You could say that the phrase ‘be strong’ follows ‘act like men’ as a definition and prescription.

Let’s have Alexander MacLaren take us back into the mindset of the battle as he elaborates on this connection between the two phrases:

“Play a man’s part in the battle; strike with all the force of your muscles. But the Apostle adds, ‘be strong.’ You cannot play a man’s part unless you are. ‘Be strong’—the original would rather bear ‘become strong.’ What is the use of telling men to ‘be strong’? It is a waste of words, in nine cases out of ten, to say to a weak man, ‘Pluck up your courage, and show strength.’  

MacLaren points out the nuance of our phrase ‘be strong’. You can’t be a man without strength, and you can’t ‘just have’ the kind of strength the Apostle prescribes in this verse.

Alexander states that Paul’s use of this phrase is quite uncommon in the New Testament, but that another use of the phrase helps us better understand the nuance. He reveals that we are to be: “Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16).

Read the transcript for Be Strong

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