Is Man’s Purpose an Enigma?

Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?” Modern man has scarcely any idea how to begin to answer these questions. As a result, he, in the words of philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev, “lives in agony.” Having given up faith in God, he finds that he no longer has faith in man, least of all in himself.

Among intellectuals, this present predicament of man has led many to despair, “to writhe in the convulsions of the catastrophe called Nihilism” (as Nietzsche predicted). In general society, the loss of a sense of purpose in life has led people to seek consolation in a relentless and never-to-be-satisfied “pursuit of happiness” fraudulently promised by the American Declaration of Independence as man’s inalienable right, and by means of this frantic pursuit to avoid the hard questions about existence. But the questions won’t go away.

From the Christian point of view, the answer to the question “Why am I here?” has never been more satisfactorily put than in the opening sentences of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

QUESTION 1. What is the chief end of man?

ANSWER. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

In the biblical understanding of things, man finds meaning and purpose in his all-too-transitory life on earth by answering the call to seek the honor of God in all he does and to enjoy fellowship with God.

“Man’s chief aim is to glorify God.…” How are we to glorify him? God is glorified as we respond in trust and obedience to his revelation of himself in his Word and in the person of his Son, as we obey what we know of his directions for our lives, as we give our lives to him to use as he knows best, as we worship him by speech and life, as we acknowledge his lordship over the world in which we live and over our individual lives.

To know what God intends us to do, we first must get to know God himself, for his will for our lives is closely related to his character. As John Calvin wrote, “It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has seriously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look at himself” (Institutes I, i.2). And the more we get to know God, the further along we will be toward carrying out his will.

Well, how do we get to know God? The answer is found in the Bible, the written Word of God, for it is here that God has chosen to reveal himself. In the Bible we read the story of God’s self-disclosure of himself to the ancient Israelites and, finally, in the person and work of his Son (Heb. 1:1, 2). In the narrative of the story of redemption we are able to catch glimpses of what he is like by seeing how he deals with his people and by looking into the face of Jesus Christ. And through the words of his inspired prophets and apostles we receive his commands, which become torches lighting the pathways of our lives (Ps. 119:105).

“… and to enjoy him for ever.” The second part of the Westminster answer has been undeservedly neglected. As a result, glorifying God has been approached as a burden rather than a delight. If man “surrenders” his will to the will of God, some seem to imply, God will ask him to do the very thing he least wants to do.

Nothing could be further from the truth! God’s will for man is intended for his blessing and benefit. The person who seeks to do his will finds fullness of life. The purpose of the creation of man has always been that he might walk with God “in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world was “that men may have life, and may have it in all its fulness” (John 10:10, NEB). Paul speaks of the will of God as that which is “good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2), not as something odious. The psalmists celebrate the blessedness of walking in the law of the Lord, the sheer pleasure to be found in a life of obedience to God (Ps. 1; 19:7–10; 73:25–28; 119; etc.) I have often observed that the person who has committed his life to doing God’s will finds himself doing exactly what he most enjoys. God is no harsh and capricious taskmaster. He is a loving Father who desires the very best for his children.

In the matter of doing God’s will and seeking his glory, we tend to think in strictly religious terms. The will of God is that we go to church, pray, read the Bible, witness, preach, offer ourselves for missionary service, and the like. But these activities represent only a small portion of our lives, and they by no means exhaust God’s will for us. The Lord did not place us on the surface of this globe primarily to be religious. Our obligation to do his will is not fulfilled just by what we do on Sundays and during devotional times. Doing the will of God is an all-day, every-day occupation.

The will of God and the glory of God have to do with the whole of human life. In First Corinthians 10:31 Paul writes, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And in the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, the mundane concern for “daily bread” is included. In the biblical perspective, the whole of life is sacred; God is the lord of the totality of the creation and of every aspect of human existence.

At a theoretical level, God’s will for man begins with what Reformed theologians call “the cultural mandate” given by the Creator to man as his “image” in the world. Whatever else may be included in the idea of the imago Dei in the first chapter of Genesis (vv. 26 and 27), it means that man has been given the responsibility of representing the Creator in his creation, of serving as a co-laborer with God in the task of caring for the world. “God set man in the world as a sign of his own authority, in order that man should uphold his—God’s—claims as Lord” (G. von Rad, Old Testament Theology). As the image of God, the first man was commanded to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth” (Gen. 1:28, Jerusalem Bible). The entire creation is given to him and to his descendents (Gen. 1:29, 30). Man is given the responsibility of cultivating the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15) and naming the animals (2:19, 20), and this signifies his stewardship and dominion over creation as God’s representative.

Thus Genesis 1–3 underlines the call of man to culture. In fact, our word “culture” comes from the Latin colers, meaning to cultivate, till (the ground), and is closely linked to the command of Genesis 2:15. In its root meaning it is much broader than “high culture” (art, music, literature, sculpture, and the like) and includes the entire human enterprise of conquering the earth and its resources in the attempt to bring them into the service of man for the glory of God. As T. S. Eliot said, “culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living” (Notes Toward the Definition of Culture). God has given man a cultural mandate that includes the whole range of human endeavors—from agriculture to theoretical science, from the beautification of a garden to the creation of fine art, from the establishment of families to the development of nations. In responding to this command of God—in seeking to unearth earth’s treasures for the benefit of mankind, to imitate the great Architect and Artist of the universe, and, in the words of Kepler, to “think God’s thoughts after him”—man fulfills the creative purpose of God. Man becomes a co-worker with God in bringing the creation to its proper fulfillment.

In more everyday terms, this means that God is concerned as much with a person’s work as with his worship, though the two are closely linked. Observe in the Genesis narrative the focus of the Creator’s commands upon man’s vocation as a worker. In this the dignity of work is affirmed. As Carl F. H. Henry points out, “the Bible nowhere depicts human labor as a result of the Fall. According to the creation account, the Creator assigned work to man even before sin entered [the world]. Adam was given a specific task that involved a work relationship both to God and to the world …” (Aspects of Christian Social Ethics). For the man or woman who recognizes this basic biblical perspective, work can never degenerate to meaningless drudgery but will always be permeated by a sense of the divine purpose. In one’s daily work, even if it seems insignificant, one is involved in the service of God and man, seeking to bring glory to God. The high dignity of work is highlighted further by the example of God himself, whose “works” of creation, redemption, and preservation of the world are manifest to the believer, and by the example of his Son, a carpenter from Nazareth.

The will of God for man, then, is not fundamentally some lofty, other-worldly vocation, involving a withdrawal from the world, but rather the service of God and man in the world. Man is called simply to be man, to live out his humanity, to fulfill the mandate given to the first man in the Garden of Eden. The purpose of God is that man be the image of God in the world, exercising the stewardship he has been given over the created order. Man is called to present the earthly back to the Creator as an offering well pleasing to him (Gen. 4:1–7) and to glorify God in his body (Rom. 12:1, 2). This involves a call away from selfishness to a preoccupation with the Creator-God, the call to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Deut. 6:4, 5; Mark 12:29, 30; Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:27), and in this way to love, appreciate, enjoy, and care for all that he has made.

Implied in the concept of man as the image of God is the call for man to be God-like in his attitudes, to represent God in the world by acting out his character and by demonstrating his concerns. The “dominion” that man is to exercise in relation to the creation is no arbitrary subjugation that might lead to a thoughtless abuse of the world and its resources; rather, it will manifest itself by showing the same care for the created order that God himself, who made the world and pronounced it good, shows toward it. Man has the awesome responsibility not only of managing the world in a manner that pleases the Creator but also of refusing to abuse it. As God’s steward, man must care for the world and protect it.

Man’s care for the world extends also to his fellow man, for man is not only viceregent in the world but also a part of the creation. Cain’s insolent question to the Almighty, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9), is answered by the rest of the Bible by a resounding, “yes!” Man is charged with the responsibility not only of loving God but of loving his neighbor (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8). This fundamental concern is found at the heart of the Old Testament and the New—in the call of Israel to be a holy people as Yahweh their God is holy, in the concern for social welfare in the legislation contained in the Law of Moses, in the message of judgment proclaimed by the prophets to those who ignore both personal and societal standards of justice, and in the teaching and example of Christ and his apostles.

“And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward” (Matt. 10:42). “And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.… Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:31, 35, 36). “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.… Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:34–36, 40). And there is also, of course, our Lord’s celebrated parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37).

How is this love for the neighbor to find expression? First, by obedience to the cultural mandate. The Christian’s concern for culture is not a selfish concern, not some form of elitism, but a way of showing love for the neighbor; it is a concern for the care of the garden, to insure that life continues to be worth living.

Second, love for the neighbor finds expression in the individual Christian’s involvement in the task of relieving human suffering and bringing about justice. The Christian must always be committed to the establishment of God’s standard of righteousness in the world. The kingdom of God begins with the Christian Church, the new humanity being created by Christ; but this is only the beginning, not the end, of God’s rule on earth.

Third, love for the neighbor will find expression in evangelization, in the worldwide mission of the Church. In the final analysis one can do no greater service for a neighbor than to offer him the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. If God’s will is to be done in intellectual, social, aesthetic, and political life, there must be a large task force of regenerate men and women to permeate every stratum of society, pledged to reclaim the whole world in the name of their Lord and Saviour. Evangelism is not the be-all and end-all of the human task, but it is certainly at the heart of the Christian calling.

But who is sufficient for these things? When we consider man’s high calling as God’s representative in the world and compare this with the history of human endeavor, we are faced with the problem of man’s abysmal failure to live up to the standard of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). Certainly, the results have not been all bad, as witness mankind’s great achievements in art, science, technology, and even occasionally in the social and political spheres. But we are unable to bypass such gaping failures as the frequent destruction of the natural order, the enslavement of man by man, and the intellectual devastation wrought by autonomous man.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrestled with this problem. He quotes the psalmist’s beautiful meditation on the narrative of Genesis 1: “What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou has crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet” (Ps. 8:4–6). This calls forth the reflection, “Now in putting everything in subjection to man, [God] left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not see everything in subjection to him. But we see Jesus …” (Heb. 2:6–9).

By looking at Jesus Christ we begin to understand something of what man was meant to be—living in unbroken communion with God (Matt. 11:27; John 10:28, 30), radiating the glory of God in all its fullness (Heb. 1:3), incarnating the will of God without any limitation whatsoever (John 8:29). This Man, the last Adam (Rom. 5:9–21; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22, 45–49), became the key of all that was originally intended for the first Adam. God’s eternal Son became a truly human person, a real man—indeed, the first truly perfect man, the ultimate Image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; compare John 14:9). And in Christ we see God himself taking on the true image of man.

In the final chapter of God’s divine plan, man achieves his chief end in Jesus: God is glorified, and man receives the promise of entering into the eternal enjoyment of God. In Jesus, God’s perfect man, we shall one day see all things completely under the dominion of man (1 Cor. 15:24–28). In the God-Man, the purpose of God in the creation of man is fulfilled and the Creator, “from whom and through whom and to whom are all things” (Rom. 11:36), is fully honored.

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