sinned first, but Adam was blamed for failing to lead her (Genesis 3:11, 17). Men are instructed to “honor” their wives as a “weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7), a phrase that in context invokes something precious, expensive, and valuable. Protecting one’s spouse and family from harm, both spiritual and physical, should be a natural instinct for Christian men.
Men are also called to be the primary providers for their families. Obviously, this can take different forms, and particular circumstances can change who contributes to family finances. Unemployment, illness, injury, and so forth are circumstances, not deliberate arrangements. Adam’s punishment at the fall was increased pain in his primary responsibility within the family, which was to be a provider (Genesis 3:17–19). Passages such as 1 Timothy 5:9 describe support for widows but not for widowers. Rather, it is men who are singled out to provide for their own families, in the clearest of terms (1 Timothy 5:8). Repeatedly, the Bible calls on men to provide and for women to care for the home.
The role of leader, both within the church and within a marriage, is also part of biblical manhood. This requirement originates even before the fall, where Adam and Eve shared equality in differing responsibilities (Romans 12:4–5). It is also seen in Adam’s naming of Eve (Genesis 2:23), an act which symbolizes authority. As already referenced, Christ has to be the model for this type of leadership. A man is called to lead through love, through service, and through sacrifice. This is not a domineering leadership or a repressive arrogance. Male leadership in the home and in the church is meant to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church.
https://religionnews.com/2016/08/30/how-the-christian-masculinity-movement-is-ruining-men/ "For every biblical reference to warriors like Samson or Saul, we read of characters like young David, a harpist, who through no power of his own defeated a giant. We meet Simeon, known for patiently waiting decades to see God’s promise revealed. Jesus himself notably refused to fight back, even giving up his life and physical body in a history-making display of spiritual strength.
A closer reading suggests that the Bible’s heroes aren’t meant to be models of outward toughness but exemplars of inner fortitude. So why have so many Christians accepted secular standards of masculinity as the basis for biblical manhood?
C.S. Lewis warned against this conflation of Western machismo and scriptural precedent in his seminal work, The Screwtape Letters. In it, the eponymous demon advises a devil-in-training to feed his target “the grand lie which we have made the English humans believe, that physical exercise in excess and consequent fatigue are specially favorable” and, therefore, worthy of divine aspiration.
Such misguided thinking, Lewis writes, creates “a condition of false spirituality,” in which the object of godly manhood is confused with that which mainstream culture portrays as truly manly.
Sadly, in many American churches, you won’t find an alternative to this vain portrait of masculinity but a co-opting of it. Not athletic? You’re not a man. Can’t shoot a gun? You’re not a man. Not dating? You’re not a man. Enjoy music more than weightlifting? Turn in your man card. That’s the message of the Christian masculinity movement.
When Christians casually throw around loaded terms like “real masculinity” in ways that reinforce—rather than rebut—secular formulas, we oversimplify a nuanced concept best expressed through eternal values, not earthly ambitions.
I’m of no illusion that the state of many modern men is strong in the metaphorical sense. We know, of course, of the negative impacts of couch-potato lifestyles and porn addiction on the American population. Even so, we must resist the temptation to lay blame first at our physical conditions before our spiritual ones. We must recover the idea that the marker of a true man is his moral strength, not his muscular fitness.
Popular notions of manhood shame, repel, and ruin too many young boys and men who fail to meet those standards and who do not possess dispositions toward “typical” masculine behaviors. Rather than push them into wholesale rejection of the male archetype, we should instead call them to virtuous—and, yes, manly—aspirations of humility, service, kindness, and wisdom.
Maybe today’s Christian men should focus less on “acting like men” and more on acting like Christians. Surely, this includes speaking about gender in ways that are loving, hopeful, nuanced, and biblical. We owe at least this much to the boys in our schoolyards, ministries, and homes."
https://www.gotquestions.org/biblical-manhood.html
https://www.familyradio.org/devotional/biblical-manhood-bible-defines-masculinity/
https://religionnews.com/2016/08/30/how-the-christian-masculinity-movement-is-ruining-men/
https://biblicalgenderroles.com/2014/06/28/masculine-women-and-feminine-men-part-1/
