Don Stewart :: Did God Create Humanity Because He Needed Our Love?

Did God Create Humanity Because He Needed Our Love?

God and Us – Question 6

Oftentimes we hear people say that God created humanity because He needed someone to love. Since He is the only God who exists, He was alone, lonely by Himself. Therefore, He created the human race because He needed our love. Now that we exist He has someone to love and consequently He is no longer lonely.

Does God need our love? Did He create humanity because of some need? What does the Bible say about this important subject?

1. God Needs Nothing: He Is Complete in Himself

The answer to this question is simple. God did not create humanity because of His need for someone to love. God does not need anything to exist. He is adequate in Himself. His existence is not dependent upon angels, or human beings, for He is complete in Himself. Jesus said the following of God the Father.

“For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” (John 5:26 NKJV)

The God of the Bible is the only being who has life in Himself. He is totally independent of everything else.

The Apostle Paul, while speaking to people on Mars Hill in the city of Athens, affirmed God’s self-existence. He said,

“The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” (Acts 17:24, 25 NRSV)

He is the one who is the Creator of all things. Consequently, as Paul stresses here, the Lord needs nothing.

The God of Scripture says that “everything” belongs to Him. The Lord made the following statement that is recorded in the Book of Job.

“Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.” (Job 41:11 NASB)

The complete adequacy of God is a theme that is found in both the Old and New Testaments. Those who mistakenly think that God created humanity because He needed love do not fully comprehend the situation. He does not need us!

2. He Is a Trinity: There Has Been Love between the Members for All Eternity

There is something else that needs to be emphasized. Before angels or humankind were created there was God. God, by nature, is a Trinity. The Trinity is comprised of three distinct Persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

While there is only one God, within the nature of the one God are these three distinct Persons or three centers of consciousness. They are co-equal and co-eternal.

Consequently, within the Trinity there was already love and communication before God created anything. The members of the Godhead were complete. Therefore, there was nothing lacking with the triune God that made Him create humanity.

The Bible also says that Jesus and the Father shared glory. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus said the following to God the Father in prayer.

“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do. And now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.” (John 17:3-5 NLT)

They shared glory with each other. As distinct from one another they could love and communicate with each other.

Jesus also acknowledged in His prayer to God the Father that there was love between the Father and the Son before the world was created.

“Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24 NRSV)

Since there was this love between the members of the Trinity, the God of the Bible was complete. Indeed, He needed nothing.

3. Humanity Was Created to Glorify God

If that was the case, that God needs nothing, then why was humanity created? What was the reason or purpose?

We find from Scripture that Humankind was created to glorify God. We were put on earth with a genuine choice to trust God or to disobey Him. We have the opportunity to choose God and enjoy Him for all eternity.

We Should Seek the Lord

In that same speech on Mars Hill, the Apostle Paul said that our purpose was to seek the Lord. He said to the crowd that had gathered,

“From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your own poets says, ‘We are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:26-28 NLT)

When we seek Him, we shall indeed find Him. In fact, Scripture emphasizes that He is actually seeking us rather than we seeking Him.

We Have Been Created for His Glory

The Bible also says that God said that He created us for His own glory. Isaiah the prophet records God saying,

“All who claim me as their God will come, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.” (Isaiah 43:7 NLT)

Humans have been made for the glory of God.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians he said that our lives are to be for the praise of His glory. He put it this way.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11, 12 NKJV)

The Message renders these verses as follows.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. (Ephesians 1:11, 12 MsgB)

His glory should be our ultimate concern. When we glorify the Lord, we find our true purpose in life.

This is further confirmed in Scripture. In the Book of Revelation, we read the twenty-four elders testifying to the purpose of God’s creation. They said,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11 NRSV)

He is worthy to receive honor and glory. Again, when we glorify Him, He, in turn, blesses us.

Thus, if we follow the instructions that God has given us, we can realize the purpose of our existence. If we do not obey Him, then we will not realize our purpose.

Does This Mean That Human Beings Are Irrelevant?

If God does not need human beings, or anything else, does this mean that we are irrelevant in the universe? The answer is certainly “no.” Scripture says the following.

We Have Infinite Worth: Jesus Proved That

Human beings are of infinite worth to the Creator. The Bible says that the God of the Bible gave the most precious thing in the universe for our salvation; the blood of God the Son, Jesus Christ. Peter wrote,

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (1 Peter 1:18, 19 NLT)

The ransom which God paid for our sins was with the most priceless thing available, the life of God the Son. This means that we have infinite worth.

Paul wrote about the great love of God for humanity. He said that God loves us even when we were His enemies. He put it this way.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:6-8 NLT)

This is another example of our worth to God. While we were His enemies, Jesus Christ died for us.

Scripture says that God has an everlasting love for humanity. The psalmist wrote about the thoughts that God has for us, they are countless.

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. (Psalm 139:17, 18 NRSV)

God’s thoughts are compared to the countless numbers of grains of sand that are on the seashore. In other words, He never stops thinking of us.

Therefore, human beings are certainly not irrelevant in the universe. The Creator of the universe, because or His great love for us, sent His Son to die on our behalf. We have this infinite worth because God has made us worthy through Jesus Christ.

We Can Bring Joy to God

There is something else. Humans can actually bring joy to God. The prophet Zephaniah wrote about God singing because of our obedience.

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV)

The Contemporary English Version puts it this way.

The LORD your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and he will refresh your life with his love. (Zephaniah 3:17 CEV)

What a great thought! We can bring joy to the Creator. He actually rejoices over us with singing.

Isaiah the prophet wrote about God rejoicing over His children. He put it this way.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5 NASB)

The Message translates this verse as follows.

For as a young man marries his virgin bride, so your builder marries you, and as a bridegroom is happy in his bride, so your God is happy with you. (Isaiah 62:5 MsgB)

Thus, when all the evidence is considered, we find that we humans have tremendous worth because of our loving Creator God.

God Will Bless Us When We Do Right

The Bible also says that God always blesses those believers who do the right thing. We read the following in the Book of Micah.

Descendants of Jacob, is it right for you to claim that the LORD did what he did because he was angry? Doesn’t he always bless those who do right? (Micah 2:7 CEV)

God will bless those who do what is right. Therefore, when we honor Him, as the Bible commands us to do, He will honor us.

Conclusion: God Did Not Create Us Because of Any Need That He Had

The Bible makes it clear that God needs nothing. Certainly, He does not need human beings. Therefore, the creation of the human race was not for the purpose to meet some particular need that God had. However, we are by no means irrelevant in God’s great universe.

Summary – Question 6
Did God Create Humanity Because He Needed Our Love?

Often we are told that God created humanity because He needed something. Supposedly there was something lacking in His existence or character. This is why the human race was created. It met a real need which God had.

However, the Bible says that the creation of the human race was not to meet some need that God had. Indeed, the God of the Bible has no needs. He is completely independent of all things. He needs nothing because everything belongs to Him.

We discover that God created humanity for our benefit, not His. We were created to glorify Him. The Bible says it was not for our purposes, but rather for His purposes, that we were created.

The human race is here to glorify God. When we do glorify the Lord we find the true meaning of our existence. When we try to glorify our own selves we find no real meaning.

However, the fact that God does not need us, or our love, does not make us irrelevant in the universe. We are the crown of God’s creation and the object of His everlasting love. Our worth to the God of the Bible was plainly demonstrated when God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. The fact that God gave something of infinite worth for our sins, the life of God the Son, should tell us that He finds true worth in us.

Scripture also tells us that we can bring joy to Him. In fact, the Bible says that the Lord sings when we obey Him! This should encourage us to live for Him.

In sum, we find that the God of the Bible has no needs. He did not need to create us. Yet, far from being irrelevant, God gave the most precious thing which He had to save us from our sins; the life of God the Son. Knowing this should give us a feeling of great worth.