Quit You…Like Men?

When I was growing up the King James Version was all I had and 1 Corinthians 16:13 really confused me. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” Sadly, the only sermon I remember ever hearing about it was during a Bible Conference and the preacher said “I never could quite figure out how to quit like a man, so I keep going.”

It would have been helpful for me to have read from other translations, as seen below but I didn’t start doing that until I got older.

Also, a good commentary helps too.

The following comes from Barnes Notes:

Quit you like men (ἀνδρίζεσθε, from ἀνήρ, a man). The word occurs no where else in the New Testament. In the LXX. it occurs in Josh. 1:6, 7, 9, 18; 1 Chron. 28:20; 2 Chron. 32:7; Nah. 2:1; and in eighteen other places. See Trommius’ Concordance. It occurs also in the classic authors; see Xen. Oec. v. 4. It means, to render one manly or brave; to show one’s-self a man; that is, not to be a coward, or timid, or alarmed at enemies, but to be bold and brave. We have a similar phrase in common use: “Be a man,” or “Show yourself a man;” that is, be not mean, or be not cowardly.
Barnes, A. (1884–1885). Notes on the New Testament: I Corinthians (R. Frew, Ed.; p. 332). Blackie & Son.

My confusion in reading from the King’s English isn’t my fault, nor the fault of the translators. The confusion comes from the fact that the KJV was written in an English that nobody uses anymore. When the translators used the phrase “…quit you like men…” that generation of men and women knew exactly what that meant. But I don’t. I’m just a common “plow boy” and I would imagine most of the people in this generation are like me and don’t know what that phrase means either.

Oxford English Dictionary has an entry to prove it, which I have highlighted:

That entry highlighted is the usage from the text and according to Oxford is archaic, meaning “old-fashioned language, not in ordinary use today, though sometimes used to give a deliberately old-fashioned effect and also encountered in the literature of the past.”

There are plenty of these examples in the KJV. Yes, it’s a great translation. But, it’s not written in the language of the common man. There is a principle set forth in Scripture that applies here.

“For if the trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? So also you, unless you utter by the tongue a word that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of sounds in the world, and none is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the sound, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me. So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:8–12, LSB)

For most of my life, passages like 1 Corinthians 16:13 were locked away in an unknown tongue, a language that made sense to my forefathers but not to me. Truly, without good translation, there can be no edification.

“Unless you utter by the tongue a word that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken?” Consider the principle of 1 Corinthians 14. Then go get yourself a copy of God’s Word in your language if you don’t have one already and “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” I guarantee you won’t regret it.