Jesus Was the ONLY Perfect Man

Throughout this series, A Much-Needed Conversation About Masculinity, I’ve been exploring some fundamental questions: What does it mean to be a man today? and How does a man use his masculinity properly? In this post, I describe how accepting God’s grace is the first step toward becoming more like His Son, Jesus Christ, our role model for manhood.

A Brief Recap

I began by looking at masculinity itself in A Proper Vision for Masculinity and Manhood, arguing that masculine traits aren’t inherently bad. The challenge is learning how to develop and direct those traits in healthy and constructive ways.

I then explored the differences between masculinity, manliness, and manhood in From Masculinity to Manhood: Now What?, while asking what it means to move from immature boyhood toward mature manhood.

In What Does It Mean to Be a (Godly) Man?, we considered the difference between being a good man and a godly man.

And in Godly Men Learn to Follow Jesus and The Model for Manhood: Jesus, we identified Jesus Christ as the ultimate model for Christian manhood.

But that raises an obvious question: Why model my life after Jesus?

Jesus Was the ONLY Perfect Man

The answer begins with something no other man in history can claim.

Jesus lived a completely sinless human life.

He experienced hunger, exhaustion, grief, temptation, rejection, suffering, and even death. He experienced the realities of being human. Yet through all of it, He did not sin.

Hebrews 4:15 tells us: “He has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

Jesus was fully human, but He was also fully God. His life was characterized by perfect obedience to God the Father.

The apostle Peter wrote: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:22)

And Jesus Himself explained His purpose: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”m (John 6:38)

Jesus didn’t simply talk about godly manhood. He lived it perfectly.

Living Like Christ

That’s why Christian men look to Jesus—not because we believe we can become perfect like Him, but because He shows us what perfect obedience, character, love, courage, humility, strength, and sacrifice look like.

We simply can’t get there. Jesus already did.

Accepting God’s Grace

This is where understanding God’s grace becomes so important. Grace is God’s undeserved love and favor toward us. Grace is something we earn by becoming good enough, and we won’t lose God’s love every time we fail.

As imperfect men, we will make mistakes, fall short, and sometimes make choices we regret. As I explained in my last post. we are all sinful human beings.

God’s grace means our failures don’t have to define us.

Through Christ, we are offered forgiveness, restoration, and another opportunity to grow. Grace doesn’t give us permission to remain unchanged; it gives us the freedom to grow in Christian maturity and the strength to keep becoming the men God calls us to be.

And perhaps that’s precisely the point.

We don’t follow Jesus expecting to become Him. We follow Him because His life gives us a model worth pursuing—and His grace gives us hope every time we fall short.

The goal isn’t to become the perfect man.

The Goal is to Become Like Jesus

The goal is to become a better man—not a perfect man but a more mature, responsible, courageous, compassionate, humble, and Christlike man.

So the question isn’t: “Can I become a perfect man?”

The next question is: “How can I become more like the man Jesus calls me to be?”

My point is that becoming more Christlike is a journey that none of us will complete perfectly. But we can learn more about the traits Jesus modeled for us, which I will describe in upcoming posts.

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