A few days ago, my brother and friend in the Christian manosphere, Jack, published a post on his SigmaFrame blog titled “Wisdom is NOT Intelligent Decision Making.” In that post, he critiqued something I wrote years ago in “You Don’t Have To Be A Jock To Be A Godly Masculine Man – Nerds Can Be Too.” In that article, I argued that King David represents the archetypal Warrior, while King Solomon represents the archetypal Wiseman. Jack objected to my description of Solomon as a man who “built his kingdom with his mind,” believing that Scripture presents only one kind of wisdom: a purely spiritual, mystical discernment.

But this reflects a very common mistake among Christians — the assumption that all biblical wisdom is the same kind described in James 1:5. In reality, Scripture teaches two distinct kinds of wisdom, and without recognizing this, we cannot understand Solomon, masculinity, or God’s varied gifting of men.

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Spiritual Wisdom: The Fear of the Lord

The first kind of wisdom is the one most Christians are familiar with — spiritual and moral wisdom. This wisdom is rooted in a right relationship with God:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
(Proverbs 9:10)

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.”
(Psalm 111:10)

This wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, and righteous, as James 3:17 teaches. It enables believers to discern between right and wrong, to navigate trials with faith, and to walk in obedience. This is the wisdom James refers to when he writes:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God…”
(James 1:5)

Only believers can possess this kind of wisdom, because it requires a regenerate heart:

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God… neither can he know them.”
(1 Corinthians 2:14)

This kind of wisdom is spiritual in its source and moral in its expression.

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Practical Wisdom: Skill, Intelligence, and Competence

The second kind of wisdom in Scripture is practical, intellectual, and skill-based. The Hebrew word ḥokmah is often used for craftsmanship, engineering, administration, strategy, problem-solving, and other forms of competence. This wisdom is given to both believers and unbelievers.

For example, the builders of the tabernacle were called “wise hearted” because of their craftsmanship:

“Every wise hearted man… made all that the LORD had commanded.”
(Exodus 36:1)

Pharaoh’s magicians were called “wise men” in Exodus 7:11. The astrologers and scholars of Babylon were repeatedly referred to as the king’s “wise men” in Daniel 2. Even the pagan nation of Edom had “wise men” whose skill and counsel Scripture acknowledges (Jeremiah 49:7).

This demonstrates that practical wisdom — intellectual ability, craftsmanship, strategy, competence — exists outside of saving faith. It is a form of God’s common grace. He distributes it according to His purposes, even using unbelievers like Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1) to accomplish His will.

This second kind of wisdom includes engineering ability, economic insight, creativity, leadership, systems thinking, scientific curiosity, and other forms of mental excellence.

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Solomon Was Unique Because God Gave Him Both Kinds of Wisdom

When Solomon prayed for wisdom, he specifically asked for moral discernment:

“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.”
(1 Kings 3:9)

This is spiritual wisdom. But God gave Solomon far more than he asked:

“I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.”
(1 Kings 3:12)

God granted Solomon both spiritual wisdom and an extraordinary, miraculous degree of practical wisdom that made him the greatest intellectual and administrative genius of the ancient world.

Solomon built the Temple, structured Israel’s economy, developed international trade routes, forged diplomatic alliances, wrote thousands of proverbs and songs, and conducted scientific observations of plants and animals (1 Kings 4:32–33). He governed with unmatched clarity and creativity.

Solomon did not merely have discernment — he had genius-level intellectual power. Reducing his wisdom to mystical intuition is a distortion of the biblical record.

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Modern Examples: Chris Kyle the Warrior and Elon Musk the Wiseman

Two modern men illustrate the difference between Warrior and Wiseman masculinity in the realm of practical wisdom.

Chris Kyle is a modern example of the Warrior type — a man of physical courage, tactical skill, steadiness under fire, and protective instinct. Like King David, Kyle became a legend among warriors in his own lifetime. His masculinity was expressed through strength, endurance, and combat ability.

Elon Musk, though not a believer, is a modern Wiseman — a man whose intellect, creativity, engineering mind, and systems-building ability have reshaped entire industries. Musk’s practical wisdom resembles Solomon’s second kind of wisdom: the ability to design, build, invent, and lead through brilliance of mind. He demonstrates how God sometimes grants extraordinary intellectual gifts even to unbelievers to fulfill His purposes.

Both men possess the second kind of wisdom, but only a believer can possess the spiritual kind.

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Warrior and Wiseman Masculinity Flows From God-Given Differences

While God can supernaturally empower men like David or Solomon, He also naturally gives men different strengths. Some men are born with greater intellectual capacity — these are Wisemen. Others are born with greater physical capability — these are Warriors.

These variations appear across all humanity — believers and unbelievers alike. They shape how a man expresses his masculinity:

• Warriors express masculinity through strength, courage, action, and physical leadership.
• Wisemen express masculinity through analysis, creativity, insight, and mental leadership.

Both are legitimate. Both are masculine. Both are needed. And both reflect the diversity of God’s design.

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Why Limiting Wisdom to Only the Spiritual Kind Is a Serious Error

If Christians insist there is only one kind of wisdom — the spiritual kind — then:

• the entire biblical category of skill, craftsmanship, competence, strategy, and intelligence disappears
• Solomon becomes nothing more than a mystic instead of the intellectual giant Scripture describes
• God’s gifting of unbelievers for His purposes cannot be explained
• practical excellence begins to be viewed as unspiritual
• masculinity is reduced to moral traits instead of God-given strengths

This misunderstanding deeply harms the church’s ability to disciple men and affirm their God-given design.

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Conclusion

Scripture teaches two kinds of wisdom. The first is spiritual wisdom — the fear of the Lord, moral clarity, and righteous living, available only to believers. The second is practical wisdom — skill, competence, intelligence, and craftsmanship, given by God to both believers and unbelievers.

Solomon uniquely possessed both kinds in unparalleled degree. God raised up David to build with the sword and Solomon to build with the mind — and He still raises up Warriors and Wisemen today.

This brings us back to the heart of the earlier post my friend disagreed with: men must learn to recognize how God has gifted them. Has God wired you more like a Wiseman — strong in intellect, planning, analysis, design, creativity, and judgment? Or has God wired you more like a Warrior — strong in courage, physical strength, action, endurance, and confrontation?

Every man reflects masculinity, but not every man reflects masculinity in the same way. God does not give all men the same strengths. He does not give all men the same type or measure of practical wisdom. And He does not expect all men to be equal parts Warrior and Wiseman. In the abstract sense a man should cultivate some measure of both courage and discernment, but in the practical sense no man can be fully both.

Trying to force every man to be equal parts strategist and soldier, intellectual and fighter, scholar and warrior is not biblical masculinity — it’s human expectation. God designed men differently, and those differences are not flaws but features of His creation.

The calling of a man is not to imitate another man’s gifts, but to develop the gifts God has actually given him. When a man embraces the kind of wisdom God endowed him with — whether the strength of the Warrior or the mind of the Wiseman — he becomes the best man he can be for God, for his family, and for the world.