In the Genesis creation story we read that on making the first man and woman God blesses them and, as part of this blessing, tells them to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen. 1:28). This includes far more than is usually described as work, but the terms of that mandate must define our calling to work.
This command of God to the first man and woman, and through them to all humanity, comes as the culmination of the story of the creation of the heavens and the earth. God's acts on the sixth day are not just the last items on the list, they are the climax of the story. God’s plan is to make humankind “to be our image and to have dominion.” This "having dominion” is itself part of God's creative act; it is part of God's plan of world creation. The human moulding of the earth is the continuation of God's creative acts. God made humankind in order to fill and care for the earth: it is how and why we were made, it is built into who we are. If we do not take up the dominion, stewardship, care of the earth as service to the Lord, then we defy the very purpose for which we have been created. As creatures made "in the image" of God we are called to image God by our activities in shaping, forming, and caring for God's creation.
In the New Testament we find Jesus immersed in the life and problems of working people. Jesus was a carpenter for all but the last few years of his life. The apostles were mainly of humble background and sometimes returned to their work after being called by him. Jesus parables refer to sowers (Matt. 13:3), vineyard labourers (Matt. 13:30), harvesters (John 4:35), house building (Matt. 7:24), swine tending (Luke 15:11), and women sweeping house (Luke 15:8). Jesus life and teaching is completely immersed in “the everyday” including the world of manual work.
Paul criticized idleness and exhorted Christians to work (2 Thess. 3:6). He made no distinction between physical and spiritual work and he used the same terms to refer to both the manual labour by which he earned a living and also his apostolic service (1 Cor. 4:12; 15:10; 16:16; Eph. 4:28; Rom. 10:12; Gal. 4:11; Phil. 2:16; Col. 1:29; 1 Thess. 5:12). Often it is quite difficult to know to which he was referring, or whether he himself was making such a distinction. For Paul, all types of work originate in faith and are service to God. When he outlines the “new nature ... created after the likeness of God,” he urges "doing honest work with his hands." The new creature, restored in Christ, in God's image, is to work in God's world to supply the needs of others and shape the development of human life (Eph. 4:17-32, esp. v. 28; 2 Cor. 11:9; 12:13; 1 Thess. 4:9-12; 2 Thess. 3:8; Acts 20:35).
Paul himself had a trade and worked with his hands so as not to be a burden to the church; he worked to support others and he urged this practice other Christians. His teaching that "if any does not work, let him not eat” was not an expression of callousness toward those who could not support themselves—his program for deacons, collections on behalf of the poor, and sharing of goods show that this was not the case. Rather, Paul was concerned not with those who could not find work; but with those who refused to share the burdens of their fellows. He was asserting that a life of leisure, religious contemplation, or eschatological abdication was a deficient life—that all members of the church should work (2 Thess. 3:10). Clearly this view was in radical opposition to the attitudes of Greek and Roman culture in which he lived. Paul did not regard religion as a "spiritual” activity separate from work. He regarded all aspects of life as equally religious, as equally noble, when done in loving service to God.
As we move to the end of the Biblical story in Revelation John writes “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). Here John portrays the reconciliation of God with God's people as taking place no longer in a garden, as in Paradise at the beginning, but in a city, the creation of human culture. What had been begun in sin by Cain and at Babel is here portrayed in its perfection. John also sees the bride, not naked, but “richly adorned for her husband.” Whereas Adam and Eve clothed themselves with fig leaves because of shame resulting from their sin, the appearance of the bride shows clothing perfected in and presented to Jesus Christ. Human stewardship of the earth is made perfect at the coming of Christ. The flow of human history, the outworking of God's act of creation, is redeemed and is taken up in the creation of the new heavens and earth. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (Rev. 11:15).
Even the New Heavens and the New Earth will include work. In the Old Testament as Isaiah gives us a glimpse of the perfect future he presents it as including work
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isa. 65:21-2231
When Micah speaks of beating “swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Mic. 4:35), it is important to note that this is not just a destruction of implements for war but also the (new) creation of implements for work.
The Bible clearly presents human beings created by God as workers: this is part of what it means to be created in the image of God. We are called to work, and we are to find fulfilment in our working. Work has fallen under the curse of sin and so is torn with pain and suffering. But the curse is not the core of work: it is a cancer upon it. Work can be and will be fully redeemed as in the new creation it becomes an authentically free human action.
Comments