~ Part 3 ~
What is the purpose of life?

Many people wonder about the purpose of life. What are human beings here for? Are we here for a purpose at all? Is life actually meaningless in the long run?

Each worldview has its own answers to these questions, and Christianity is no exception.

The Christian worldview takes as its axiom that human beings are created to serve as the stewards of God, caring for and delighting in the world God has made, and developing its potential in accordance with the norms (guidelines) given in the Scriptures. God has entrusted the whole earthly creation to our care.

We are Christians not so we can develop our spiritual life in preparation for the "next world" but to serve God in renewed obedience in carrying out our original calling of stewardship of the earth. That which is "spiritual" is not incompatible with this world, for the "natural" with which it is contrasted in Scripture is not the earthly creation (nature), but that which is "sinful," that is, rebellion against God.

It is only a dualistic perspective (seeking to accommodate two conflicting principles in our lives) which leads us to see the earthly creation ("nature"), as something in conflict with serving God. But God is not alienated from the things which he has made. It is only sin, and not involvement in created reality, which alienates us from God.

1. What does this passage teach you about the distinction between the "spiritual" (being led by the Spirit of God) and the "sinful nature"?

   
   

2. Does the nature which is in conflict with God originate with God?

   
   

3. If nature is not God’s creation, what is it? Where did it come from? Is there another creator besides God?

   
   

Non-Christian worldviews either denigrate or glorify our human task, reducing its meaning or making it the source of meaning and fulfillment. Either approach fails to understand how our human task is committed to us by God and is to be carried out in his service. It is thus meaningful in itself, but its meaning is not found within it.

God has created all things, and they are all made to serve God, from the stars in the sky to the smallest organisms and mineral grains in the rocks. He has revealed himself to us in and through these things.

1. What callings has God given to the various creatures in Genesis 1?

   
   

2. What is the calling given to human beings in Genesis 1?

   
   

3. How does that calling relate to our activity in the world today?

   
   

Because of our sin, we fail to recognise and acknowledge what God has called us to do in the world. God has revealed himself through the creation he has made, but we resist and suppress this knowledge (Romans 1:18-20). The Scriptures are given to call us back to our original task, and to point us in the right direction in carrying out that task. They correctly interpret to us the revelation of God himself in the creation. We cannot understand this without the Scriptures to guide us, because our sinful nature leads us into idolatry and deception.

Christians sometimes take this passage from Romans to teach that God is revealing something about the world which can be known through our investigations (sometimes called general revelation). However, this is a mistaken assumption. God is revealing something about himself through the things he has made, namely his eternal power and divine nature. The world is known to us through our activity of learning, which should be guided by the perspective given in Scripture. The knowledge of the world we acquire is not revelation and cannot be treated as such, but it is still legitimate knowledge.

As a result of our sin, we misunderstand the creation around us. Only through the Scriptures can God's creation be truly understood. And the Scriptures supremely witness of Christ, the image of God who perfectly revealed the Father to a sinful human race. In Him are all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom, and thus only in Christ can we know God, and the creation that He has made. Christ is thus the key not only to our relationship with God, but also to life itself. Only in Christ does our life make sense, because only in Christ can we see the creation in the light which God alone can give and which alone reveals the true meaning and significance of life.

1. What does it mean for all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge to be hidden in Christ?

   
   

2. Can we truly learn and know anything apart from being faithful to Christ?

   
   

3. What are the "fine-sounding arguments" that might deceive us in connection with our academic study?

   
   

1. What might this passage teach us about our studies as Christians?

   
   

Christ is the revelation of God to us, so that in Christ, and only in Christ, we can truly know God. But not only do we know God in Christ, we also come to know ourselves. He is everything that the creature should be, for God in Christ became a human being and lived amongst us. He was at home here in this world, and served God as the perfect human being. He recognised and acknowledged his dependence on God for all things, including his very life, and served God in the world that became his home.

Christ became for us the model of what we should be, the renewed image of God.

1. How are we to be renewed and transformed into the image of Christ?

   
   

2. What does this mean for our perspective on life and the world in which we live?

   
   

In order for us to carry out our human task, we need to know who we are before God. What is a human being, and how do humans function? How are they related to God, how are they related to other creatures, including other human beings, and how does sin distort and corrupt our human nature?

A Christian worldview sees human beings firstly as God's creatures, and seeks to understand them in the light of the Word of God. Non-Christian worldviews seek their understanding of human nature either in human nature itself (humanism), or in other parts of the creation (paganism). Either approach draws us away from God who alone is the true meaning of human life.

The influence of non-Christian worldviews on our view of what it is to be human lies at the root of many conflicts: for instance, what is the place of women in the church, in the home and in the wider community? Our answers often come from deficient views of human nature, defective views of who we are as creatures of God.

1. What does it mean to be an heir of God? What do we inherit?

   
   

2. God does not have any "daughters" because in the Jewish culture it was the sons who inherited. What does it mean for Paul to say that we are all heirs and sons if we have faith?

   
   

3. There is often debate in academic circles about whether human nature is genetically or environmentally determined. This is in fact misleading, since the question posits two false alternatives. But what does the Bible tell us about genetic and environmental influence?

   
   

4. What do your studies lead you to believe about human nature? How does this conflict with what the Scriptures tell us? How would you resolve the conflict?

   
   

5. What do you consider human nature to be?

   
   

Perhaps the biggest problem we face as Christians in a secularised society is individualism. The human task is a communal task, and to be truly human is to be in communion with God and with other human beings. There are no isolated individuals, only people who shut themselves off from the communal relationships God has placed them in.

Our society is based on an individualistic vision of what it means to be human. Non-Christian worldviews cannot give a coherent perspective in societal life without falling into the equal and opposite errors of individualism and communalism. These give unwarranted importance to either individual freedom or to community responsibility. But a Christian worldview does not simply take a mediating position, coming down the middle. It rejects the basis on which both individualism and communalism are founded.

All human relationships are created by God, but are given specific shape by human beings. As human beings are sinful, the society they shape reflects their sinfulness. Distorted relationships are entrenched in distorted structures and institutions.

A Christian worldview recognises both the created basis for society, and the power and deviousness of sin which has twisted the society we live in. An authentically Christian vision for life must include the redemption of the structures of society as a whole, and not simply of the individuals within that society. Christianity contains within it the impetus for the transformation of the whole of life, and thus also of human relationships and of the structures of society which give those relationships their enduring form. All these are shaped by human beings, and as such are distorted by sin.

But thanks be to God! The consequences of sin have all been dealt with by the death and resurrection of Christ. Thus human society as a whole can be transformed by the Gospel.

Here we read that Christ is to have the supremacy in everything.

1. What is Paul saying here about the transformation of the creation through the Gospel? Is it limited in any way?

   
   

1. What does this imply for our life in society?