Contemporary Issues on Wealth Creation and Financial Management, Ibadan:

Baptist press, 2018, 31-40.

A Theology Of Work 1
John O. Enyinnaya, PhD2
johnenyinnaya2000@yahoo.com
Key words: Theology of work, work, vocation.

Introduction

I am happy to be able to contribute this paper in spite of the constraints of time. Two

motivations have been responsible for helping me through. First is the desire to

honour a friend. Dr Moses Adebayo has been a friend and a ministry supporter. I am

glad to be able to finally do this. Second, is the fact that I have long been interested

in the subject of work especially since coming into contact with the Reformation

notion of vocation. For a long time the church restricted the idea of vocation to

persons involved in gospel ministry. The Reformers expanded this to include what

was regarded as secular work. Thus every Christian is urged to see their work,

whatever it may be, as a calling from God, a vocation to be carried out as ministry to

God and humanity. This perspective will govern our discussions in this paper.

Work may be defined as a job or activity done regularly especially in order to

earn money. 1 Defined this way work will include everything we do on a regular basis.

Some people work for the government (public or civil servants); others work for

corporations, organizations or institutions that focus on different areas of the

economy (private sector). Still others work for themselves (self employed). We must

add that contrary to the impression given by the definition above, work does not
1
Citation info rmation: John O. Enyinnaya, (2018), “A Theology of Work” in Testimony On ifade,
Helen Oyekan mi and Bawo Etchie, eds. Contemporary Issues on Wealth Creation and Financial
Management, book in honour of Rev. Dr. & Mrs Moses B. Adebayo, Ibadan: Baptist press, 31 -40.
2
John Enyinnaya is Professor of Theology and Dean of the Postgraduate School at the Nigerian Baptist
Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

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always attract payment as some people volunteer their services to organizations in

whose course they believe. Even a home-making mother is involved in an important

work. All of these are encapsulated in what we are describing here as work.

The rest of this paper is divided into two sections: a theological section and

an application section. The first section is hinged on two main theological key posts:

the theme of creation and recreation and the theme of the kingdom of God.

Work as a Creation Mandate

When humans work they do so as proof that they are made in the image of God and

in imitation of God. Work is a creation mandate given to humans by God. However, it

is not just that God commanded work, he showed the way. At the onset of biblical

revelation is a big sign that reads GOD AT WORK. The Bible opens with the

magisterial declaration “In beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”

(Genesis 1:1). The universe is the result of his sublime work. God did not only work in

the past, i.e. at creation, he is still at work today s ustaining the world that he has

made. Deism erroneously conceived the world as running on its own without

supernatural interference2. According to deism, God initiated creation and set it in

motion to run on its own. However, the Bible states otherwise: “My Father is working

until now”, Jesus said, “and I am working” (John 5:17, ESV).

In the passage above, Jesus was responding to Jewish leaders who had

accused him of breaking the law by healing a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-

eight years. The healing took place on a Sabbath. Jesus’ response here makes two

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points, among others. First, Jesus was saying that his work, and by extension all

human work in an ideal sense, is predicated on God’s work. God is still at work and so

must his children. Second, Jesus seems to be saying what is unexpected here, namely

that our work is part of our worship. This perspective is important for our discussion

because many people do not always see their work as having anything to do with

their relationship with God not to talk of being a part of their worship of God. A

worldview that sees work as part of the believer’s worship of God changes

everything in terms of Christian understanding of work.

Interestingly, the Christians believe that humans were created to glorify God.

God created humans to have a relationship with him and to worship him. Work is an

aspect of that mandate. According to Genesis 2:5, there was no one to “work the

earth” before the creation of humans. When humans were created God gave them

the task to work the garden and to keep it (Genesis 2: 15). It is interesting to me that

the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) used the same word

Jesus used to describe God’s work in John 5: 17 (ergazomai) to describe man’s work

in Genesis 2: 15. Work therefore is not just one of the ways that humans worship and

glorify God but also a way they resemble and imitate the Creator.

It must also be noted that the injunction for man to “work and keep the

garden” (Genesis 2: 15) occurs before the fall. Work was not a punishment for sin. It

was not a by-product of the fall. It was a part of God’s original plan for humans by

which they will find fulfillment and contribute their quota to the accomplishment of

the divine plan on earth. We cannot say from this that work is the goal of human life.

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Man was not placed in the garden purely to work. But we can say that work is one of

the ways humans honor or glorify God 3. Dennis Bakke goes on to point out that all

legitimate human endeavours must be included in the work to which humans are

enjoined: work that involves the ideas, services and products that come from the

imaginations of people: “All work that results in food, clothing, shelter, rest or

recreation, beauty, and a host of other worthy ends can be acts of worship to God

and seen as valuable contributions to society.” 4 For Bakke, these activities can be as

sacred as rearing children, teaching school, or even carrying out priestly duties. 5

What has been said above about the sanctity of work may be queried on

account of the fall. Genesis 3:16-19 pronounces God’s judgment on humans

following the fall. As we hinted earlier, work was not the punishment God meted out

to Adam and Eve. God did not decree work as a result of the fall. Work was part of

the pre-fall arrangements of God. It was the work environment God cursed as a

result of human sin. From now on, man’s work was going to involve hardship and

frustration. Instead of the abundance and bountiful returns on labour, humans were

going to have to go through much pain before finding sustenance for themselves.

This is not the end of the story however. Redemption has come to humans. In

Christian theological parlance, the Christ-event and the salvation it makes possible

stands for God’s restoration of creation from the destruction and curse the fall

occasioned. That is what I refer to here as re-creation. Whereas the full restoration of

creation still awaits a future fulfillment, 6 it has already begun. As the redeemed of

the Lord, we may not be able now to re-create the perfect work environment of

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Eden, but we have been given the ability to make our work environments as close to

Eden’s standard as possible.7

Work as Missions mandate

The second theological key post to our discussion is focused on the believer’s
kingdom mandate. I used kingdom here to describe the Christian’s role in the world
arising from the church’s mission. Kingdom is used to avoid the discussion of the

church’s mission or ecclesiology derailing into an ecclesiastical understanding of

work.
An advert used to publicize a recent movie on the early church has this
statement about the early believers: “Their faith challenged an empire; their words
changed the world”. To anyone who is familiar with the biblical account of the first

generation of Christians this statement is an apt description of their life and work.
This first century church shows us what it means to be the church in the true sense of
the term. Their faith (their relationship with God, their lives) and their words (their
proclamation) were the tools they used to turn the world upside down. It was in the
ordinary, regular situations of life that their faith was manifest. As they travelled for

business and work, they took their faith with them. That is the brand of Christianity
that is required to transform our societies and our world.
Elsewhere, I have described the church as “a universal clan (community), which
God is building around himself consisting of individuals to whom he has given birth
through faith in Jesus Christ and who are indwelt and sustained by the Holy Spirit”. 8

The church is God’s community, God’s habitat, the locus of God’s activity in the
world. I know that God cannot be confined within the church but the church is his
special creation by which God accomplishes his agenda in the world.
Theologians talk about the functions or roles of the church. Millard Erickson in his
book Christian Theology describes these functions in five dimensions: evangelism,

edification, worship, social ministry, and social concern. 9 In a recent edition of the
same book, he combined social ministry with social action to make four instead of
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five functions.10 Wayne Grudem, on the other hand, uses a three-fold description viz,
ministry to God, ministry to believers, ministry to the world. 11 Ministry to God
corresponds to Erickson’s worship function, ministry to believers corresponds to

edification while ministry to the world is equivalent to evangelism, social ministry

and social action. The church has duties towards God (vertical), towards its members
(horizontal and inward) and towards the world (horizontal and outward). The import
of this is that a church that wants to be a true and effective church must aim at
holistic ministry. These functions feed each other and help the church to be and to

do what it should be and do.

There is a biblical illustration of this. In Matthew 5: 13-16, Jesus described his
followers as salt of the earth and light of the world. The language of this passage
implies that Jesus was not talking about what Christians should be but what
Christians already are. It is not that the believers are supposed to be salt and light

but that they already are salt and light. By virtue of their connection to Christ they
are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The problem is that salt can lose
its saltiness and thus become useless and light can be hidden and thus become
ineffective. Where else is salt needed apart from a “salt-less” situation and where
else is light appreciated apart from a context of darkness.

The church spreads its light and becomes the salt of the earth through its
members who mingle with other people in the society, at work, at play, in the
neighborhoods and other aspects of their daily endeavour. As hinted in the
definition above, the term church does not refer to a building but to people. The
church may gather in the sanctuary on Sunday morning but during the week the

church is found at the offices, the homes, the schools, the business centers where
God’s people live and work. Where God’s people are found there the mission of the
church lives. This viewpoint is in tandem with the Reformation paradigm which sees
every legitimate duty or job carried out by Christians as their calling from God. I am
persuaded that if the church will lead its members to understand this truth then a

Copernican revolution would have been unleashed on our societies that will bring
dividends of eternal proportions.
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The theological rationale for work is found in the doctrinal pillars of creation and
redemption. God created humans and gave them the mandate to take care of his
creation. He did not just give the mandate alone he showed the example. Sin

corrupted the work environment thus making it unable to produce the satisfaction,
fulfillment and results originally intended. God has begun the process of restoration
which he will consummate in the eschaton. In the meantime he expects believers to
live out their faith by working towards re-creating their work environments to
resemble the picture seen at Eden. This is how the believer’s salvation can impact the

work place.

Relevance of a theology of work for Christian mission in the world

What are the implications of seeing our work from the perspective of creation and
redemption? Three of such implications will be briefly highlighted.

First, understanding work from the perspectives of creation and redemption

enunciated above helps a person approach his work as service to God. Because it is a
divinely ordained duty, work needs to be done in a way that pleases God, as part of
the believer’s worship of God. In order to please God by their work, believers should
make excellence their watchword as they seek to discharge their tasks. It is in this

way that the name of the Lord will be glorified by the work we do.
Second, approaching work from the perspectives of creation and redemption
helps us to see that all legitimate work is God’s work. By legitimate I am referring to
work which produces the glory of God and good to individuals and societies. As
pointed out by Bakke, such work results in “food, clothing, shelter, rest or recreation,

beauty, and a host of other worthy ends”. 12 All such work is God’s work because God
ordained them to serve the good of his creation. Martin Luther and his fellow
Reformers introduced into Christian vocabulary the extension of the idea of call to lay
Christians in so called secular employment. For Luther, it is not only the clergy that
are called; every Christian is called to represent God and his kingdom in their

different professions. So a Christian lawyer or doctor or engineer must consider

themselves as called of God to do what they do and as his ambassadors in their
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sphere of influence. This understanding is important for changing the situation where
a person sees himself or herself as a Christian only on Sundays.
Few days ago, precisely July 24 – 26, 2018, the maiden edition of the National

Civil Leadership Summit held at the Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State. The summit,
collaboratively organized by the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso,
the Bowen University, Iwo and the Nigerian Baptist Convention was to provide a
platform for equipping persons involved in leadership in government and various
sectors of the economy. A recurring theme at this summit was how Christians in all

works of life can discharge their duties in a way that brings about national
transformation 13. This is similar to what James Hunter refers to as “faithful presence,”
a situation in which a Christian sees their work, including the so-called secular jobs as
an opportunity to exercise godly influence for the glory of God and the
transformation of society. 14 This understanding is important if Christian influence will

be brought to bear on the way things are done in the various sectors of our national
life.
Third, understanding our work from the standpoints of creation and
redemption challenges the believer to work towards re-creating his work
environment in view of the ideal which God set out at Eden and which Christ came to

restore. The Bible portrays the pre-fall situation at Eden as paradise. Work was a part
of that paradise15. Work brought joy. There was good reward for labour. Humans
enjoyed a cordial relationship with God and among themselves. When humans fell,
such cordial relationships were destroyed. Humans became enemies of God and of
one another. What sin destroyed Jesus Christ came to restore. Believers can target

the re-creation of the work environment by bringing their faith to bear upon thei r
relationships at work and upon the discharge of their duties. They focus on putting
their best into assignments, doing their work in a way that affirms the humanity of
others, treating them according to biblical principles of relationship and making thei r
work serve the goals of God’s glory and societal benefit.

Conclusion
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The Bible introduced God to us as a God at work. Humans work because God
ordained it and by it they assist the Creator to superintend his creation. When
Christians see work as a part of their worship and mission and approach it with a

mind to glorify and honour God great dividends are realized.

Endnotes

1
Merriam Webster, electronic version

2
S. N. Williams, “Deism”, New Dictionary of Theology, eds. Sinclair B.

Ferguson and David F. Wright,( Leicester: Inter Varsity Press, 1998), 190.

3
Dennis W. Bakke, Joy at Work: a Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job,

(Seattle: PVG, 2005), 247.

4
Bakke, 248

5
Bakke.

6
John O. Enyinnaya, “Correlation between Sin and Suffering in the World:

Reflections on Romans 1 and 8”, Niger Delta Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 2, no.

1, May 2015, 114.

7
Bakke, 260

8
John O. Enyinnaya, God and the Church: Explorations in Contemporary

Ecclesiology, (Saarbruchen, Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishers, 2011), 164.

9
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985)

10
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013), 972.

11
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Leicester: Inter Varsity Press, 1994),

867-868.

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12
Bakke, 248.

13
For instance, Ademola Ishola, “Transformational Leadership of Daniel,”

paper prepared for the National Civil Leadership summit, Bowen University, Iwo, 24 -

26, July, 2018.

14
James Davison Hunter, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and the

Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, (New York: Oxford, 2010),

synopsis

15
Bakke, 260.

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