Maturity, Not Masculinity

Near the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul gives a cluster of brief commands: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (16:13–14). The phrase “act like men” appears to prescribe a masculine ideal: courageous and strong as distinctly male virtues. Reading the text in its context complicates that reading.

The Greek word translated “act like men” is andrizomai, related to the word for man (anēr). The word carries masculine associations ancient readers would have recognized. But Paul is writing to the whole Corinthian community, men and women together. His sustained concern throughout the letter is not masculinity but maturity. He presses the Corinthians toward being fully grown rather than remaining “infants in Christ” (3:1) or childish in their thinking (14:20). Commentators have observed that andrizomai carries two contrasts, not one: it stands against what is childish as much as against what is stereotypically feminine. The exhortation is better rendered: show mature courage.

The Old Testament background strengthens this reading. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, andrizomai occurs regularly in the phrase “be strong and courageous”, associated with keeping God’s law and walking in his ways, and contrasted with fear and disobedience. It is a summons to faithful obedience in the face of difficulty, addressed to all of God’s people. That is precisely Paul’s concern in 1 Corinthians: a community that has been failing to live faithfully together needs to grow up.

Verse 14 is equally important: “Let all that you do be done in love.” Paul does not allow courage to stand alone. Courage without love becomes self-assertion. Together, the two commands describe the shape of Christian maturity: bold faithfulness ordered by love for others. Neither is a male prerogative. Both are discipleship.