How Then Should We Work? Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Work

by Hugh Whelchel

How to Live a Life of Significance

..". If you had asked me to describe the work I was doing that was important to God, I would have told you about my work in the lay leadership of my church, the adult Sunday school class that I taught, and the work I did with Christian non-profit groups. I secretly envied pastors, missionaries, and others who got to work 'full time' for God. I saw little to no connection between what I did as a businessman and God's Kingdom ..."

Have you ever felt like what you do the majority of the week at work may not have any value to God? Many Christians struggle to find any meaning in their work. Many are taught it's just a place to share your faith or earn a paycheck to donate to missions. Businessman Hugh Whelchel was just that guy but knew there had to be more. His thorough biblical investigation reveals the eternal significance of work within the grand biblical story of God's mission throughout history.

Discover:

- The rich biblical meaning of work--from Genesis to Revelation

- The difference between work, vocation, and calling as a Christian

- The history of the Christian view on work

- The call to "reweave shalom" through your job

Genres: Christian, Theology, Faith, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Business, School

172 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2012

About the author

As Executive Director of the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (IFWE) located in McLean, VA, Hugh Whelchel brings a unique combination of executive responsibility, creative educational administration, and technical innovation from over thirty years of diverse business experience. Almost a decade ago, Hugh stepped out of a successful business career in the IT industry to share his experience of turning around unprofitable companies with Reformed Theological Seminary’s struggling Washington, DC, campus where he served as Executive Director and guest professor.

In addition to his business acumen, Hugh has a passion and expertise in helping individuals integrate their faith and vocational calling. He is the author of How Then Should We Work? Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Work, released in May 2012. Hugh is a contributor to The Washington Post/On Faith “Local Leaders” website and has been published on The Gospel Coalition.org and ByFaith Online. He has also been a guest on Moody Radio Network’s “In the Market with Janet Parshall,” Salem Radio Network, IRN/USA Radio Network, and Truth in Action Ministries’ “Truth That Transforms,” and the “Jack Riccardi Show,” among other shows.

In addition to serving on the board of several Christian non-profits, Hugh has served as the Executive Director and board member of The Fellows Initiative, an umbrella organization supporting and establishing church-based Fellows Programs which are designed to help young adults understand God’s vocational calling on their lives as they enter their careers.

A native Floridian, Hugh earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Florida and a Master of Arts in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary. Hugh and his wife Leslie now live in Loudoun County, Virginia. As an ordained ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, he serves in leadership at McLean Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia. In what little spare time he has, Hugh enjoys hiking, golfing, and restoring old sports cars.

Reviews

[Justin Tapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Then Should We Work?: Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Work.
Hugh Whelchel is Executive Director of the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics in Virginia (their blog is here).

Like Tim Keller's book (my review), Whelchel quotes from a large number of earlier works (including Keller) on fleshing out a consistent doctrine of work and vocation. I found Whelchel's work helpful in a few areas.

First, he does a good job spelling out the problem of the modern church in expressing a full "Four- Chapter Gospel" that includes God's reason for creation and the "Cultural Mandate" of Genesis-- to subdue the earth and bring things out of it. Whelchel argues that Dispensationalism arising out of the Great Awakening movements of the 1800s created a harmful "Two-Chapter Gospel" that focuses only on personal sin and salvation rather than the role of all creation in God's redemption plan.

"The gospel, when understood in its fullness, is not solely about individual happiness and fulfillment; it is not all about me. 'It is not just a wonderful plan for ‘my life’ but a wonderful plan for the world; it is about the coming of God’s kingdom to renew all things.'"


The Great Commission rolls into the Cultural Mandate:

"The difference between the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission is that the former precedes the fall and the work of Christ; the latter follows these. Otherwise they are very much the same. Of course, it is not possible for people to subdue the earth for God until their hearts are changed by the Holy Spirit...When you answer God’s call to use your gifts in work, whether by making clothes, practicing law, tilling the field, mending broken bodies, or nurturing children, you are participating in God’s work. God does not only send ministers to give the world sermons; He sends doctors to give medicine, teachers to impart wisdom and so on."



In this, Whelchel harkens back to Francis Schaeffer's work as well as Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey's How Now Shall We Live? which was a big influence on me in college. I think Whelchel does a better job than Keller in researching Luther and Calvin's attitudes towards work, as well (he at least includes more quotes from them). Towards the end, he also cites H. Richard Niebuhr's models for Christian engagement of culture, arguing that too many churches have taken either a defense and separatist attitude (Anabaptists and Mennonites), or a "Christ against the culture" mentality (liberation theology). Instead of Christians need to engage the culture at all levels and in all areas. This is best done in all aspect of their everyday lives, including their life at work:


"The fifth and final alternative is 'Christ the Transformer of Culture.' Proponents of this view include the “conversionists” who attempt “to convert the values and goals of secular culture into the service of the kingdom of God.”194 Augustine, Calvin, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, John Knox, Ulrich Zwingli, Abraham Kuyper and Francis Schaeffer are the chief proponents of this last view."


"Until Christians embrace the Biblical doctrine of work, they will remain ineffective, because they will continue to practice a separation of faith and work which leaves them helpless to impact the culture around them for the glory of God and the furtherance of His Kingdom...most evangelical Christians today have no idea that their daily work has anything to do with the Kingdom of God. Paul Marshall in his book Heaven Is Not My Home argues that the escapist attitude of many American Christians has been shaped by a false eschatology which teaches that our eternal destiny is in heaven."

Whelchel and Keller have just about sold me on covenant theology at this point, and I am pondering whether I should become a Presbyterian along their lines.

Another contribution of Whelchel is to explain primary calling versus secondary callings. Our primary calling is to follow Christ, period. No other Gods before Him. All Christians have that calling, but we all have separate but equal secondary callings-- to our vocations, our local church, and to civic society. His treatment of the term "vocation" was helpful to me.

"Our vocational calling from God to the workplace is something above a job or even a career. Out of the primary calling of God flow secondary calls to action in certain areas of our lives.
Vocational calling stays the same as we move in and out of different jobs and careers. Our vocational calling is directly related to the discovery of our God-given talents."


We all may have many different jobs in our lives along a particular career path, but it should fulfill the vocation in which we feel called. For some, this may mean entrepreneurship, for others foreign service, for others building and designing things, or working with children, etc. We are to use our God-given talents to reflect the glory of God and spread the Kingdom wherever we're at. Yet, far too often the Church (particularly the Southern Baptist kinds with which I am most familiar) say things like:


“'Did you hear Joe Smith has left his job at the bank to go into fulltime Christian service as a pastor?'” That would be an example of the Catholic Distortion, which devalues vocational work in the eyes of God."

Calvin wrote, “We know that people were created for the express purpose of being employed in labor of various kinds, and that no sacrifice is more pleasing to God than when every person applies diligently to his or her own calling, and endeavors to live in such a manner as to contribute to the general advantage.”

Whelchel, like Keller, concludes:


There is no distinction between spiritual and temporal, sacred and secular. All human work, however lowly, is capable of glorifying God...God intends your work to contribute to the restoration of the creation, and the people in it, to raising life on this blue planet to higher states of beauty, goodness, and truth, reflecting the glory of God in our midst...Our Christian calling finds no separation between the secular and the sacred. To God, what we do on Sunday is no more important or spiritual than what we do on Monday. Everything we do should be unified in obedience to God and for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).


The thoughts on this book are mostly clear, though some points could have included a bit more clarity. There were some typos toward the end, the conclusion had a hasty feel to it. But I highly recommend it, 4 stars out of 5.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

just okay for what jt is. a collection of quotes organized to convince someone who thinks your 9-5 doesn’t have purpose in the christian worldview. perhaps i came with too high expectations,
- form: too many quotes too little synthesis to where it felt disjointed (although some great quotes from vos, keller, calvin, sayers, etc)
- content: fine, but just enough for someone to say “okay maybe my 9-5 should be lived for the kingdom” but not enough to present any “how do i do that?” besides “do good work”

keller is a better basic intro to work
hamilton is a better survey of the biblical theological theme of work/labor
minich/redemer is a better survey of theological approaches to modern work

[Bill Pence · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is the Executive Director of the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics and has a passion and expertise for helping people integrate their faith and vocational calling, or work. He wrote this book as a simple Biblical primer on integrating our faith and work. His purpose is to explore the Biblical intersection of faith and work, attempting to help us understand the differences between work, calling, and vocation and how they should be biblically applied in our daily lives.
He writes that for many Christians work is often only a means to an end. They have bought into the belief that leisure is good and work is bad. They also believe that working in the church is the only “real” fulltime Christian service. However, he states that believers must learn not just to work to live, but to live to work for the glory of God. No church-related work or mission is more spiritual than any other profession such as law, business, education, journalism, or politics. He writes that the church has failed to understand and respect the secular vocation.
He looks at four areas related to the Biblical doctrine of work in the book:
The Biblical understanding of work as outlined in the Old and New Testaments.
The history of the doctrine of work as experienced by the church during the last 2000 years.
Defining the Biblical principle of all work as calling and how we are to live our lives in the light of that truth.
The future, offering some direction for rediscovering the lost Biblical doctrine of work and how our vocational calling can help us impact our communities, cities and our world by helping to restore the culture to the glory of God.
The author writes that the significance of our work is directly related to its connection with God’s work. He states that when we answer God’s call to use our gifts in our vocational calling, we are participating in God’s work.
I found this to be a very good book to help me integrate my faith and work.

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good book and a reminder that we are primarily called to be Jesus followers, this should be the basis of all our work. There’s a false divide between sacred and secular because God is the God of all and all things including our jobs should be done to Gods glory.
Also, every good work will be redeemed in new creation.

It could have been a smaller book as lots of ideas kept being repeated

[Cory Shumate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best intro to theology of work I’ve read

Out of the half dozen or so popular level theology of work books I’ve come across, this one takes the cake. It combines great history, theology, and practice. If I were to choose one book to hand out to congregants on the topic of work, this is it.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whelchel recaptures Schaeffer's tone in How Should We Then Live and makes biblical and logical extensions to our call to work to glorify God and engage the culture His image-bearers live in and create.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid perspective shift for how we individually work for the Kingdom of God, and are capable of making a difference in light of Matthew 25:14-30.

[Joel Ohman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very, very good. Highly recommended reading for all Christians who want to understand how they can find true and lasting meaning in their daily work, and in all that they do, no matter how seemingly insignificant. In some respects, this book was even better than "Every Good Endeavor" by Tim Keller, which is a big compliment coming from me. This book is a quick read, but it covers a LOT. Here are some quick highlights that I enjoyed:

- We should fully integrate God’s call on our lives into all areas of our life. There is not a sacred/secular divide, but Jesus Christ is Lord of all. The work we do is not just a means to an end, but has intrinsic worth. Work itself is valuable, ordained by God, and good. All work should be done for the glory of God and for love of neighbor.

- Thesis statement from pg 4: The purpose of this book is to explore the intersection between faith and work, attempting to understand the differences between work, calling, and vocation and how they should be Biblically applies in our daily lives.

- The Christian view of work has changed over the years and now requires a recovery of the proper Biblical doctrine of work. The early church understood all work as having inherent value as it was ordained by God. However, over the years, due to monastic influence, and other influences, this high view of work was diminished. Today, a recovery of the proper Biblical doctrine of work is needed.

- Five key ideas about work are introduced: The Four-Chapter Gospel, The Cultural Mandate, The Kingdom of God, and the Biblical Meaning of Success.

- The author’s emphasis on the four-chapter gospel message as contrasted to the pitfalls of a truncated two-chapter gospel is very insightful (i.e. we often emphasize only the Fall-->Redemption chapters of God's story in the Bible, which spans from Creation-->Fall-->Redemption-->Restoration). One sees the impact this way of thinking has, on not only one’s doctrine of vocation, but on one’s personal evangelism methods and much more.

- Following Christ will have a transformational effect on all of life, including our vocational calling.

- The Biblical doctrine of work is one of the most powerful means God provides for us to shape and influence culture for the good of all mankind and for the glory of God.

[Stinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I would have rated this book higher if not going into it with the expectation level I did. This book is not so much a strictly Scriptural or Christian philosophical approach to working, though it certainly has plenty of those elements, as it is a Reformed view of work. Current and 16th century Reformed theologians are quoted ad nauseum; in fact, seemingly one-third of the book is straight quotation. Much of the book is simply a rehash of others' opinions without much digestion offered by the author. For someone not of the Reformed belief system, a subtitle such as "A Reformed View of Labor" or some such script would have been helpful in determining interest in reading this book. Still, there are certainly nice nuggets of truth to be gleaned from this read, primarily those from Scripture.

[Mike Banh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much easier read than Tim Keller's "Every Good Endeavor", however, it's just as thought provoking! It's not as comprehensive as Keller's book, but Whelchel does an excellent job in explaining the Biblical Doctrine of Work (i.e. all work is God's work and essential for building God's kingdom and renewing culture)! I highly recommend it!

[Steve Godfrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic resource for transforming how a Christian approaches work. Our work, no matter how menial or seemingly inconsequential, is part of God's grand plan to redeem the world to Himself. This changes everything.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great treatment of how Christians should view and pursue work in light of a biblical worldview.