The Handbook for Manhood
In our current day and age, understanding what defines a man is becoming more confusing. In our westernized culture the Bible always guided our morals and values. The idea of what makes a man was rooted in Scripture. There really wasn’t any hesitancy towards this. Men were more secure and had a direction for their life. Even if they weren’t spiritually a Christian, they were inundated with Biblical principles all around them that influenced their day-to-day life. And I want to argue that the Bible is the ultimate handbook for defining what masculinity is. In a time where there is a litany of voices on this topic, the Scriptures hold the key to all of the correct answers that most men are seeking.
As time continued on, our freedoms in the west allowed man to think for themselves. Producing writings that were freely disseminated without any pushback. Man began to ditch the idea of God and elevated themselves to a “god” status. The Enlightenment era in the 17th and 19th centuries are a result of these freedoms and began the trajectory towards a majority secular, agnostic and apathetic culture.
Fast forward to the twentieth-century, advances in medicine allowed for women to have access to abortion and contraceptives, which introduced the sexual revolution. No longer did men have to marry first and settle down, they could live a life of promiscuity without the consequences. No longer did man have to take upon themselves the higher calling of responsibility that God had bestowed upon man from the beginning of time.
You couple all of this with the paradigm shift around men not leading their families well (in large part due to all of the distractions around us) and you get the lost and confused men that you see today. No longer do men equip their sons and daughters.
In the west we lack a proper initiation tradition that teaches boys to become men. Other parts of the world, especially the developing countries, still maintain many of these traditions. I had a professor who was from Kenya and was a part of the Maasai tribe. He talked about how the initiation from boys to young men involved a circumcision ceremony and later when they were older they would learn how to hunt down lions. Even more important than having these momentous events was that it was an intentional process that started from a young age and lasted a boy’s entire adolescence. The community was involved and led the boys to manhood. They did not do this alone. The process also bestowed upon them a sense of purpose and meaning within their community.1
Though the Maasai tribe are not necessarily Christian, they and other people from parts of the world do hold similar values to what is represented in the Bible that we’re losing here in the west. Therefore, we must make a return to the Bible as our foundation for manhood. We must reform.
The Bible is chalked full of wisdom for manhood and how a man should be. In the Old Testament, there are a number of godly men that could be used as case studies for this. Abraham and his faith in God, David and his love for God, but I want to focus on King Josiah. You could argue that before there was a Luther, a Calvin or a Zwingli, there was King Josiah, the original reformer. He came from a lineage of corrupt kings and was thrown into this leadership role at the age of eight. Before Josiah, Judah was in a spiritual decline.
King Josiah started his reform by rebuilding the temple so that Judah could go back to the worship of God. In the process they found the Book of the Law, more specifically the Book of Deuteronomy. This led Josiah to “tear his clothes” because he was so appalled at how far Judah and Israel had strayed away (2 Kings 22:11). The Word of God gripped his heart and he was compelled to restore Judah to a state of righteousness. Josiah removed all of the idolatry scattered throughout Judah, he stopped people from sacrificing their children to Molech and removed the “mediums and necromancers” from Judah and he did this to “establish the words of the law that were written in the book [of the law]” (2 Kings 23:24). He even reestablished the passover after it had not been observed “since the days of the judges” (2 Kings 23:22). King Josiah, by the Holy Spirit and the Word of the Lord, completely changed the culture in which he had lived. It reminded him of who he was in the sight of God and how he was supposed to be as a man as it pertains to God’s Word.
We also see this example of what biblical manhood is from the greatest example of them all, Jesus. We see Jesus flip over tables because the people there had defiled the temple and were manipulating the commands of God in order to increase their wealth. He goes headfirst into a situation with a demon possessed man, a man described as, “no one [who] could bind him anymore, not even with a chain” (Mark 5:3). Without fear, Jesus approaches him and heals him. But this is also the same Jesus that calls the little children to come to Him so that He can bless them (Mark 10:13-16). The same Jesus that wept (John 11:35). Jesus perfectly exemplifies the bravery and courage of a man, but also the tenderness and gentle heart that is required of a man. In a world where we are forced to pick brave and courageous or gentle and lowly, Jesus shows us that we don’t have to choose, we should have both. This takes effort and self-control, and a lot of reliance on the Holy Spirit to do this work in us.
From a secular perspective, you could go in circles trying to define what masculinity is, because there is no foundational truth besides what the Bible has to say. Therefore, seek the Bible and its truths. Study the great men of the Bible and seek wisdom in the Proverbs. Listen to God speak to you through the Gospels and learn the ways of Jesus. See how He is the greatest man to have ever lived on earth. It is through the Bible that we begin to reform from the heart. Where we begin to learn what a man is and how God made man to be. Seek the Scriptures and find peace in your understanding of how God created you as a man.
1. Schwendemann, N., & Inganga, B. (2025, April 28). A new generation of Maasai warriors is born in Kenya. AP News.
