What Is Biblical Manhood?

What does Scripture tell us about what it means to be a man? 

The first man had no culture to inform his masculinity and no clothes to distinguish his masculinity—just simply a Creator who designed him to be a man.

Man Is One Essential Portion of God’s Reflected Glory

When God created people, he made them in his image (Genesis 1:27). But God made a unique, wise, and loving choice to diversify his image bearers. He didn’t just make humans. He made two distinct kinds of humans—male and female–in order to fully reflect his image.

Were these two kinds of people identical, there would be no reason for God to explicitly distinguish them: “Male and female he created them.” Scripture then describes the different ways God formed them (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 2:22). Thus, a man, though a person, is something altogether different from woman, though both are created in the very image of God. 

What Makes a Man a Man?

So, we wonder, what makes a man a man and not a woman?

Let’s return to creation. God made man and woman, and they were naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:24). By pure observation, male and female anatomy differ, and complement one another to create life. Naked as he was at the first, we learn that man, compared to the woman is strong, designed for hard work. Generally speaking, his frame is larger; his body built a bit tougher.

It is no wonder that God commissions the man to work the ground and keep or “guard” it. In this blessing, God made man responsible over his creation, endowing him with authority.

As the rest of the Bible unfolds, we find that...