The Purpose of Humanity: Theme #1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Oct 25

Oct 25 The Purpose of Humanity: Theme #1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Most of us have asked the question, even if we’ve used different words, “What is the chief end of man?” (WSC Q/A 1). It is universally human to wonder, “Why am I here? Where am I going? Does it even matter?”

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism affirms the biblical assumption that we have a purpose, and invites us to discover ours. And it is impossible to aim too high. Pursuing a chief end helps us focus. No ordinary goal can provide ultimate comfort in life and death.

To answer the question of purpose requires us to grapple with our personhood—what is the chief end of man? So we must know what a man is. More personally, what does it mean to be me? Am I responsible for creating value for my life, or do I have inherent worth that I experience as I live according to how I have been designed? Too many people don’t know how to live because they haven’t yet grasped who they are.

The catechism helps here too, reminding us that God made us “male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures” (WSC Q/A 10). If God “made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24), His revelation will tell us what it means to be human. Because everything God made reflects Him (Rom. 1:20), people bear God’s image in a broad sense. But human beings also bear God’s image in a narrow sense. With far greater complexity than the rest of creation, people think, feel, and freely act in ways similar to God. Humanity was “created in the image of God, and is therefore God-related…. God was the original of which man was made a copy.” And it takes both genders to begin to approximate the glory of God. Everyone has a biological identity that specifies their calling to live as male or female, equal in value, with differing vocations (Gen. 1:27; Gal. 3:28–29).

And our unity in diversity helps us to exercise “dominion ... over every living thing” (Gen. 1:28) even as we submit to God as creatures. The poet John Donne called man “this world’s vice-emperor.” Today, Christians, as well as non-Christians, will promote and restore order by routine efforts like cleaning homes, mowing lawns, building houses, fixing cars, making food, producing medicine, selling products, upholding law, and promoting wellness. This is part of how we glorify and enjoy God. But to do so wholeheartedly and with eternal fruitfulness, we must be redeemed.

Sin doesn’t destroy our image-bearing. Every life—including yours—still has rich worth. But while valuable, every human life is radically out of sync with God until He restores His image in His children through union with Christ. Believers “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Col. 3:10; cf. Eph. 4:24).

Already in Christ God is fulfilling his mandate for a fruitful humanity. He truly has all dominion, and everything is in subjection “under his feet,” though it may not appear that way (Heb. 2:8, quoting Psalm 8). Christians joyfully engage in stewardship of this broken but beautiful world with confidence that the groaning of the present age will one day give way: “The creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). Because God promises to renew all things (Acts 3:21), we treat “nature now in the direction of the way nature will be then.”

As God’s common providence preserves us, His special grace restores our tarnished image so that we better reflect Jesus in our high calling to exercise dominion over the world He loves. You have meaning. You were created in God’s image for a great purpose, “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” As light is to the sun, God’s glory is the sparkling of the deity. God cannot be made more glorious, just like the sun cannot be made brighter. But God’s glory, like the sun, can be reflected. To glorify God is to advertise Him (Ps. 19:1); He is life’s most significant reality, radically worthy to receive glory, honor, and power (Rev. 4:11). We glorify God when we make it our goal to please Him in all things (1 Cor. 10:31; 2 Cor. 5:9). An even shorter catechism asks this helpful question: “How can you glorify God?” The answer: “By loving him and doing what he commands.” Glorifying God calls for loving obedience. Without obedience, love is no more than sentimentality. Without love, obedience can give way to a resentful spirit of servility.

What is your chief end? Scripture has a rich answer to that question. How you answer the question depends on how you view your sin, relate to Christ, worship, work, and recreate—how you orient your entire life. As God’s people are renewed in Christ, they regain the ability to be who they were created to be. Your flourishing is intimately connected with the God in whose image you have been created, and recreated. God alone reveals what will satisfy us. God will be glorified by every person He has made. Those who refuse to bend their knees still serve to make known “the riches of His glory” (Rom. 9:23). But only those who submit now can also enjoy Him forever.