Since the latest Desiring God conference which took place last week, the blogosphere has exploded in a war over gender roles. In my humble opinion, I think the discussion that followed over the internet has been quite narrow and therefore, misses the point so, here are a few observations I would like to make.

1. Gender matters. If it didn’t, God would have created us all genderless. He could have, but he didn’t. It’s an act of worship when one seeks to live out of God’s original intent. Masculinity (or femininity for this matter) should be sought after in Scripture just as godliness.

2. Objectivity is important. To me it feels that Christians that tend to blur the gender lines, do so most out of a genuine desire to reframe Christianity for those that have been hurt by it, and that’s understandable, but you cannot do this at the expense of Scriptural truth. On the other hand, those that tend to over emphasize it, are doing so as a genuine desire to reframe Christianity for Christians that have been infected by our culture’s broken gender expressions. Equally understandable though, it’s undeniable that they do come across as sexists.

3. Stop defining “masculinity” in terms of habits. There are plenty of masculine guys that don’t drink alcohol, don’t hunt, don’t watch fighting sports, don’t drive pick up trucks, that are not married and, that do not have sex. The Bible is filled with examples of what I’m talking about. Besides, that’s what religion does best, isn’t it? Here’s a warning: to be overly practical in this matter may lead to legalism, moralism and, the oppression of women and “dudes”  that do not necessarily conform to the current social-religious cultural norm.

4. Masculinity is best defined in terms of essence. In other words: It’s not what I do in order to be… but, what I am in relation to what I was created to be. “Servant-leadership” envelops the best concept of what lies at the essence of masculinity. These two words together are redemptive to each of the extremes in us, in history and, in cultures. Here’s why: Each of us has a natural bent towards either “servanthood” or “leadership”. This is due to sin and because this is true, we cannot keep a perfect balance so, servanthood turns into cowardliness and leadership turns into forms of dictatorships. I feel that both camps (currently arguing) are erring on one of the extremes and that’s why things sound a little off when each speak. I suggest we look more intently  to Jesus — who is a male-God to this day (sorry, can’t disprove this) and whom has restored the servant-leadership balance that God had established in Adam since the begging. At the core of masculinity, there lies the gospel in its perfect boldness and humility.