Finding Purpose & Meaning in the Workplace Through Spiritual Transcendence 

Finding Purpose & Meaning in the Workplace Through Spiritual Transcendence: Lessons from the Apostle Paul's Teachings to Early Christian Slaves
Possessing a sense of purpose and meaning in the workplace may lead to improved performance and productivity while providing workers with a sense of value and accomplishment through their jobs and professions. Modern organizational studies have recognized this connection between a sense of purpose and meaning in the workplace and the overall self-worth and fulfillment of workers. However, often purpose and meaning can be difficult to achieve in one’s work, especially for workers who are employed in what they perceive to be low-paying, low-status, and undesirable jobs that leave them with a low sense of self-worth. One potential pathway to discover purpose and meaning in the workplace is through the concept of spiritual transcendence, where work takes on a value that rises above the ordinary meaning of the activity itself or any economic value derived from it. The Apostle Paul addressed this concept of spiritual transcendence as a means to achieve purpose and meaning in the workplace through his teachings to early Christian slaves found in several of his New Testament epistles. This paper will examine Paul’s teaching of spiritual transcendence through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord as a way for workers to discover a higher purpose and meaning in their work, regardless of the social or economic status of the work itself. This study will analyze the text of Colossians 3:22-25 along with other select Pauline Epistle passages to describe Paul’s teaching of spiritual transcendence as the means of instilling purpose and meaning in work to early Christians slaves.
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