What is meant in the Bible by a man of God? Many Christians, particularly in African and Asian cultures, still use this phrase as a title of respect.The designation is simple yet incredibly profound. A man of God is not his own; he is a consecrated person, one who has parted with all his rights to surrender his life wholly for God’s purposes.In the Hebrew Bible, “man of God” (ish-Elohim, or ish ha’Elohim) is a title applied to beloved leaders and prophets some 77 times in 71 verses concerning 12 individuals. This includes Moses; the angel of the Lord who appeared to Samson’s mother; Samuel; David; Shemaiah (chief prophet in Judah during the reign of Rehoboam); the man from Judah who cried out against King Jeroboam of Israel and the altar (rabbis identify him as Iddo the Seer); Elijah; the man who prophesied to King Ahab that Israel could defeat the Arameans (1 Kings 20:28; rabbinical commentaries identify him as the prophet Micah); Elisha; Hanan, son of Igdaliah (Jeremiah 35:4), a prophet or holy man having an office in the Temple; and the man who warned Judah’s King Amaziah not to go to war (2 Chronicles 25:7, 9; rabbis identify him as Amoz, father of the prophet Isaiah).In the New Testament, the expression “man of God” is used only twice. As an educated Hebraic thinker, the Apostle Paul called his protégé Timothy a “man of God,” thus including Timothy in a rich Bible tradition.Who qualifies today as an Ish Elohim? What separates the men from the boys? The man or woman of God has a strong attachment to God, to say the least, and from time to time God shares his secrets with these trustworthy persons and gives them assignments.“Should I hide my plan from Abraham?” God asked in Genesis 18:17. Although the Scriptures do not refer to Abraham as a man of God, he was a quintessential man of God because he was God’s friend: Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend (James 2:23). The man or woman who, through friendship with God, has insights into the secrets of His heart therefore suffers loneliness among human companions.God’s man and God’s woman, while having acquaintances and admirers (and also detractors), cannot be bosom buddies with everybody, for most people simply cannot appreciate the revelations of a man or woman of God.In the New Testament, Paul’s letters to Timothy unveil some, but not all, of the characteristics of a man or woman of God.“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (1 Timothy 6:10- 11).When instructing Timothy, Paul observed that a man of God must not lust for material things and must avoid the taint of greed and covetousness. Rather, his pursuits should be after God’s calling and direction, personal holiness and right standing with God and with man, as well as ever-increasing faith, love for the brethren, and personal growth in patience, humility and meekness.A great example of a man of God concerning finances was Rees Howells, the Welsh coal miner who lived a life of intercession for the Church and for the Jewish people, and who founded the Bible College of Wales (as outlined in Norman Grubb’s book The Intercessor). Howells handled growing amounts of finances, but he had learned early in the school of the Holy Spirit how to account for every penny before God.The second New Testament description of a man of God concerns his relationship with the Scriptures: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God... That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Concerning his approach to the Scriptures, a man or woman of God will have an unshakable confidence in their inerrant authority.In the 16th century a great man of God, William Tyndale, translated considerable parts of the Bible into English directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, but his exploits were a direct challenge to the hegemony of both the Roman Catholic and English churches. Tyndale was tried for heresy and burned at the stake in 1536. His dying prayer was, “Open the eyes of the king of England”! The 54 scholars who compiled the authorized King James Version of the Bible exactly 400 years ago, in 1611, drew significantly on Tyndale’s translations.Although the Bible does not style any female as a “woman of God,” there are a number of prophetesses, including the matriarchs in the Torah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah; and in the New Testament, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Anna who fasted and prayed in the Temple.Some additional characteristics of a man of God: • He shuns sexual sins and affairs of the heart. A man or woman of God is hallmarked by righteous behavior and sets the example that there are sins to shun at all cost. He/she flees from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18) and youthful lusts (2 Timothy 2:22).• He is God’s voice against secularism, anti-Semitism, apathy and sin in society.• He is often rejected on the home front. “A prophet is honored except in his town and among his family“ (Matthew 13:57). Even among most believers, the man or woman of God is an alien. In Man – The Dwelling Place of God, A.W. Tozer states: “The man who has passed on into the divine... searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none... It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.”• He is not immune from deception and the need to pray thoroughly about his actions and decisions. When leaders fall from grace, it is a tragedy that can have exponential consequences.In 1 Kings 13, a man of God from Judah had definite marching orders to prophesy against the pagan altar at Bethel. He was forbidden by God to dine and have fellowship with darkness in Bethel, to demonstrate God’s hatred of idolatry and apostasy. So far, the man of God had resisted the invitations and gifts of King Jeroboam, and had begun his return by a different road, according to divine instructions.But after the man of God departed, he was sidetracked, deceived and ruined by the intervention of an old prophet. Bethel’s old prophet heard of the man of God’s exploits and hurried after him, inviting him home to dine. When the man of God appealed to his marching orders, the old prophet answered deceitfully, making up a story that an angel had instructed him to bring the man of God home for refreshments.The man of God from Judah was doomed because of his disobedience, and he was killed by a lion on the road. Yet as signs and wonders, the lion and the man’s donkey both stood sentinel by his body. God took special care of his corpse, because the Ish Elohim’s grave would become a monument to his prophecies.Indeed, in 2 Kings 23:17, King Josiah, after fulfilling the man of God’s prophecies, asks: “What is that monument over there?” And the people of the town replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted the very things that you have just done to the altar at Bethel!” Christine Darg is an author and broadcaster who can be contacted at www.exploits.tv or Christine@jerusalem.com.
