The very first verse of the Bible introduces God as the original worker: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). When the narrative turns to describe God’s creation of the man and woman in his own image, we should conclude that this image-bearing will at least consist in reflecting God as a worker. Indeed, man’s very first task is to “work the garden and to keep it” (Gen 2:15). God commands the man and woman together to exercise dominion over the earth and to subdue it (Gen 1:27-31). Work, therefore, is a gift given to man before the fall, not a burden laid upon him after the fall.
After the Fall, Work is Still Good
The fall and the curse did, however, make work more difficult and occasionally futile. Nevertheless, work remains an essential aspect of human life and a good, divinely bestowed gift. Contrary to evolutionary-based histories of work (e.g., Richard Donkin’s The History of Work; James Suzman, Work: A Deep History; Jan Lucassen, The Story of Work), which view skill specialization as a progressive development as pre-humans grow in brain capacity and physical ability, the biblical record places expertise and a labor division immediately after Adam and Eve have children. Abel, for example, was a keeper of sheep and Cain was a worker of the ground (Gen 4:1-2). Cain eventually married and had children, and his children and grandchildren developed productive skills while Cain himself exercised dominion by building a city (Gen 4:17). Jabel and his descendants focused on a nomadic livestock trade (Gen 4:20), while Jubal’s line developed skill in music (Gen 4:21). Tubal-Cain became a blacksmith and coppersmith (Gen 4:22).
By the time God revealed himself to Noah and instructed him to build an ark, there were already resources available to do large-scale, sophisticated boat-building work: construction tools, measuring instruments, apparatus for lifting heavy items, implements for felling trees, and so on (see Gen 6:11-16).
After the flood, God told humans to spread out across the globe and re-populate it with the divine image (Gen 9:1ff). Not heeding God’s command to “fill the earth” (Gen 9:1), sinful humanity attempted to establish themselves in one location. In this act, humans used their God-given creative capacities for sinful purposes and built a city and a ziggurat—a massive stone structure that resembled a mountain and housed a shrine at the top (Gen 11:1-4). In response to this sin, God dispersed the people who then spread out across the earth and formed various nations (Gen 11:6-9; see 10:1-32).
A World at Work
From this point on in the biblical narrative, we find humanity engaged in a wide range of useful employments from emperors (Gen 12:14) to servants (Gen 12:16); herdsmen (Gen 13:8; 26:20) to city builders (Gen 13:12); kings (Gen 14:1ff; 36:31) to priests (Gen 14:18; Ex 2:16). There are army commanders (Gen 21:22) and hunters (Gen 25:27), elders (Lev 4:15) and spies (Num 13:1), prophets (1 Sam 3:20) and perfumers (1 Sam 8:13), temple servants (Neh 3:26), and mighty men (Josh 8:3; Neh 11:14). We find military overseers (Neh 11:14), financial overseers (Neh 12:44); singers (Neh 12:45), gatekeepers (Neh 12:45); scribes (Neh 13:13); chiefs of staff (Esther 3:1); innkeepers (Luke 10:35), tax-collectors (Luke 15:1), tanners (Acts 10:6), merchants (Acts 16:14), poets (Acts 17:28), tentmakers (Acts 18:3), sailors (Acts 27:27), physicians (Mark 5:26), gardeners (John 20:15), teachers (Eph 4:12), evangelists (Eph 4:12), pastor-elders (1 Tim 3:1-8; 1 Pet 5:2), coppersmiths (2 Tim 4:4), lawyers (Titus 3:13), field laborers (James 5:4), harvesters (James 5:4), and much, much more. Wives and mothers were productive in child-rearing, food acquisition and preparation, clothing procurement, home-management and decor, servant-oversight, wealth creation, hospitality, and affliction-care (Prov 31:10-31; see also 1 Tim 5:10).
When God establishes Israel as a nation, he instructs them specifically on how to arrange and conduct their daily lives in relation to their daily work (Ex 20:8-11). Specifically, the Israelites were to spend six days each week engaged in productive labor for their families and for the nation.
The work with which Israelites were to be occupied would have included a variety of employments, all of which were necessary for the economic stability and general health of the nation. God’s people were to spend the majority of their lives engaged in fruitful occupations in their creation calling to exercise dominion over the earth, subdue it, and make it useful for themselves and others (Gen 1:27-31). The structure of their workweek was patterned after God’s own workweek: a six-to-one ratio of work to rest. The task of exercising dominion—what God created mankind to do—was to be the main part of a Jew’s life.
A Bustle of Activity
Today there are many of the same employments as the ones listed above (kings, army commanders, merchants, etc.) but we also have hardware and software engineers, mechanical engineers, program managers, teachers in a variety of fields, senators, congressmen, mechanics, venture capitalists, pilots, assembly line workers, entrepreneurs, salesmen, financial advisors, anesthesiologists, speech-language pathologists, chiropractors, pediatricians, cardiologists, fire-fighters, policemen, appliance repairmen, residential and commercial electricians, sportscasters, website designers, physical therapists, nurses, park rangers, orthopedic surgeons, veterinarians, accountants, managing editors, executives, occupational therapists, landscapers and gardeners, dermatologists, civil engineers and architects, various kinds of craftsmen like potters and carpenters. We have truck drivers and boat captains, and on and on and on.
It is obvious from the pages of Scripture and from a few moments of observing the bustle of activity that occurs every day that God has created this world to be a world of work—a place of useful productivity and mutual interdependence where my work serves my neighbor, and my neighbor’s work serves me.
Just think about your typical day as you drive around town. Everybody is either going to work, currently working, heading home from work, or making their way to a place where employees doing their jobs will supply what that person needs or wants. Consider with me what you would see on my typical driving routine when I drive up to the North Bay once a week to serve at the Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary.
First, I drop off my middle son at school where there are teachers, administrators, and custodians busy at work. I drive past a Safeway and CVS pharmacy and other businesses where people are working to supply customers with what they need. I drive past countless homes, apartments, and condos that were built by teams of people including electricians, contractors, plumbers, carpenters, drywallers, and stone masons. I cruise past gas stations, auto repair shops, medical plazas, restaurants, hair salons, banks, and window companies, eventually making my way across a bridge where under me I see cargo ships loaded to the brim with countless items to be distributed to businesses far and wide.
During the whole trek I’m driving on roadways and bridges constructed by civil engineers, pipelayers, truck drivers, and heavy-equipment operators in a truck that is the fruit of countless people working together to create a reliable automobile—from designers to assembly line workers to CEOs.
I come home to my wife who has been working from 6:00 a.m. to prepare food, clean clothes, plan meals, correspond with other parents, change bed sheets and comforters, purchase and organize household supplies, purchase curriculum, teach our other two kids math, science, reading, art, and history, clean the home, plan family outings, coordinate our church’s nursery team, host women’s Bible studies, prep food for fellowship meals, buy gifts for birthdays, baby showers, and anniversaries, clean the van, connect with children’s doctors, dentists, and athletic coaches and much more.
Work is Life and Life is Work
Here’s the point: Work is not some lesser activity on a scale of spiritual significance. Work is certainly not a result of the fall. Work is what we as humans were created to do and what we as Christians were re-created by the Spirit to do. Out of everyone in the world Christians should have an appropriate zest for work—a passion to do something productive for the glory of God and for the benefit of our neighbors.
Rather than a second-tier activity in comparison to so-called “spiritual” activities like evangelism, Bible studies, or ministry at church, work is a vital aspect of our walk with God. Indeed, it is not too much to say that work is life, and life is work. Most of the activity of our individual lives occurs in the context of work, whether that work is outside or inside the home. Most importantly, work is not a hindrance to your spiritual growth and spiritual health; it is a means to it.
Christians must count their daily work, then, not as a burden to be borne but a blessing to be enjoyed and used for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). Yes, work will always be beset with frustration and occasional futility this side of eternity, but we can still do our work heartily as unto the Lord (Col 3:23) for he has made us for it and given it to us as a gift to serve him and to serve our neighbor.
