Summary: In conservative evangelical biblical theology, the meaning of life is not self-invented but God-given: humanity exists to know God, image God, love God, obey God, and participate in His purposes in creation and redemption.

At the exegetical level, Scripture grounds life’s meaning in creation itself. Humanity is made in the “image” of God – Hebrew tselem [image, representation] and demut [likeness, resemblance] in Genesis 1:26-28 – which means human life is structurally relational, moral, and representative, not autonomous. We are not self-originating beings who later choose a purpose; we are creatures whose being already carries assignment. Ecclesiastes moves toward the same conclusion: “Fear God and keep his commandments” (Eccl 12:13, ESV), not as bare duty, but as alignment with reality as it truly is. In New Testament terms, all things are “through him and for him” (Col 1:16, ESV), and “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom 11:36, ESV). The Greek telos [goal, end, purpose] of life is therefore God Himself: His glory, Greek doxa [glory, manifested worth], and covenant fellowship with Him. Metaphysically [concerning the structure of reality itself], this means reality is not a neutral field in which humans manufacture significance. Reality is ordered, personal, moral, and God-directed. Meaning exists because creation proceeds from divine wisdom and returns to divine judgment and consummation.

At the psychological-spiritual level, the soul finds meaning not in mere pleasure, productivity, survival, or self-expression, but in rightly ordered love. Jesus condenses human purpose into loving God wholly and loving neighbor rightly (Matt 22:37-40). This means the will [faculty of choosing], affections [loves and desires], and mind must be reoriented from self as center to God as center. Sin is therefore not only rule-breaking; it is ontological [about being] dislocation and spiritual misdirection, where the creature seeks life in what cannot bear the weight of ultimacy. The divine perspective is that life means participating in God’s moral order, reflecting His character, and receiving redemption so that the damaged image is renewed in Christ, the true eikon [image] of God (cf. Col 1:15; Rom 8:29). Practically, the meaning of life is to live every sphere – worship, work, love, truth-telling, dominion, sacrifice, holiness, and hope – under God’s lordship, so that human existence becomes a faithful correspondence between what God made man to be and what man, by grace, is called to become.

QUESTION: Following on: When great suffering occurs, unfortunately humans question this definition. Explain from the deepest philosophical perspective, in 2-3 paragraphs: What is the meaning of life in the light of great suffering?

Summary: In the light of great suffering, the meaning of life does not disappear, but is clarified. Life still means knowing God, imaging God, and being brought into faithful communion with Him; however, suffering reveals that this meaning is not grounded in comfort, control, or earthly flourishing, but in covenant relationship with God and final resurrection hope.

At the exegetical and ontological [being-level] level, Scripture presents suffering as a feature of a fallen yet still God-governed world, not as proof that life is meaningless. Romans 8 says creation was “subjected to futility” and is now “groaning together” as it waits for redemption (Rom 8:20-23, ESV). The key Greek term mataiotes [futility, frustration, transience] indicates that creation no longer yields its intended fullness with ease; it is disordered by the fall, yet not abandoned by God. Ecclesiastes uses the Hebrew hebel [vapor, enigma, fleetingness] to describe the broken texture of life under the sun. Thus, suffering does not mean reality is absurd in the atheistic sense; it means reality is damaged, morally fractured, and awaiting consummation. Metaphysically [concerning the structure of reality], suffering is parasitic, not original: it is a distortion of the good creation, not the final truth of existence. Therefore the meaning of life in suffering is not to extract pleasure from pain or pretend pain is good, but to remain aligned with God’s reality when visible conditions appear to deny His goodness.

At the psychological-spiritual level, great suffering forces the soul to confront what it believes life is for. If life’s meaning is pleasure, success, health, recognition, or earthly stability, suffering destroys that framework; but if life’s meaning is God Himself, then suffering, though grievous, cannot finally nullify meaning. This is why Job’s trial is so profound: the question is whether God is worthy apart from His gifts. The New Testament frames this as hypomone [endurance, steadfast remaining under] and pistis [faith, trustful fidelity]. Paul says that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17, ESV), not because affliction is trivial in itself, but because resurrection glory outweighs it categorically. From the divine-perspective level, God does not delight in evil as evil, yet He permits suffering within a world where genuine creaturely freedom, moral formation, judgment, mercy, and redemptive display are all real. In that light, the meaning of life in great suffering is this: to cleave to God truthfully, to refuse the lie that pain is ultimate, to have the will [faculty of choice], affections [loves and desires], and hope purified through trial, and to bear witness that man’s final good is not found in present ease but in union with God and future bodily redemption.