Is it the chief end of EVERY man?
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Bill The Baptist
Puritan Board Graduate
Just to play devil's advocate, how does this relate to "enjoying Him forever?"
Chief end: What he was created for--his designed role but for sin.
So, yes, that applies to every man.
So, yes, that applies to every man.
Bill The Baptist
Puritan Board Graduate
Thank you, Victor. That is what I was getting at, I just wanted to make sure we answered the question in the OP completely. We glorify God even in our judgment, but only the elect can truly enjoy him forever.
Dearly Bought
Puritan Board Junior
This statement is found in the Shorter and Larger Catechisms. What about it seems vague? I think the appended prooftexts are very good examples of this teaching found in the Scriptures (Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 10:31; Ps. 73:24-28; John 17:21-23).
Rom
Puritan Board Junior
You may not be implying this, but this issue of the first question's sufficiency has recently come up in other circles. But I don't believe that the Catechism intends for each question to be completely self contained.
The Catechism is complete when looked as a whole. As designed, it actually does intend for you to ask yourself, "Where do I find out how to glorify and enjoy Him?" This is actually natural and is meant to drive you to look at the next question and answer.
As each answer unfolds, succeeding questions and answers fill in ever more detail.
As you will see in the chain of questions that follow Question 1. It is quite brilliant, but instead we become like those of our brothers who insist on a single proof-text for every doctrine, such as - "where does it say there is a single Covenant of Grace?" "Show me a verse that says the Sabbath is now Sunday, etc." But that's not how the Catechism or the Scriptures are to be handled.
Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. 2 Tim. 3:16; Eph. 2:20; 1 John 1:3-4.
Q. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. 2 Tim. 1:13; 2 Tim. 3:16.
Q. 4. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. John 4:24; Job 11:7-9; Ps. 90:2; Jas. 1:17; Ex. 3:14; Ps. 147:5; Rev. 4:8; Rev. 15:4; Ex. 34:6-7.
etc.
earl40
Puritan Board Professor
So to play some advocate here. The answer to the OP is twofold? I agree of course men will glorify The Lord in hell forever but they will not enjoy that "chief end"?
earl40
Puritan Board Professor
From the prooftexts it appears it is speaking of those who currently believe. In other words, the answer would be no to the OP question in that it does not mean "every" man.
Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
Are those in Hell still to be counted among mankind? The last Adam -- the only true human -- and those in Him, these are men, and do not the children of the devil forfeit that designation? When I throw rotten fruit into the garbage I do not continue to designate it as fruit, but refuse. They were once men, but are now devil-spawn.
"the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5) -- representing us all who are of the new creation -- He glorifies God, and enjoys Him forever, and we in Him likewise.
"the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5) -- representing us all who are of the new creation -- He glorifies God, and enjoys Him forever, and we in Him likewise.
I think the point of the question/answer is to state what is the revealed will of God concerning his purpose for man's existence. I don't think it even starts to touch on what those who turn their backs on that purpose may receive if they persist.
Those in hell are/will not "enjoy" God forever. Eternal life is the designated, ideal end of creation; but not life as an end in itself. God himself is the summum bonum, and man is fulfilled in glorifying God.
Those in hell are/will not "enjoy" God forever. Eternal life is the designated, ideal end of creation; but not life as an end in itself. God himself is the summum bonum, and man is fulfilled in glorifying God.
earl40
Puritan Board Professor
Indeed all ought to do such now and forever, and those who do not have breath will not praise Him. The goal of God's purposes, His chief end for all men, is to be glorified, and those who He desires to save will enjoy Him forever.
I am glad the proof text of Ps. 73:24-28 was there to show the intent of Q1.
Earl,
Not every version of the shorter and larger catechisms have prooftexts. Those prooftexts don't cover all of the obvious questions and answers covered just in this thread. The next few following questions and answers in the catechisms do not do that either.
There would be far less clarifications needed if the question/answer were more along the lines of:
Q: What is the duty of man?
A: To fear God and keep His commandments.
This is a direct quotation from my previous prooftext.
or
Q: Why did God create man?
A: For God to glorify Himself by His creation; and to glorify Himself in His dealing with the fall of man in how He demonstrates His mercy, grace, love, longsuffering, justice, wisdom.
Even in one section of the new covenant promises,
Thank you for today's chuckle. Every post in this thread which attempted to clarify or explain what they think this catechism question/answer meant means the original was vague.
Not every version of the shorter and larger catechisms have prooftexts. Those prooftexts don't cover all of the obvious questions and answers covered just in this thread. The next few following questions and answers in the catechisms do not do that either.
There would be far less clarifications needed if the question/answer were more along the lines of:
Q: What is the duty of man?
A: To fear God and keep His commandments.
This is a direct quotation from my previous prooftext.
or
Q: Why did God create man?
A: For God to glorify Himself by His creation; and to glorify Himself in His dealing with the fall of man in how He demonstrates His mercy, grace, love, longsuffering, justice, wisdom.
Even in one section of the new covenant promises,
before and after God tells His chosen people to not forget why He saves them.KJV said:
KJV said:
KJV said:
whirlingmerc
Puritan Board Sophomore
Every man will glorify God one way or another.... not every man will enjoy Him forever
Edward
Puritanboard Commissioner
Your difficulties in comprehending the plain meaning of the text, and the brothers attempts to explain it to you do not mean the original was vague.
Where are you trying to go with this? Do you seek to argue that the chief end of man is other than to " glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever"? Are you trying to argue that all men reach their chief and highest end?
You might find G.I. Williamson's book The Shorter Catechism for Study Classes helpful.
Wayne
Tempus faciendi, Domine.
And that's why others wrote longer catechetical works, like Fisher's Catechism.
QUESTION 1. What is the chief end of man?
ANSWER: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever
Q. 1. What is meant by man's chief end?
A. That which ought to be man's chief aim and design; and that which he should seek after as his chief happiness.
Q. 2. What ought to be man's chief aim and design?
A. The glory of God. 1 Chron. 16:28, 29 -- "Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, -- give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name."
Q. 3. What should he seek after as his chief happiness?
A. The enjoyment of God. Isa. 26:8 -- "The desire of our soul is to thy name, and the remembrance of thee."
Q. 4. What connexion is there between the glorifying God, and the enjoyment of him?
A. They are connected by rich and sovereign grace, persuading and enabling the sinner to embrace Jesus Christ as the only way to God and glory. Eph. 2:8 -- "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." John 14:6 -- "I," says Christ, "am the way; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Q. 5. Does the chief end exclude subordinate ends?
A. No; for, in aiming principally at the glory of God, men may use the supports of natural life for refreshing their bodies. 1 Cor. 10:31; and be diligent in their particular callings, that they may provide for themselves and their families, 1 Thess. 4:11, 12; 1 Tim. 5:8.
Q. 6. Why ought the glory of God to be the chief end and design of man?
A. Because it is God's chief end in man's creation, preservation, redemption, and regeneration. Prov. 16:4 -- "The Lord hath made all things for himself;" and therefore it ought to be man's chief end likewise. 1 Cor. 6:19,20 -- "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
Q. 7. How manifold is the glory of God?
A. Twofold; his essential and his declarative glory.
Q. 8. What is God's essential glory?
A. It is what he is absolutely in himself. Exod. 3:14 -- "I AM THAT I AM."
Q. 9. What is his declarative glory?
A. His showing, or making known his glory, to, in, and by his creatures, Isa. 44:23; 2 Thess. 1:10.
Q. 10. Can any creature whatsoever add any thing to God's essential glory?
A. No; for his essential glory is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, Job 35:7.
Q. 11. Do not the heavens and the earth, and all inferior creatures, glorify God?
A. Yes; in a passive way, all his works praise him. Psalm 19:1, and 145:10.
Q. 12. How ought man to glorify God?
A. Man being endued with a reasonable soul, ought to glorify God in an active way, Psalm 63:4, by declaring his praise, Psalm 103:1, 2; and essaying to give him the glory due to his name, Psalm 96:7, 8.
Q. 13. How was man to glorify God in a state of innocence?
A. By a perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to his law, Gen. 1:27; and by giving him the glory of all his works, chap. 2:19.
Q. 14. Has man answered his chief end?
A. No; for, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Rom. 3:23.
Q. 15. Has God then lost his end in making man?
A. No; for God will glorify his justice and power upon some, and his grace and mercy upon others of Adam's family, Rom. 9:22, 23.
Q. 16. Was ever God glorified by a perfect obedience since Adam's fall?
A. Never, until Christ, the second Adam, appeared as a new covenant head, Isa. 42:21, and 49:3.
Q. 17. How did Christ, the second Adam, glorify God, as our surety and representative on earth?
A. By finishing the work the Father gave him to do. John 17:4.
Q. 18. What was the work the Father gave him to do?
A. It was to assume a holy human nature, Luke 1:35; to yield a perfect sinless obedience to the whole law, Mat. 3:15; and to give a complete satisfaction to justice, for man's sin, by his meritorious sufferings and death, Luke 24:26.
Q. 19. How does Christ glorify God in heaven?
A. By appearing in the presence of God for us, Heb. 9:24, and applying, by the power of his Spirit, that redemption which he purchased by the price of his blood on earth, Tit. 3:5, 6.
Q. 20. When is it that a sinner begins uprightly to aim at the glory of God?
A. When, through a faith of God's operation, he believes in Christ: Acts 8:37, 39. -- "The eunuch answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. -- And he went on his way rejoicing."
Q. 21. Can no man glorify God acceptably, unless he first believe in Christ?
A. No; for, "Without faith it is impossible to please him." Heb. 11:6; and, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Rom. 14:23.
Q. 22. How is it that faith in Christ glorifies God?
A. As it sets its seal to the record of God, John 3:33; and unites us to Christ, from whom only our fruit is found, Hos. 14:8.
Q. 23. Is not God glorified by the good works of believers?
A. Yes; "herein," says Christ, "is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit," John 15:8.
Q. 24. What are these fruits brought forth by believers, by which God is glorified?
A. They may be summed up in faith working by love, Gal. 5:6; or, their aiming, in the strength of Christ, at universal obedience to the law, as the rule of duty. Phil. 4:13 -- "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Q. 25. How should we glorify God in eating and drinking?
A. By taking a right to the supports of natural life, through the second Adam, the heir of all things, who has purchased a covenant right to temporal, as well as spiritual mercies, for his people, 1 Cor. 3:21-23; and thankfully acknowledging God for the same, 1 Tim. 4:4, 5.
Q. 26. How must we glorify God in our religious worship, and other acts of obedience?
A. By doing all that we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, Col. 3:17; worshipping God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh, Phil. 3:3.
Q. 27. What is it, next to the glory of God, we should aim at?
A. Next to God's glory, we should aim at the enjoyment of him, Psalm 73:25, 26.
Q. 28. Why should we aim at the enjoyment of God?
A. Because he is the chief good of the rational creature, Psalm 116:7; and nothing else besides him, is either suitable to the nature, or satisfying to the desires of the immortal soul, Psalm 144:15.
Q. 29. How may a finite creature enjoy an infinite God?
A. By taking and rejoicing in him, as its everlasting and upmaking portion, Psalm 16:5, 6, and 48:14.
Q. 30. Did our first parents, in a state of innocence, enjoy God?
A. Yes; there was perfect friendship and fellowship between God and them; for, "God made man upright," Eccl. 7:29.
Q. 31. What broke that blessed friendship and fellowship?
A. Sin: our iniquities have separated between us and our God, and our sins have hid his face from us, Isa. 59:2.
Q. 32. Can a sinner, in a natural state, enjoy God, or have any fellowship with him?
A. No; for, "What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?" 2 Cor. 6:14, 15.
Q. 33. How may a lost sinner recover the enjoyment of God, and fellowship with him?
A. As we lost it by our fall in the first Adam, so it can only be recovered by union with a second Adam, Rom. 5:18-19; for there is no coming to God but by him, John 14:6.
Q. 34. When is it that a sinner begins to enjoy God?
A. When, having received Christ by faith, he rests upon him, and upon God in him, for righteousness and strength, Isa. 45:24; and out of his fullness receives, and grace for grace, John 1:16
Q. 35. What are the external means by, or in which, we are to seek after the enjoyment of God?
A. In all the ordinances of his worship, public, private and secret; such as the word read and heard, the sacraments, prayer, meditation, fasting, thanksgiving, and the like.
Q. 36. Are the saints of God admitted to enjoy him in these?
A. Yes; they are the trysting-places[2] where his name is recorded, and to which he has promised to come and bless them, Ex. 20:24 -- "In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."
Q. 37. What scripture-evidence have we, of their enjoying God in the duties and ordinances of his appointment?
A. We find them much employed in religious duties, Song 3:1-3; and expressing the utmost regard for the ordinances of his grace, Psalm 84:1, 2.
Q. 38. What satisfaction has the soul in the enjoyment of God?
A. Unspeakably more gladness than when corn, wine, and all earthly comforts, do most abound, Psalm 4:7
Q. 39. Is there any difference between the enjoyment of God in this life, and that which the saints shall obtain in the life to come?
A. Not an essential, but a gradual difference, as to the manner and measure of it.
Q. 40. What is the difference as to the manner of the enjoyment here and hereafter?
A. Here, the enjoyment is mediate, by the intervention of means; hereafter, it will be immediate, without any use of these means: "Now we see through a glass darkly; but then FACE TO Face ," 1 Cor. 13:12.
Q. 41. What is the difference as to the measure of the enjoyment, in this life, and that which is to come?
A. In this life the enjoyment is only partial; in that which is to come, it will be full and complete, 1 John 3:2 -- here, the enjoyment is only in the seed, or first fruits; there it will be in the full harvest, Psalm 126:5, 6.
Q. 42. Is the partial enjoyment of God in grace here, a sure pledge of the full enjoyment of him in glory hereafter?
A. It is both the pledge and earnest of it, Eph. 1:13, 14; Psalm 84:11.
Q. 43. Does the gracious soul, in that sate, fully receive its chief end?
A. Yes; in regard that then it shall be brimful of God, and celebrate his praises with high and uninterrupted Hallelujahs through all eternity, Psalm 16:11; Isa. 35:10.
Q. 44. Why is the glorifying God made the leading part of man's chief end, and set before the enjoyment of him?
A. Because, as God's design in glorifying himself was the reason and foundation of his design in making man happy in the enjoyment of him, Rom. 11:26; so he has made our aiming at his glory, as our chief end, to be the very way and means of our attaining to that enjoyment, Psalm 50:23.
Q. 45. Is our happiness, in the enjoyment of God, to be our chief end?
A. No; but the glory of God itself, Isa. 42:8; in our aiming at which chiefly, we cannot miss the enjoyment of him, Psalm 91:14, 15.
Q. 46. Is not our delighting in the glory of God, to be reckoned our chief end?
A. No; we must set the glory of God above our delight therein, otherwise, our delight is not chiefly in God, but in ourselves, Isa. 2:11. Our subjective delighting in the glory of God belongs to the enjoyment of him, whose glory is above the heavens, and infinitely above our delight therein, Psalm 113:4.
Q. 47. Whom does God dignify with the enjoyment of himself, in time and for ever?
A. Those whom he helps actively to glorify and honour him; for he has said, "Them that honour me, I will honour," 1 Sam. 2:30.
Q. 48. Does any thing so much secure our happy enjoyment of God, as the concern that the glory of God has in it?
A. No; for as God cannot but reach the great end of his own glory, so, when he has promised us eternal life, in Christ, before the world began, Tit. 1:2, we cannot come short of it; because it stands upon the honour of his faithfulness to make it good, Heb. 10:23 -- "He is faithful that promised."
Q. 49. How does it appear, that the enjoyment of God, which is connected with the glorifying of him, shall be for ever?
A. Because he who is the object enjoyed, is the everlasting God, Isa. 40:28; and the enjoyment of him is not transitory, like the passing enjoyments of time, but the eternal enjoyment of the eternal God, Psalm 48:14.
earl40
Puritan Board Professor
Rev. Bruce are the proof text official? If so, it appears they are used to "start to touch on what those who turn their backs".
Earl,
The OPC has a particular set of prooftexts which were "officially" adopted some years ago. Those texts are not themselves constitutional, belonging as they do to a superior category, to which the Constitution of this church is subject.
The proofs adduced above by Bryan (post #8, thank you sir) are not all those or only those adopted by the OPC. None of the OPC's proofs so much as mention the wicked. Now, of those that referenced in the above, I found one verse, Ps.73:27 (in the midst of a longer citation) that contrasts the reward of the righteous with that of the wicked.
I cannot tell the publisher of those proofs; I cannot tell if v27 "belongs" to the citation (consider the FCS's original West. Stds. edition often elides extraneous matter in their precise proofs). And many varieties of the prooftexts exist, for there have been many publishers of the Shorter Catechism, both individual and ecclesiastic. In any case, the value of v27 would be as it is contrasted with the emphatic blessings insured to the godly.
Just taking the Q&A on its own terms, the focus clearly is upon "ought," not "is." I think the question is reflective of the way Calvin begins his Institutes, by showing that there is an inextricable link between the fundamental questions: "who am I?" and "who is God?"
earl40
Puritan Board Professor
Thank you, the first question can be read as a subset of particular men through the "proof texts", and I also see the "oughtness" can be seen as what men ought to do. I love how this all can lead to how the wills of God can be discussed by the contemplation on this one question.
Depending on the situation, one could use it either way for Godly benefit.I am glad Wayne pointed us to "The [Westminster] Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained" by James Fisher. It answers the question in the original post. It also answers an issue I've wondered about every time I hear someone say, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." Did they intended that God's glory and man's enjoyment be placed on equal footing? The Westminster catechisms do not answer this, but Fisher's catechism does.
I am quite enjoying this conversation. As a newly reformed follower of Christ, I love that these questions are discussed and picked apart, and not simply always pointed back to the original writers but continuously held up to God's word as the standard. I have learned a lot in this one thread.
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