This was a really great book. Nice and short, really straight forward, and a whole lot of scripture on every page. It stays true to its title, putting biblical passages and references on every point. It draws straight from the bible.
Stinson and Dumas do a great job offering practical, usable advice on biblical manhood. It’s a book that’s needed today. Clocking in at 109 pages, no man has any excuse not to read it.
“…three essential characteristics biblical manhood: leadership, provision, and protection.” (p.7)
“In the first chapters of Genesis, we see that Adam is given the authority and responsibility to lead.” (p.9)
“Genesis 2:15 ‘The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (p.9) This work and keep idea is explored more in Richard D. Phillips’ The Masculine Mandate, another great book on biblical manhood.
“Everything is on loan from the Lord: your money, your home, your career, your wife, your children, and your physical abilities. The Lord give and he takes away. We set our affections on things above—not on things of this Earth (Col. 3:1-2). (p.23) If you don’t believe this, read Job. God graciously gives and can brutally take away anything He’s given you.
“The man who is cultivating biblical masculinity will not allow things like term papers, taxes, or project deadlines to rule him. He will exercise dominion over them by doing them in a timely manner. So do your work now rather than later.” (p.29) Procrastination is a killer. Social media, TV and video games zaps so many men’s time. It’s sad. Stop putting things off. Man up and get stuff done.
“Don’t depart from the truth. Don’t put a question mark where God has put a period. Flee all known sources of temptation. Make no provisions for the flesh. Recognize your vulnerabilities to sexual temptation.” (p.33) Every man thinks he can “handle it.” You can’t. Put safeguards in place to prevent even approaching compromising opportunities to sin with your eyes.
“God hates mediocrity. (Rev. 3:16)” (p.50) This reminds me of those personality quizzes where you have to choose between Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Neutral, Somewhat Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. These tests are sometimes taken for job applications. Someone once told me that on these tests, you should always choose Strongly Agree, or Strongly Disagree, nothing in between. This makes sense to me. Things can always ultimately be boiled down to black or white answers.
“If you have a title in a local church, but don’t have God-empowered character, thick skin, tenacity and humility, you’re not going to have the strength to do your noble task.” (p.51) As an “staff” intern with my church, this hits home for me. I can honestly say I’m pursuing ministry, not looking for a title, but work to do. I’m not even sure what title I’d be looking for. I don’t want to be a pastor. I just want to have Gospel conversations with unbelievers.
“As the leader in your marriage, you should, in fact, be the first to repent and the first to forgive.” (p.60)
“Don’t allow long-term unforgiveness or long periods of awkwardness.” (p.61) Awkwardness is a good way to put. It’s obvious when things are “awkward” with your wife. Don’t let that happen.
“When you’re eager to get back into a book you’ve been reading but see that your wife is troubled, you lay your life down to stop and help her process whatever is weighing her down.” (p.64)
“Husbands and wives living out their proper roles together not only impact the marriage but also impact how children understand their own gender identity.” (p.85) This ought to trigger some intersectional fools.
“We have modeled most of our men’s ministries after our women’s ministries—get the men together, read a book together, hold hands, and pray together and talk about the worst sin that you ever did—and that ain’t happening. Men solve problems. They fix stuff. They get stuff done.” (p.105-106) I hear this a lot from men who grew up in church. But personally, this has not been my experience with men in the church. I’ve always gone to churches that have valued the differences between men and women and the ministry efforts for each.
This is a must-read for Christian men. It’s current and relevant. I highly recommend it.
Solomon White 
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