What is the meaning of Ecclesiastes 1:3? What does a man gain Ecclesiastes opens by asking about genuine profit. Solomon is measuring not momentary enjoyment but lasting benefit: • “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36) • Paul echoes the idea: even if I “give over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Earthly success, detached from God, leaves the balance sheet empty. True gain must survive death and judgment, pointing us toward treasures that “no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33). from all his labor The phrase sweeps in every kind of work—career, study, parenting, ministry. Since Genesis 2:15 God designed labor as good, yet Genesis 3:17-19 shows the curse added frustration and sweat. • “In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23). • Still, without God’s blessing, “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat” (Psalm 127:2). The Preacher is not condemning work itself; he is challenging the expectation that work alone can secure enduring reward. at which he toils The word pictures relentless exertion, drained strength, and a cycle that seems never done. Solomon later observes, “What does a man gain for all the toil and striving of his heart with which he labors under the sun? Indeed, all his days are filled with grief” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23). Other echoes: • Ecclesiastes 3:9—“What does the worker gain from his toil?” • Ecclesiastes 5:15-17—riches left behind, nights filled with sorrow. The refrain urges us to admit the limits of human effort and to look beyond toil for meaning. under the sun This key phrase (used nearly thirty times in Ecclesiastes) sets the vantage point: life observed strictly from earth’s horizon, excluding revelation from above. When one’s vision stops at the sky, cycles appear monotonous, and outcomes look futile. • Paul directs believers higher: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). • “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18). • Our citizenship is “in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), lifting us beyond the sun to see that Christ redeems ordinary days and promises resurrection. summary Ecclesiastes 1:3 confronts the reader with a profit-and-loss statement: When life is measured only “under the sun,” relentless labor yields no lasting surplus. Work has value, but eternal gain comes only when our efforts flow from a heart aligned with God, aimed at His kingdom, and secured by the finished work of Christ. |
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