The Creation Mandate

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The Bible’s description of our God-given responsibility for His creation is sometimes called the “creation mandate”. It reveals God’s purposes for humanity. Some of these are: Worship. God’s creation of the world culminated in a day of rest and worship, a pattern which God tells people to follow. Work. People have been given responsibility (or “dominion”) over the earth to “subdue” it by cultivating, developing, and managing it in a way that meets human needs, taking care of the earth as a resource and an expression of His love, might, wisdom and creativity in His creating, and so brings glory to God. In the act of naming things we see the seeds of scientific activity, in understanding, exploring and subduing the creation. Family. People have been created male and female and commanded to procreate. The family is the basic building-block of society. These purposes were established before sin entered the world and they were reinstituted even after the Fall. Thus they still apply today, and take on a fuller and deeper significance in the light of the gospel.