“When I say masculine Christianity or masculine ministry or Christianity with a masculine feel,” says Piper, “here’s what I mean: Theology and church and mission are marked by an overarching godly male leadership in the spirit of Christ with an ethos of tender-hearted strength, contrite courage, risk-taking decisiveness, and readiness to sacrifice for the sake of leading and protecting and providing for the community. All of which is possible only through the death and resurrection of Jesus.”
John Piper, Reformed pastor, introducing his idea of “masculine Christianity”
Given the descriptive narrative as well as the prescriptive mandate of Galatians 3:28, for example, I have a hard time understanding why the ministry made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has as its apparent primary characteristic a gender-specific, masculine-favoring call to arms when the “ethos” Piper describes is one so clearly able to be manifested freely among those the Holy Spirit calls solely on the basis of God’s good pleasure — not on the basis of gender, according to the Scriptures.
I fear, then, for any ministry or mission whose appropriation of the power unleashed by Christ’s resurrection is gender specific, because the benefits thereof certainly aren’t and neither are the needs the equipped Church faces. Further, our Enemy is fighting us, metaphorically speaking, with both hands and all he’s got.
It seems tragic and self-defeating to march into battle with half of the troops marginalized, half of the armaments dismantled, half of the battle cry muted, and half of the troops convinced that victory is theirs by obedient reliance on their own masculinity. However, it is, I suppose, somewhat comforting to know that there is a role in this for women.
Because at every point of defeat, the masculinists’ assessment will reveal that it was the women’s abrogation of their proper roles that led to the opposition’s victory, and we will continue to be encouraged to live Godly lives of service to the Gospel while being chided and upbraided whenever we actually do so, and do so apart from the permission of men while responding with open hearts to the Spirit. These men may not welcome us on “their” battlefield, but we’ll remind them in love that we fight not for them, but for the One who equips and calls us.
Victory is assured, however un-masculine it appears in its achievement.