Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 02:1 (Spring 2020)
Article: The President’s Essay: What Does “Act Like Men” Mean In 1 Corinthians 16:13?
Author: Denny R. Burk

Eikon 2.1 (Spring 2020) p. 25

The President’s Essay:
What Does “Act Like Men” Mean In 1 Corinthians 16:13?

Denny Burk

Denny Burk is the President of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

In her new book Recovering from Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, Aimee Byrd takes me and Owen Strachan to task for our understanding of 1 Corinthians 16:13. The verse reads as follows: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (my translation). In particular, she takes umbrage with our interpretation of that little phrase “act like men.” She writes,

“This is certainly an obscure verse to build a teaching on masculinity. . . . This admonition is addressed to both men and women, as in the following verse 15, Paul addresses them as brothers and sisters. ‘Act like men’ does not appear to be a helpful translation.”1

To be clear, neither Strachan nor I are building a theological superstructure on this verse alone. The Bible and nature are shot through with divine revelation on this point. This verse is a piece of the puzzle, but it is not the whole puzzle by a longshot. Nevertheless, Byrd notes that the verse is addressed to both men and women and therefore cannot be saying anything meaningful about manhood per se.2 She concludes, “Christian men and women don’t strive for so-called biblical masculinity or femininity, but Christlikeness.”3

Eikon 2.1 (Spring 2020) p. 26

As others have pointed out, her conclusion is a false dichotomy. In scripture, Christlikeness and masculinity/femininity are not in opposition to one another. They are complements. To pit them against one another is highly misleading. Andy Naselli has a thorough review of Byrd’s book elsewhere in this journal, so I will leave aside a full critique of her argument here. My narrow aim in this essay is to take issue with two claims that Byrd makes about 1 Corinthians 16:13 — first, that “act like men” is a bad translation; and second, that this text has nothing to say about biblical manhood.

The underlying Greek verb (andrizesthei) is rendered variously as “act like men” (ESV, NASB; cf. CSB, KJV) or “be courageous” (NIV, NRSV, NLT). Some interpreters who favor “act like men” understand the text as a call to manhood. Others — like Byrd — dismiss that interpretation by noting that the command is addressed to both men and women.