Complementarians have the problem of wanting to seem biblically traditional, while avoiding actually being so. The goal is to create something separate from formal feminism/egalitarianism, while avoiding offending feminist sensibilities. This has led complementarians to invent a host of weasel words that sound like something traditional but mean something else. This starts with the very term complementarian, a term meant to seem traditional while rejecting tradition. This allows complementarian women to seem traditional while they discuss Women in ministry kissing traditionalism good-bye.
Other complementarian weasel terms are servant leader, a term that means not headship, and step up, a word that means whatever you want it to mean so long as it doesn’t mean take charge.
But today’s complementarian weasel word is reject passivity. This is the other term you say to men when you want to seem like you are telling them to take charge, but are terrified of the idea of them actually taking charge. For this reason reject passivity is often used in conjunction with the weasel term step up. Note that reject passivity is an oddly passive term that criticizes passivity. It has no real meaning, aside from seeming to say something it is very careful to avoid saying. You can do your own search for the term and find complementarians using the expression all over, but here are two examples:
From 4 Characteristics Of Authentic Manhood:
Men I am not suggesting that you run out and get crucified, but move away from the Adam model and step up to the Jesus model of manhood. Do you need to get it right all the time? No. Is God expecting perfection? No. What we need to do is step up and become men, because the world is craving for real authentic men and our our families desperately need leadership in the home. Men they are they are looking for you to step up and man up!
Are you ready to step up and reject passivity?
From: What is Authentic Manhood? A Biblical Definition
REJECTS Passivity
He’s not apathetic or indifferent about life or God and the things of God. Like Jesus, a real man is always the initiator. He’s constantly vigilant, fully engaged in life and has both his head and heart in the game. He’s not a spectator but a player in the role assigned him by God
Related: Hair shirts and chest thumping.
