Likeness and Dominion

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.”

Genesis 1: 26 ESV

The meaning of these few words is heavily dependent upon how one views God. Personally, I hold that God is the creator of all that is, that He knew all of what we would call history before any of it was set into motion, that He exists in three distinct yet inseparable persons, and that everything that takes place in our world is ultimately used by God for the completion of His purposes. There is more to my theology than these ideas, but they suffice for the purposes of a brief discussion of this verse. God created humanity in a unique manner among all that He devised. People are made in something that is referred to as being in God’s image or likeness, and that would seem to be intended to include all of the very complex nature that is shaped and formed by God’s three person identity.

Much has happened over the course of our existence on earth. Humanity has rebelled against our Creator, we have turned away from His will for us and lived as if we know all of the better answers for life. The word for that departure from God is sin, and we all have engaged in it to the degree that we have become highly skilled at its practice. Although we do what God granted us the authority and the responsibility to do by  way of having dominion over all that makes up this world where we reside, this rebellious nature, our sinfulness, has driven us to do it more than less of the time in a manner that is filled with arrogance, violence, and very poor stewardship of it all. Humanity does not deal with itself, with the creatures of this earth, or with the earth itself in the loving and care-filled manner that God’s image bearing would dictate.

There is a note of hopelessness in this, for it would seem that we are headed along a road that leads to the destruction of all that might be dear to us in this world. Yet, there is an answer, and it already exists within the scope of our knowing. It came to fruition on a cross on a knoll in Judea, and as a resurrection miracle took place three days later, it was empowered to defeat the sin-fueled evil of this world. I believe in the God of Creation, and I believe in the reality of the earthly crucifixion death of the Son, Jesus; so, I also believe in the historical truth of His resurrection to life and into a position of sovereign reign over this world.

All of that means to me that as I believe in Jesus, I also must take responsibility for loving my fellow humans without exception, and I need to care about and care for the world that God created for me to so steward. These are not impossible ideas, for the empowerment to do all of this is found in the presence of the Spirit of God in me and in all people who know Jesus, and so, know God. The sacrifice that Jesus made on that cross has restored to humanity the ability and the needed resources to engage fully in loving this world and all that inhabit it in the same deep and total manner that God does and that He envisioned in granting dominion over it all to humans.