Bible Verses About Manhood, Strength and Rugged Excellence

Welcome, Man!

What is a biblical man? What does he look like? Is he strong, wise or both?

Today I'm going to share with you some scriptures on biblical masculinity that will help you be a better MAN. Being a man is not just about the fact that as a man you can be shirtless at the beach or that you have to shave your beard twice a month. In this life, you will have difficulties but with God by your side, you will overcome them. Let me show you some bible verses about manhood that will help you define and develop a Biblical masculinity. 

You're already a real man based on your genetics and biology, but what you may have to learn is how to use your manliness for God's glory.

Ready?

Here is my top scripture about being a MAN.

Proverbs 20:29.

 29 The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.

The Biblical Man is Both Strong and Wise!

For The Lord Jesus Christ, The Last MAN is the power and wisdom of God according to 1 Corinthians 1:24. We, as men, are patterned after Him as the image and glory of God, according to 1Corinthians 11:7.

Yep, it comes down to Power and Wisdom. If no-one has ever told you the truth about how to be a man, let me share this with you now, brother. 

 This is the essence of being a MAN- having and displaying the Power and Wisdom to do what God has called you to do!

Here are our bible verses about being a man for you to gain strength from then I'll share with you some little known truths about manliness further down the page.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

1 Corinthians 11:8-9

For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.

1 Corinthians 11:14

Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

Galatians 6:1

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Ephesians 6:4

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Men As Protectors In The Bible

2 Samuel 10:11-12

 11And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. 

12 Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth Him good. 

Genesis 2:15

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Deuteronomy 31:7

Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

Biblical Manhood Verses For The Christian Man

“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” JOB 38:3

1 Timothy 3:2

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;

Titus 2:2

that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;

Titus 2:6-8

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

Can't Talk About Men Without Talking About Testosterone, Now, Can We?   

At What Age Do You Become A Man?

The biblical age of manhood seems like it's after you turn 20, according to Numbers 1:1-3, Numbers 14: 26-35, Leviticus 27:4-7 and Exodus 30:14.

Numbers 14:29-31

²⁹ In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

Children according to this text are younger than 20 years of age. 

So if you have a young man near by, share with him some of these scriptures as he's growing into a man. This way, he'll know how to use his strength and wisdom powerfully and righteously for God!

More Interesting, True Manhood Quotes From The Bible

Here's a powerful Scripture on men's strength and how to increase it.

“A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” PROVERBS 24:5-6

James 1:19-20

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James 3:13

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Proverbs 13:22

More Bible Verses On Being A Man

James 3:17

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

1 John 2:13-14

I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one. 

More Scriptures about Manhood

“Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” PROV. 22:29

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Biblical Masculinity Gets Better in Community!

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” PROV. 27:17

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Leviticus 18:22

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. 2Chronicle 15:7

Leviticus 20:13

If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

Romans 1:26-27

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

1 Corinthians 6:9

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites...

One of The Most Powerful Lessons I Learned As A Man

As a man, you have to learn several lessons in life. 

One of these lessons, is the lesson of bravery in the face of difficulty or danger. If Adam, the first man had used this, we would not be in the mess that we are in today, but thanks be to God for the Lord Jesus for He used it even when He was at a point of great sorrow in the lead up to His crucifixion when He said to The Father, "Not My will, but Thine will be done. "

Do you know the quality or virtue I'm talking about? 

It's courage.

In different areas in the Old Testament, men were told that in order to show yourself a man you have to be courageous.

Look at King David's words to his son, Solomon.

1 Kings2:2 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man

You have to look fear in the eyeballs and say I'm not giving an inch. I'm going to do what God commanded me to do!

Courage is How You Display or Execute Your Role In The World

Courage so to speak is the door to a working manhood. It is the proverbial door to exercising your masculinity. 

Let me share with you the definition of courage from the AV1611 Website. 

For far too long men have been seen as irrelevant and unneeded, but this is not true. Both men and women are essential to our societies and each of the two genders plays a different role.

See 1 Corinthians 11:7-12 from BibleHub

So, we need men to step up and be men to fulfill our part. And the key to this is courage. 

Without courage, your masculinity is not shown. Without courage, no one will benefit from your manhood.

The words for strength and courage, chazaq and amets, used in the Hebrew in Scripture to share this quality, denote strength and courage, but connote hardening of the will, or firmness. Just as a man's physically body in the act of intercourse with his wife is hardened, so too in interfacing with this world, the man has to be hardened, or firm, resolute in his will, to show himself a man. 

Likewise, when a man has been working out and hardening his muscles, his testosterone levels rise and increase his strength so that he can show himself to be a man.

Flexing your muscles or hardening them increases your masculine vitality. 

In everyday life this is the case for men as well. When you "flex your muscles" in any area of life you harden yourself as a man to do the work before you. This is what courage is, it is the hardness of the will and it is manly because the "types and shadows" or the biblical witnesses of it go to the core of who you are as man.

This is why effeminacy or softness is a sin - it is antithetical to the hardness of manliness that is necessary to do fulfill the role God has given you.

Look at the Lord Himself in stirring Himself to exercise justice, just as the man is commanded to do in the Book of Micah.

The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man,
he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war:
he shall cry, yea, roar;
he shall prevail against his enemies. - Isaiah 42:13

What was the Lord doing there? He was in effect flexing His muscles! He was strengthening Himself to do work.

Just like God, you have to stir yourself, or flex your muscles, declare it, imagine it in your mind and be full of strength for the work, and then do it. You have to harden your will to show yourself a man!

Men, we have to play the men for our people and be fearless in Jesus' Name as found in 2 Samuel 10:12

We have to know like David that there is a cause and we must live valiantly for God as men. 

Do you see THE MAN in David? You can see it because he was courageous or hardened to do God's will. It's the only way that you show yourself to be a man.

You need courage to share your strength, and you need courage to share your wisdom. And men are to share both as representatives of God in Christ! 

The Nature Of Your Masculinity Is God-given

A man is patterned after God.

We can look specifically at the Word of God to prove this. The Bible says that His word shall not return unto him void, but it shall prosper that for which it was sent. 

It shall accomplish that for which it was sent. 

Men are about accomplishment, fulfilling the mission, fulfilling the purpose. Women tend to be more about relationships and purpose. Men are about relationships too, but fulfilling His purpose, executing his mission, is what the man is primarily about. And the reason for this is because the man, specifically, is the image and glory of God as mentioned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:7.

And so when we look at the image of God, we have to look at the Word of God who is made flesh in Christ Jesus, and in that sense, man who is patterned after the Word will show qualities of the Word that are inherent to his masculinity. 

In other words, God's qualities are the characteristics of biblical manhood as men are the representatives of God in the earth.

The Word Is The Pattern of Biblical Masculinity

Every man looks for the pattern of masculinity in his day to day life to figure out what he should be. The good news is, we know the ultimate pattern. Since the man is the image and glory of God, the WORD is the pattern for masculinity. And I'll show you the qualities that prove this. 

So fundamental to you as a man is accomplishment, and more specifically, fulfilling your purpose. Why? Because the Bible says that the word of God shall not return unto Him void but shall accomplish that for which it was sent

Men are the image and glory of God therefore men were not created to fail. 

We, as men, were created to succeed! But this success only comes as we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil.

If Adam had done this we wouldn't be in the mess we're in today. He wasn't deceived, he just didn't submit to God nor resisted the devil. And in so doing he abdicated his role to tend (build - which God does through us when we submit or humble ourselves (he exalts us) ) and keep (which is protection from the devil when we resist his advances).

If only Adam were more manly, but thanks be to God for the true manliness we see demonstrated in Christ Jesus our Lord who built His Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail (The Lord keeps us) against it.

Let's go on with our deep dive into biblical manliness.

But it shall prosper that for which it was sent...

The scripture is implying by extension to the man that the focus of the man is to accomplish something that is important. 

There is a Scripture that says that God watches over His word to perform it. 

And here in the earth as representatives of God and His Word, we see that there is a matter of diligence when it comes to being a man. 

And in fact, the Scripture says that man's precious possession is his diligence.

Why? Because that diligence is a quality of the Word of God to ensure that it is accomplished; that the will of God is accomplished. 

And so, man is designed towards accomplishment, and he's also geared towards fulfilling His purpose, and in order to fulfill this purpose, he has to watch over his activities. 

He has to be diligent in order to accomplish what God has sent him to accomplish.

Interestingly 1 Corinthians11 says that the head of every man is Christ, again showing that the man answers to Christ as His representative just as Christ was the representative of God doing what He was doing ie. I only do what I see my Father doing. 

Again by extension, the man is the representative of God in the earth, hence the phrase, the image and glory of God.

You Are Patterned after God in Christ

One of the things you realize about Scripture is that there are types and shadows and there are witnesses of different concepts and ideas. And one of the concepts that the apostle Paul brings to our attention is that the man is like Christ, and the man should teach his wife, and love his wife as Christ loves the Church and gave His life for it. This is why women are not to be pastors. 

It should be men, because that teaching position is a position of Christ. For it is Christ in us, The Anointing, that teaches us all things.

Therefore, in the body, Christ is supposed to be the teacher, meaning that the man who represents Christ is supposed to teach the body, the Church. 

Your Desire To Build Your Body and Strength is God-given

So there are types and shadows, but going specifically to the man and his desire to build his body, to build his strengths, we see this in The Lord Jesus Himself, because in the book of Ephesians 4:11, the Bible says that he gave some to be apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists and pastors for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. And what does the Bible say is the purpose of this? So you come to the full measure and stature of Christ, just as men want to fully mature their bodies.

In another instance, the Apostle Paul shares that no man hated his body, but he nourishes and builds it up. Could this be why men tend to eat more pound for pound than women? Want evidence of this- ask a teenaged boy!  Could this be why men are interested in building their bodies and strength? The answer is yes. 

We're patterned after the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

We as men are the image and glory of God.

 This is why men are concerned about how big their muscles are and how strong they are, and how much force they can produce and how much impact they can have. 

It's a God-given quality that should not be curtailed or pushed aside as inferior, but it should be honed and developed for the Glory of God, because it represents Him and His activity in His Body, The Church.  

The Lord said that you should love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, with all of your mind.

Luke 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 

Your whole being is supposed to love God, show him, serve Him or represent Him, in some way. 

 And the man specifically, in his bodybuilding desire, in his strength-building desire is to work out this strength or power quality to represent and show forth God with his body. 

Men are Also Concerned with Truth and Wisdom

The Lord Jesus says about Himself, "I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE, no one comes to the Father except by Me."

Men preoccupy themselves with what the prevailing topic of the day is.  Is it true? Is it false? Can we pull it apart? What are the arguments? This is how men operate! 

The wisdom quality of men is a God given-quality where men are concerned about truth, how things work, how they function and the like!

This is because God is concerned about those things. This is the archetype of the mechanic, the musician, the scientist and the philosopher. In The Bible it was King Solomon. 

You Are To Show Forth The Power and Wisdom of God As Representatives of Christ in the Earth 

Because men are the image and glory of God, these qualities of God are seen inherently in men. These are the same qualities that will be used by God to express the knowledge of His glory throughout the earth as seen in Habbakuk 2:14. 

This is not to say that women do not have a part in this, they do! And that's a part of biblical womanhood.  But there is something special on the man.

Your Strength, Wisdom and Riches as A Man are Meant To Bring Knowledge and Understanding of God to the Earth

A Scripture that comes to mind is a text from the book of Jeremiah. And in the book of Jeremiah, the Scripture says that you are not to boast in your strengths or in your wisdom or in your riches, but rather that you understand and know God. 

Jeremiah 9:23-26

23 Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

      25“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.

Why do you think The Lord said the words I mentioned in bold above? 

Because, in part, it is through these God-given qualities of the man that God wants to be known. The man is to humbly surrender these qualities to God.

He hath shown thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? - Micah 6:8

If you look at the qualities that God attributes to Himself in the Jeremiah text, and the qualities that God instructs the man to use Micah, you will see that they are almost mirror images. 

It's almost to say, use these to represent God because that's why your strength, wisdom and riches were given to you.

To do justly implies physical and spiritual strength. To love mercy implies the wisdom of God, and to walk humbly with your God implies the use of your strength and wisdom, and riches for God.

Why is this so important? Your God-given masculinity is meant to represent God; it's meant to serve Him. 

Your Masculinity Is Given To You To Serve God

As we know from Scripture in Genesis 1 and 2, the man was created for God, and the woman while created for God, was specifically made for the man. Again, there is something special on the man. 

1. Your strength is meant to serve God. 
2. Your wisdom is meant to serve God. 
3. Your riches are meant to serve God, but it's only in knowing and understanding Him, that you're able to align these qualities to represent Him. 

This is the purpose of the man - to represent and serve God using his strength, wisdom and riches both physically and spiritually.

Your strength, power and desire to build your body and muscles are God-given characteristics of being a man and you should hone and develop them. 

Your masculine strength is a part of manhood.

Your wisdom, thinking, desire to dissect arguments and thought processes, and your desire to know how things work and improve their function are God-given manly qualities. These are the characteristics that have been given to you by God Himself. 

Your wisdom is a part of manhood.

Your riches or your ability to turn your strength and wisdom into material substance is also given to you by God. 

And in all of these things, you are to seek understanding of God, recognizing that as a man you have these qualities to represent the King of kings and The Lord of lords. 

This way, boasting that is void of the knowledge and understanding of God doesn't derail you in your exercise of manhood. 

Sinful pride only comes in when you're full of self instead of full of God.

Being a man is good and God is pleased when we exercise our gifts as men faithfully.

See your God-given masculinity as your responsibility and use the qualities of it in strength, wisdom and riches, for the glory of God.