Why Should We Know the Bible's Definition of Vanity?
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We were made for eternal matters. And yet, our minds are so often filled with the temporal. Thus, our priorities and our expectations are misdirected, leading to frustration, hopelessness, and feelings of unfulfillment. The biblical presentation of vanity addresses these issues directly. Understanding the biblical definition of vanity is vital to understanding Scripture's views on what matters and applying those teachings to our lives.
Where Does the Bible Give a Definition of Vanity?
To understand the Biblical definition of vanity, one must become familiar with its Hebrew counterpart, hevel. As Tim Mackie explains, hevel is a multifaceted Hebrew metaphor. Its literal translation is "smoke" or "vapor." However, to fully grasp its meaning, one must dig deeper into the picture it presents. Both smoke and vapor are entities that come and go in a mere matter of breaths. The image summarizes the word's first layer of meaning: that which is vain is also fleeting, like smoke or vapor.
But there is more to hevel than that.
Ecclesiastes is the biblical book that most thoroughly explains vanity's many facets—it uses hevel 38 times. Here, hevel often refers to an enigma or paradox where God's wisdom and justice appear absent.
The author of Ecclesiastes uses hevel to describe real-life problems that don't fit the book of Proverbs' neatly packaged promises. For example, how do we view times when bad people prevail and good people are left wanting? Or when hardship is unequally distributed, and the undeserving are left unscathed? Hevel refers to the many moments when life does not make sense. As with smoke, you see it but cannot grasp it. Just when life appears to make sense, when you feel like you grasp reality, something causes you to question what is true. This is hevel.
Ecclesiastes is often misunderstood and may feel out of place compared to Scripture's other wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes). If one simply pulls a verse from it and attempts to squeeze it into one's beliefs without understanding its context, it may seem like it does not fit. For example, the Christian believes life is full of meaning, defined by hope. Ecclesiastes is filled with lamentations where life appears hopeless. All seems to be vapor. The tone makes us face the biblical view of vanity: vanity is life apart from God. Ecclesiastes' statements take the perspective of someone looking through a worldly lens—who sees only what is on the surface and lacks Christ's hope of Christ in their heart. "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity" (Ecc. 1:2), the author says, not knowing the God who gives life eternal meaning—the God who makes sense of life's pervasive, momentary paradoxes.
What Components Do We See in the Bible's Definition of Vanity?
Ecclesiastes' wisdom shows how short our time is on Earth. "Man is like the breath; His days are like a passing shadow" (Ps. 144:4). To live only for the time allotted on Earth is vanity. It makes us into people who furiously pursue passing matters. We become hopelessly bewildered when confronted with life's sometimes infuriating absurdity.
A focus on the temporal shows up in many areas, all of which the Bible describes as vanity.
- Daily work performed for bread alone (Ecc. 2:11, Ps. 127:2, Matt. 4:4)
- Man-made religion's principles (Matt. 15:9)
- Prideful nations' wicked plans (Ps. 2:1)
- Life lived only for beauty (Prov. 31:30) or riches (Ecc. 5:10)
It will all come and go with time. To live for such things is vanity.
What Does the Definition of Vanity Tell Us about Its Damage?
In the book of 2 Kings, we are invited to take an outsider's view of the harms of rejecting God in favor of living for vain things. The Israelites are (again) turning from God and His ways to follow the surrounding nations' practices. Although God called Israel to Himself, "they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers; who did not believe in the Lord their God . . . and they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them . . . they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him" (2 Kings 17:14 -17). Thus, "the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel" (2 Kings 17:20).
The Israelites forfeited their intimacy with the Creator of the Universe by turning from God and His ways, living by worldly wisdom. They became filled with unrighteousness. By choosing worldly ways, they became blinded to their futility and insensibility. The outward chaos became inward chaos. There was no justice or kindness in them. Not only did they miss out on fulfilling their purpose as God's chosen ones.
Not only did they miss out on experiencing the fullness of living for His eternal purposes. They were also bound to wayward desires that oppressed them—sin brought pain instead of freedom. This is the threat of vanity, of living without Christ as the center. Vanity causes people to forgo their godly calling for the sake of fleeting things. In the process, they close their eyes to how futile and damaging their actions have become.
For us, vanity may not look like pagan idolatry. It could look like workaholism. It could look like an obsession with one's body image. It could look like greed. It could look like legalism. When those vain things become our gods, we risk following in the footsteps of the Israelites who "followed vanity and became vain," who embodied the worldly injustices that we despise, who forsook a relationship with our Creator who "loved us and gave Himself for us" (Eph. 5:2).
Does the Definition of Vanity Show Us How to Avoid It?
To avoid a life of hevel—a life of smoke—to live lasting things in line with truth, one must "hold firmly to the word of life" (Phil. 2:16). Since life apart from Christ is lived in vain, living in Him and for Him will include avoiding certain things and pursuing new things. When Christ is at the center, what seemed meaningless takes on a new purpose. When what is valuable to Christ becomes valuable to us, our expectations become ordered according to His goodness and eternal purposes. Then, we become people whose lives are filled with lasting things. The best way to avoid vanity is not to stroll aimlessly away from vain things. The way to avoid vanity is to run towards Christ.
As the classic hymn says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."
Whatever vain thing we are tempted to pursue as an ultimate end will look different compared to Christ's goodness and mercy. The vain things become far less alluring. We see more clearly what is good, right, and just. As Barnabas and Paul implored the people of Lystra to turn from "vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them" (Acts 14:15), we must choose eternal life over temporality. We must choose wisdom over foolishness. We must serve the living God instead of our fleeting desires. In doing so, we avoid vanity and find life instead.
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