Qualities of Godly Men
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Proverbs 1:8-9
I keep seeing posts on ‘The Qualities of a Godly Man’… and being disappointed by them. My disappointment takes several forms:
Man, not Woman
My first disappointment is the list often includes things that Godly women, too, should do or be. Now, that might make a good list, but it is a bit of false advertising. When I read a list on what a Godly man is like, I expect to find things that set him apart, not only from the unGodly man, but from the Godly woman. (And the unGodly woman, but that’s kind of extra for experts.)
What kind of thing is both Godly… and manlike? Not just good for everyone, but a good distinction between men and women?
Dress like a Man
And so, for example, the Godly man should dress… like a man. Scripture (see below) does not lump men and women in to one basket when it comes to dress. Even if one can say both to men and women: ‘Men should dress like men, and women like women’… the application is still different.
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Job 38:3
Scripture not Opinion
The second thing that irritated me was how few of these posts, or notes, included Scripture. So for my list I will do my best to include Scripture for each of the points.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
II Timothy 3:16-17
But Not All Men can…
For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
I Corinthians 7:7
My third objection to many of these lists is that they leave out whole swaths of Biblical instruction under the caveat, “Well, not all men can… or not all men are called to…”. First of all, we might differ as to who is called, but more importantly, it doesn’t matter. The blind man may not be called to war… but that doesn’t mean that fighting in war isn’t a manly, indeed a Godly Manly, thing to do.
Godly Husband
The Godly man… should be a Godly husband. Should marry and make love to his wife and have children which he raises in Godliness. As a husband. Which is not a wife.
A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
Psalm 128:1-4
Make love to your Wife
The Godly man should make love to his wife. Frequently. As a man, not as a woman. As a leader, not as a follower. He should rejoice with his wife… the kind of rejoicing that produces children.
How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.
Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!
This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;
And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
Song 7:1-9
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe;
let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;
and be thou ravished always with her love.
Proverbs 5:15-19
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
I Corinthians 7:3-5
Honour to his Wife
The Godly man has a wife, and gives honour to her. Honour as the weaker vessel… understanding her weakness and his role.
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
Proverbs 31:28-31
Godly Father
A Godly man… has children. As many as the Lord gives him. And is a father to them. Not a mother, but a father.
A Song of degrees for Solomon.
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
t is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:1-5
A Song of degrees.
Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.
Psalm 128:1-6
Leads his Home
A Godly man leads his home.
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:14-15
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Ephesians 5:23-28
Provider
The Godly man provides for his house.
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Exodus 21:10
Teacher
The Godly man should always be ready to teach. To teach his wife, to teach his children, and, indeed, to teach anyone who comes to him.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Deuteronomy 6:4-8
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
I Corinthians 14:34-35
Discipline his Children
A Godly man disciplines his children. He is not afraid of the rod.
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
Proverbs 23:13-14
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Proverbs 13:24
Patriarch
A Godly man not only leads his current family, but strives to leave a Godly legacy which passes down through the generations.
And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Genesis 18:17-19
And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.
Jeremiah 35:18-19
Elder/ Deacon/Teacher
The man of God desires to achieve the position that God has for him in His church.
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
Titus 1:6-11
Warrior
The Godly man is a warrior. He may or may not be called to fight physically, but he is ready to do so. And to fight spiritually.
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
II Timothy 2:3-5
Gird up your Loins
The Godly man is always prepared to defend the faith, and preach the gospel. That is not a quality merely of a preacher or missionary, a theologian or pastor. It is a required character of every Godly man.
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
I Peter 3:13-15
The Godly Man
These are by no means all of the qualities of the Godly man. Even after we add in all of the qualities that should be shared by all Godly people, there are probably still a lot missing. But this list is a start, anyway.
The above list contains but a tithe of the Biblical support that these categories have in Scripture. But I am up for additions and corrections :)
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26-28
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The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid
and
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von