The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men
Written by Richard D. Phillips Reviewed By Daniel KirkRichard D. Phillips’s very readable and instructive book is published by the Reformation Press, part of R. C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries. Phillips is a Presbyterian pastor now based in Grenville, South Carolina. He has an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary and an MBA. His book reflects both his pastoral experience and his academic studies, with the latter lightly applied. He previously served as a military officer and is married to Sharon, with whom he has five children.
Many Christian books on masculinity rehash concepts that are popular in secular writing such as those in Robert Bly’s Iron John, imposing them on Scripture often with ingenious results. Phillips, however, brings out themes from within the biblical narratives and ably applies the Christian doctrines of creation, fall, and redemption to men and masculinity today.
Indeed, he rightly takes issue with the central contention of one of these Bly adaptations, Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, that the ‘core of a man’s heart is undomesticated.’ He observes that even if Adam was created in the wildness outside the garden, he was placed by God inside it, so that ‘his life would be shaped not by self-centred identity quests but by covenantal bonds and blessings’ (p. 7). He believes that the answer to nearly ‘every question about God’s intentions for men and women … is: go back to the garden’ (p. 4).
From Gen 2:15, Phillips identifies two key concepts for masculinity upon which he bases the whole book. Avad (work) is ‘labour(ing) to make things grow,’ which he discusses throughout the book in terms of ‘nurturing, cultivating, tending, building up, guiding and ruling.’ Shamar (keep) is ‘protect(ing) and sustain(ing) progress already achieved,’ which he develops in terms of ‘guarding, keeping safe, watching over, caring for, and maintaining’ (p. 8).
These concepts of work and protection undergird the masculine mandate of servant-leadership which is explored in man’s sacred calling to work as a human created in the image of God, designed to lead as a Shepherd-Lord (chs. 3–5). Phillips explores this masculine mandate in marriage (chs. 6–8), parenting (chs. 9–10), and friendships and church involvement (chs. 11–12) before a concluding chapter on men as servants of God.
Chapter 7, ‘Marriage Cursed and Redeemed,’ is particularly excellent in linking the curses of Gen 3 to the redemption found in Jesus, the promised seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). Phillips shows clearly that the curses seen as a result of man and woman’s first rebellion push the woman in an unwholesome way towards her husband while pulling the man away from his wife. The poisonous consequences resulting from this distortion of God’s original purpose for men and women find their antidote only in Christ. God is saying in effect that ‘you can’t enjoy marriage without returning your heart to me’ (p. 74).
Phillips applies the Reformation doctrine of grace to the marital relationship, showing that it is only as a Christian man is ‘forgiven and sanctified by God in Christ’ that he can ‘have compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience toward his wife (Colossians 3:12)’ (p. 76). The practical outworkings of this ‘new man’ are clearly developed from the Eph 5 passage with one quote from an unnamed friend of the author standing out:
I used to think that if a man came into my house to attack my wife, I would certainly stand up to him. But then I came to realize that the man who enters my house and assaults my wife every day is me, through my anger, my harsh words, my complaints, and my indifference. As a Christian, I came to realize that the man I needed to kill in order to protect my wife is myself as a sinner. (p. 87)
‘Working and keeping’ in a man’s relationship with his children was developed in the areas of discipleshipand discipline. The former was more novel, stressing (à la Tedd Tripp) the importance of fathers not demanding external conformity of behaviour but seeking to win their children’s hearts by giving them theirs (Prov 23:26). With illustrative extracts of his father’s letters to him from the Vietnam War, he suggests that a godly father plants good things in the hearts of his children by praying, working, playing and reading with them (p. 99).
This book falls firmly into the ‘complementarian’ camp, which might grate those who support an egalitarian position, but his biblical insights will challenge and inspire men from either theological fold. Although Phillips has a military background, he does not come across as ‘macho’ or ‘patriarchal’ in the way that ‘complementarians’ are sometimes accused of doing. Finishing off a study of masculinity looking at Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a role model for men is thought-provoking.
One criticism that can be leveled against this stimulating read is his presupposition that miracles and prophecy belong only to the apostolic age (p. 166n16), which might raise the hackles of charismatic readers and many NT scholars.
The Masculine Mandate is aimed at the man in the pew rather than the undergraduate religious studies or theology student, but its many insights into biblical masculinity will be useful for students, pastors, and preachers alike. It will give any man, whether single or married, much on which to reflect, and will challenge him to examine whether he is really living his masculinity in the light of Scripture and the character of Christ.
Daniel Kirk
Daniel Kirk
Church Mission Society
Valparaíso, Chile
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