Post by fredandethel on Feb 3, 2023 12:45:29 GMT -8
In Genesis 1 we read God blessing Adam and Eve and then directing them to "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it." This is sometimes called the "Dominion Mandate," because God tells Adam and Eve they are to rule or have dominion (Heb.: radah= rule, dominion, or domination) over all the fish, birds, and animals on the earth.
28God blessed them; 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.” 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:28-30 NASB)
This directive is asserted again more than once in various different wordings elsewhere in the Bible (such as God's words to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9:1). To my knowledge God has never revoked this directive and no one in the New Testament addressed it to say it is no longer in effect. Is the directive to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it still expected by God?
If so, then how do you say that happens in your personal life, how should it happen corporately among the people of God collectively, and what might be the effect if/when achieved?
If not, then what is the scriptural support for its discontinuation and why might God have changed His first and originally-stated directive?
28God blessed them; 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.” 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:28-30 NASB)
This directive is asserted again more than once in various different wordings elsewhere in the Bible (such as God's words to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9:1). To my knowledge God has never revoked this directive and no one in the New Testament addressed it to say it is no longer in effect. Is the directive to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it still expected by God?
If so, then how do you say that happens in your personal life, how should it happen corporately among the people of God collectively, and what might be the effect if/when achieved?
If not, then what is the scriptural support for its discontinuation and why might God have changed His first and originally-stated directive?
