The Four Pillars: Are they in Sacred Scripture? A review and Critique of Chapter 3

The Four Pillars: Are they in Sacred Scripture?

A review and Critique of Chapter 3

Stu Weber in his book “Four Pillars of a Man’s Heart” makes the bold claim that these four pillars, King, Warrior, Mentor, and Friend, “..appear both in Sacred Scripture and in the secular history of man..” There is no question that such four archetypes of masculinity are taught by secularism. This is evidenced by the works of Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette that Weber references in his book. The question that we must ask ourselves is whether or not these archetypes, or pillars as Weber refers to them, “appear in Sacred Scripture.” Let us be clear as to what Weber means. Weber brings these four pillars into view with reference to the image of God. “To the degree the pillars are balanced, God’s image is clear, and the man and those around him flourish. To the degree they are abased and abused, the image is distorted, the man withers, and those around him experience imbalance, insecurity, and pain.” Ch. 3, p.49

These four pillars are called four fundamentals and likened to the four points on a compass saying that “God has equipped every man with an internal gyroscope which gives his life purpose, direction, balance, and impact. Providing that it is calibrated to the “Truth North” of God’s Word, a man may consult his internal compass for direction at any point in any situation on any given day.” Ch. 3, p50

We are then exhorted to orientate every situation by this metaphorical compass, “Does this particular situation confronting me right now require the King, the Warrior, the Mentor, or the Friend?

The exhortation continues that tell the reader that if their four pillars are balanced, the dreams of every man, woman, son, daughter, marriage, and family will be upheld. If the four pillars lean or are out of balance, we are told to ‘look out!’ that there will be havoc and pain. We are also told that these pillars stood strong long ago (once upon a time) in the heart of our mutual father, Adam, the original, “the first four-pillared man.”

Weber continues to tell that the four pillars did not evolve, but were created by God. Weber believes and teaches that these four pillars of masculinity were created by God and are echoed in secular psychology. For his grounds in this belief he turns to Genesis 2:7-8; 15-18, 22; and 3:9. In these citations he quotes in the book and italicizes for his emphasis the words “the man.” For this next part of the summary, I will recount Weber’s principles he draws from the text. Afterwards, I will examine his principles in light of the Scriptures themselves.

Principle #1. God created the man first. Citing 1 Tim 2:8-15 he notes the order of creation that the man was formed first, then the woman to establish a unique leadership role “in God’s economy for the masculine gender.” We are then told that there were many communications that took place between God and the man but we do not know how many or what the content of them were. We are told we cannot escape the fact that this communication took place and that specific responsibilities were at the center of those conversations.

Principle #2. God created the garden of Eden and directed man to cultivate it and keep prior to making the woman. Weber goes on to say that before the woman was made when Adam was still alone, that he was given charge over the garden to cultivate and keep it. Weber believes here is where God made man a king. “In this charge, I believe, God was saying to the man, “There is something of a king inside your chest. I have placed it there I have made you a leader and a provider.” Here Weber says is the King Pillar.

Principle #3. God gave man instructions regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, again, prior to making the woman. Weber sees this as God given man a stewardship concerning information about the very nature of life itself. God intended man to be a steward not just of the Garden, but of this information as well. Weber also believes by implication that man’s stewardship was to pass along the information to others and to teach them. Here Weber says is the Mentor Pillar.

Principle #4. Weber teaches that when God said that the man “shall surely die” that God was warning the man of danger and that the man should be alert, on guard, and watch. Here Weber says is the Warrior Pillar.

Principle #5. Here Weber states that from the beginning God clearly states that “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Weber believes that in the Genesis context this meant Adam’s wife, but is applicable as a life sweeping statement. “There is a Friend in every man’s chest.” Weber here says is the Friend Pillar.

Principle #6. Under this principle Weber teaches that after sin had “destroyed the peace of the realm” that “God came looking for the man.” He notes that while it was the woman who first sinned, God came looking for the man. Weber states that “Adam had failed his Lord, his wife, and himself. He had failed to steward his masculinity.” And, “God was demanding to know just what Adam had done with his masculine stewardship.” Following the four pillars, Weber goes on to pose the questions that God was basically saying to Adam, “Where was the King in you? Where was the Warrior in you? Where was the Mentor in you? Where was the Friend in you?”

Weber also teaches here that Adam was held accountable in a way the woman was not. Weber starts that “The entire human race suffers because the head of the race fell short.” He cites Romans 5:12,15,18; 1 Corinthians 15:22 as biblical support. Form this point, Weber makes the following point: “There are serious and humbling implications here for every man. "Don’t miss this principle, my friend: The entire family suffers when the head of the family falls short.”

The rest of the exhortations here put the ills of society, the family, et. on the shoulders of fallen masculinity and the recovery on heels of manliness. “And the whole family rises to a level of health, fulfillment, and happiness when the King-Warrior-Mentor-Friend is doing his job and living out God’s intentions for his masculine soul. When ‘the man’ is at home, doing his job, living out the four pillars of his masculinity, and wrapping his arms around God’s intentions for him, everyone wins.”

This summarizes chapter 3 and I believe represents what Stu Weber is trying to teach. The question now to answer is if these teachings and principles that Weber has presented are biblical and true to Holy Scripture. First, it must be demonstrated that the four pillars actually appear in Scripture. Second, it must be demonstrated that the four pillars are what is meant by the image of God.

Critique

First, do the four pillars actually appear in Scripture? Weber contended that the four pillars were created by God when He made man and reckons them to be a part of the image of God upon the man. The Scriptures cited and quoted in his book are Genesis 2:7-8; 15-18, 22; and 3:9.

 Weber begins in Genesis 2 which is a more detailed description of the creation accounted in Genesis 1. The foundation for the biblical teaching that man is created in image of God is Genesis 1:26-28, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, ever the birds of the air, and over the every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Note. 1. God’s image applies to both the man and the woman. They are both in the image of God. There is nothing in this text to suggest the four pillars are what God’s image is. Ecclesiastes 7:29 sheds light upon this subject, “Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” This most certainly does not mean that man simply was created to be able to walk physically upright, but rather in character in righteousness and holiness. The light of Ephesians 4:24 can be brought regarding the new creation of man in Christ Jesus, our second Adam, “And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

For the man to be in the image of God is the same as the woman being in the image of God. To then limit this to man alone and bring in the masculine archetypes/pillars and put that forth as the image of God is to eisigetically read the psychology into the Word of God. If Weber wants the first man, Adam, to be a four-pillared man, then to point our compasses by the truth north of Scripture a woman must also be a four-pillared man for both are created in God’s image. Upon this point Weber falls short of the teaching of Holy Scripture in order to maintain his masculine psychology.

Note 2. The creation account in Genesis 2 must not be put forth or used to teach contrary to Genesis 1. Genesis 2 is a more detailed account of what is written in Genesis 1. In Genesis 1 both the man and the woman are created in God’s image, given dominion over all creation, and spoken to. Therefore Weber’s principle #2 does not stand up to the light of Holy Scripture that the man alone was given dominion first. Therefore if Weber’s King Pillar is to be maintained, it cannot be maintained for the man only, but also for the woman.

Note 3. Weber references 1 Tim 2:8-15 to make the point that a man’s unique authority is based on the order of creation. While this is mentioned in 1 Timothy it is not the actual teaching of this passage. The passage is instructing Timothy how the saints of God ought to conduct themselves in the public assembly. To keep a woman from teaching or having authority over a man was because she was deceived by the serpent, the devil. This teaching and order within the Church assembly recognizes the schemes of the devil in how he tempted both to sin against God. While there is an authority order within the church post-fall, the authority and dominion over the whole creation in the state of mankind’s innocence was to both the man and the woman. Some light can be taken from 1 Peter 3:7 which says, “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Note 4. Weber believes that the man was to be a steward of information. In Genesis 3:3 we read of the woman saying, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” This clearly shows that Eve also knew the information and was accountable for it before God.

Note 5. There is nothing in text of Scripture to suggest that God’s warning to the man and woman concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to make them warriors or just the man a warrior. This is purely reading into the text the prior idea of the psychology of Moore and Gillette.

Note 6. In no place in the text of Scripture or otherwise does it say that God created for man a woman because he wished to establish a “Friend” pillar in the man. Rather, God established the institution of marriage and blessed the man with a woman that they might be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Note 7. Weber makes a point to say that God came looking for the man. In verse 8 of Genesis 3 it is written, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Weber supposes by this question that God is asking about these pillars. Yet this seems only plausible if one begins with the four pillars in mind. If we simply stick with Scripture, we read on.. “So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” v.10-11

Here God is not asking the man if he has dropped the pillars of his masculinity. Here is God confronting him with his sin. It is sin to disobey God and now the shame of his nakedness is exposed. Disobedience is the error. He is no longer covered in the righteousness that had him in the image of God. “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Rev. 3:18

In verse 7 of Genesis 3 Adam and Eve tried to cover their own nakedness with fig leaves they sewed together. God both exposed their sin and did not accept their own deeds as a covering for their sin. In verse 20-21 we read, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Here the Lord covered the shame of their nakedness by His hand signifying the covering by the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, which would be by faith.

Note 8. Weber uses Romans 5:12,15,18; 1 Corinthians 15:22 to teach the following idea: “Don’t miss this principle, my friend: The entire family suffers when the head of the family falls short.”

In one of my previous critiques of this book on chapter 1 I noted that Weber seems to skirt around the doctrine of federal headship but seems to never quite land there. Here he restates the error in supposing that federal headship applies to each family and that each and every man represents federally his own household. The doctrine taught in Romans 5 is one I consider to be a “high doctrine” and one of the more difficult teachings of the Apostle Paul. Yet, it is clearly shown that through one man’s disobedience judgment came upon the entire human race. In verse 12 referenced by Weber it reads, “Therefore, just as though one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—“ The doctrine here is that all sinned in Adam. In verse 14 Adam is called a type of Him who was to come. So, as death reigned through the first Adam, so life reigns through the Second. Just as surely as we all have died in Adam, so just as certainly all who are in Christ Jesus will live. By one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. That is, the Man Jesus Christ. There is no principle here taught as Weber supposes. For Weber’s statement to be true to Scripture, he would have to be speaking about Jesus when he says “The entire family suffers when the head of the family falls short.” The family I am in is the one who has God as our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Head. He is the Head of my family and He never has and shall never fall short.

In close I will quote again Mr. Weber and make a few final comments:

“And the whole family rises to a level of health, fulfillment, and happiness when the King-Warrior-Mentor-Friend is doing his job and living out God’s intentions for his masculine soul. When ‘the man’ is at home, doing his job, living out the four pillars of his masculinity, and wrapping his arms around God’s intentions for him, everyone wins.” –Stu Weber

I testify to everyone reading my words that the Head of my family is Jesus Christ. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3: 14-21