November 11, 2023

Genesis 1: 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”*

Humans are stewards of the created order on earth. . . . As stewards, our dominion . . . takes shape not as an absolute right to rule, but as a responsibility to the will of the creator.*

I have often wondered why God created such a beautiful world – and then put people in it. Sure, nature can be destructive to itself, but the earth eventually recovers from the damage incurred by “acts of God.” It is the “acts of man” that leave it barren and wasted. In my research, I have found “experts” who seem to know what God meant when he said to “subdue” the earth. They also claim to know what God didn’t mean.  I think he probably meant for us to be responsible environmental stewards; but even with the most conservative usage, some natural resources will eventually be depleted. . . I think. I can’t find any scripture that inconclusively backs up what I think – and I’m certainly not an environmental scientist - so what I think doesn’t really matter. Which is why we are going to look at this verse in an entirely different way.

Is there anything about God’s command to be fruitful and subdue the earth that reminds you of another command? Can you see the parallel between this commission and Jesus’ “great” commission in Matthew chapter 28? Are we not being fruitful when we are making disciples? When the church grows, are we not fulfilling the Genesis command to increase in number? Are we not filling the earth as we go into all the world? Are we not to subdue the earth by teaching the people of the world to obey everything Jesus commanded?

As someone has pointed out, “A text cannot mean what it never meant.”* And I don’t want to be guilty of twisting scripture to say what I want it to say. But, as yet another writer reminds us: “While every verse of the Bible has but one meaning . . . how that verse applies to one’s life may differ from person to person.”* In other words (my words), God’s word is powerful enough to speak to us on more than one level. And while I may not understand my exact role in the subjugation of the earth, there is nothing ambiguous about my job when it comes to winning the world for Christ.

Perhaps when God told us to be fruitful and multiply, it wasn’t just a familial command, but was also meant to be lived in a ministry paradigm.*