Trees are a reminder that God’s creation is living and powerful. We have a tree in our backyard that has grown substantially since we bought the house eight years ago.
The reader will certainly notice how little I know about trees, as I cannot even say what type of tree it is. It provides great shade, but it also creates a lot of work in pruning the branches and cutting them back so that they do not protrude into our house. A few weeks ago, I set to tame it a bit with some loppers and a reciprocating saw. After a couple of hours of work, dirty, sweaty, and covered in sawdust, I saw that it was better, but not yet perfected.
Such labor takes me back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1–3. God created everything by the word of His power, and He made it all good. He made human beings in His image to be the managers of his good creation. Genesis 1:26 shows God’s intention: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”
The next verse (1:27) says God created human beings in His image, male and female. What happens next is critical: “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth’” (1:28).
God communicated to human beings what they were designed to do. They were to be his stewards, caring for His good creation with His authority.
God made human beings to rule His good creation, giving praise and honor to Him. He did not put the fish, the birds, the animals, or the creeping things in charge, nor did He make those things in His image. It is humanity that was stamped with His image to exercise dominion as His representatives. This charge was not only designed for Adam and Eve, but it was for us as well.
God did not create human beings to rule however they wanted. They were not to be cruel to the creatures or destructive to nature, but they were to show regard for animals (see Proverbs 12:10) and bring order to their environment. When a person today hires a house sitter, that person has some expectations. The house sitter will care for any pets, not neglecting them or mistreating them, and the house sitter will keep the house the way it was found, not making a mess of it or doing whatever she feels like doing to it, like painting it a new color. Good house sitters will honor the fact that the house is not their own and will act in the interests of the homeowner.
In the same way, God desires us to act in His interests, caring for the things He has entrusted to us. Our property, our lawns, our homes, our bedrooms, our supplies, our pets, and our very lives all belong to Him. Should not the way we care for those things reflect that truth?
God provided two invaluable supports to human beings to make this dominion mandate possible: sustenance and relationship. In Genesis 1:29, God says, “I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” God provided a means for sustenance to enable His stewards to do His will.
God also intended that Adam not be alone, so he made a helper and companion for him in Eve (Genesis 2:18–22). Human beings were not designed to rule the world in isolation from other people.
God additionally gave them a gracious warning: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Genesis 2:16–17). God gave them so much provision and one simple prohibition. In honoring the latter, they would preserve their lives in Eden.
Genesis 3 tells the story of how Adam and Eve’s disobedience led to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, also called “the fall.” Prior to that, God put Adam in the garden “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). God brought all the living things that He created to Adam and allowed him to name them.
There are not many other details about what the working and keeping of the Garden of Eden entailed. However, work was a reality that God made good prior to the fall. Work was part of His design for human beings. After the fall, work would become painful, toilsome, and difficult, but it would still be necessary and good.
The dominion mandate was not negated because of the fall. God repeated similar words to Noah in Genesis 9:7 after the flood. The mandate still stood when Psalm 8:6–8 was written: “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the seas.”
What does it mean, then, for us human beings to exercise dominion? Before we consider what it means for us, we should consider what it does not mean.
“Every human being is accountable to make the most of what has been given.”
First, we are not allowed to do whatever we want and take whatever we want however we want. A person could take the dominion mandate to mean that it is all about him. This view suggests that he is the pinnacle, and everything exists for his pleasure and glory. A person who holds this view forgets that God made us His property managers. It is because of His will that all things were created. He alone is worthy of glory.
Second, it does not mean that man has dominion over everything. Human beings were to rule over plants and creatures, not other people. Some Christians can take the dominion mandate to mean that they have to be dominant in their skills and careers so that they might conquer and subdue those fields and gain authority and influence in society. We are to be lights in this culture, not dominators of it.
There is nothing wrong with pursuing excellence, and we certainly should when we consider who has entrusted us with His creation. However, God does not need us to establish His rule through what we do. The things we do should be a response to the fact that God already reigns. He already has dominion, according to Psalm 145:13: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.”
Therefore, the dominion that God gives to human beings ultimately belongs to Him. This means that every human being is accountable to make the most of what has been given. Clean your house to the glory of God who gave it to you. Organize and tidy your room or office because it is on loan from God. Write with passion and craft because the assignment is ultimately a stewardship from God. Take the ingredients from your garden, fridge, and pantry and create a delicious meal to give God the glory He deserves. Care for your pets, if you have them, because that is part of God’s original design.
The list could continue: All things are from God, through God, and should ultimately be cared for and used to praise Him.
Of all of God’s original creation, human beings are the only ones made in His image and given the responsibility to exercise dominion. This is an incredible blessing and responsibility. God has given us a special project, and though the fall has made the work of that project toilsome, it is one that every one of us should take seriously. We have received a stewardship from God, and we will one day stand before Him to give an account for what we have done with all He has entrusted to us.
Josh serves as Resident College Pastor for Faith's college ministry, Doxa. He and his wife, Pam, have three children.
View Resources by Josh Gilchrist
