Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Commentary
This question captures the very purpose for which humanity was created, answering the deepest question of existence: man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. To glorify God means to reflect His infinite worth in every thought, word, and deed, ascribing to Him the honor due His name as the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of all things. Whether eating, drinking, working, or worshiping, the believer is called to do all to the glory of God, making life itself an act of praise that displays His character and attributes before a watching world. This purpose is not burdensome but liberating, for it rescues man from the futility of self-centered living and aligns him with the ultimate reality that all things exist for God’s praise.
To enjoy Him forever means that glorifying God and delighting in Him are inseparable. True enjoyment of God is the result of beholding His supreme beauty, goodness, and grace, finding in communion with Him the satisfaction that no created thing can provide. The soul’s deepest longings are met not in fleeting pleasures or worldly achievements but in knowing and savoring the triune God who reveals Himself as infinitely worthy of love. This enjoyment begins through faith in Christ, as the believer tastes the sweetness of forgiveness, adoption, and the indwelling Spirit, yet it reaches its fullness in the eternal state where the redeemed will behold Him face to face without hindrance or distraction.
In a fallen world that constantly tempts man to pursue lesser ends, this truth reorients the entire Christian life toward its proper end. Trials become opportunities to trust God’s goodness more deeply; obedience stems from delight rather than mere duty; and evangelism springs from a desire that others might share in this supreme joy. The regenerate heart, once enslaved to sin’s empty promises, now finds its rest and fulfillment in glorifying and enjoying the only Being who can truly satisfy forever. Thus, this single sentence summarizes the heartbeat of biblical Christianity: life finds its meaning, joy, and consummation in the God who made man for Himself.
Scripture Proofs
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26).
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689
16.2: These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith; and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness they may have the end eternal life.