Living Unmanly

From the Author

What does the Bible actually say about being male? This eight-day plan examines texts at the center of debates about biblical manhood, from Genesis to Revelation, and finds in each not a masculinity ideology but a summons to discipleship.

The conversation about Christian manhood has intensified in recent years. On one side, voices within evangelicalism call men to embrace a robust, even aggressive model of masculinity: providers, protectors, warriors, leaders. On the other, reactions against that model have sometimes overcorrected, leaving men with an identity crisis. Both approaches begin with a cultural idea of masculinity and work backward to Scripture, rather than allowing God’s word to set the terms.

The standard for Christian men is not cultural performance. It is conformity to Christ, the only human whose life fully displays what it means to live under God’s authority. Across these eight days, we will read familiar texts with care: Paul’s autobiography of abandoned credentials in Philippians 3, the Christ-hymn in Philippians 2, the shared dominion of Genesis 1, the call to mature courage in 1 Corinthians 16, the bondservant in Ephesians 6, the limitation built into the man in Genesis 2, the Christian character of 1 Timothy 3, and the conquest by faithfulness in Revelation 12.

Each day pairs a passage with a brief exposition and a closing reflection. Read slowly. Sit with the passage. The aim is not to add another set of cultural slogans, but to be formed by Scripture toward the only standard that finally matters: the full humanity of Christ, into whose image we are being conformed.

James Spencer, PhD