Quest. 1. What is the chief end of man?
Ans. 1. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,(1) and to enjoy him forever.(2)(1) I Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36.
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 1
(2) Ps. 73:25-28.
We ask ourselves “What is the meaning of life?” Scripture answers it. There is an end, a purpose, a telos. My purpose for existing, man’s telos, is to enjoy God and glorify him forever. That’s the goal, the end of all endeavors.
How do we enjoy God?
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
Do you receive pleasure from God? Do you receive joy and contentment? One basic way to enjoy God is to eat, drink, and be merry. Jesus ate and drank so much he was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton by self-righteous Pharisees. When we enjoy the things of God and give him praise for them we are enjoying God, and therefore we glorify him.
Can we enjoy other things? Yes, but not as our chief end. We can work hard, and enjoy our work (1 Thess 4:11-12) but as a means rather than the end. We should eat, drink, and be merry, but as a means to enjoy God. We should want the good life and enjoy it when we have it, but the good life points us to the wonderful grace and mercy of God, it itself is not the chief end. Which also means if we loose the good life, we know we have a better life coming.
And if we do not seem to receive pleasure, joy, or contentment, why is that? Is that because you are a bruised reed that will not be crushed (Isa 42:3), or because you are not his? Sometimes our circumstances hinder us with “losses and crosses.” We may be assailed by trials and feel no joy, yet if we cling to Christ, we have a superior joy than what our circumstances can produce.
Yet this is possible only through faith in Christ. There exists between man and God an uncrossable chasm, a rift, caused by our sin. Only Christ’s atonement can cross it. By satisfying the law’s penalty of sin (death), Christ reconciles us to God and we are able to have a right relationship with our Father, a relationship filled with joy.
What is glory? How do we glorify God?
And this is partly what it means to glorify. The Greek word for glory is δόξα, which means honor, majesty, splendor, and brightness. God is the “shiningest” and brightest. As Creator and Author, he has all the majesty and honor. We do not have superlatives to describe it, which is why we sing the threefold glory, glory, glory to emphasize just how much glory we are talking about. So to enjoy him is to adore him and bring him honor, to agree that he is the best.
We cannot make him more glorious, because he already is the most glorious. What we can do is acknowledge it, and proclaim it. Thomas Vincent says in his commentary to the Westminster Shorter Catechism,
Affirmatively, to glorify God, is to manifest God’s glory: not only passively, as all creatures do, which have neither religion nor reason, but also actively, men glorify God, when the design of their life and actions is the glory and honor of God.
Thomas Vincent, The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, page 18
So the second part of man’s chief end, is to hold up God’s name above their own, and above all other names.
Can we glorify God without enjoying him?
At some point every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, but bowing the knee could be willingly, or unwillingly at Judgment. Those under judgement apart from Christ will glorify God, but not from joy. From his children he wants joy, to the point where he makes it part of their purpose: to have joy in him.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’
Romans 8:15 ESV
So, yes, we can glorify God without enjoying him, but that is not for his children but his enemies. Vincent says,
God hath inseparably joined [glorifying and enjoying] together, so that men cannot truly design and seek one without the other. … And when God shall be most fully enjoyed by the saints in heaven, he will be most highly glorified (2 Thess 1:10).
Thomas Vincent, The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, page 21
Therefore, Christians ought to glorify God in all their actions. Not through emotionalism, but through thanksgiving. Tell him thank you, even if its just for the air you’re breathing.
You can follow along as I meditate on each question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) here, and with Thomas Vincent’s commentary here. Let me know in the comments what you think about the first question and answer of the WSC.
Awake! Put on strength! 