The Shorter Catechism's First Question: What Is the Chief End of Man?

Q1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: What is the chief end of man? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. These twenty words are among the most quoted in all of Christian catechetical history. They have been memorized by millions across four centuries of Presbyterian and Reformed Christianity.

Two Ends, Not One

The answer is not simply to glorify God. It is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This conjunction is crucial. Glorifying God and enjoying God are not in tension; they are the same thing rightly understood. Enjoying God is itself a form of glorifying Him, because He is most honored when His creatures delight in what He truly is.

What Chief End Means

Chief end means primary purpose: the telos of human existence, the answer to what human life is fundamentally for. Every other human good, achievement, relationship, and pleasure finds its proper meaning when ordered toward this chief end. Wealth, knowledge, creativity, love of family: all are good, but they are sub-ends that serve the chief end rather than replacing it.

A Counter to Modern Individualism

Modern culture often treats the chief end of man as self-actualization: finding and expressing your authentic self. The Shorter Catechism insists the self finds its fulfillment not in itself but in God. Human beings are made for something outside and beyond themselves, and they are most human when they are most oriented toward their Creator.