Muscular Masculinity

The recent kerfuffles have brought to the fore in my mind one of the issues that is pressing firmly against the church today – what is Christian masculinity? On one hand, we have Andrew Tate masculinity – muscular and bold, but also selfish and shallow. On the other hand, we have the old and tired mantra of effeminate American Christendom – “it’s just what’s on the inside that matters.” One, masculinity rendered brutish – the other, masculinity rendered benign.

Christian manhood is neither of these two options.

Christianity is an embodied and incarnate religion; the things that we believe are supposed to manifest in our actions; our spirit is supposed to bear fruit in our flesh. But this has to happen without the flesh ruling over the spirit (1 Cor. 9:27).

While the fruits of the Spirit are not the same thing as masculine traits- after all, women can bear the fruits of the Spirit too- we must nevertheless understand that Christian masculinity is not possible without those fruits which should characterize all Christians.

To be sure, you can have masculinity without Christ, but it is in much the same way that you can have a car without a steering wheel- it’s useless, dangerous, and somebody is gonna get hurt. Masculinity without Christ is a lot of power without any purpose.

Masculinity in its true and virtuous form is summed up in Christ- the Christ Who wept at the death of a friend (John 11:35), Who came not to be served, but to serve (Matt. 20:28), Who gave His life for His bride (Eph. 5), Who brutally and fearlessly excoriated the Pharisees (Matt. 12:34), Who braided a whip into cords and single-handedly emptied the temple court (John 2:15), and Who reigns with total authority (Matt. 28:18-20).

Here are eight points for an understanding of masculinity that is both muscular and mature.

First, please bear with me in a little bit of foolishness (2 Cor. 11:1). Before I continue talking, allow me to put my muscle where my mouth is. Yesterday as part of my workout, I banged out a set of 20 pull-ups followed by 12 1-arm pushups. My current max standard push-up set is 50 (take that, Pete Hegseth). I’ve done all three Spartan races, Sprint, Super, and Beast, was a fitness buff for my teen years, and now as a father of five I work full time doing intense manual labor in the Arizona desert. If I had to guess, I could give 95% of the folks reading this a workout that would leave them nauseated today and sore tomorrow.

Now on to my points:

1. Thank you for bearing with my foolishness. Yet it is not foolish for men to respect – and expect – physical strength from their leaders. And so, while I have no delusions that I am going to impress the scoffers – who will find plenty to criticize no matter what I do – I would like to discredit the objections of the Physiognomy Bros.

One of the reasons that the church is so divided on the issue of masculinity is that we cannot get past the tribal binary of either the jocks or the theology nerds. The jocks create a scoffing legalism that insults and dismisses any men who do not feel at home in the gym; the theology nerds respond by saying that masculine character is a heart issue, completely missing the obvious reality that the glory of young men is their strength. This glory is a good thing, and one which should be cultivated. Especially in an effeminate and feminist culture, masculine glory is magnetic, especially to young men (and to good women).

This is why I began my discussion of the theology of masculinity with a bit of street cred. The fact that some Christians will say that this is immature is actually part of the problem. There is nothing immature about young men wanting to see strength in their leaders. That’s actually just rudimentary natural masculinity. Those who are seeking to temper the zeal of ferocious young dumbbells will be able to do so more credibly if they do so without abandoning actual masculine distinctives like strength, command presence, physical courage, and, yes, even the capacity for violence. See Jesus and the whip episode.

2. The immaturity comes in when we lose our perspective – when our priorities get out of whack – when we forget that bodily discipline is a little profitable, and Godliness is a lot profitable (1 Tim. 4:8). While the Bible assumes and extols the glories of masculine strength, much like it does feminine beauty, the Bible spends much more time focusing on heart-level issues then it does on gym-related ones (1 Sam. 16:7).

As already mentioned, those heart level realities should manifest in the hands – and the biceps – but it is far too easy to invert the priorities. So while we can and should talk about distinctly masculine virtues, including the physical ones, if 90% of our conversation is about how much protein we eat for breakfast then we need to get out of the gym and into the Word (Ps. 1).

3. It is not necessary to be in shape to be correct. One of the besetting immaturities of the Christian masculinist community is to treat non-giga-chad-kings as if they are not worthy of respect. And I grant you that there is a respect that must be earned; this is part of manhood. There are those guys that walk into the room and a hush falls over the crowd, and it is silly to pretend that we should feel the same towards every man. That is a leftist, egalitarian way of flattening everything, not a Christian one.

However, there is also an honor that is due to all men (1 Pet. 2:17). If you are debating someone, then interact with their ideas and arguments. If you resort to calling them fat or weak or gay, this says more about your inability to be coherent than it does about their ability to deadlift a small motorcycle.

4. This is especially true when it comes to the way we address our elders. Scripture is clear that the glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their gray hair (Pr. 20:29). The clear implication is that the old men do not have the strength that they once did – but they should be honored for something else instead. The right response would not be to make fat jokes about them. Their gray hair is worthy of even more honor than your six pack (Ecc. 9:16).

So when Christian red-pillers go after James White or Doug Wilson because they are old and fat, forgetting that they were once young and fit, and that they are now old and wise, they put themselves in the category of some young folks who wound up in a wrestling match with a bear (2 Kings 2:23). And I don’t care how much you can bench, you’re not in the same weight class as a grizzly.

When we emphasize youth and strength and forget to honor age and wisdom, the result is civil war – see Rehoboam and his youth ministry (1 Kings 12:11), and also see Christian Twitter over the last six months.

5. There is a real danger of the bronze age masculinity cult that was recently discussed on apology radio with Andrew Sandlin. Anything can become an idol, especially something as endorphin-heavy as being super buff. There is more to life than steak and barbells, and the sooner young men realize that, the better. Eventually, every young man will either become old and weak, or they will die young, in which case their fitness did little for their survival. Wise young men will calibrate their priorities in light of this fact (Ecc. 7:2).

6. Physical strength is an essential quality of masculinity and should be modeled and practiced by Christian men. There is a real need for Christian pastors to be leading in this area. This does not give young men the right to be disrespectful of their elders (1 Pet. 5:5), but it should serve as a spur to older men to set a good example for younger men. We need pastors with the self-discipline to model masculine strength and virtue in body as well as wisdom in mind- indeed, the latter should produce the former.

In that vein, it would be completely appropriate for Christian conferences to include these topics, in properly proportioned amounts. Maybe an early morning workout session for the men in attendance. I nominate Apologia and the upcoming RefCon. Pastor Ninja could lead it up! (Or I would be happy to do so if a volunteer is needed.)

7. Christian men should be strong because strong men make life hard for bad guys (Pr. 24:10, 25:26); because strong men are formidable protectors of their people (Neh. 4:14); because strong men are better equipped to provide for their households (1 Tim. 5:8), not to mention to be able to invest in future generations; because we should be good stewards of the bodies God has given us; because strong masculinity is inherently glorious and thus reflects God’s glory, much like beautiful femininity does (Pr. 20:29); because we are not Gnostics who believe that the body and soul are disconnected (we worship an incarnate Lord, after all), so when Scripture tells us to “be strong” we should apply this in all the ways (1 Cor. 16:13).

8. We can acknowledge the glory of masculine strength without creating a legalistic Chad-stick by which all men are to be measured. There are nerds and there are jocks and there are gearheads and that’s the way God made it (Eph. 4).

Everybody wants to be an alpha male, but that really ruins the pack.

An attitude of high-school cliquery has no place in the body of Christ. It’s immature. It’s gross. If you can deadlift all the pounds in the world, and you have not love, your new PR is worthless. Better to be a kindhearted nerd (1 Cor. 13).

Some men will love hitting the gym, and other men will never touch a dumbbell, and they can both be firmly and truly Christian men. We can acknowledge this while also recognizing that the latter is deficient in a real area of glory. And we can acknowledge that while also realizing that he may well have other areas of glory to compensate, and we have no right to judge, mock, or despise one another (Rom. 14:4).

Every Christian man must apply Biblical principles of self-discipline and stewardship in his own life, and he must do it to please God, not the Twitter mob. Gluttony and laziness are sinful. Failure to deadlift 500 pounds is not.

It really is possible to be wise warriors- ferocious servants- kingly and kind. Jesus did it, brothers, and so should we.