Why Did God Create Man?
We were created in God's image and for relationship with Him
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth... And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
Why did God create man Was it for us to worship Him? Was He lonely?
No. God created man because to create us to be the object of His love was the best choice He could make for us. In other words, God created us for relationship; not because he was lonely or needy, but rather for us to know Him even at the risk that we would choose otherwise. For the chance to know God is worth any risk! God had no intention for man to fall and be separated from Him.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God did not need to be needed, and He is by no means co-dependent. God is Holy, complete in Himself. He created us for our benefit, not His.
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" Gen 3:8-9
“Where are you”? This is Gods question to us. We were Created for relationship with God. God did not create us because He needed anything from us. He was, is, and always will be complete in and of Himself.
From eternity past a perfect relationship has existed between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe that this unbroken perfect union is the very reason God has created us. God created us for our own good not His. He lacks nothing but rather has everything to give. It was the most loving choice that could be made to create mankind in order that He may share with us His perfect love.
I did not have children because I needed someone to be my subjects, but rather from a desire to share the love that my wife and I already shared with each other. If we as humans desire to share love just for loves sake how much more does our heavenly Father.
I have one question to ask on behalf of my beloved. He has been struggling with this question for some time basically in our conversations his question has been this,
" Why did God make man in the first place? If it was for relationship then that seems selfish. Besides if he is all knowing then he knew many would regect him and perish. Is the salvation of some individuals really worth an eternity of burning in hell for the rest? Why would God make men even when he knew some of his 'beloved children' would perish? Is that not suppose to break his heart? If he had never created Satan or mankind then all of this could have been avoided. Why then did he proceed with the creation?"
Well, for me the primary reason why God created man is found in Genesis 1:28. God bless them and God said to them " be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and rule over the fish of the sea and over birth of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the earth" this is the first mandate that God gave to man. If you check the meaning of the word subdue, it also means to guard, to control, to take charge. The word subdue explains that man is created into war and to war! Yes, there was war in heaven between God and lucifar with his subjects before they were sent down. So we can say God created man to take care of the beutiful garden as an extention of Gods kingdom.Then we can go ahead and say for love He took the risk of creating man like Him with free will and all that... And to be able to control this garden thats where the issue of relationship comes in. God knew that been in His image and likeness is not enough for man to carry on with the first mandate so he visited man for a relationship.
DS Chonoko
We are to subdue in the sense that we are to "rule over the fish of the sea and over birds of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the earth"
This passage here talks about fish and dirt not demons. Also the Bible doesn't say that there was war in heaven before the creation that is a hypothesis of St. Augustine. My personal belief is that Satan fell when he tempted Eve. After all that is when God cursed Him.
God made the garden a good place for man all that man needed in order for free will and therefor love to be possible is a choice; hence the two trees.
The reason Satan's fall is irredeemable and ours is redeemable is because it is he that tempted Adam and Eve. However because the stories of mankind and evil spirits are intertwined they are played out together in history and yes now we are in a war but that was never the design.
This is why (I believe) God choose to use the very Seed of the woman to crush the Devil.
Had Satan's fall been before the creation of the world there would be no reason for not immediately bringing judgment upon him, however because of free will and the fall of mankind we are where we are.
Not to mention that in Rev 22:1-5 it says that we will reign forever and ever once the curse is gone and Satan is thrown into the pit. Who will we be reigning over when there is no more enemy? Maybe fish and dirt :)
Gardeners by design lovers by choice. We are primarily a family, only soldiers for a time until the great divergence is over. Come Lord Jesus!
I read a book quite recently called 'The Meaning of Life' by James Rutz. This was purchased from a christian book shop, yet it tried to prove that God created man 'not because he was lonely but that was the closest example he could give'; and that god was desperate to demonstrate his love and mercy- which he could not do before he created man. He tried to support his claim with scripture, but it only frightenened me as I felt this proved God to be incomplete before creation.
I hate to say this, but I find the meaning of life overwhelms my thoughts as nothing in creation at times, can make me happy to be alive; I feel like some pawn on Gods chess board- but I know his there and I hope his not cross with me to write this.
If God is cross with you, then He would have been furious with David! Just read the psalms.
Instead David was called a friend of God! And I believe God looks on you with that same sparkle in His eye.
Kwame really answered well and I don't have anything to add. I would just be saying the same thing in a different way.
Hey Emma,
I'll really advice that, if you've put your faith in Christ and you are a Christian...
your number one concern should be developing that relationship you've began with Him...
The answer to the meaning of life will fall into place for you as you continue in your relationship.
God is a good God and He went through a lot to bring you back to himself... meaning that you are worth a lot in his eyes, in fact you are worth just as much as Jesus Christ in God's eyes...if you were worth even just a little less than Christ He would not have send Him to die on the cross for you.
So you are highly valued by the creator of the universe...Therefore you are not just a pawn on God's chessboard.
God's got a plan and destiny for you. He's including you Emma, in this magnitude plan of his.
The only way to know and recognise this is to develop your relationship with him...like any relationship; you take time to learn His ways, nature, character and His will. The more you get to know Him, the more you get to know yourself and the part He wants you to play in His plans.
It's only through him you'll find your true identity and worth, which in turns will gives you a purpose in whatever you do or wherever you are.
Therefore Creation cannot give you purpose nor meaning of life but rather the Creator will.
As i said before He's got a plan and destiny...It says in his word that those plans are for your good and to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
Now concerning this plans and Destiny....you'll have to co-operate with God for it to come to pass...let me explain.
Mel Fletcher (Awesome author and christian speaker... check him out on www.edges.tv or www.nextwaveonline.com) put it nicely...He said that Through Christ, God re-writes the plotline of our lives and we each become part of God's great story.
But it's a story in which we are not just characters but co-authors. As Christians, we believe in destiny, but not fate. There's a big difference?
Imagine a movie set where the director is a malevolent dictator. Now, imagine you're one of the star actors. You're creative and very experienced;
you have a lot to bring to the part. But you find that the action in every scene is totally proscribed by the director; he leaves you no room to express yourself. That's FATE.
Now, imagine the same movie set where the director is a benevolent mentor. He gives you a basic script and a picture of where he wants you to end up, but
he allows space for you to bring something to the part, to show your potential by helping to shape the character and story. That's DESTINY.
Because God is not a dictator in your life, without you co-operating with him, that great plan He's has for you might not come to pass. Even though that is not his intents for you.
God is a good father and like and any good father He desires for you to succeed in life. He's there to guide you and direct you on the right path, if you stray of the path, he'll bring you back on track again...there's nothing you can do to draw him away from you.. HE LOVES YOU THAT MUCH.
One of the great way to grow in your relationship with Him is be honest with him.. I note you said in you comment that you hope he's not cross with you by saying those comments.
God is not like that...He desires for you to be honest with him...Tell how you feel about life and him, your struggles… talk to him like you do to your best friend and he'll help you.
I Love the way the Message Bible put it in Romans 12:1-2
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God.
You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you".
Sorry I think I’ve gone on for too long…but my main point is that focus on your relationship with God and you’ll find purpose and meaning. Isn’t it amazing that the creator of the universe wants to have a relationship with us…
what a privilege…
I hope you also belong to a Bible believing church, where you can fellowship and grow in your relationship and understanding of God. It’s another important thing for every believer.
Emma, sorry for going on for too long but I hope you getting where I’m coming from.
Take care and don’t hesitate to contact me personally (k.poku@hotmail.com)
Thanks Kwame! No you haven't gone on too long, I wish you could keep going. You have challenged me to pray more, as I do struggle to see the loving God you know; probably because I see the angry god in the old testament and a loving one in the New.
Still searching for the right church, due to the last one following the 'Florida outpour'- which was well dodgy.
I am thankful to find this site as yourself and Craig have have helped explain so much.
Will never hesitate to contact you, thanks so much!! Emma
Since God is all powerful, we can assume he needed nothing. So creating us for a relationship would not benefit him in any way since he is all powerful. If he was complete and needed nothing, why create anything for any reason? Creating us for our sake wouldn't change God in anyway. Did he say "Oh, I'm going to be nice and create some other things so they exist and worship me."
Anonymous Tue, 03/03/2009 - 06:45 comments makes sense to me.
For God being all sufficient, creating us for relationship would not benefit him...which very true because God does not anything esp from man... just as paul said in Acts 17:25. THEREFORE IT CLEAR TO SAY THAT GOD DID NOT CREATE MAN FOR HIS BENEFIT.
Then if God created us for our benefit/our good....that in itself does not make sense (perfectly)... Why does man needs to exist? If we didn't exist we wouldn't need any benefit/good from God and therefore this cannot be the core/entire purpose for creating us. (Something had to exist before it can of good to others or be a recipient of good from others)
SO GOOD CREATING US FOR OUR OWN BENEFIT STILL DOES NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION.(at least for me)
There still gotta be a bigger reason/purpose than that.
Ephessians 1:4-6 helped me get a broader understanding on why God created us.
Reading it in context shows that God had us (man) in mind before the creation of the world to adopt us into his family. Romans 8:29 shows that God predestined us to be just like his 1st born son Jesus Christ.
Colosians 1:15-18 & Revelations 1:5 shows that Jesus Christ is the beginning of all things and the also became the 1st born from the dead (1st born to receive the resurrected body) just like we would.
Therefore in reality of these scriptures it can be seen that the plan of God from the beginning is to enlarge his family. Therefore man was created to be included in Him (i.e. His family, which is the Godhead) but not in equality as God (like the Father, Son and Holy spirit). but as Beings reigning and serving with Christ. 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 5:10, 20:6, 22:5. This actually shows why Angels who are also created beings but more powerful than Humans are ministering spirits to serve us (Man) for they are not included in the immediate family of God like us.
So for me looking at scripture in it's entirety gives a perfect reason why God created Man; TO BE INCLUDED IN HIS FAMILY...FOR IT WAS HIS GOODWILL AND PLEASURE THAT WE WERE MADE.
FOR INDEED WE WERE CREATED BY AND FOR HIM.
I really hope this helps at least in a little way to broader the answer to this questions.
And also Emma hopes this gives more scriptures on God's intent purpose for making you:-)
God bless you all
Hey Kwame,
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
I completely agree with you that it was God's intent that we be included in His family, and thanks for pointing out the scriptures you did especially Ephesians 1:4-6.
As far as the argument you raise that:
"If we didn't exist we wouldn't need any benefit/good from God and therefore this cannot be the core/entire purpose for creating us."
I don't see how this changes the argument that I raise that we were not created for His benefit but ours. Even though we did not yet exist, that doesn't mean God didn't create us for our own benefit, considering that He is the designer and knows beforehand what the designed will need, and that He meets that need.
And that benefit is; "having predestined us to adoption" into His family, or as I said in the article, for relationship.
I think we agree on this really. My point is not to leave room for someone to say that God's family wasn't big enough or incomplete in someway before creation.
Could we possible say that God created man for man's own benefit, and that benefit is to be included into His Family, for relationship with Him and others.
What do you think?
Hey Craig,
Thanx for your reply to my comments...
Sorry, i don't think i made myself clear enough concerning the comments on your article.
I definitely agreed with you that God made us for our benefits and you right my comments is actually saying the same thing as you said in your article...my point is only to broaden or elaborate on the truth that we were made for relationship with God....Relationship can be of many different ways...but for us it's to be within the immediate family and therfore the purpose for creating us goes beyound this world....because He (God) is not of this world.
So YES we do agree on the same thing.
PS: I'm actually doing a study on this issue (that's what got me on this site) and God's showing me that His intent for creating us is for enternity (His plan for Mankind has never changed from the beginning....Everything that have occur in this world from creation[including the fall] haven't altered His plans...His plans still stands inspite of them. His plans really endures forever. Psalm 33:11.
I STAND IN AWE OF THAT:-)
Amen! I am sure we would all love to see the result of your study, feel free to post a link here when you are done.
We were created for God Col 1:16 and for God's pleasure Rev 4:11.
I too find comfort in your answer, but would also like some backup from Gods word, as to whether he made me for his benefit or mine. I find life very hard at the best of times.
Hey Emma, thanks for your comment and the encouragement. I will try to address both things you brought up in your comment.
1. Some backup from Gods word.
Of course you want some backup from Gods word :) The only problem with that is there isn't a scripture that I know of that says. God created man because of ......... So because of this we have to give it our best educated guess as we do with a lot of issues. Like for example is it right or wrong to do drugs? The Bible doesn't make a statement on this issue because it wasn't as far as I know a big problem back in the day. So we have to look at it in view of the principles found in the Bible such as: If our bodies are given to us by God then we aught to take care of them etc...
On the issue of why God created man we have to look at His character and nature. We know that the Bible teaches that God is complete and Holy. So if this is so then it is not possible that He created us because of any need that He had. To say otherwise is to sat that He was not complete before creation and therefore not Perfect. Therefore it is not possible that God created us for His own good because that contradicts the word, and because we know He is loving He must have created us for own good!
2. I will make this a quick answer for now and write another blog later covering it in more detail. The short answer is yes life is hard and this world has some major problems but this is not Gods fault it is mans. Now I know that brings up a lot of questions but I just can't answer them here.
God Bless!
Thanks for getting back to me Craig, again your answer brings great peace. I just wish you could write a book as I found that many like me struggle with this question. It doesn't help when we read 'so called Christian' books claiming God was lonely or we were purely made to worship him as this is claimed in the Bible.
God Bless you and your family too!
I have asked myself this same question many times over the years, It was first posed not as a question but as a atatement many years ago by my father - he gave a reason that was at the time satisfactory, I have yet to challenge him directly on this, but as I said it keeps coming back!
Recently I asked this question on the web but your response comes the closest to the statements made by my father - many years ago! Others seem to want to make excuses, give weak examples of questions posed in the Bible and then have unconnected explanations to even these examples.
I am looking for any chapter/ verified document that can explain.
I think I addressed your 'looking for a chapter' in my reply to Emma's comment.
Thanks for the comment and the kind words!
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