Is work a curse or a blessing? John Piper answers
Is work meant to be a punishment for mankind or a blessing to glorify God? Famous theologian and head of the Desiring God website, John Piper, recently tackled this question.
In an episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast posted Monday, a listener identified as Travis asked, “Can you tell me whether our work today is a blessing or a curse?”
“Much of our work seems to be cursed, based on Genesis 3. But a lot of our work also seems to be a God-given blessing, according to Ecclesiastes. According to the Bible, is my nine-to-five job a blessing, or is it a curse?” Travis added.
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Piper responded by noting that Genesis 2 identifies God’s creation of the world as “work,” and so the theologian explained that “work was not a curse for God” and that “God is not cursed; He’s not burdened; He’s not frustrated; He’s not coerced to do what he does not wish to do.”
“From the beginning, work was not a curse. It was a God-like gift, a blessing. The essence of work, as God designed it before the fall into sin, was creativity: creative, productive doing, arranging, making,” Piper said, who then referenced man being called to work in the Garden of Eden.
“Man would flourish in working the garden; the garden would flourish in being worked. It would be beautifully satisfying — not frustrating, not burdensome, not futile. That’s work before the fall: thrilling, satisfying, creative.”
Piper added that while it was “not accurate to say that work is a curse,” it was accurate “to say that the futility and frustration and burdensomeness and painfulness of work is a curse.”
Piper cited Genesis 3:17-19, which describes a punishment for sin to be that the work of tending to the field would become what Piper described as “futile, burdensome, frustrating.”
“From the beginning, we were made for work — shaping, creating, subduing the world according to the wisdom and goodness and beauty of God,” concluded Piper. “This was not — it is not — a curse; it is a blessing. And I think it will last happily forever.”
Minister and author Jerry Newcombe wrote an op-ed published by The Christian Post in 2015 on the issue of work, likewise rejecting the idea that work in and of itself was a “curse,” instead writing that “all work is good if done unto God.”
“We are designed to work and labor gives meaning and purpose to everyday lives. We are commanded to work,” wrote Newcombe.
“Work came before the fall of man. It's made harder by the fall, but work itself is not a curse. It's just that everything, including work, is under a curse.”
