Mankind's Duty to Rule Over and Subdue the Earth
In a previous essay we discussed what constitutes the essence of man and how the Bible declares that the distinguishing characteristic of man, which separates him from all other creatures, is that he has been made in God's image and likeness. If this is who man is, what is his destiny and future within the history of the ages? What place does he have? What is man to be, become and do? What are his duties and responsibilities? What is his end, his telos? What is mankind's reason for being? The Christian mind must get this right if it is to be genuinely Christian.
The early chapters of Genesis leave us in no doubt upon this point. In Genesis 1:26, God says: “Let us make man in our image according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And then in Genesis 1:28 we read: “And God blessed them [Adam and Eve]; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky; and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'” Verse 26 reveals the divine conception; verse 28 reveals the command given to man arising out of the divine plan. The repetition, according to a Hebrew figure of speech, is to make the matter emphatic, clear, and without doubt. It is to help the reader get the point and leave him in no doubt.
This first command given to mankind has been called by theologians the Cultural Mandate—the authorisation and command by God to cultivate the earth. Bringing into actuality the potentiality of the earth (which is what it means to cultivate or "in-culturate") involves four key activities:
Be fruitful and multiply
Fill the earth
Subdue it
Rule over the earth and the entire created world (fish, animals etc)
To be in the image of God and after God's likeness means, in part, to be placed in a position of kingship to rule over the creation. As always a position of sovereignty carries both privilege and responsibility. Man has the privilege of being God's representative, bearing the honour of the divine, before all other creatures. He also has the responsibility to rule under God, as God's representative or vice-gerent, over the entire earth, including over every other living thing upon it.
In Genesis 2:18—20 further insight over man's duty to rule the creation is given. God causes all the creatures to come before Adam in a search for a suitable helper for him, “to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.” Here, Adam, as the perfect representative and servant of God, rightly discerns the essence, place, function, and distinct purpose of each creature, and names them accordingly. Thus, Adam is acting as vice-gerent over the creatures in a manner completely in agreement and congruence with the will and intention of the Creator.
But to name in the Scriptures is to exercise dominion and control over the thing or person named. So Adam is not only naming correctly in a manner conversant with things as they are; he is also, thereby, providing structure, order, balance, harmony so that each creature has its place and is in its place, performing the functions for which it was created.
A second aspect of the Cultural Mandate is to subdue the earth. Note carefully that the command to subdue the earth is given before sin entered into the world. Not only was man created to rule; the creation itself was made to be ruled by man. As such, it was incomplete and immature until man exercised appropriate control and stewardship over it. There is a widely held notion within the streets of Athens today that the “natural world” or “nature” (that is, the world without man) is unspoiled and perfect; that wherever man goes on the earth, he destroys nature and does irreperable damage; and that the more large tracts of land and forests can be “locked up” to be untouched by man, the more the perfection of nature will emerge. These notions are precisely what one would expect to find in the City of the Great Lie. They represent the exact reversal of the creation order: rather than man ruling over and subduing the creation, the natural world must be freed from all anthropogenic influences, and be made autonomous over man. The creation now rules man.
A third aspect of the responsibility to be fruitful and multiply. Man is commanded to populate the earth. The bearing and raising of children such that the whole earth is filled with people is a duty commanded by God from the beginning of time, and it has never been revoked or altered. After the Flood, the command is reiterated to mankind: “And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.” (Genesis 3:7) The command and responsibility to populate the earth in abundance remains.
However, now that sin has entered the world, and Athens is the city of sin, many voices can be heard telling us that the greatest danger faced by the planet and by man himself is over population. People that breed are threatening the very existence of the planet, we are told. Resources are scarce and will soon be consumed. The mass consumption of resources threatens the ecology and natural balance of the entire earth. Carbon dioxide gas emissions are the cause of global warming which threatens the very existence of man upon the earth. Man must come together, in a kind of latter day recrudescence of the Tower of Babel, and be globally ruled and organised to save themselves and the planet.
A fourth aspect is the command to rule over the earth and the entire created world. Naturally, these four components are aspects of the one great command which we have called the Cultural Mandate. Thus, rulership over earth is achieved in part through being fruitful and multiplying.
The Bible makes clear that man is distinct in his being (his makeup): he is made in the image and likeness of God. This means that man has a special place in the created order: he represents God, and so is commanded to rule over the entire creation. But, more than that—and flowing out of his duty to rule the world under God—man has a responsibility to unfold, develop, and bring the world to realise its full potential to the glory of God.
Herein lies the fundamental purpose of mankind, his reason-for-being. This is what Jerusalem knows and believes concerning human beings. Therefore, Jerusalem is always man affirming, world affirming, history affirming, and progress affirming. The Christian Mind is always positively engaged with the world, with the creation order. It is engaged both militantly and pastorally: it seeks to correct what is wrong; it also seeks to nurture and develop what has not yet reached maturity. Embraced in this construct is all scientific, technological, educational, functional, and social enterprise—as well as all worship and adoration of the Living God.
In this way, man truly serves as God's representative in the world. The world and all its fullness belongs to God. Man's great duty and crowning glory is to labour all the days given him upon the earth to ensure that this is so.
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