And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
28. The Blessing and the Command
28. replenish ] The word is the same as that used in Gen 1:22 of the fishes, “be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters.”
and subdue it ] A strong word, denoting subjugation to power. Man’s authority over the creatures of the earth confers upon him responsibility for the exercise of his powers. Supremacy over the fishes, the birds, and the beasts, will require courage, forethought, skill, observation, and judgement. The blessing, therefore, of “fruitfulness” is incomplete, until reinforced by the commission so to exercise the faculties as to ensure intellectual growth. In this connexion, compare Ray Lankester (“Rede Lecture, 1905”), “What we call the will or volition of Man has become a power in nature, an imperium in imperio, which has profoundly modified not only Man’s own history, but that of the whole living world, and the face of the planet on which he lives.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 1:28
Have dominion
Mans dominion over the lower animals
I.
THIS DOMINION GOD HAS MADE TO ARISE FROM THAT MENTAL SUPERIORITY WHICH CONSTITUTES MANS DISTINCTION AND GLORY.
1. The power of man is in his mind.
2. The benefit and extent of mans dominion is made to depend on the moral as well as the intellectual nature with which he was originally endowed.
3. As God has thus fitted man, by his superior nature, for dominion; so, on the other hand, He has given to the inferior animals a corresponding disposition to acknowledge mans superiority.
4. Thus the comfort of man is evidently promoted when this dominion is wisely and justly exercised, according to the original design of the Creator.
The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered: the lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are for the price of the field. But the dominion of man when justly exercised, is a mean of comfort also to the animals who are connected with him. Living in our society and neighbourhood, they become the objects of our care. Attached to our persons and homes, they feel pleasure in our service. They thus partake of our provision, and enjoy the advantage of our foresight.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH OUR DOMINION OVER THE INFERIOR ANIMALS OUGHT TO BE EXERCISES. A right to rule is not a right to tyrannize; and a right to service extends only to such duties as are consistent with the powers of the servants, and with the place which is assigned to them. All power is of God, and can only be lawfully exercised when exercised according to His designs. That likeness to God in which we were originally created, should remind us that justice, and goodness, and mercy, are the chief distinctions after which we should aspire; and that our dominion was designed, like that of Him who designed it, to be exercised with wisdom, rectitude, and compassion. The consideration of our dominion, and the services by which those who are subjected to our power, in such numberless ways, minister to our comforts, only enforces on us more strongly the duty of providing for their comfort, and preserving them from injury. And is it not the very essence of benevolence to desire and to promote the happiness of every being within the sphere of our influence? (S. McGill, D. D.)
The Divine blessing
Every loving father wishes his children well. The Divine Father wishes the first human pair well, for such is the import of the words He blessed them. We can say, too, without any hesitancy, that He wishes every member of the human family well, both for time and eternity. Those who are not blessed, and there are thousands, ought not to ascribe this to God, but to themselves. (A. McAuslane, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. And God blessed them] Marked them as being under his especial protection, and gave them power to propagate and multiply their own kind on the earth. A large volume would be insufficient to contain what we know of the excellence and perfection of man, even in his present degraded fallen state. Both his body and soul are adapted with astonishing wisdom to their residence and occupations; and also the place of their residence, as well as the surrounding objects, in their diversity, colour, and mutual relations, to the mind and body of this lord of the creation. The contrivance, arrangement, action, and re-action of the different parts of the body, show the admirable skill of the wondrous Creator; while the various powers and faculties of the mind, acting on and by the different organs of this body, proclaim the soul’s Divine origin, and demonstrate that he who was made in the image and likeness of God, was a transcript of his own excellency, destined to know, love, and dwell with his Maker throughout eternity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Having blessed them with excellent natures, and heavenly gifts and graces, he further blesseth them with a special and temporal blessing expressed in the following words.
Replenish the earth, with inhabitants to be begotten by you.
Question. Whether this be a command obliging all men to marriage and procreation? So the Hebrew doctors think. It may be thus resolved:
1. It is a command obliging all men so far as not to suffer the extinction of mankind: thus it did absolutely bind Adam and Eve, as also Noah, and his sons and their wives, after the Flood.
2. It doth not oblige every particular person to marry, as appears both from the example of the Lord Jesus, who lived and died in an unmarried state, and from his commendation of those who made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God, Mat 19:12; and from St. Pauls approbation of virginity, 1Co 7:1,8,26-27,32, &c.
3. It is here rather a promise or benediction than a command, as appears both from Gen 2:22, where the same words are applied to the brute beasts, who are not subject to a command; and because if this were a command, it would equally oblige every man to exercise dominion over fishes and fowls, &c., which is absurd. It is therefore a permission rather than a command, though it be expressed in the form of a command, as other permissions frequently are, as Gen 2:16; Deu 14:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. Be fruitful, c.The humanrace in every country and age has been the offspring of the firstpair. Amid all the varieties found among men, some black, somecopper-colored, others white, the researches of modern science leadto a conclusion, fully accordant with the sacred history, that theyare all of one species and of one family (Ac17:26). What power in the word of God! “He spake and it wasdone. He commanded and all things stood fast” [Ps33:9]. “Great and manifold are thy works, Lord God Almighty!in wisdom hast thou made them all” [Ps104:24]. We admire that wisdom, not only in the regular progressof creation, but in its perfect adaptation to the end. God isrepresented as pausing at every stage to look at His work. No wonderHe contemplated it with complacency. Every object was in its rightplace, every vegetable process going on in season, every animal inits structure and instincts suited to its mode of life and its use inthe economy of the world. He saw everything that He had madeanswering the plan which His eternal wisdom had conceived and,”Behold it was very good” [Ge1:31].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And God blessed them,…. The man and the woman he had made, with all the blessings of nature and Providence; with all the good things of life; with his presence, and with communion with himself in a natural way, through the creatures; and particularly with a power of procreating their species, as follows;
and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth: if this is not an express command, as the Jews understand it, for marriage and procreation of children, it seems to be more than a bare permission; at least it is a direction and an advice to what was proper and convenient for the increase of mankind, and for the filling of the earth with inhabitants, which was the end of its being made, Isa 45:18. This shows that marriage is an ordinance of God, instituted in paradise, and is honourable; and that procreation is a natural action, and might have been, and may be performed without sin,
and subdue it; the earth; not that it was in the hands of others, who had no right to it, and to be conquered and taken out of their hands; but is to be understood of their taking possession, and making use of it; of their tilling the land, and making it subservient to their use:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth; which was giving them an universal and unlimited dominion over all the creatures; of which see an enumeration in Ps 8:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
28. And God blessed them This blessing of God may be regarded as the source from which the human race has flowed. And we must so consider it not only with reference to the whole, but also, as they say, in every particular instance. For we are fruitful or barren in respect of offspring, as God imparts his power to some and withholds it from others. But here Moses would simply declare that Adam with his wife was formed for the production of offspring, in order that men might replenish the earth. God could himself indeed have covered the earth with a multitude of men; but it was his will that we should proceed from one fountain, in order that our desire of mutual concord might be the greater, and that each might the more freely embrace the other as his own flesh. Besides, as men were created to occupy the earth, so we ought certainly to conclude that God has mapped, as with a boundary, that space of earth which would suffice for the reception of men, and would prove a suitable abode for them. Any inequality which is contrary to this arrangement is nothing else than a corruption of nature which proceeds from sin. In the meantime, however, the benediction of God so prevails that the earth everywhere lies open that it may have its inhabitants, and that an immense multitude of men may find, in some part of the globe, their home. Now, what I have said concerning marriage must be kept in mind; that God intends the human race to be multiplied by generation indeed, but not, as in brute animals, by promiscuous intercourse. For he has joined the man to his wife, that they might produce a divine, that is, a legitimate seed. Let us then mark whom God here addresses when he commands them to increase, and to whom he limits his benediction. Certainly he does not give the reins to human passions, (96) but, beginning at holy and chaste marriage, he proceeds to speak of the production of offspring. For this is also worthy of notice, that Moses here briefly alludes to a subject which he afterwards means more fully to explain, and that the regular series of the history is inverted, yet in such a way as to make the true succession of events apparent. The question, however, is proposed, whether fornicators and adulterers become fruitful by the power of God; which, if it be true, then whether the blessing of God is in like manner extended to them? I answer, this is a corruption of the Divine institute; and whereas God produces offspring from this muddy pool, as well as from the pure fountain of marriage, this will tend to their greater destruction. Still that pure and lawful method of increase, which God ordained from the beginning, remains firm; this is that law of nature which common sense declares to be inviolable.
Subdue it He confirms what he had before said respecting dominion. Man had already been created with this condition, that he should subject the earth to himself; but now, at length, he is put in possession of his right, when he hears what has been given to him by the Lord: and this Moses expresses still more fully in the next verse, when he introduces God as granting to him the herbs and the fruits. For it is of great importance that we touch nothing of God’s bounty but what we know he has permitted us to do; since we cannot enjoy anything with a good conscience, except we receive it as from the hand of God. And therefore Paul teaches us that, in eating and drinking we always sin, unless faith be present, (Rom 14:23.) Thus we are instructed to seek from God alone whatever is necessary for us, and in the very use of his gifts, we are to exercise ourselves in meditating on his goodness and paternal care. For the words of God are to this effect: ‘Behold, I have prepared food for thee before thou wast formed; acknowledge me, therefore, as thy Father, who have so diligently provided for thee when thou wast not yet created. Moreover, my solicitude for thee has proceeded still further; it was thy business to nurture the things provided for thee, but I have taken even this charge also upon myself. Wherefore, although thou art, in a sense, constituted the father of the earthly family, (97) it is not for thee to be overanxious about the sustenance of animals.’ (98)
Some infer, from this passages that men were content with herbs and fruits until the deluge, and that it was even unlawful for them to eat flesh. And this seems the more probable, because God confines, in some way, the food of mankind within certain limits. Then after the deluge, he expressly grants them the use of flesh. These reasons, however are not sufficiently strong: for it may be adduced on the opposite side, that the first men offered sacrifices from their flocks. (99) This, moreover, is the law of sacrificing rightly, not to offer unto God anything except what he has granted to our use. Lastly men were clothed in skins; therefore it was lawful for them to kill animals. For these reasons, I think it will be better for us to assert nothing concerning this matter. Let it suffice for us, that herbs and the fruits of trees were given them as their common food; yet it is not to be doubted that this was abundantly sufficient for their highest gratification. For they judge prudently whomaintain that the earth was so marred by the deluge, that we retain scarcely a moderate portion of the original benediction. Even immediately after the fall of man, it had already begun to bring forth degenerate and noxious fruits, but at the deluge, the change became still greater. Yet, however this may be, God certainly did not intend that man should be slenderly and sparingly sustained; but rather, by these words, he promises a liberal abundance, which should leave nothing wanting to a sweet and pleasant life. For Moses relates how beneficent the Lord had been to them, in bestowing on them all things which they could desire, that their ingratitude might have the less excuse.
(96) “ Certe fraenum viris et muliebris non laxavit, ut in vagas libidines ruierent, absque delectu et pudore: sed a sancto castoque conjugio incipiens, descendit ad generationem.”
(97) “ Paterfamilias in mundo.”
(98) See Gen 1:29, in which God promises the herbs and fruits of the earth, and every green herb, to the beasts of the earth for food. The reader will perceive that the subsequent observations of Calvin refer more especially to these verses. — Ed.
(99) It does not appear that there is much force in Calvin’s objections to the opinion, that flesh was not allowed for human food till after the deluge. For if the sacrifices offered were holocausts, then the skin only would be left for the use of man. See notes on the offerings of Cain and Abel in the fourth chapter; and, especially, Dr. Magee’s work on the Atonement, Dissertation LII, On the date of the permission of animal food to man. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
‘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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the face of the earth”.’
Like the living creatures man is ‘blessed’. They are to produce children and populate the earth. This again brings out that sexual functions, rightly used, are blessed by God. The verb ‘subdue’ is strong, as is ‘have dominion’. The latter means ‘trample down’. There is no suggestion that man’s task will be easy. The subjugation of the animal world will be hard and demanding. But man has been given what is necessary for victory and control.
So man’s function is twofold. To people the earth and to be master over it. But privilege brings responsibility and in that man failed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 1:28. God blessed them, &c. He pronounced his blessing upon them: he gave them the earth as their possession, and commanded them to multiply and replenish it with inhabitants. Children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord.
And subdue it Man by his superior wisdom is furnished with methods to make the fiercest animals yield, and the strongest to serve him; and he hath dominion over all, by grant from God himself. We have forfeited it by sin, but God in mercy hath not wholly resumed it: though much is lost, and all had been, were it not for the Repairer of the breach, who is come to be the Saviour of all men; but especially of those who believe; to them all is restored, for all is ours, in the sanctified use of them, when we are Christ’s.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
It is deserving our attention, that God’s approbation of his work at the close of it; and after the creation of man, differs from what was said before. All was said to be good; but now it is said to be very good. Was this in consequence of his love to man? Was it as beholding his creature man in his son Christ Jesus? Reader! remember, I ask it as a question: far is it from me to decide upon it. But, methinks, under this idea, it leads forth the soul of a true believer in Christ in sweet meditation from such a thought. If Adam was formed in the likeness of Him that should, in the fullness of time, appear in our manhood, and God, beholding Adam in Him, pronounced all his works on his account very good; doth it not lead us to look up and bless the Great Authors of all our mercies in creation and redemption, and especially for the personal interest every believer hath in Jesus? Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man that thou visitest him? Psa 8:4
REFLECTIONS
ADMIDST many other precious instructions arising out of this Chapter, which I pray God the Spirit to unfold to the mind of the Reader, there are some which I venture to suggest to his more immediate attention.
And first. Is it not a very refreshing thought to the true believer in Christ, to behold, in the very opening of the Bible, in the first verse of it, and almost in the very first word of the verse, that the glorious doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which is the foundation of faith, is so strikingly set forth? What an exalted thought is this for the human mind to dwell in contemplation upon, that the God with whom we have to do. and from whose goodness we originate, is so widely distinguished, in the nature of his own existence, from all his creatures! And with what veneration, humility of soul, and the most profound homage, ought we at all times to be looking up to this first, greatest, and best of Beings!
But this is not all. It is not enough to look up to the Great I AM, as he is in himself; but we are authorized, nay enjoined, to contemplate and adore the Divine Majesty, as he stands revealed to his creatures. In Gen 1:26 , we behold the Sacred Three in One, conferring together for our creation: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. As if by this act, they called upon the human mind to admire and adore the Godhead in this threefold character of Persons, as the united source of all our mercies. Well might David exclaim, and so may you and I, fearfully and wonderfully am I made! Wonderfully made, indeed, when our creation thus occupied the joint agency of the Sacred Three! Wonderfully redeemed, also, when the redemption of our nature engaged their joint concern! and wonderful will be that joy, which is unspeakable and full of glory, when their joint praises will employ the innumerable host of the faithful before the throne; when that hymn shall be sung: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive all glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Ver. 28. Subdue the earth, and have dominion. ] Make it habitable by driving out the wild beasts that infest and annoy it. Make it arable also, and useful to yourselves and yours. The creatures are man’s servants and household stuff. “God hath put all things under his feet,” Psa 8:1-9 that be may raise himself thereby to God his maker. a A wise philosopher could say, that man is the end of all things in a semicircle; that is, all things in the world are made for him, and he is made for God; to know and acknowledge him, to serve and express him, to say to him as David, and that Son of David, Lord, “a body (a soul) hast thou given me; behold I come to do thy will, O God” Heb 10:5 Psa 40:6 The very Manichees, that denied God to be the author of the body, fasted on Sundays, and in fasting, exercised a humiliation of the body. The Paternians are not worth speaking of, who held this heresy b in the year of Christ 387, that the lower parts of man’s body were not made by God, but by the devil; and therefore allowing liberty of all wickedness to those parts, they lived most impurely. But if superstitious persons must reckon for it, that punish their bodies Col 2:22 without commandment from God, where shall those beasts appear that defile their bodies, and damn their soul? How shall all the creatures, instead of serving them, take up arms for God, and serve against them, yea, rise up in judgment and condemn them, for that when all other things keep their fit and proper places in the frame, and observe their peculiar ends and uses whereunto they were created, men only, as so many Heteroclites and Irregulars, should prove unprofitable, unuseful, nay, hurtful to the whole frame, causing vanity and misery to the poor creature which groans under it, and so defiling the very visible heavens, that they must be purged by the last fire, as those vessels were in the law that held the sin-offering! As for those that are in Christ, they are restored to the privileges of their first creation, as fellowship with God, dominion over the creatures, &c. Rom 8:1-39 , as appears by comparing Psa 8:6 Heb 2:6-7 , &c., where whatever is spoken of man is applied to Christ, and so is proper to the Church, which is Christ mystical, union being the ground of communion. Christ is married to his people in faithfulness, and as part of a jointure, he hath taken and bound over the best of the creatures to serve them, and bring them in provision Hos 2:20-22
a Qui dominari in caetera possit, natus homo est.
b Alsted. Chron. p. 387.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
them. Emph. Figure of speech Prolepsis (App-6). The actual building of Eve not till Gen 2:20-23.
replenish = fill, as Gen 1:22 and nearly every occurrence.
have dominion. Compare Psalm 8. Heb 2:6-8. “But now . . . not yet. “
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
DISPENSATION
A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture. (See Scofield “Gen 1:28”), note 5.
And God blessed them
The First Dispensation: Innocency. Man was created in innocency, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to an absolutely simple test, and warned of the consequence of disobedience. The woman fell through pride; the man deliberately. 1Ti 2:14 God restored His sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocency ended in the judgment of the Expulsion Gen 3:24 See, for the other dispensations;
Conscience (See Scofield “Gen 3:23”)
Human Government (See Scofield “Gen 8:21”)
Promise (See Scofield “Gen 12:1”)
Law (See Scofield “Exo 19:8”)
Grace (See Scofield “Joh 1:17”)
Kingdom (See Scofield “Eph 1:10”)
Be fruitful
The Edenic Covenant, the first of the eight great covenants of Scripture which condition life and salvation, and about which all Scripture crystallizes, has seven elements. The man and woman in Eden were responsible:
(1) To replenish the earth with a new order–man;
(2) to subdue the earth to human uses;
(3) to have dominion over the animal creation;
(4) to eat herbs and fruits;
(5) to till and keep the garden;
(6) to abstain from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil;
(7) the penalty–death. See, for the other seven covenants:
ADAMIC (See Scofield “Gen 3:14”)
NOAHIC (See Scofield “Gen 9:1”)
ABRAHAMIC (See Scofield “Gen 15:18”)
MOSAIC (See Scofield “Exo 19:25”)
PALESTINIAN (See Scofield “Deu 30:3”)
DAVIDIC (See Scofield “2Sa 7:16”)
NEW (See Scofield “Heb 8:8”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Gen 1:22, Gen 8:17, Gen 9:1, Gen 9:7, Gen 17:16, Gen 17:20, Gen 22:17, Gen 22:18, Gen 24:60, Gen 26:3, Gen 26:4, Gen 26:24, Gen 33:5, Gen 49:25, Lev 26:9, 1Ch 4:10, 1Ch 26:5, Job 42:12, Psa 107:38, Psa 127:1-5, Psa 128:3, Psa 128:4, Isa 45:18, 1Ti 4:3
moveth: Heb. creepeth, Psa 69:34, *marg.
Reciprocal: Gen 2:19 – brought Gen 5:4 – and he Gen 6:1 – to multiply Gen 6:20 – two Gen 9:2 – General Gen 11:11 – begat sons Gen 28:3 – and make Exo 1:7 – fruitful Lev 12:2 – If a woman Job 20:4 – man Job 39:11 – leave Job 41:4 – wilt thou Psa 8:6 – madest Psa 50:12 – fulness Psa 104:25 – this great Psa 115:16 – but the earth Psa 127:3 – children Jer 29:6 – Take ye Mat 17:27 – and take Joh 2:1 – a marriage Heb 13:4 – Marriage
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 1:28. Be fruitful, and replenish the earth A large estate is given them, and they are to fill it with inhabitants, to cultivate it, and enjoy the fruits it produces. But these words rather contain a benediction and a promise, than a command, as appears from Gen 1:22, where the same words are applied to the brute creatures, which are not capable of understanding or obeying a command.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:28 And God {u} blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
(u) The propagation.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Note that God’s blessing of man finds expression in terms of posterity that connotes the ideas of seed and life, two prominent themes as Genesis and the whole Bible unfold. [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 38.] God’s blessing enables humanity to fulfill its twofold destiny: to procreate in spite of death and to rule in spite of enemies. "Blessing" denotes all that fosters human fertility and asists in achieving dominion. [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 67.]
Interpreters have generally recognized the commands to "be fruitful and multiply" as commands to Adam and Eve (and later to Noah, Gen 9:1) as the heads of the human race, not simply as individuals. That is, God has not charged every human being with begetting children. This seems clear from the fact that God has made many men and women incapable of reproducing. [Note: For a good book on childlessness, see Vicky Love, Childless Is Not Less.] Consequently one should not appeal to this command as a support for the theory that God wants all people to bear as many children as they possibly can. This verse is a "cultural mandate," not an individual mandate. It was to Adam and Eve as heads of the human race that God gave this command.
"This command, like others in Scripture, carries with it an implicit promise that God will enable man to fulfill it." [Note: Wenham, p. 33.]
Sexual union is God’s ordained method of implementing His command to multiply descendants. Consequently sex is essentially good. When God gave this command Adam and Eve were in an unfallen condition. Therefore the descendants they would produce would be godly. It is particularly a godly seed that God has charged the human race to raise up. Likewise He commanded Noah and his wife, who were both righteous, to be fruitful (Gen 9:1).
God did not make men or women emotionally, spiritually, or physically capable of raising children without a marriage partner. Consequently single parents struggle. As children observe both godly parents modeling a harmonious marriage they learn to appreciate their own sexual identity, the roles of husband and wife, and unconditional love. Unconditional love is necessary for a harmonious marriage.
"Subdue" and "rule," the second aspect of this mandate, imply a degree of sovereignty and control that God delegated to man over nature. [Note: See Eric Sauer, King of the Earth. Cf. Hebrews 2:8-9.] This constitutes God’s "Magna Charta" for all true scientific and material progress. God commanded Adam and Eve to acquire knowledge so they could master their material environment, to bring all its elements into the service of the human race.
"The dominion which man enjoyed in the Garden of Eden was a direct consequence of the image of God in him." [Note: Davis, p. 81.]
For a married couple oneness in marriage is necessary to manage God’s creation effectively.
"Our Christian proclamation of hope has antecedents in the theological soil of three divine programmatic expectations first heard in Genesis: (1) God will bless the human family with procreation and dominion (Gen 1:26-28); (2) he will achieve victory over mankind’s enemy (Gen 3:15); and (3) he will bring about both through the offspring of Abraham (Gen 12:1-3)-namely, the one man Jesus Christ." [Note: Mathews, p. 22.]
We have in this verse the three essential elements of a dispensation (stewardship, household rule): a divine revelation of God’s will for human conduct, consequent human responsibility, and a period of time during which God tests people as to their obedience to this responsibility. A dispensation is a period of time during which God tests man in relation to his obedience to a specific revelation of God’s will. The dispensations constitute a progressive, connected revelation of God’s dealings with humankind. God gave them to the whole human race or to a part of it (e.g., Israel). They are not separate ways of salvation; in each dispensation man is saved by God’s grace because of the work of Jesus Christ. Before the Cross, people were saved in prospect of Christ’s sacrifice, as on credit so to speak, by believing a revelation given to them by God. After the Cross, people are saved in retrospect of Christ’s sacrifice, by believing the revelation that He satisfied God’s just demands against sinners (1Jn 2:2). Whereas specific human responsibilities change as divine revelation unfolds and dispensation succeeds dispensation, people have a continuing responsibility to live in the light of previous revelation. For example, even though the dispensation of the Mosaic Law has ended, Christians are helped to discharge our responsibilities to God by being aware of what God required of the Israelites under the Law (cf. Rom 15:4; 2Ti 3:16-17). The purpose of each dispensation has been to place people under a specific rule of conduct, not as a condition for salvation but to demonstrate that people always fail to live up to God’s standards and so need to accept salvation that God extends to them as a gift. I believe that seven dispensations are distinguishable in Scripture. These are Innocence (Gen 1:28), Conscience (Gen 3:7), Human Government (Gen 8:15), Promise (Gen 12:1), Law (Exo 19:1), Church (Act 2:1), and Kingdom (Rev 20:4).
This verse marks the first dispensation: Innocence. God created man innocent, placed him in a perfect environment, subjected him to a simple test, and warned him of the consequences of disobedience. Adam did not have to sin but chose to do so. The serpent deceived Eve (cf. 2Co 11:3), but Adam sinned deliberately (cf. 1Ti 2:14). This dispensation ended when God judged Adam and Eve guilty and expelled them from the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:24).