The Bible has a clear message about whether man can truly live without God. While humans can certainly survive and function to some degree without actively acknowledging or worshiping God, the Bible suggests that we cannot experience the fullness of life apart from a relationship with our Creator.
Some key biblical reasons for why man cannot truly live without God include:
- We were created for relationship with God. Genesis 1-2 describes how God created mankind for intimate fellowship with Himself. We were made to know and love God, and to live in close communion with Him.
- Sin separates us from God. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, sin entered the human race (Genesis 3). Ever since, our sin has severed us from the holy God who created us. We cannot experience deep relationship with God while persisting in sin.
- Apart from Christ, we are spiritually dead. Ephesians 2:1 says that apart from Christ, we are “dead in our trespasses and sins.” Our rebellion against God has killed our spirit, leaving us utterly lost without Him.
- We need God’s Spirit to guide us. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, we lack true wisdom and discernment (1 Corinthians 2:14). We need God’s Spirit to illuminate God’s truth for us.
- We were made to bring glory to God. Bringing glory and honor to God through worship is humanity’s highest purpose, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We cannot live out this purpose apart from Him.
- God sustains our lives. As Paul proclaimed in Acts 17:28, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Our every breath depends on the gracious sustenance of our Creator.
- Satisfaction is found only in God. Augustine famously wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” We cannot be truly content outside of relationship with our loving Creator.
Now, the Bible does indicate it is possible for individuals to survive and function for a time without acknowledging dependence on God. Self-reliance, personal pursuits, accomplishments, relationships, pleasures – all can create an illusion of meaning and success apart from God. Scripture warns, however, that such worldly pursuits will ultimately prove empty.
King Solomon, renowned for his wealth, wisdom, and pleasures, concluded that apart from God, “all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). Neither accomplishments nor earthly relationships can satisfy the void in our hearts that only God can fill. Augustine observed that the God-shaped void within us results in profound restlessness until we turn to Him.
Furthermore, persisting without God means continuing in bondage to sin and death. We forfeit the promise of eternal life Christ offers those who trust in Him (John 3:16). As John Calvin succinctly wrote, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” We cannot fulfill this purpose apart from intimate relationship with our Creator.
In summary, while physical life itself is possible for a time without active dependence on God, the Bible indicates we miss out on the true meaning and abundant life for which God created us. Intimate relationship with God through Christ is key to experiencing the satisfaction, purpose, and eternal life which alone can quench the restless longings of the human heart.
1. Made for Intimate Fellowship with God
Humanity’s purpose has always been intimate relationship with our Creator. Genesis 1-2 beautifully depicts God fashioning mankind, male and female, in His own image, and placing them in the garden of Eden for pure relationship. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, communing openly with them (Genesis 3:8). This reflects His intention for humanity to know Him in profound friendship and dependence.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism captures this truth in its famous first question: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Our key purpose is relationship with God involving worshipful glory and enjoyment of Him.
Tragically humanity severed this relationship through sin and rebellion against God. But Christ offers restoration, redeeming us from sin and reconciling us to the Father (Romans 5:10-11). Through Christ, we can return to the purpose for which we were created – intimate loving relationship with our Creator.
2. Sin as Barrier to Relationship with God
When Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God, humanity’s perfect relationship with our Creator shattered. God’s holiness could not coexist with their sin (Genesis 3:22-24).
This broken relationship persists today. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes how all humanity inherits sin’s consequences: “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world…carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.” Sin poisons humanity’s existence, severing us from God’s holy presence.
Isaiah 59:2 further explains, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you.” Our unrighteousness erects a barrier to close fellowship with the holy God. No amount of personal effort can tear down this barrier separating us from God.
Thankfully, what we cannot do for ourselves, God has done for us. Jesus Christ “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). Though sinless, He vicariously bore the penalty for our sins, tearing down the barrier separating us from God. In Christ alone, intimate relationship with God is beautifully restored.
3. Spiritual Death Apart From Christ
The Bible starkly teaches that apart from relationship with God through Jesus Christ, humanity exists in a state of spiritual death and separation from God.
Ephesians 2:1 says “you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Our rebellion against God brings not merely woundedness, but absolute spiritual death. Sin kills our spirit, leaving us cut off from the Source of life.
Colossians 2:13 likewise teaches that apart from Christ, we exist in a state of definitive spiritual death – “you were dead in your trespasses.” Our daily functioning does not indicate we are spiritually alive without Christ. Rather, we operate in death-like separation from God, the Giver of spiritual life.
This spiritual death permeates our thinking as well. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him.” Until our spirits are made alive in Christ, we remain incapable of comprehending God’s truth.
Jesus affirmed this truth in John 6:53 – “unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man…you have no life in you.” Physical existence is not to be equated with spiritual life. Only through faith in Christ are we forgiven, reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19), and infused with eternal spiritual life (John 3:16).
4. Essential Role of God’s Spirit
Without the ongoing work of God’s Spirit within us, the Bible indicates we lack true wisdom and discernment. Intimate guidance from the Spirit is needed to understand and apply God’s truth correctly.
1 Corinthians 2:14 teaches, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Our human faculties alone, even at their best, cannot properly interpret or apply Scripture.
Jesus similarly stated that the Holy Spirit guides His followers “into all the truth” (John 16:13). The Spirit applies Christ’s redeeming work personally, sealing believers for salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14) and sanctifying them in the truth (1 Peter 1:2). Scripture is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), and God’s Spirit enables us to receive it.
Proverbs 3:5-6 summarizes this well: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Rather than self-reliance, we desperately need the Spirit’s illumination so we can understand and live God’s truth.
5. Created to Glorify God
Humanity’s chief purpose and highest goal is to glorify God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism encapsulates this nicely: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Our lives only attain ultimate meaning and success when directed toward God’s glory.
Christ affirms this directly in statements like, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Moreover, all things were created for God’s glory (Revelation 4:11), including us. Glorifying God should thus be our top aim.
Tragically we suppress this knowledge through our rebellion and desire for autonomy apart from God (Romans 1:18-23). But Christ restores us to God, redeeming people “for His own possession – to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:14). Full life is only found when we glorify the Lord who created and redeemed us.
6. God Sustains Our Lives
Not only did God create us, but He actively sustains each moment of our existence. Every breath we take relies fully on His gracious provision.
The apostle Paul proclaimed this clearly to Greek philosophers in Acts 17:28 – “In him we live and move and have our being.” Our lives are not self-sustained, but rely wholly on the gracious providence of our Creator.
Jesus similarly taught that God faithfully cares for all His creatures, feeding birds and clothing flowers (Matthew 6:26-30). Our nurturing Father continually grants “life and breath and everything” to us (Acts 17:25). True life persists only because He actively upholds it.
If God ever withdrew His sustaining hand, our lives would vanish instantly. We owe every heartbeat and breath to the mercy of our Creator who formed us, redeemed us, and keeps us.
7. Satisfaction Found Only in God
Augustine of Hippo famously wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” This quote perfectly expresses the human dilemma.
God created us for intimate relationship with Himself. But sin damaged this relationship, leaving our hearts restless and discontent. All the substitutes we chase after to satisfy our souls – wealth, career, relationships, acclaim – ultimately ring hollow.
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity,” concluded Solomon after pursuing every pleasure under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Temporal substitutes can never fill the God-shaped void inside us. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,” Psalm 42:2 expresses.
Augustine defined sin as seeking fulfillment apart from God. But Christ invites us into soul-quenching relationship with God. Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:14). God created us so only He can satisfy us fully. Life apart from Him is ultimately aimless and unsatisfying.
8. Forfeiting Eternal Life
Separation from God due to sin results in death, both physical and spiritual. Without restoration of relationship with God, we forfeit eternal life with Him.
Romans 6:23 states it plainly: “For the wages of sin is death.” Our rebellion against God earns us not just physical death, but eternal separation from God’s presence after death.
John 3:16 provides the solution: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Repenting from sin and trusting personally in Christ’s atoning work saves us from perishing eternally.
Scripture warns repeatedly of the coming judgment for those who reject Christ (2 Peter 2:9, Revelation 20:11-15). But those spiritually reborn through Him can joyfully anticipate spending eternity in God’s presence, the purpose for which we were created.
9. Life Without God is Possible but Unfulfilling
The Bible makes it clear that life without active dependence on God falls tragically short of our created purpose. But Scripture does acknowledge it is possible to survive for a time while denying God.
Romans 1 documents humanity’s descent into rejecting God’s truth and pursing idolatry instead. Although God’s eternal power and nature are plainly evident in creation (Romans 1:20), we suppress this knowledge in unrighteousness in order to live independently of the Creator.
As Ecclesiastes also documents, some manage to accomplish impressive feats in life while living “under the sun” without regard to God. But ultimately, a life lived apart from God proves meaningless. King Solomon concluded that all the pursuits of human achievement are “striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) apart from God.
Tragically, it is possible to gain “the whole world” in earthly achievements yet forfeit eternal salvation through rejecting Christ (Mark 8:36). Temporal pursuits can never satisfy the eternal longings of our souls. We may persist for a time without God, but will reap eternal bankruptcy.
10. Conclusion
In summary, Scripture teaches that humanity was designed for intimate relationship with God involving rich worship and reliance on Him. Our rebellion against God severed this relationship, leaving us in spiritual death and bondage to sin.
Christ alone offers redemption from sin and restoration to relationship with God. All who place their faith in Him discover their purpose in glorious, lifelong pursuit of enjoying and glorifying God. Meaning in life is only found through dependence on our Creator.
Attempts to live without God may generate temporary, hollow success. But they deny our created purpose. Moreover, persisting in alienation from God means forfeiting eternal salvation. While physical life is possible for a time, we cannot experience the fulfillment of the abundant life for which we were created apart from intimate fellowship with the living God through faith in Jesus Christ.