Why Did God Create Man?
Question:
What is God’s purpose in creating man?
Did He create him so that he might worship Him and glorify Him?
Answer:
For the sake of God’s existence and goodness, He created man so that he might enjoy existence.
God existed alone from eternity, and it was possible that man might not exist. Out of His generosity, God bestowed the grace of existence upon this non-being which He called “man,” so that he might enjoy existence.
God did not create him in order to worship Him and glorify Him, because God is not in need of a creature to glorify Him. Rather, His attributes glorify Him, and His divinity glorifies Him.
This is what the Gregorian Liturgy clarifies when man says to God within it: “You were not in need of my servitude, but I am the one in need of Your Lordship…”
Therefore, this creation took place for the sake of man, so that he might enjoy life, and if he conducts himself well in it, he may enjoy eternity.
It is God’s generosity that He has shared us in this existence in which He could have remained alone.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Seventh Year (Issue Three), 16-1-1976.
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