The Cure For Toxic Masculinity – Part 3: A Life-Giving Spirit
By Tierce Green
Toxic masculinity is a systemic problem that requires a holistic solution. It’s a disease, and the cure is more complex than legal compliance or even behavior modification. Men (and women) need a transformation—a heart change—and only God can change the human heart.
A popular opinion is that people are inherently good. And while there is corruption and evil in the world, it’s because some people have made bad choices that are just covering up their inner goodness. But the Bible flips it around and says that mankind is inherently sinful. And while there is good in the world, it’s just covering up a fundamental and fatal flaw with our heart.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
The implication is that our heart problem is terminal. It’s beyond cure, meaning we can’t fix it ourselves. We can’t self-correct. The manifestations of our human condition range from relatively minor infractions to extreme destructive behaviors. Passing new legislation and tightening up HR policies are only bandaids.
The cure for toxic masculinity requires an understanding that manhood became twisted and corrupt in the beginning when the first man rebelled against God and his intended purpose. Romans 5:12 tells us, “Sin entered the world through one man [Adam in the Garden], and death through sin. In this way death came to all people, because all have sinned.”
Remember, we can’t fix this, but God can. Romans 5:15 says, “If the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
God’s grace changes us from the inside out. In Ezekiel 36:26 God himself says this: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” God promises to perform a spiritual heart transplant when we respond to his grace.
This is more than just rebranding and slapping a Christian label over the problem. Sadly, there have been plenty of cases of toxic masculinity wearing the Christian label in the church leaving many people jaded and cynical. God’s grace addresses the root of the problem, but we still live and contend in a broken world. But the way the church responds to brokenness should be different—to not excuse it, or spin it, or try and cover it up. God’s grace compels us to accept responsibility and respond with humility.
The Bible compares conventional manhood (really all of humanity) to what it calls the life-giving spirit of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 explains, “The first man Adam became a living being [merely human]; the last Adam [Jesus], a life-giving spirit … The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven … Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
The DNA of toxic masculinity comes from the first man, Adam. He was merely human, a man of dust. That’s how some guys excuse their behavior: “I’m only human. Nobody’s perfect. Boys will be boys.” But the blessings of authentic manhood flow from the life-giving spirit of Jesus.
If we have truly experienced the grace of God we are compelled to ask, “Is what I am doing or about to do life-giving or life robbing? Am I encouraging or demeaning? Am I living in the shadow of the First Adam or the light of Jesus? Am I a life-giving spirit?” The Bible promises us that even though we have “borne the image of the man of dust” that because of God’s grace, “we shall bear the image of the man of heaven”—the life-giving spirit of Jesus.
The cure for toxic masculinity begins when we truly respond to God’s grace through faith in Jesus.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; Behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
Part 3 of 3. Adapted from 33 The Series, Volume 1: A Man and His Design. Learn more at authenticmanhoodinitiative.com