A living faith produces masculine piety

Piety is the willing pursuit of our duties toward God and man. A living faith always issues in such piety—for men, this looks like natural masculinity.

Social media is both a magnet and a magnifier for scofflaws. Many of these men are recognized names with important positions and blue check-marks. They are legitimized in the eyes of many Christians, and even (especially?) the world.

And so when they attack gendered piety, it is natural to wonder...are we missing something? They are the ones appointed as experts in the law, after all. They are the ones in the know.

Their rhetoric is expertly calculated to disturb faithful believers, camouflaging their antinomianism in the pious notion of being "gospel-centered." The gospel is central, right? Why the unhealthy focus on sexuality then? That isn't a "gospel issue." To say otherwise is to add to the pure gospel of the Lord Jesus.

This is all gaslighting.

Weak hirelings who accuse strong shepherds of legalism for preaching that a living faith requires men to practice masculine piety—and unruly scolds who accuse gentle wives of legalism for teaching other women that a living faith requires feminine piety—these are about as surprising as…

• Drunkards who accuse the temperate of legalism for saying that a living faith requires sobriety…

• Porn addicts who accuse the pure of legalism for saying that a living faith requires chastity…

• Dole-bludgers who accuse the diligent of legalism for saying that a living faith requires industriousness…

• Floozies who accuse the demure of legalism for saying that a living faith requires modesty…

• Gluttons who accuse the self-controlled of legalism for saying that a living faith requires moderation…

In other words, this is all about as surprising as anyone disobedient who accuses the faithful of legalism for saying that a living faith requires obedience. Fill in your own blanks from Galatians 5:19–21; Romans 13:13–14; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Peter 4:3–7.

A living faith is a faith that works to conform you to the image of God in his Son, the Lord Jesus. It is a faith that issues in obedience, putting to death the flesh, and living in the spirit. A living faith does the good works of Christian piety that God prepared in advance for the men and women who love him (Eph 2:10), and who thus love the duties that reflect his design for them.

What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has not works? Can that faith save him? …You believe that God is one; you do well: the demons also believe, and shudder. But will you know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is fruitless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? You see that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith completed; and the scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith… For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:14–26)

Why do so many Christians—even movers and shakers—hate the idea of gendered piety? Why do they hate the notion that men have unique duties to God as men, and women likewise as women?

The answer is not difficult to discern. 1 Peter 4:4 hints toward it:

In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you…

If you have injured yourself doing something stupid, and somebody pokes the wound, you strike back in anger and defensiveness. This is true of the soul as well as of the body.

Thus, if you are chafing against the many well-read, historically grounded pastors who are increasingly concerned about the feminization of Christianity—if you think their concern is a product of ego and temperament—we will grant that you could be right. It is possible that we are all insecure macho-men.

But you, in turn, then need to grant the reverse: It is also possible that the reason you aren't concerned about the feminization of the church—the reason you feel contempt for natural masculine piety and want to condemn it as works-righteousness—is that you're an effeminate dumpling. Your own ego and temperament could be the problem. You might not be living your faith. Your faith might not even be living.