Rise and Lead: The Call to Biblical Manhood
Reclaiming God’s Design for Men in a Culture of Counterfeits
SIGNAL CAPTURE
The word manhood is under siege.
In one corner, hyper-aggressive caricatures of “alpha” masculinity—peddled by influencers like Andrew Tate—push dominance without service and swagger without sacrifice. This chauvinism, dressed up as strength, assumes all men lord over all women—an arrangement closer to cultural distortions than the gospel.
In the other, cultural movements like fourth-wave feminism frame masculinity as a defect, flattening male and female into interchangeable parts and erasing distinctions in the name of equality.
One crowns the self as king. The other denies kings exist. Both are counterfeits. Both produce weakness.
In the middle lies a forgotten truth: biblical manhood.
For some, that phrase triggers visions of authoritarian husbands, voiceless wives, and a red-cloaked Handmaid’s Tale patriarchy—women reduced to Stepford-Wife compliance, a baptized form of “toxic masculinity.” But that’s not what Scripture paints. Biblical manhood is more demanding and more beautiful than culture’s offerings. It is not the right to rule; it is the responsibility to serve. It binds strength to sacrifice, authority to love, and leadership to humility. It begins with holiness, not volume. And when lived out, it produces men who are more loving, more engaged, and less abusive than any other group in America.
CORE PROTOCOLS
“Be the strongest person at your father’s funeral.”
—Jordan Peterson
I love this line from Jordan Peterson on responsibility and resilience. It’s not a call to suppress grief; it’s a summons to be reliable when life caves in. Be the pillar others can lean on. Face the abyss—death, loss, disorder—without collapsing into it. Carry yourself with enough discipline that you don’t make the worst day worse. In his framing, it’s also a generational handoff: in the moment when the older generation is breaking, someone younger has to shoulder the weight and steady the room.
I’m wired pretty stoic. That doesn’t mean emotionless; it means strength under pressure. Peterson’s line names the thing I believe a man should be: not a performance for other men, not a brittle tough-guy act, but the person who can absorb chaos so others can grieve, heal, and breathe. Reliability over theatrics. Presence over panic. Personal responsibility that keeps the people you love from carrying what they can’t.
That is the heartbeat of biblical manhood.
It isn’t about dominance or getting your way. It isn’t about volume or veneer. It’s about bearing the weight so others don’t have to—which is exactly the shape of Christlike leadership we see in Scripture.
Our world has lost this vision. Half the culture says manhood is about how much you can take—power, money, pleasure. The other half says manhood is irrelevant and that the world would be better if men stopped acting like men at all. Both are counterfeits. Both fail.
The Bible offers a better way: men and women are equals in worth, distinct in calling, designed for each other’s flourishing. Before Paul addresses husbands and wives, he sets the tone: “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). That mutual submission frames the daily posture of a Christian home, where both ask, How can I lay down my wants to bless you?
From Eden’s garden to Paul’s letter to Ephesus, God charges men with responsibility before Him for the physical, spiritual, and relational well-being of those in their care. This is not a license for tyranny; it is a summons to sacrifice. As Josh Howerton says:
“Headship is not the right to rule. It’s the responsibility to serve.”
The first man failed at this. Adam did not fall because he was overbearing; he fell because he was passive. Eve was deceived, but God came looking for Adam: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). The call landed on him, not because Eve was less responsible for her sin, but because Adam was tasked to stand between danger and his home—and he didn’t.
That pattern persists. In Ephesians 5:25, Paul does not tell husbands to “make sure they’re in charge.” He says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This is cross-shaped love—bleed-first leadership that steps into risk to shield your people from harm, whether physical, financial, spiritual, or cultural.
Song of Solomon adds color: a man who pursues with honor, builds his wife’s confidence with his words, and delights in intimacy as a God-given gift—never a bargaining chip, never a weapon. Our age falls into two ditches. One turns sex into a god—pornified, performative, detached from covenant. The other treats sex as suspect—awkward, guilt-laced, never spoken of with joy. Scripture refuses both. Within marriage, sex is holy and happy (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7). It is not ultimate and it is not unclean. It is a covenant gift to be stewarded with purity and enjoyed with delight.
And in 1 Peter 3:7, Peter delivers a sobering challenge: “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way… so that your prayers will not be hindered.” Mistreat your wife, and heaven stops listening. That is how seriously God takes your role.
01) Equal in Value, Distinct in Role
From Genesis 1–2, men and women are equal in worth, dignity, and image-bearing. Both are charged to steward creation. Yet Scripture affirms they are not equivalent in function.
Pre-Fall: Eve was created as Adam’s ezer kenegdo—a “necessary ally,” a term also used for God as rescuer and strength.
Post-Fall: Sin warped God’s design—men dominated or abdicated instead of served (Genesis 3:16).
This is complementarianism: equals in worth, distinct in calling, each essential to the other’s flourishing. No one can look at this model and call it abusive or domineering. It is the opposite—cross-shaped love that serves first.
02) Headship Is Responsibility, Not Privilege
Ephesians 5:21–25 sets the frame: mutual submission out of reverence for Christ, followed by a husband’s call to love “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” If you’re pulling rank often, you’re doing it wrong. Biblical headship means:
Singular responsibility: the husband is accountable before God for the family’s direction.
Plural leadership: husband and wife lead as co-laborers.
Servant authority: power exercised for others’ good, never self-interest.
Christ used His authority to wash feet, not collect favors. Authority in the kingdom is a towel, not a throne.
03) Song of Solomon: Strength and Tenderness
The Song of Songs celebrates marriage and intimacy without shame—romance, pursuit, delight, even imagery so vivid ancient rabbis cautioned young men to read it only after maturity. It models a man who:
pursues with honor,
speaks life over his bride,
treats intimacy as a covenant gift, neither an idol nor a source of shame.
That it’s called the “best” song Solomon wrote—and it’s about marriage—tells us this: covenant love is worth poetry.
04) Rejecting the Extremes
Chauvinism: dominance, exploitation, self-glory. This is not Christian headship; it is sin dressed as strength. Biblical headship isn’t a blanket “all men over all women” hierarchy; it is a husband’s call to serve his household. If you’re pulling rank often, you’re already off the rails.
Fourth-wave erasure: denying meaningful distinctions between men and women, sometimes swinging into female superiority. This collapses Scripture’s design of equal value and distinct function (Genesis 1–2).
Biblical alternative: a man’s strength is for service, not subjugation; a woman’s partnership amplifies, not diminishes, his leadership. The daily posture is mutual submission: How can I bless you?
05) Data Doesn’t Lie
Nancy Pearcey’s The Toxic War on Masculinity shows that men who attend church regularly (3+ times/month) are:
more loving to their wives,
more engaged with their children,
less likely to divorce,
least likely to commit domestic violence.
The problem isn’t too much biblical manhood; it’s too little. When you go against the grain of the universe, you always get splinters.
Our culture does this by telling men to live for themselves or abandon their role entirely. The result? Splinters: fractured homes, absent fathers, and generations unsure what a man is for. The Bible’s answer is unflinching: Stand. Lead. Bear the weight. Be the strongest in chaos, the first to take the hit, the last to abandon the fight. That’s biblical manhood.
TACTICAL DEPLOYMENT
These six truths are the non-negotiables of biblical manhood—timeless, God-given pillars that hold up a man’s life, home, and legacy.
1) Strength Is for Service, Not Status
A man’s strength—physical, mental, spiritual—is a tool, not a throne. Jesus, with ultimate authority, “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). If your strength only benefits you, it is selfishness, not strength. True manhood asks: Who is stronger, safer, or able to rest because I carry the load?
Toolbox: Lead with “Let’s.” “Let’s pray.” “Let’s serve.” A man who leads with “let’s” turns intentions into action and sets the tone for the home. Start with godliness—read Scripture daily, pray daily, live like it.
The measure of a man’s strength is not how much he can lift, but how much he can bear for others.
2) Authority Is for Blessing, Not Control
Biblical headship does not give a man the right to dictate; it gives him the responsibility to bless. Ephesians 5’s cross-shaped love leads to nurture, not to crushing control. If your authority silences, you are in Adam’s shadow (Genesis 3:16). If it builds, you are imaging Christ.
Toolbox: Honor her. Study your wife. Learn what speaks life to her. Lead with strength that feels like safety and tenderness that feels like honor.
Authority in the kingdom is a towel, not a throne.
3) Responsibility Cannot Be Delegated Away
God called Adam’s name first (Genesis 3:9) because his role was to protect and guide. You can share leadership, but not responsibility—whether it is spiritual direction, the budget, or your home’s moral culture. Own it.
Toolbox: Guard the gates. Song of Solomon 2:15 warns of “little foxes” that spoil the vineyard. Be alert to compromises—unchecked entertainment, unfiltered devices, fading prayer—that weaken your home.
You can delegate tasks, but you can’t delegate responsibility.
4) Tenderness and Strength Are Not Opposites
The man in Song of Solomon could fight lions and still speak poetry to his bride. He builds her confidence and cherishes intimacy as a sacred gift. Real strength makes gentleness safe.
Toolbox: Be the lead repenter. Strength apologizes first. Tenderness says, “I was wrong,” before anyone else bridges the gap.
Strength that cannot be tender is not strength—it’s insecurity.
5) Passivity Is as Dangerous as Tyranny
Adam’s sin was silence. The same passivity kills homes today—men let YouTube disciple their kids, marriages coast into apathy, and faith drifts because “it’s not my place.” Biblical manhood steps in before it is comfortable.
Toolbox: Pray with her, not just for her. Ask what she needs prayer for, then use her words before God—out loud.
If you won’t lead, something else will.
6) Your Walk with God Sets the Ceiling for Your Home
1 Peter 3:7 is stark: mistreat your wife and your prayers are hindered. Your private walk with God—healthy, disciplined, real—sets the ceiling for your home’s flourishing. You cannot lead where you have not gone.
Toolbox: Know her deeply. Study her fears, joys, and dreams. Live with her “in an understanding way” to align with God’s design for her flourishing.
A man who won’t kneel before God can’t stand for his family.
Application to Every Audience
For Women: Know biblical manhood so you can recognize it and avoid counterfeits. A good man’s leadership feels like safety, not suffocation.
For Skeptics: Religion has been misused to prop up abuse. That is sin, not Scripture. Biblical manhood produces love, honor, and protection. The data supports it.
For Young Men: Train now. Build discipline, prayer, and responsibility before the weight comes.
For Young Women: Seek a man who fears God more than he fears losing you. Weak men make weak homes.
FINAL TRANSMISSION
Culture sells counterfeits. Some buy dominance without sacrifice. Others buy role-erasure in the name of equality. Both leave splinters.
Biblical manhood crowns Christ as King and calls men to take up a cross, not a throne. It produces homes where women flourish, children are secure, and the next generation sees strength under authority.
God’s design and commands are for our good. Homes flourish when men embrace responsibility, not control; when women are honored as equal image-bearers; and when both pursue mutual submission under Christ.
If you’re a man—rise and lead.
If you’re a woman—pray for and champion men to live this way.
If you’re a skeptic—judge this by Christ’s life, not counterfeits.
This is the call. Reclaim it. Live it. Pass it on.
[FIN/ACK]
Transmission Complete
Process Accordingly
—Protocol One
If this piece helped you rewire your thinking, strengthen your faith, or navigate tough relationships, consider buying me a coffee.
Your support keeps these transformation tools sharp, practical, and freely available.
☕ Support the work: buymeacoffee.com/protocolone