The Godly Man's Picture - Part 1

Biblical manhood encompasses many things. For example, we often say a family man’s primary responsibilities come down to three fundamental tasks: lead, provide, protect. However, in our discussions about headship and leadership and all the other biblical implications for manhood, sometimes our sanctification is not discussed. Enter Thomas Watson, the great Puritan divine. Watson (1620-1686) is one of my favorite dead pastor/theologians. His writing and preaching lived and breathed with lively verbs and unforgettable word pictures. Many of his works remain in print, including a wonderful exposition of the Shorter Catechism titled A Body of Divinity .

Another book compellingly called The Godly Man’s Picture Drawn With a Scripture Pencil (Banner of Truth), was first published in 1666 and does precisely what the title suggests: it shows what a godly man (or person, as the truths apply to both men and women) should look like. His comments in the preface on the necessity of godliness for every Christian man are memorable:

The soul being so previous, and salvation so glorious, it is the highest point of prudence to make preparations for another world. It is beyond all dispute that there is an inheritance in light, and it is most strenuously asserted in Holy Scripture that there must be a fitness and suitability for it (Col 1:12)…Policy without piety is profound madness. Godliness is a spiritual queen, and whoever marries her is sure of a large dowry with her. Godliness has the promise of the present life and of that which is to come. ( 1 Tim 4:8)

Today and tomorrow, I want to remind myself and other men of the solemn task to which God has called us in leading our homes and churches. But I also want to remind us, via Watson, of what we must be first. Watson argues, in 24 attributes (in the interest of brevity, I’ll do six today and split the other 18 over the next couple of days), that a godly man is:

1. A man of knowledge. He knows God in Christ and is being transformed into the image of Christ by this knowledge. Possession of such knowledge must make him humble: “True knowledge brings a man out of love with himself. The more he knows, the more he blushes at his own ignorance,” writes Watson.
2. A man moved by faith. His trust in God is a living principle. “He who believes that God is his God, and that all providences work for his good, patiently yields himself to the will of God.”
3. A man fired with love. “A godly man loves God, though he is reduced to straits.”
4. A man like God. “Holiness is a man’s glory…The goodness of a Christian lies in his holiness, as the goodness of air lies in its clarity, the worth of gold in its purity.”
5. A man careful about the worship of God. “A godly man dare not vary from the pattern God has shown him in Scripture.”
6. A man who serves God, not men. Here, Watson uses servant as a synonym for “fear.”“A godly man leaves the service of sin and betakes himself to the service of God.”