QUESTION: Good morning Priest Isaiah White. This morning as I go to work, I am wrestling with telling the difference between work and job. Is there a difference between the two? What does the Word of God say and teach? Is there a Christian theology about the same, and how should I understand these two? Peter.
RESPONSE: Praise God, brother Peter. I thank the Lord that you are working.
Not many of us have taken the trouble to know the difference. This is a great opportunity not to answer your question, but provoke our thoughts about the same.
Dictionary meaning
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines work as:
a) Activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform. This is close to the physics definition of work.
b) Sustained physical or mental effort is valued as it overcomes obstacles and achieves an objective or result.
The same dictionary defines a job as:
a) A state or turn of affairs.
b): A specific duty, role, position, situation or function.
c): A regular remunerative employment.
From this definition, we can tell that the difference is: that one is a verb (work) while the other is a noun (job).
This is not to say that the two terms are exclusive of ‘action’ connotations, but that action defines one more than the other.
So, work is to act upon and a job is what you are known for, regardless of whether you are active in what you are known for or not.
Created to work
Christians ought to understand that work is not a product of the fall of man and, therefore, a curse, but rather a divine blessing.
Work is original in God’s plan of creation. The God who created us is always at work (John 5:17).
We were created to work and to be productive for our physical sustainability and mental growth.
Eating without work is forbidden (2Thessalonians 3:10). As we work, we are asked to do it under our job of worshipping God (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:23).
The theology of work
The Scriptures say much about the subject, but for now, I will restrict its content to the subject matter (the difference between work and job).
According to Genesis 2:15, there is a relationship between one’s job and their work, but the two are different:
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
The man was placed in the Garden of Eden to work it. However, his job responsibility was not to the garden but to the God who placed him into that environment.
There is an environment where Adam is placed, and his work is to cultivate it towards production.
Adam as a worker has an accountability job to the God who has not only placed him in that environment but also empowered him with dominion over this environment.
According to Genesis 1:26 & 28, our work is to be fruitful and multiply but after we have been productive, we have a job to praise the God who enables us.
The difference between work and job in the Christian sense is in production and praise.
The best Scripture that demonstrates the difference between our work and job is Deuteronomy 1:18-20:
“And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
“Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
“As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.”
First, this text reminds us that it is God who empowers us to work and get wealth.
It also reminds us of our job to worship that very God because if we forget, we shall be workers and perhaps wealth workers but to perish like other nations that do not know their job.
So my brother Peter, you can work all you want since you were created to work, but you must also discover what your job is to worship God who gave you that job.
Answered by Pr Isaiah White.
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