Unmanly · Part Two
What the Bible Says About Men
Scripture says a great deal about men as husbands, fathers, kings, prophets, and elders, but it does not organize that teaching around masculinity. The standard it applies is not "Is he masculine?" but "Is he faithful?" These questions read the texts most often cited in debates about manhood and ask what they are actually doing.
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Does the Bible Have a Theology of Masculinity?
The Bible has a good deal to say about men, about husbands, fathers, kings, priests, prophets, disciples, and elders, but it does not organize that teaching around the category of masculinity. The evaluative standard it applies to male characters is not "is he masculine?" but "is he faithful?"
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What does the ‘hall of faith’ in Hebrews 11 tell us about male and female faithfulness?
Hebrews 11 presents a gallery of faithful Israelites: men and women evaluated by the same standard and offered as models to the same audience. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and others appear together, evaluated without any suggestion that the men should model Abel and Abraham while the women model Sarah and Rahab.
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What do figures like Jacob and Esau, or David, tell us about masculinity?
They tell us that Scripture is not particularly interested in it. Esau was a skilled hunter, hairy, and physically imposing.
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What Does Paul Mean by “Act Like Men” in 1 Corinthians 16:13?
The phrase in question, “be courageous” or “act like men” (andrizesthe) in 1 Corinthians 16:13, is often cited as evidence that Paul has a specifically masculine vision for Christian life. Read carefully, however, it does not support that conclusion.
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What role does biological sex play in the New Testament's vision of discipleship?
Biological sex is real and theologically significant. The New Testament does not treat it as irrelevant.