The Write Place

Recently, as often happens, we saw the culture’s influence on the church in a debate about godly manhood and godly womanhood. For those unfamiliar with the kerfuffle, it started on twitter. Joel Webbon does well in detailing the issues and responding here. I am not the biggest fan, but Eric Conn made a tweet that sifted the chaffe from the wheat on the issue.

Eric Conn’s tweet here. In it he notes pietism equates generic Spiritual traits with godliness for male and female, to the neglect of any distinctives to either. One responder simply mentioned the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25 ). This was never in question, but how manliness and femininity display in Christians is the discussion. Likewise, if we are to show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness how do I do so as a man? This is a question the church hasn’t really even understood.

On a related note, Andrew Sandlin said something interesting about the common crisis in the church around masculinity.

Now Mark Driscoll is a good example of trying to create a masculine Christianity in his own power. There is not no merit to what Dr.Sandlin said. Yet something in it seems deficient.

I did have a short interaction with Dr.Sandlin and would be interested in talking with him further. I do feel free however to express my concerns to his response as well . I do believe my concerns color the whole issue (perhaps what I saw was only him being concise). Maybe we agree more, maybe less. He told me to start with what Jesus said.

Jesus being the God of the Old Testament has a lot to say about how different maleness and femaleness are including among the Godly. And as you see, that will preach. It tells us about the designer, and it gives us our meaning and purpose in a culture that hates both.

With both incidents in mind, let us dive into how the bible describes the difference of male and female.

Genesis 1

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man^[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:26-31

Here we see now that God has made man, male and female. The creation is now very good, complete save for the day of rest to follow. Both are necessary, but what do they do? Why is it necessary and good that they are male and female? What contribution does each make? Plainly they do and it is important they are distinct.

In Genesis 2 we see the man (Adam) is made first. What do we find Adam doing? We see him acting as king and priest over creation, naming the animals. Then we find him receiving a woman to help him, an ezer kenegdo (כְּנֶגְדּֽוֹ עֵ֖זֶר), someone who challenges him with her radical differences.

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for^[e] him.” ¹⁹ Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[f] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[g] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[h] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ 
Genesis 2:18-23

Genesis 2 is very practical. Men are made for something different than women. Eve completes Adam in how she is different. Adam is charged with dominion but he can’t do it alone. He needs someone in his species to challenge him by having different needs he needs to meet. In this she meets his great need for a helper. That includes Adam’s spiritual headship as she is named after the animals by Adam himself. We find more elaboration along the lines of the practical in the book of Proverbs.

¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her,
    and he will have no lack of gain.
¹² She does him good, and not harm,
    all the days of her life.

Proverbs 31:11-12

It is amusing to note, nobody is arguing men need to look like the woman in proverbs 31. Because we really do know godly men and women are different.

³ Do not give your strength to women,
    your ways to those who destroy kings.

Proverbs 31:3

The whole book is full of these examples Men are known for their strength and this is physiologically significant. Male muscle mass is even 36% greater. And if the truth offends you, change.

This is attested to in the Psalms.

⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
    are the sons of one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
    who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.^[b]
Psalm 127:4-5

I am using the more accurate and therefore sexist translation that exempts women from the draft or the dangers of military service. Now a godly young man will conduct himself in war as a Christian, but he will do so as a man. Likewise of the of the two, he is the one made to engage in the physical violence that protects others. We ought teach him how and when to fight.

⁵ “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife^[a] whom he has taken.
Deuteronomy 24:5

Here we see a lot about male priorities and duties, with an image of what is best also for the community. A man who prioritizes his household takes precedence over his duty to go to war or serve in public office. The family comes first, whatever unique responsibilities he has. Men are also told how to go war.

¹⁰ “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. ¹¹ And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. ¹² But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword, ¹⁴ but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. ¹⁶ But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, ¹⁷ but you shall devote them to complete destruction,^[a] the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, ¹⁸ that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:10-18

If you are horrified by this, remember he is citing specific enemies at a specific time in the conquest of the Holy Land. Which makes it all the more remarkable that genocide is not the exclusive purpose. What is the purpose is eliminating the threat should the threat persist. They are offered an out if they refuse to be a continued threat to the nation. You fight wars to win, and offer mercy so the opponent has his blood on his own head. If someone persists in the threat, you do not need to fear to eliminate them. Remember if you don’t in this case, they will do so to you and everything you care about.

At the risk of sounding repetitive because the Christians don’t know what their own bible says.

²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Ephesians 5:21-33

Men are husbands, women are wives. A godly man is not a godly wife. The inverse is true.

Men are likewise to be elders.

Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
Proverbs 31:23

This does require something different than a women, otherwise they would be included. In fact they are not in either Old or New Testament. Look at the qualifications for an elder.

⁴ He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, ⁵ for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? ⁶ 

1 Timothy 3:4-5

You may argue that the other attributes in this section are not bad for women either. But notice the difference in male roles. If he is doing different things, wouldn’t his even handedness be shaped by his responsibilities? Perhaps he finds himself created for or even enjoying them? Different function demands a different design. The alternative is destructive.

If godly men and women look identical, why not have female preachers?

Dr. Sandlin’s initial words to “just preach the Gospel” raises the issue of why the Gospel makes men and women (all but) identical. Is Jesus redeeming all of creation? Maleness and femaleness included? I suspect this lies underneath, and at least broadly this gnostic pietistic rot is eating us alive. But teaching men masculinity when they aren’t Christians or aren’t seeking the Gospel brings me to one key biblical story.

My biggest objection to Dr. Sandlin is epitomized in the historic reality of Naman the Syrian who did not come pursuing God. God draws people to himself, even if by their own imperfections or secondary concerns. Naaman was a Syrian leper who came pursuing healing.

¹¹ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. ¹² Are not Abana^[c] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

2 Kings 5:11-14

Notice Naaman says he hoped the prophet would “call on the LORD his God.” Naaman is not a believer, he is genuinely hopeful but he is coming for healing not out of a saving faith at this point. He does however, come to a saving faith.

¹⁵ Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” ¹⁶ But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused. ¹⁷ Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord. ¹⁸ In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” ¹⁹ He said to him, “Go in peace.”

2 Kings 5:15-19

This cuts against the “just preach the Gospel” objection that limits our ministry to being the proclamation of salvation into the next life. It allows us to apply the whole truth of the Gospel’s redemption of creation to the creation where it seeks truth. The Gospel includes the redemption of the created order. Therefore we ought to apply it to all of it.

Jesus has high praise for Naaman the Syrian.

²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers^[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Luke 4:24-27

When Naaman saw who God was, he then began to want God himself. He had the faith to apply a Christian idea and a command of God. Not everybody who comes with questions is asking the right ones, at least as we would imagine. They may not even ask the truly foundational ones. They are however when genuine, looking for things the Gospel as a whole offers. Christianity alone has the needs we have unmet. That includes the answers to the social issues we have today. That includes what it means to be a male or female. To dodge the question or skip over it as unimportant misses this.

Anyone who wants the Truth ends up with Jesus

Johnny Cash

The alternative is to level all things, eliminating the distinctions. This is something Paul warns about in Romans 1. It is fundamentally the same anthropology as trans, both make male and female in essence interchangeable. The alternative to God as the creator is to make all things one without difference. It is remarkable how compromised we are on this in every regard.

Perhaps we should not just make appropriate warnings, but avoid over clarifying. Biblical Masculinity is just masculinity, whatever effect the fall has on distorting the original.

I suspect part of this pushback on the masculine resurgence (where it is not careerist) is about making people feel better. If women are different than men, they will feel bad for being lesser. If men do not fit the mold, they may feel bad. Fight both instincts by affirming the women in the goodness of their calling as women, and men in their calling to fight the fight God has for them. Not every man can go to war (and we pray for peace). Not every man is a good mechanic or blessed with physical strength. But every man is made to aggressively fight and expand the kingdom. For some that fight is intellectual, others blue collar, and others in the arts. Whatever the fight may be, it is man who cultivates the creation by fighting and mastering it. Remember, only a man could have redeemed us.

Goodness is the same in all things if we understand that goodness is that which reflects God. But to be a good man is distinct from being a good woman. It is not just about the immaterial, but the bodied existence of both. Godliness may have the same essence in that it models God’s goodness and character to the world. Maleness and femaleness are good in their respective distinctions and realities. The Church needs to embrace the biblical truth in all of life for all of its questions if it is to fulfill the great commission and the work of the redemption of all things.

New Research Finds Huge Differences Between Male and Female Brains | Psychology Today

Amount of Muscle Mass in Men Versus Women | livestrong