Tyndale’s ad in the September 24, 2022 issue of WORLD for their Every Man’s Bible is one word, ”Fortitude”. ‘Fortitude’ is a manly word. Growing up boys would tease each other about their ‘intestinal fortitude’, AKA ‘guts’, or lack thereof. So with this manly, masculine word ‘fortitude’ they advertise their Every Man’s Bible with a quote of 1 Cor. 16:13.
Great verse, right? 39/62 English translations have the Greek andrizomai correctly translated with ‘men’, 3 more with ‘manly’, 1 with mensch. But Tyndale’s Every Man’s Bible, which is the New Living Translation, whiffs on this one: “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong” it interprets. And you know why: women empowerment.
I don’t remember hearing of this concept prior to 2017. I was watching the Super Bowl at a son’s house. After the first salvo of commercials ran, another son came into the room and asked how the commercials were. The other son replied, “The usual women empowerment stuff.”
Suddenly several things came into focus. Empowering women also meant toxifying masculinity. Was this what was behind the appearance of sweet smelling deodorant for men in the late 1990s? Once upon a time only when passing by a female runner did one get a whiff of something sweet now I often do from young males.
The world is afraid of masculinity. It is the main cause of war, raping the environment, and subjugating women. Fallen masculinity is certainly a problem. The Lord Himself told us it would be. He promises Eve as part of the curse upon womankind “he shall rule over you”. This is made all the more galling by the first part of the curse that she will “desire her man”. Fallen masculinity is a problem, but the feminists don’t have the answer and neither do Christians who think its changing the KJV’s “quit you like men” to the NKJV “be brave, be strong”. Neither is the answer to make a caricature of true masculinity
This is what I see some who are connected to Brother John Steadfast and Higher Things doing. This is essentially the Clash Radio view which is really the Tim Allen 1990’s view found in his “Home Improvement” and reprised twice in the 21st century in “Last Man Standing”. Masculinity is caricaturized as being obsessed with “more power” and possessed by one buffoonery after another.
For example, being crazy about bacon and using exaggerated honorifics to refer to one’s wife: calling her “my queen”. These are things Tim Allen would do or former president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Gerry Kieschnick, did. While attending the Lord’s Supper, even when he celebrated it, Kieschnick made an over-the-top moment of escorting his wife to the communion rail, gallantly helping her kneel, get back up, and escorting her back to her seat.
“Well what is your answer to fallen masculinity’s toxicity?” It’s not smelling like a woman, having a womanish hair cut, wearing feminine styles or colors, or gushing over my wife. Axe deodorant launched in France in 1983, it stormed our shores in 2002. When it did, I poked fun at my sons for smelling ‘frou-frou’. That’s a late 19th century French term says Meriam-Webster for “a rustling especially of a woman’s skirts.”
Men wear ‘skirts’ in law and in liturgy. That’s because what men honor they ‘dress’: Justice, Office of the Ministry, and Femininity. Long robes since patriarchal times have been the mark of royalty, dignity, specialness, and even divinity. It’s no accident that we “dress” the chalice.
Don’t get stuck on eating like a man or exaggerating your feelings, love, or respect for your wife. Calling attention to your masculinity ala Tim Allen in those TV roles is the same mistake as asserting your pastoral authority. The one who does that is sure not to have it.
