The Measure of a Man: Twenty Attributes of a Godly Man is by Gene A. Getz. The revised edition came out from Revell in November 2016, with a foreword by J. Paul Nyquist. It has sold more than a million copies across its editions.
Getz is pastor emeritus of Chase Oaks Church in Plano, Texas, and directs the Center for Church Renewal. He has written more than sixty books and taught at Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary.
Where the twenty attributes come from
This is what separates the book from most Christian manhood titles. Getz did not assemble a list of virtues he liked. He took the qualifications Paul gives Timothy and Titus for elders and overseers, in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, and treated them as a description of mature Christian character rather than a job posting for church office.
That is a defensible move and it gives the book a spine. Above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not a lover of money, manages his household well, and so on. One chapter each, twenty in total.
How it is meant to be used
Each chapter has a short teaching section, Scripture, and reflection questions aimed at honest self-assessment rather than agreement. The intent is that you measure yourself against one attribute at a time and admit where you land.
The revised edition adds QR codes and links throughout that take you to short videos of Getz walking through the material. If you dislike being sent to your phone mid-chapter you can ignore them entirely, and nothing breaks.
It works well in a men’s group over twenty weeks, because the reflection questions are genuinely uncomfortable when answered out loud, and that is where the value is.
Strengths and limits
The strength is the discipline of the source material. Because the list is Paul’s rather than Getz’s, the book avoids the usual drift into cultural assumptions about masculinity dressed up as biblical teaching.
The limit is depth. Twenty chapters in a book this size means each attribute gets a brief treatment, and readers who want serious exegesis will find it light. Getz is writing pastorally, not academically.
Who it suits
Good for a men’s group wanting a long, structured run with a clear framework. Good for a man who wants a mirror rather than encouragement. Getz says it suits readers from teenagers upward, and the writing does support that.
Less useful if you have already worked through the elder qualifications carefully, or if you want a book that will surprise you. The content is deliberately unsurprising, because it is Paul’s list.
Bottom line
A well-built, widely used twenty-week self-examination grounded in Paul’s actual qualifications for church leaders rather than in someone’s idea of manhood. Light on depth, strong on structure, and honest enough to be worth the discomfort.
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