The Gospel: What Is the Purpose of Life?

The questions we have about God are the most important questions we could ever ask about anything ever. Every philosophical inquiry ever made in the history of humankind has its end in Theology. Let us leave the subjects of God’s existence and personhood to greater minds; Today, it suffices us to ask this question: If God does exist and if He does have a personality (complete with a will*), then what does He want with us? That is to say, what is the inherent purpose** of creation?

In contrast to the effort which the human race has poured into the investigation, the solution is shockingly simple: The inherent purpose of every object in all of creation is to glorify God. In fact, it would seem that this is the purpose behind all of God’s interaction with humanity. God says of the children of Israel, “I will say to the North, ‘Give them up!’ And to the South, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth – Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for my glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made Him.” (Isa. 43:6-7) King Solomon summarized the task of man as follows: “Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.” (Eccl. 12:13) The prophet Ezekiel repeatedly declares that the future reunion and renewal of the lost tribes of Israel would be done for the purpose of increasing God’s fame among those who do not know Him: “So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.” (Eze. 36:35-36)

Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, offered up a prayer to His Father. With an eye toward His imminent death, this was His request for Himself: “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You … I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (John 17:1, 4-5) In this, Jesus indicates that the act of finishing His work was done for the purpose of glorifying the Father.

Paul says, “In Him [Jesus] also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.” (Eph. 1:11-12) Later, when the Apostle Peter wrote his first epistle, he had this to say: “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Much more could be said about this, but I will leave this discussion behind for now.

What does it mean, then, to glorify God? Well, to glorify God is to cause Him to be given praise or credit for who He is and what He has done. From the human perspective, this can be accomplished either on purpose or by accident – as is indicated by the story of Joseph (particularly Gen. 50:20) and the many times in which God used pagan nations to execute judgment, among other things.

In the beginning, we accomplished this task simply by existing as we were. The Bible teaches that humanity was made in God’s “image” or “likeness.” This does not mean, as some have put forth, that we are of the same race as God. If I were to draw a picture of myself on a piece of paper, the paper would not become human and I would not become paper – yet, the paper still bears my image. So we see that one object can bear the image of another without being of the same substance.

Instead, it means that we were created to be reflections of God in regard to our non-physical attributes, such as our intellect or our ability to love one another. One person would witness the behavior of the other, which would remind him of God. Thus, we glorified God simply by living.

And then, sin came.




*“Will” does not mean “need,” and therefore does not indicate that God is dependent on anything other than Himself.

** By “inherent purpose,” I am referring to the purpose which is infused into the object at the moment of its creation. This purpose is not synonymous with the word “plan.”