Ah, January 1. The day many Christians read Genesis 1-2.
I just did, myself, actually, and decided to revive this series: things I never noticed in the Bible.
First, I do recommend a Bible reading plan to keep you in the Word, and get to ALL of the Bible over time. Ligonier always has a good assortment of plans available - see here - and this year I'm trying the Navigators plan.
Now, what did I find anew in Genesis? Start with a trivia question: to what created beings did God first speak directly? The answer: those in the sea and sky, the fish and birds (Gen 1:22). What does He say to them? The same thing He says to Adam the next day: "be fruitful and multiply."
This is a partial dominion mandate, missing the part where we are to rule and subdue the very fish and birds He spoke to the day before! It's reasonable to infer from this that as we are also fruitful and abound, we are also ruled and subdued by God, even as we seek to rule His creation in His stead.
There's a lot of dominion mandate talk these days, and I'm for it. But one aspect less conspicuous in the rhetoric is that as we rule we are also ruled. Dominion doesn't mean we get to do whatever we want with the world and our lives. We certainly name and order things, but our activity must stay within the bounds of God's commands, which He has clearly given us.
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