Created for Relationship and Dominion
The third truth about man before the fall is that he was created for two great purposes: relationship with God and dominion over the earth. These two purposes are not separate. They flow from one another, and together they constitute the reason for man's existence.
First is relationship. God did not create man because He was lonely or because He needed something from man. God is self-sufficient and complete within Himself. He created man because He is love, and love by its very nature seeks to extend itself, to share itself, to bring others into its embrace.
God wanted a family. He wanted sons and daughters with whom He could share His life, His love, and His glory.
This relationship is captured in the intimate picture of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. There was no distance between God and man. There was no fear, no hiding, no shame.
Adam and God walked together as friends, as Father and child, as Creator and beloved creation. This is what man was made for: unbroken, uninterrupted, joyful communion with the living God.
Second is dominion. After creating man in His image, God immediately gave him a commission:
"Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"—Genesis 1:28
Man was not created to be idle. He was created to be a king, a ruler, a steward of God's creation.
He was to take what God had made and develop it, cultivate it, extend it.
The earth was given to man as a kingdom, and man was placed over it as God's vice-regent, God's legal representative, God's appointed ruler.
This dominion was not cruel or oppressive. It was the exercise of godly authority, the kind of authority that serves, that nurtures, that brings order and beauty and fruitfulness.
Adam named the animals, not as an exercise of brute power, but as an expression of his God-given authority to classify, to understand, and to steward the creation.
The third truth about man before the fall is that he was created for two great purposes: relationship with God and dominion over the earth. These two purposes are not separate. They flow from one another, and together they constitute the reason for man's existence.
First is relationship. God did not create man because He was lonely or because He needed something from man. God is self-sufficient and complete within Himself. He created man because He is love, and love by its very nature seeks to extend itself, to share itself, to bring others into its embrace.
God wanted a family. He wanted sons and daughters with whom He could share His life, His love, and His glory.
This relationship is captured in the intimate picture of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. There was no distance between God and man. There was no fear, no hiding, no shame.
Adam and God walked together as friends, as Father and child, as Creator and beloved creation. This is what man was made for: unbroken, uninterrupted, joyful communion with the living God.
Second is dominion. After creating man in His image, God immediately gave him a commission:
"Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"—Genesis 1:28
Man was not created to be idle. He was created to be a king, a ruler, a steward of God's creation.
He was to take what God had made and develop it, cultivate it, extend it.
The earth was given to man as a kingdom, and man was placed over it as God's vice-regent, God's legal representative, God's appointed ruler.
This dominion was not cruel or oppressive. It was the exercise of godly authority, the kind of authority that serves, that nurtures, that brings order and beauty and fruitfulness.
Adam named the animals, not as an exercise of brute power, but as an expression of his God-given authority to classify, to understand, and to steward the creation.
Created for Relationship and Dominion
The third truth about man before the fall is that he was created for two great purposes: relationship with God and dominion over the earth. These two purposes are not separate. They flow from one another, and together they constitute the reason for man's existence.
First is relationship. God did not create man because He was lonely or because He needed something from man. God is self-sufficient and complete within Himself. He created man because He is love, and love by its very nature seeks to extend itself, to share itself, to bring others into its embrace.
God wanted a family. He wanted sons and daughters with whom He could share His life, His love, and His glory.
This relationship is captured in the intimate picture of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. There was no distance between God and man. There was no fear, no hiding, no shame.
Adam and God walked together as friends, as Father and child, as Creator and beloved creation. This is what man was made for: unbroken, uninterrupted, joyful communion with the living God.
Second is dominion. After creating man in His image, God immediately gave him a commission:
"Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"—Genesis 1:28
Man was not created to be idle. He was created to be a king, a ruler, a steward of God's creation.
He was to take what God had made and develop it, cultivate it, extend it.
The earth was given to man as a kingdom, and man was placed over it as God's vice-regent, God's legal representative, God's appointed ruler.
This dominion was not cruel or oppressive. It was the exercise of godly authority, the kind of authority that serves, that nurtures, that brings order and beauty and fruitfulness.
Adam named the animals, not as an exercise of brute power, but as an expression of his God-given authority to classify, to understand, and to steward the creation.
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