Behold the Man
Christ the God-Man as the Model of True Masculinity
As we prepare to launch into the topic of birth control, we felt the need to pause and address the issue of effeminacy, a root cause condition underlying this issue, as well as several others we will be covering in our series The Seven Deadly Sins of American Christianity. This newsletter is chapter VI of an upcoming eBook titled, The (Ef)feminization of the Church: How American Christianity Lost Its Way by Losing Its Manhood. Chapters I, II, III, IV, and V can be found here, here, here, here, and here.
The man, Christ Jesus
There is an old saying that “the best of men are men at best,” and there is certainly a great deal of truth to that. East of Eden (Genesis 3:24), no mere mortal has even come close to perfectly reflecting the image of his Maker, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Like a warped funhouse mirror, sin has distorted our reflections into buffoonish mockeries of the men God created us to be (James 1:23, 24).
If you are just an everyday, earthbound citizen of this fallen “clown world,” then this is all you know. You’ve never encountered anything, or anyone, different. “To err is human,” and that’s the end of the story for you.
But for the citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20), that is only the beginning of man’s story (Genesis 1–3), an epic drama that begins and ends with the “beginning and the end” Himself (Revelation 22:13), the man, Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5, 6, emphasis mine):
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
In light of Christ, perennial human sins like effeminacy are but the pitch black backdrop against which the masculine glory of the Son of Man shines like the noonday sun (Psalm 37:6). Jesus is the radiant bridegroom who emerged from His eternal chamber to rescue His helpless bride (Romans 5:6; Ephesians 5:25), the strong man who ran His course with joyful endurance and empowers us to do the same (Psalm 19:4, 5; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 5:10; Jude 1:24).
Thus far in this series on effeminacy in the American Church we have stared long and hard into the perfect mirror of God’s law (James 1:23–25) and found, to our great shame, a very soft and compromised man staring back at us. The hard truth is that Christian men in recent decades have overwhelmingly failed to stay strong and “play the man” (2 Samuel 10:12; 1 Corinthians 16:13) in the face of ever-increasing temptations to sin (Matthew 18:7, 24:22, 24; Luke 17:1; 2 Timothy 3:1–9, 13). Our spirits have been unwilling, and our flesh, weak (Matthew 26:41).
Wretched excuses for men that we are, who can deliver us from this body of death (Romans 7:24)?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:25), the One who is seated at the right hand of Power on high (Mark 14:62, Luke 24:49).
Our thesis here is straightforward: The only flawless model1 of masculinity is the Son of God come in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. To Him we must turn, and away from our effeminacy, if we seek any hope of salvation.
By considering Jesus’ humiliation2 we will discover two of His most masculine attributes: 1) His humility, as expressed in His total submission to the will of God the Father; and 2) His perseverance, as seen in His fulfilling of His God-given mission to the very end in the face of unparalleled adversity.
Then, by examining Jesus’ exaltation,3 we will uncover the fullness of His unvarnished, glorious manhood, seen especially in His eternal reigning as king of heaven and earth, a task to which He invites all believers to share in4—if we are man enough to accept it.
Son of God and Son of Man, show us what a man of God truly looks like and give us the strength to become one ourselves. Unveil our faces to behold as in a mirror, not ourselves, but Yourself, and transform us into that same image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Hear us for the sake of Your own great name (1 Samuel 12:22)—the name that is above all other names (Philippians 2:9; Hebrews 1:4)—and for the sake of the Church for which You died and rose again (Isaiah 53:11; Romans 4:25). Amen.
The “weakness” of God
It’s no secret that many depictions of Christ in art tend to lean a tad on the effeminate side. Picture Warner Sallman’s famously kitsch Jesus5 caressing a fluffy white lamb and you’ve more or less got the picture. Some may even accuse a titan like Titian of portraying Jesus in a weak and feminized manner in Christ Carrying the Cross (pictured above), what with His forlorn expression, pallid complexion, single tear drop, and mystifying embrace of the cross, the very instrument of His torture and execution.
It all just seems so…weak.
What kind of self-respecting man would willingly subject himself to such humiliating treatment, including the ultimate shame of hanging bruised and bloodied, stark naked and alone on a cross? Was He simply a glutton for punishment? Did He suffer from a severe martyr complex or a debilitating lack of self-esteem?
To most of His ancient contemporaries, Jesus’ ignoble death proved that He was neither Caesar nor Messiah. Whether you were a wannabe philosopher-king like Pilate, an up-and-coming rabbinical wunderkind like Paul, or just your average first century Joseph six-pack like Peter, the prophet from Nazareth seemed to be just about the last kind of man that one would seek to emulate.
Ironically, Christ is often just as bewildering to the modern Christian mind, even those ensconced in the so-called Christian “manosphere,” whose main focus is understanding and promoting Biblical masculinity. Take for instance the chest-thumping, postmillennial,6 Christian Nationalist7 crowd, whose macho (and often misguided) take on the Christian faith insists that believers must “win down here” by rejecting a “loser theology” of heavenly-mindedness and little earthly good.8
What makes it so difficult for us to recognize the manliness of Christ, especially in His state of humiliation, are our narrow, wrongheaded misapprehensions of all that goes into being a man in the first place. If we look to the world for our notions of masculinity, we will find, at best, a mixed bag of half-truths and outright lies. We must not judge Jesus by our received cultural assumptions about manhood or by our fallen human intuitions. Rather, we must recognize that Jesus Himself is the standard by which all other men are to be judged, for Christ is the judge (John 5:22, 2 Timothy 4:1, etc.) and for judgment He came into the world (Matthew 10:34; John 9:39).
It’s true that God’s “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31), even in its fallen condition, serves as a remarkably solid baseline for separating true from false forms of masculinity. It may be tempting, therefore, to point out that Jesus was, in fact, a blue-collar, working-class construction worker, and thus the consummate man’s man, and simply move on to the next subject. But the question still remains as to why such a man would choose to endure what He endured—and in the manner He endured it—to begin with. Clearly, there is much more going on in the life of this extraordinary carpenter than meets the eye.
In our attempt to better appreciate the subtle grandeur of Jesus’ masculinity, let’s start by acknowledging that none of our puzzled responses regarding it take God by surprise in the slightest. In fact, God purposefully designed His plan of salvation in Christ to elicit such head-scratching reactions.
Now why on earth would God do such a thing?
After all, human wisdom would suggest that if you are trying to set forth a compelling savior-king that men would not only live for, but also die for, then you had better make a strong first impression. You know, kiss babies, shake hands, really sweep the people off their feet.9
And herein lies the logic behind God’s game plan for the consummate man, for the last thing God wanted to do in sending His Son to save the world was to vindicate human wisdom in the process. Rather, God orchestrated man’s redemption in the counterintuitive manner in which He did in order to render His final judgment on man’s supposed “wisdom,” namely, that it is absolute rubbish (1 Corinthians 1:20, 21; Philippians 3:8).
For those who, by God’s Spirit, “get” what God was up to in scripting the gospel story the way He did, salvation in Christ says loudly and clearly: “Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: ‘So that You [i.e., God] may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge’” (Romans 3:4, emphasis mine). The gospel message puts us squarely in our place so that the faithful can see that God is most certainly in His place.
Have you ever heard the song “Above All,” the well-known worship anthem that climaxes with the line “You [Jesus] took the fall…and thought of me…above all”?
Yeah, no. That’s just flat out wrong.
In redemption, God in Christ was primarily concerned with vindicating Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19) and His logic,10 not the sinful train wrecks that are fallen humanity and human reason (Romans 3:25b, 26, emphasis mine):
“This [i.e., Christ’s death for the forgiveness of sins] was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
That we are secondary side-beneficiaries of this arrangement11 proves that even God’s afterthoughts are more blessed than the loftiest thoughts of men (Ephesians 3:20, 21).
Remember, God does not think like we think, nor are His priorities our priorities—not even close (Psalm 50:21; Isaiah 55:8, 9). What man fawns over, God regards with the utmost contempt (Luke 16:15). Man shakes his head in dismay at the cross (1 Corinthians 2:2), but God nods His head in approval (Isaiah 53:10; Matthew 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11, 9:7; Luke 3:22; John 8:29).
Paul describes this mystery as “the foolishness of the cross,” a concept that lies at the heart of both the gospel and the Christian life (1 Corinthians 1:18–29, emphasis mine):
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Brothers, consider the time of your calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were powerful; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast in His presence.”
Not that, ladies and gentlemen, is where it’s at. If you get that, then you’ve really gotten something worth getting.
Let’s pause for a moment to think about what Paul is saying here, because it is profound beyond reckoning.
Christ was born in weakness (Matthew 1, 2; Luke 2) and died in weakness (2 Corinthians 13:4). He neither quarreled nor lifted up His voice (Isaiah 42:2; Matthew 12:19). He broke not the bruised reed nor quenched the smoldering wick (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20). He did not turn His face away from the blows and spittle (Isaiah 50:5, 6). Like a silent lamb led to the slaughter, He opened not His mouth to object to His own murder (Isaiah 53:7).
The question is why, O why, would He conduct Himself this way? He’s the Messiah! How did He, of all people, end up drawing the short straw? Wouldn’t He be given a pass on such indignities? Isn’t He above that kind of treatment?
In a sense, of course, He is, but not if the Father requires it of Him, which the Father most certainly did (Isaiah 53:10):
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.”
This perspective changes absolutely everything with respect to Jesus’ masculinity, for if we truly understand what is going on behind His sufferings, we will have discovered the antidote to effeminacy.
Indeed, what may at first glance appear to be the classic behavior of a pushover, a passive doormat of a man, on closer inspection reveals an individual who is beyond all question the greatest (Colossians 1:15–18), most powerful (Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:8), unbreakable (Psalm 34:20; John 19:33, 36), uncowed (Mark 12:14; John 2:24; Acts 4:13), indefatigable (Luke 22:44, 23:34; 2 Thessalonians 3:5; Hebrews 5:7) man who ever lived. Because He was tempted at all points as we are, and yet never once caved to sin (Hebrews 4:15), Christ showed that He possessed a strength—God’s strength—that dwarfed that of Adam, Samson, David and all his mighty men combined.
Christ’s example reminds us that strength is not only showcased on the battlefield, for “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).12
Even at His weakest, Christ ascended God’s infinitely holy hill (Psalm 24:3, 4) step by staggering step, carrying multitudes of His fallen brethren (Hebrews 2:10)—and the sin of the world (1 Peter 2:24)—on His back. Forget the cross that Simon of Cyrene carried for Him (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26), or even the twelve labors of Hercules for that matter.13 No god or man ever shouldered a burden like this. And the most astonishing part of it all is that Jesus accomplished this impossible feat through nothing more than His simple, self-effacing dependency on His almighty Father.
The irony of it all is that it was precisely Jesus’ besetting human weaknesses (Hebrews 5:2) that made possible the greatest display of God’s power in human history.
Interlude on the incarnation
To drive this point home further, we must understand what God was doing in the incarnation of His Son.14 Admittedly, this is no small task, but the scriptures can help us get off the ground, if only a few inches for the time being (1 Corinthians 13:12).
By setting aside His kingly splendor, veiling it, as it were, in human flesh, and holding back the use of His divine prerogatives like the ultimate concealed weapon, Jesus restrained an infinite reserve of supernatural firepower the likes of which all the thermonuclear arsenals of man cannot even begin to compare (Matthew 28:3; Mark 9:2, 3; Luke 9:29, 54, 55; John 17:5).
Do we have any idea of the amount of strength that required? “Are you not aware that I [Jesus] can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53; cf. 2 Kings 19:35, 1 Chronicles 21:14–16, etc.).
Have you ever heard someone brag, “I could do such and such with both hands and half my brain tied behind my back”? Intentional handicaps are often used for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, but Jesus adopted a weak and limited posture at His incarnation not for His own sake, but for His Father’s sake and for the sake of those whom the Father had given Him (John 4:34, 5:19, 30, 6:38, 8:29).
Though an anointed king, Christ, like David before Him, would ascend the throne God’s way by first descending into the lower parts of the earth—indeed, into death and hades themselves (Ephesians 4:9, 10; 1 Peter 3:18–20; Revelation 20:14). As Christ taught His followers in both word and deed, the way to glory is only attained by way of the cross (Mark 8:34, 35; Luke 9:23, 24), for “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
In Jesus’ case, this meant that in order for Him to receive His royal crown, He first had to don the crown of thorns. Before being lifted upon His blessed throne (Acts 2:33; Philippians 2:9; Hebrews 12:2; Revelation 3:21), He was first hoisted upon the cursed cross (John 3:14, 12:32, 33; Galatians 3:13).
And yet in spite of all this—no, because of all this—God was pleased to use this one man’s humble life of sacrificial obedience to bless the entire world (Genesis 22:18), save all of creation from its bondage to corruption, sin, and death (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 15:26; Romans 8:18–25), redeem a people for His great name (Acts 15:14; Titus 2:14), and lead captivity captive in His train (Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:8).
“All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown Him Lord of all!”15
The greatness of Christ the man was on full display in His sacrificial submission to God, the One whom all men were created to worship (Isaiah 43:21; John 4:23), especially at their own expense (Psalm 15:4; 2 Samuel 24:24; 1 Chronicles 21:24).
Christ’s yielded, overcoming life shows us that submission to God-ordained authority is not a recipe for effeminacy, but rather incalculable strength.16 As the faithful centurion noted, Christ too was “a man under authority” (Matthew 8:8, 9), the authority of God the Father, no less. Because Jesus was fully submitted to God, His words, deeds, and very name carried the full weight of God’s authority. Hence, even the elements (Matthew 8:27), diseases (Matthew 4:23), demons (Mark 1:27; Luke 10:17), and death itself (John 11:25, 26, 43, 44) fled at His command. Men under authority are authoritative (Matthew 28:18).
Out of every pore of Christ’s being came this triumphant cry: “Not My will, but Yours be done” (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 6:38; Romans 15:3). These are not the words of a frustrated fatalist, passively resigning to the powers that be, but rather those of a devoted son, whose lifeblood consisted in doing the will of His Father (Matthew 4:4; John 4:34, 6:38).
When Christ emptied Himself by becoming a man, God filled His finite human vessel17 with the infinte Spirit beyond measure (John 3:34). Because Christ denied Himself (Matthew 16:24), God, in the end, denied Him of nothing (Psalm 2:8; Ephesians 1:22). This is the pattern of living to which all men of God must conform (Philippians 2:5–11):
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Though Jesus is, in the words of the famed creed, “very God of very God,”18 He is also truly human. Even as the unique God-man, He came not in His own power but in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14; Acts 10:38), working more miracles19 than one could possibly catalog (John 21:25).20 In this way, Christ’s works pointed to God the Father and His provision, not to Himself and His own resources (John 17:4; Philippians 2:11).
Likewise, men of God are fundamentally men about God. Their entire lives are consumed with making much of Him and His infinite supply (Philippians 4:19). As such, true men of God will crawl over broken glass to glorify the Lord over themselves, no matter how bruised and bloodied they may get in the process. Though it is rarely pretty, this is “the Way” (John 14:6; Acts 9:2, 19:9, 23, 22:4, 24:14). If our reputations, fortunes, or even our very lives are laid on the line in pursuit of this goal, then so be it. God and His kingdom are simply worth it, all day long.
When we see all that Christ accomplished, and the manner in which He accomplished it, it is abundantly evident that it was only possible because God was with Him (John 3:2). Because Jesus was outwardly unimpressive (Isaiah 53:2), His observers had an impressive, unobstructed view of His Father (John 14:9). Christ’s longsuffering humility showed the very same attributes that God had earlier declared to Moses, only more personally and publicly than they had ever been revealed before (Exodus 34:6, 7), all thanks to the incarnation.
Man down
So what does Christ’s humility imply for us His people?
It implies that if we are willing to lay down our lives and humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand (1 Peter 5:6), then we too can experience “the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe,” the same power that was at work in Christ’s exaltation (Ephesians 1:17–21).
God created men in His image (Genesis 1:27) to reveal what He is really like so that He would be worshiped and admired as He deserves. This is what Jesus did to absolute perfection, for “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Hebrews 1:3a). Any form of masculinity that points ultimately to itself, or to absolutely anyone or anything else besides God, is therefore infinitely stunted, perverse, and powerless. A godless man is an oxymoron, for men were made by and for God (Colossians 1:16).
Any strength we show must be God’s strength, not a mere flexing of the flesh; any wisdom we impart must be wisdom from above, not the worldly wisdom of man (1 Peter 4:11; cf. Jeremiah 9:23, 24, James 3:16, 17):
“Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. The person who serves should serve with the strength that God gives. You should do these things so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. Power and glory belong to Him forever and ever. Amen.”
As John the Baptist famously said “He [i.e., Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Or, to put it another way, to “man up” according to God, one must first “man down” (Matthew 10:39, 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24, 17:33; John 12:25).
Fundamentally, a Christian is someone who is like Christ, someone who lives as He lived (Matthew 10:25, 11:29; John 13:15; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6). Since Jesus is the standard for a masculinity that is pleasing and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1), Christian men must be willing to set aside many of the powers and privileges they might otherwise exercise to afford God the opportunity to show that He exists (Hebrews 11:6) and is mighty to save (Isaiah 59:1; Zephaniah 3:17; 1 Corinthians 9).
Forget the hogwash you’ve been fed by the false prophets of peace, power, and prosperity. They are lying to you. The fact is, it is not until God weakens us to the point of breaking, and brings us to a place of utter self-abnegation (Job 42:6; Luke 14:26), that we are poised to experience His power working in and through us in ways that not even the pagans can deny (Matthew 5:16; 2 Corinthians 12:7–10; 1 Peter 2:12). If that’s not your cup of tea, or would put too big of a cramp in your lifestyle, then you are welcome to avail yourself of the exit and find another savior to imitate—though be warned: there is no other (John 6:67, 68; Acts 4:12)!
Those who look to sinful, self-serving men as their guide to manhood will only be disappointed (Jeremiah 17:5): “Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh His strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” This is why we are told to “Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils” for “Of what account is he?” (Isaiah 2:22).
Only the One who came down from heaven (John 6:38) can lift us up from the effeminate impotency of willful self-sufficiency and into the masculine potency of Spirit-empowered humility.
Although no one naturally seeks them, weakness, emptiness, and self-abasement do share in common this great upside: they place us in an ideal position to show “that the surpassingly great power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, for the sake of Your steadfast love and faithfulness!”
—Psalm 115:1
Christ’s perseverance
Christ taught His disciples that “He who perseveres to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22, 24:13), and so it is. But what few of us realize is that Christ Himself modeled this principle better than any of His disciples ever could.
No, Christ was not saved from His sins as we are since, of course, He was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5; etc.). However, when Christ laid down His life for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), crying “It is finished!” (John 19:30), God’s reply was, in effect: “It is enough!” After all that Christ had suffered, God did not permit His body the further indignity of rotting in a sinner’s grave (Acts 13:35; cf. Psalm 16:10). Instead, Christ was laid in a righteous man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; John 19:38–42; Matthew 27:57–61; Mark 15:42–47; Luke 23:50–56), and on the third day God raised Him from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:4).
In doing so, God publicly vindicated Jesus’ apparently senseless and untimely death, powerfully demonstrating, once and for all, that Jesus was in fact the Messiah (Matthew 16:16, 17), the Lord and judge of all (Romans 1:4; Acts 2:24-28,17:31). As it turned out, Christ’s childlike trust in His Father was not misplaced (1 Peter 2:23). And the only reason we know all this for certain is because Jesus endured His sufferings to their God-ordained end.
But what makes the redemption Christ accomplished so incredible is not only the nature of what He suffered, but the amount of opposition He overcame to suffer it to the full (Hebrews 12:3, 4):
“Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
O, but Christ did.
From the moment of His conception,21 all weapons, carnal and spiritual, were aimed squarely at this man—as the saying goes, the flak is always heaviest when you’re over the target. Jesus constantly faced stiff opposition that sought to end His life, or at least His life’s mission, prematurely, and may have done so were it not for the fact that His hour had not yet come (e.g., Matthew 2:13–18; cf. John 7:30). The same individuals who put Jesus on the cross also tempted Him to come down from it (Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:30). The same adversary who incited Jesus’ betrayal in the garden (Matthew 26:47–56; Mark 14:43–50; Luke 22:3, 47–53; John 18:3–11) tried to lure Him down the path of least resistance in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13).
In short, no man was ever tasked with bearing a greater burden, and no man ever bore it in the face of greater temptations to lay it down, than Christ.
Jesus’ temptations occurred at “opportune” times (Luke 4:13), moments of intense personal vulnerability. Unlike Adam, whom God placed in an ideal garden paradise, “the last Adam,” Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:45), was tempted under the most trying of all possible conditions: starvation, scorching heat, isolation, and physical and emotional exhaustion.22 And yet in spite of these most unfavorable circumstances, He never once threw in the towel.
Christ passed His wilderness exam with flying colors, relying on the words of God alone to see Him through (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).
Jesus remained on the cross till death—the very purpose for which He came to earth (John 12:27)—and let the Father prove that He was the Messiah (Acts 17:31) rather than proving it Himself (Mark 15:27-32).
Given the ubiquitous nature of sin (Romans 3:10) and the impossibility of overcoming it in our own strength (Jeremiah 13:23), we might say that what Christ didn’t do during His earthly lifetime was just as impressive as what He did do (John 21:25). Though He was tempted in all the ways that are common to man, amazingly, He never once budged even a nanometer toward sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). On the contrary, Jesus got the better of sin each and every time the two faced off (Romans 5:6, 8:3):
“For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. […] For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh […].”
Sin’s desire is to rule over us, but Jesus conquered it completely (Genesis 4:7; Romans 6).
Not only that, but Jesus resisted temptations to sin even to the uttermost reaches of their persuasive powers. Whereas the effeminate man taps out midway through the first round of his fight against temptation, Christ went the full twelve rounds and won in a decisive knockout (Genesis 3:15). As C.S. Lewis observed in his classic Mere Christianity:23
“Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. […] A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. […] We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means […].”
Because Jesus never once capitulated to sin or sinful men (John 2:24, 25), He exemplifies all that a man can and should be. We sinners, on the other hand, frequently lose our nerve in the face of temptation, overpowered by an enemy that is too strong for us (Psalm 18:17). We have all, in moments of weakness, “yielded our members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness” (Romans 6:13), and in the process, degraded our very humanity (Romans 1:18–32). Since we are steeped in sin from birth (Psalm 51:5, 58:3; Romans 5:12–14; 1 Corinthians 15:22) we can hardly conceive of such a man as Christ, and yet this is the man whom God has destined all believers to be conformed to (Romans 8:29).
This is why Christians so desperately “have need of endurance” (Hebrews 10:36), for without it, we stand no chance of living up to our Savior’s example (Colossians 1:10) in the face of ever-increasing pressures to shut up, given in, and go with the flow (1 Peter 4:3, 4). As Leonard Ravenhill once said, “The greatest temptation of every Christian is ‘Come down from the cross and save yourself.’”24
If you are an aspiring man of God, and yet find yourself crying “uncle” when confronted with even the most benign, beginner-level trials of the Christian life, then no matter how imposing a stature you may reach before men, in the eyes of God you will remain an effeminate midget of a man (1 Samuel 16:7).
This is not because God is some sort condescending bully, but rather because the patient enduring of suffering (2 Timothy 4:5; James 1:2–4, 5:10, 11) is one of the primary means through which He produces Christlike character in us (Romans 5:3–5):
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
If we fail to rejoice in our sufferings, but instead run from them, then I’m afraid it is “no pain, no gain” for us.
If modern, American Christian men are to recover a truly Biblical vision of masculinity, then we must find our way back to the same kind of sacrificial, manful endurance that propelled Christ’s faithfulness to the bitter end (2 Thessalonians 3:5, emphasis mine): “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”
Whereas Jesus’ humility reflected the gentle self-restraint of God (Psalm 18:35; Galatians 5:22, 23), Jesus’ endurance pointed to “the God of endurance” (Romans 15:5). As Christ set His face like flint toward Jerusalem (Isaiah 50:7; Luke 9:51, 13:33), so His followers must exhibit the same settled determination in accomplishing God’s will on their pilgrimages to the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 13:12–14):
“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”
If we are to be Christians worthy of bearing the name—let alone the marks (Galatians 6:17)—of Christ, then we must be willing to suffer long in doing good (Galatians 6:9), just as God is longsuffering toward us for our good (Numbers 14:18; 2 Peter 3:9).
We must also recognize the inseparable relationship between perseverance and humility, or meekness, as described above. As Samuel Meier has pointed out:25
“The patient and hopeful endurance of undesirable circumstances identifies the person as externally vulnerable and weak but inwardly resilient and strong. Meekness does not identify the weak but more precisely the strong who have been placed in a position of weakness where they persevere without giving up.”
In the perilous times we live in (2 Timothy 3:1), the body of Christ needs seasoned saints who are firm in their convictions, unashamed Christians who won’t apologize for their uncompromising stands for righteousness or back down when the enemy blowback comes at them hard and fast. Our faithful forebears didn’t faint at the first sight of blood. Indeed, they even went so far as to refuse release from torture if it meant compromising their eternal standing before God (Hebrews 11:35). If we wimp out as soon as the heat is turned up a few degrees, then we will surely melt under the conditions that are rapidly coming upon the earth (Matthew 24:9–14).
Brothers, men of God, followers of the risen Christ, let us take to heart these stirring words from the Apostle Paul (Acts 20:24):
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Now that is the kind of man whom the king will delight to honor (Esther 6; 2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Christ was faithful, even unto death (Philippians 2:8), and He calls us His followers to be the same (Revelation 2:10). He is with us, even to the very end (Matthew 28:20)—how can we possibly refuse to return such a favor?
A man in full
Christ’s humble perseverance characterized His life as an unassuming servant-leader during His first coming (Matthew 20:25–28). But this was just the opening chapter of the story of Christ’s reign as the newly crowned head of the human race. His death, resurrection, and ascension constituted not only the climax of the first creation, but the commencement of the new creation. Jesus came, but He would also come again, this time with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30) to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27).
Have you not read that “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)?
During His initial, roughly thirty-three-year sojourn on earth, Jesus was indeed “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29; cf. Matthew 21:5, 2 Corinthians 10:1), traits He will continue to exercise in one form or another for all eternity.26 But we must remember that when Christ returns, the lowly lamb will flash His lion-like fangs. His threats of fiery judgment were no mere rattling of the saber (Matthew 13:41, 42), for our king does not bear His sword in vain (Psalm 2:12; Romans 13:4; Revelation 1:16, 19:15).
Recall also that prior to His first coming, Christ was the eternal Word who preexisted with God in glory before the world was (John 1:1–3, 17:5). Jesus is the “Alpha and the Omega […] who is and was and is to come—the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). He created all things and sustains them by His powerful word (Colossians 1:16, 17; Hebrews 1:3).
The reason these truths are so important to keep in mind is that Christians often mistakenly assume that Christ’s first coming reveals all there is to know about Him, that He is only a suffering servant. But this is far from the whole truth. Phase one of Jesus’ earthly ministry was but a brief snapshot of His person and work in time (e.g., John 5:17), a blink of an eye for “the everlasting man,”27 the One who is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).28
It is only by appreciating the past, present, future, and eternal dimensions of Christ’s existence, as well as both His human and divine natures,29 that we can begin to understand “the man” (1 Timothy 2:5) in full, and in so doing, become full-fledged men ourselves.
Jesus’ life and mission are ongoing realities that have distinct phases—in heaven and on earth, in time and in eternity—some of which have already occurred, some which are in progress, and some of which have yet to unfold. By virtue of our union with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17), we share in each of His epoch-defining life events (Philippians 3:10, 11), including His crucifixion (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3), resurrection (Romans 8:11), ascension (Ephesians 2:6), glorification (Romans 8:30), and return to earth in glory (1 Thessalonians 4:17; Jude 1:14, 15).
Yes, you just read that last sentence correctly. Praise the Lord Jesus! Even the poorest of men are kings in Him (James 1:9).
After His bodily, public return (Matthew 24:26, 27; Acts 1:11), Christ will reign as king from His throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years with His resurrected saints (Jeremiah 3:17; Zechariah 14; Matthew 19:28; Revelation 20:1–6). That’s right, as a holy nation of kingly priests (Isaiah 61:6; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6), we as God’s people will one day reign with Christ on earth and even, in Paul’s words, “judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:3), as unbelievable as that may sound.30
If God’s only begotten (John 3:16), beloved Son (Matthew 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22) was prepared for His glorious future through sufferings and sorrows, trials and tribulations, then what makes us think we’ll get off the hook? No, “a disciple is not above his teacher” (Matthew 10:24), and “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Indeed, it is our steady, patient endurance in service to God and neighbor in this life that will determine the nature and extent of our rewards and responsibilities in the next life (2 Timothy 2:11–13):
“The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself.”
By keeping the infinite scope of Christ at the forefront of our minds, we as Christian men can express the fullness of our callings as both servants and leaders (Matthew 20:25–28; John 12:26), slaves and kings (Ephesians 6:6; Revelation 1:5, 6).
Though Christ is utterly unique as the eternal Son of God, Christians are rightly called sons of God by adoption (Galatians 4:4-5; 1 John 3:1). This should radically transform our view of Christ, ourselves, and others (2 Corinthians 5:16): “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer.”
For men who have, by faith, caught a glimpse of the Lord Jesus, high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1; Daniel 7:9; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 4:2), there is simply no going back. They can no longer live as “mere men” (1 Corinthians 3:3). The old life has past away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Christian men: “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). In Him, “the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Fulfill your highest calling as men of God, the “good portion” that will not be taken from you (Luke 10:42): sitting, as it were, at the feet of Christ, seeing His glory, and receiving His transformational words (2 Corinthians 3:18):
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Because of Christ, there is good news, even for the effeminate. If we repent of our effeminacy, look to Christ alone for deliverance, and faithfully follow His perfect lead, then there’s hope He will make men of us yet.
“You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed You forever. Gird Your sword on your side, You mighty One; clothe Yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let Your right hand achieve awesome deeds. Let Your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath Your feet. Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set You above Your companions by anointing You with the oil of joy.”
—Psalm 45:2–7
Getting our house in order
One of the most important roles that men serve in their families is as “head of home.” Likewise, in the household of God, men are also given leadership responsibilities that they neglect to the detriment of the entire family of God (1 Corinthians 12:26; Ephesians 4). In the next installment of the League of Believers, we will discuss positive steps the Church, and in particular its male leaders, can take to remedy its rampant effeminacy. Gird your loins, men, because this next one may sting a bit. However, if we recognize our shortcomings and turn to God for help, we may at last be able to ditch our childish ways and grow up into mature manhood in Christ.
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This is not to say that Jesus is the only faithful model of masculinity that Christian men may look to, as many of Christ’s male followers, past and present, are also worthy of emulation. However, even in such cases, godly male role models must be judged based on their conformity, or lack thereof, to Christ’s example (1 Corinthians 11:1): “Follow my [i.e., Paul’s] example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
The humiliation, or “humbling,” of Christ (Philippians 2:8) refers not only to His scourging, mocking, crucifixion, etc., but to the entirety of His roughly 33 years of incarnate, earthly life as the historical personage Yeshua ha-Nozri (“Joshua/Jesus of Nazareth”). This can be thought of as Jesus’ willing demotion, at the behest of the Father, not from His essential deity, but from His position of honor and privilege in heaven.
Jesus’ state of humiliation ended with His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God the Father in heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9), which commenced His session, or “seating” (Mark 16:19), as judge and ruler of the universe (Matthew 28:18, Acts 10:42, etc.). Together, these events comprise Jesus’ exaltation, or “uplifting,” and can be thought of as Jesus’ promotion, from God the Father, from His position of humble, suffering servant to exalted, triumphant king (Psalm 75:6, 7).
Although God alone is king (1 Timothy 6:15) and shares His glory with no one (Isaiah 42:8), He nevertheless delegates to believers certain royal duties, under His lordship, that are entailed in governing the world (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; 2 Timothy 2:12). Furthermore, those who suffer with Christ in the present are promised glory alongside Him in His coming kingdom (Romans 8:17), albeit a glory that is proper to the saints and glorifies God alone in return (Revelation 4:9–11).
Head of Christ, 1941.
Postmillennialism is the eschatological viewpoint that holds that the entire world and all its institutions will be Christianized prior to the second coming of Christ. Thus, in this understanding, Christ will return after the millennial golden age (hence the term “postmillennial”), which is ushered in gradually by the proclamation of the gospel and Christian hegemony in the realm of civil government. To paraphrase one theologian’s summary of the position, postmillennialists do not believe that Christ returns to save the earth but rather that Christ returns to a saved earth (Kim Riddlebarger, “Eschatology by Ethos,” Modern Reformation).
A Christian Nationalist is someone who holds that Christians should seek to implement Biblical precepts into the laws governing the nation to which they belong, especially through gospel preaching and political involvement. According to The Statement on Christian Nationalism & the Gospel:
“Christian Nationalism is primarily concerned with the righteous rule of civil authorities, not spiritual matters pertaining to salvation. The desire for a Christian nation is not a distraction from the Gospel but rather an effort to faithfully apply all of Scripture to all of life, including the public square.”
Of course, the tired old cliché “he’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good” presents a false dichotomy. Scripture admonishes us to “Set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:31, 1 John 2:17), and those who have taken this command seriously have, historically speaking, been some of the most productive Christians the Church has ever witnessed.
On the contrary, it is often our inordinate preoccupation with each passing fad and news cycle that keeps us from true effectiveness in advancing God’s unchanging kingdom agenda on earth (Matthew 6:10, 33).
A good example of this in scripture would be the charismatic and impeccably coiffed Absalom, pretender to the throne of David (2 Samuel 15:1–6).
Quite literally, since Jesus is “the Word,” or “Logos,” that is, “logic,” of God (John 1:1–18).
That is, co-heirs, with Christ Himself being the primary heir/beneficiary of salvation, since He is God the benefactor’s only begotten Son and salvation was wrought through Him (Romans 8:17).
It is important to acknowledge that self-control is the fruit of the same Spirit who anointed Christ at His baptism (Matthew 3:16, 12:18; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22, 4:18; Acts 10:38; Galatians 5:22, 23). Amazingly, the Holy Spirit is available to believers today so that they too can exhibit these supernatural capabilities (Galatians 5:16, 25).
For the classic treatment of this topic, see On the Incarnation of the Word by Athanasius (c. 296–373 A.D.).
“All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name,” Edward Perronet, 1780.
This is not to say that submission to wicked, tyrannical authorities who punish the good and reward the evil is demanded in every instance either by Christ’s example or Paul’s admonitions in Romans 13:1–7. Such an interpretation of scripture conveniently omits instances where both Jesus (e.g., Matthew 23) and Paul (e.g., Acts 16:37–39) hold religious and/or civil authorities to account for their abuses of power.
As one person with two distinct natures, Jesus is both truly God and truly human. Thus, His human nature, like ours, was, is, and always will be finite. This in no way diminishes the infinite, eternal deity of His divine nature.
Nicene Creed, First Council of Nicaea, 325 (revised by the First Council of Constantinople, 381).
For a good summary of the necessity of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ ministry, see “Why Jesus Needed the Holy Spirit” by Mark Jones, writing for Desiring God.
And indeed, even centuries before Christ’s birth, His genealogical forebears were firmly locked in the battle between “the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman” that God describes at the fall (Genesis 3:15). This enmity expressed itself in various attempts to snuff out the line of the Messiah in hopes of preventing His appearing long before it ever happened (e.g., Exodus 1:22).
Those who work with recovering substance abusers describe the factors that are the most commonly associated with relapse using the HALT acronym: Hunger, Anger, Loneliness, and Tiredness (“HALT: The Dangers of Hunger, Anger, Loneliness, and Tiredness,” Bradford Health Services). If any of these factors is present in a substantial enough degree, then one is far more susceptible to succumbing to temptation.
Remarkably, Christ’s temptations in the wilderness and during His passion contain each and every one of these elements in spades.
For example, in Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, the text notes in understated fashion that “after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry” (Matthew 4:2). Indeed, at that point, it was only the grace of God that kept Jesus from literally dying of starvation. For perspective, without food, a person can typically survive for a few weeks, whereas without food and water, most people live no longer than about four days, one-tenth the length of Jesus’ fast (“How Long Does It Take to Die If You Don’t Eat?” Sruthi M., MedicineNet).
In terms of anger, we know that lack of food, as well as hot, arid conditions, such as those found in a desert, are strongly correlated with irritability. Hot weather is even correlated with increased incidence of violent crimes, social unrest, and other forms of aggression (“Hot under the collar? Heat can make you angry and even aggressive, research finds,” Jen Christensen, CNN).
As for loneliness, although Christ was among the wild animals, and angels did eventually tend to Him (Matthew 4:11; Mark 1:13), with respect to His fellow man, Jesus was quite alone in the wilderness. And later in Gethsemane, on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus prayed in anguish alone while His disciples slept, “exhausted from sorrow” (Luke 22:45; cf. Matthew 26:36–46, Mark 14:32–42, Luke 22:39–46).
And speaking of exhaustion, who wouldn’t be utterly depleted after lacking all sustenance for well over a month or weathering the sleepless agony of the dark night of the soul?
Book III, “Christian Behavior,” chapter 11, “Faith.”
Paraphrased quote from the sermon “Die, Wait, And Get Alone.”
For example, even in Christ’s exaltation, though He is God in essence (John 8:58) and one with the Father (John 10:30), He lives only to exalt the One to whom He freely submits (1 Corinthians 15:27, 28):
“For ‘God has put all things in subjection under His feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that He is excepted who put all things in subjection under Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.”
G.K. Chesterton’s term for Christ in his book The Everlasting Man.
Technically speaking, what we have been describing heretofore regarding Christ in His humiliation is referred to by theologians as the active and passive obedience of Christ. In short, “Jesus’ active obedience is His perfect obedience to God’s law” and “Jesus’ passive obedience is His paying the penalty for our failure to obey God’s law” (“Active and Passive Obedience of Christ,” Barry Cooper, Simply Put, Ligonier Ministries). The moment the Son of God, the second person of the holy Trinity, took on flesh in Mary’s womb (Matthew 1:18; Luke 2:5; John 1:14), He embarked on a human journey that required perfect conformity to God’s commandments (Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 5:8).
Though Jesus Christ is one person, since the incarnation His two natures, divine and human, are inseparable, and therefore must be considered together to better understand the infinite, inexhaustible dimensions of who He is (Ephesians 3:14–19). For more on Christ’s two natures and the relationship between them, see “One Person, Two Natures,” Sinclair Ferguson, Things Unseen, Ligonier Ministries.
And that’s not even to mention the final battle, the great white throne judgment, the end of time, and the eternal kingdom headquartered in the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 20:7–15, 21:1, 2). Jesus will of course be there as well, at the center of it all, in the same body He invited Thomas to touch shortly after the resurrection (John 20:27).