Flourishing and Fruitfulness in the Third Third of Life

What is Flourishing?

I first heard the word “flourishing” in 1975, in my freshman philosophy class. Professor McCann was lecturing on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, in which Aristotle argues that the ultimate goal of human life is eudaimonia. Traditionally, the Greek word eudaimonia was translated as “happiness.” But, my professor explained, eudaimonia means much more than feeling happy. Rather, it’s a matter of living well, that is, living with purpose and meaning as well as joy. In a word, Professor McCann said, eudaimonia is flourishing.

Around that same time, the phrase “human flourishing” began to grow in popularity. Google’s Ngram Viewer, which counts the number of occurrences of words and phrases in books according to the year of publication, shows that “human flourishing” was rarely used before the 1970s. Usage began to skyrocket in the 1980s and beyond. So, in 2020, “human flourishing” appeared in books 600 times more often than in 1970. Before explaining their particular version of flourishing, many of these books credit Aristotle with first proposing that the purpose of life is eudaimonia, AKA human flourishing.

These days, flourishing as a primary goal of human life is promoted in contemporary philosophical, psychological, theological, medical, and pragmatic discussions of human flourishing. What is flourishing? According to one study from the University of Cambridge, “A person can be said to be flourishing if they perceive that their life is going well. Flourishing is a combination of feeling good and functioning effectively.” In his article “On the promotion of human flourishing,” Tyler J. VanderWeele, the Director of the Human Flourishing program at Harvard University, suggests that,

Flourishing itself might be understood as a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good.” He adds that it is related to five domains of life: “(i) happiness and life satisfaction; (ii) health, both mental and physical; (iii) meaning and purpose; (iv) character and virtue; and (v) close social relationships.”

VanderWeele adds that in order to flourish we would need “sufficiently stable” financial and material resources.

Flourishing in Scripture

Though the Bible never uses the phrase “human flourishing,” in various ways it affirms the definition of flourishing suggested by VanderWeele. In fact, in his book A Theology of Health, VanderWeele, who is a wise Christian theologian in addition to being a professor of public health at Harvard, makes this very point. He writes,

Although the Scriptures do not explicitly use the word “flourishing,” the notion of “shalom” in the Old Testament, sometimes also translated as “peace,” arguably captures a similar conceptual range. The New Testament notion of “blessedness,” “happiness” in some translations, perhaps likewise conveys a biblical notion of flourishing, although, as per the beatitudes, with a much stronger emphasis on spiritual well-being and orientation toward eternal flourishing. Some notion of flourishing is likewise arguably in view in Jesus’s rendering of his mission with respect to humanity as “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10) and, perhaps especially when used in the Gospel of St. John, in the notion of “eternal life” as encompassing both the present life and the life to come (p. 79).

VanderWeele is certainly right that current notions of flourishing are foreshadowed in Scripture, especially in the biblical understanding of shalom. But it’s important to note that English translations of the Bible do use the verb “flourish” in more than a dozen Old Testament passages. Often, “flourish” renders the Hebrew verb parach. This is true, for example, in Psalm 92:12-15:

The righteous will flourish [parach] like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish [parach] in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (NIV)

If you were to look up the Hebrew verb parach in a lexicon, you’d find translation options such as “bud, sprout, and blossom” in addition to “flourish.” Thus, Isaiah 35:1-2 reads in the NRSV, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom [parach]; like the crocus it shall blossom [parach] abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.”

The biblical understanding of flourishing, therefore, includes not only personal and corporate well-being (shalom), but also what we would call fruitfulness (growth, fertility, productivity). We see this clearly in Psalm 92, where the flourishing of the righteous is seen in growing trees and bearing fruit.

The biblical understanding of flourishing, therefore, includes not only personal and corporate well-being (shalom), but also what we would call fruitfulness (growth, fertility, productivity).

Human Flourishing and Fruitfulness in the Bible

Fruitfulness is essential to human flourishing. That comes as no surprise, since fruitfulness is also essential to our identity as human beings. We see this in Genesis 1. There, God creates heaven, earth, and all that is in them, including humanity. God makes human beings as unique bearers of God’s own image and gives us the responsibility of completing the good work God began in creation. Specifically, God says to the first humans, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28). Notice that the very first command of God to humankind is “Be fruitful.” Fruitfulness is essential to our human nature and divine calling. In Genesis 1, fruitfulness has to do in particular with making more people, but it suggests much more than this. (See, for example, Gen 2:15; Jer 17:7-8; Ps 92:14. See also Tom Nelson, Why Your Work Matters: How God Uses Our Everyday Vocations to Transform Us, Our Neighbors, and the World, pp. 12-16.)

If our fruitfulness is essential to our created identity, it is also essential to our redeemed identity. When we say “Yes” to the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ, we are redeemed from sin and death. We have the certain hope of God’s future. But we are not saved simply to wait around for Heaven. Rather, we are saved for a life of fruitfulness.

But we are not saved simply to wait around for Heaven. Rather, we are saved for a life of fruitfulness.

No passage in Scripture makes this truth more evident than John 15, where Jesus says,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. . . . Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. . . . My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:1-2, 4-5, 8).

When we have faith in Jesus, we become connected to him as branches to a vine. As a result, we bear fruit.

Notice a couple of key truths about our fruitfulness. First, it is not primarily a matter of our human work, but rather of abiding in Jesus. When I talk about how important fruitfulness is for flourishing, I’m aware of the danger that some folks will interpret this as needing to do more and more in life. So let me be clear. Biblical fruitfulness isn’t the same as impressive productivity or obsessive workaholism. Yes, it involves work, but work done in relationship with God and according to God’s vision of shalom. Our fruitfulness begins with abiding in Jesus.

Second, when we bear fruit, God is glorified. Our fruitfulness isn’t primarily a matter of expressing or enriching ourselves. Rather, we bear fruit for God’s purposes and glory. This, of course, fits perfectly with what we learned from Genesis. When we are fruitful, we honor the God who made us to bear fruit and told us to do so.

Exceptional Encouragement and Exhortation for the Third Third of Life

Those of us in the third third of life need to understand and experience the biblical vision of flourishing and fruitfulness. In this vision, we find exceptional encouragement and exceptional exhortation.

The exceptional encouragement appears in Psalm 92:12-15, where the promise of flourishing is explicitly given to those of us “in old age” (92:14). If we are in a right relationship with God and people, then we will flourish by bearing fruit when we are old. Though our bodies may be less supple and strong than they once were, we will nevertheless “stay fresh and green” in the ways that matter most. We can continue to abide in Christ and produce fruit that glorifies God. Though our culture may tell us that we elders graduated out of our time of fruitfulness, Scripture offers a different vision. It’s an exceptional and hopeful vision of flourishing and fruitfulness throughout all of life, including the third third.

The exceptional exhortation also has to do with fruitful living as we get older. Psalm 92 reminds us that God intends for us to “bear fruit in old age.” Jesus urges us to abide in him so that we might bear fruit that glorifies God. He didn’t put an age limit on this. Those of us who are older still have potential for God-honoring fruitfulness. God exhorts us to be fruitful in all seasons of life.

Those of us who are older still have potential for God-honoring fruitfulness. God exhorts us to be fruitful in all seasons of life.

I say this is an “exceptional exhortation” because so much in our culture gives us the opposite message. On the one hand, we hear that we are no longer able to make a difference that matters in the world because we are too old. On the other hand, we are invited to live primarily for our own personal happiness and well-being. For example, I just did a quick study of the websites of several of the largest retirement communities in the U.S. I was looking for how they promoted their communities. What I found, again and again, was the promise of recreation, adventure, entertainment, and leisure. What I did not find was any hint that retirement life was also an opportunity to serve, give, or contribute to the lives of others. One website put it this way: “Retire and make this stage of life all about you. After all these years, it’s been about taking care of your job, your employer, and your family. No doubt you stressed about how to juggle time and make everything work. Now it’s time to finally put yourself first in retirement.”

Let me be clear. I’m not saying that as we get older, we should not enjoy recreation, adventure, entertainment, and leisure. But I am saying that the third third is not a “stage of life all about you.” It’s still mainly about God and God’s purposes for all things, including you. As Rick Warren writes in the opening of The Purpose-Driven Life,

It’s not about you.

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

In conclusion, let me say that I agree with Tyler VanderWeele that flourishing is a state in which all aspects of our lives are good, not that we ever experience this completely this side of the age to come. Yet I would add that the sort of flourishing VanderWeele describes both stems from and leads to fruitful living in service to God and people. Flourishing enables fruitfulness, and fruitfulness promotes flourishing. You don’t have one without the other.