2018-19 Boyd's Commentary: For the Sunday School

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

The 2018–2019 Boyd’s Commentary continues the tradition of excellence established through the years. Sunday school directors, teachers, and students are again provided with a scholarly, stimulating, insightful, and resourceful Sunday school lesson commentary. Readers will find in its pages information that will provide the necessary insight to “rig

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Jul 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781681674230

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FIRST QUARTER

September

October

November

Lesson material is based on International Sunday School Lessons and International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching. Copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education and is used by its permission.

GENESIS 1:1–13

MAIN THOUGHT: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2, KJV)

LESSON SETTING

Time:  Creation

Place: The Universe

The passage about which today’s lesson is concerned commonly is referred to as the creation narrative. The creation narrative tells the beginning story of God’s creative acts in the world. It is God who takes the initiative to move and bring order out of chaos. The opening story of the Bible is a story about a God who is willing to take the initiative and bring divine possibilities into play in the midst of chaos.

LESSON OUTLINE

I. Order Out of Chaos

(Genesis 1:1–3)

II. The Beginning of Time

(Genesis 1:4–5)

III. A Fruitful World

(Genesis 1:6–11)

IV. What God Sees as Good

(Genesis 1:12–13)

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

The wonders of the universe amaze any human mind that considers the magnitude of God’s work. Who is responsible for such marvelous and breathtaking creativity? Genesis 1 informs us that God is the Creator of all of these marvelous wonders.

INTRODUCTION

The Bible starts in Genesis, a name that means beginning, with the story of creation to provide a basis for faith in God’s creative acts in the world. It is only natural for us to wonder how all things came into existence. The Bible seeks to answer the questions of humanity about its beginnings by telling readers the ways God acted to create the heaven and the earth. The creative activity of God is described as beginning with a God who simply speaks, and the authority of His word and sound of His voice is enough to bring order out of chaos.

EXPOSITION

I. ORDER OUT OF CHAOS

(GENESIS 1:1–2)

The creation narrative introduces us to a God who has a plan and uses that plan to shape all of creation. God acts alone in the plan and prior to the first human sin begins the process of redemptive history. There is no assistance given to God to form creation. God alone has the stage to bring His full vision into reality. The focus on God who initiates, promises, commands, and fulfills is vital to the creation narrative in part because it combats other creation stories that are and/or have been popular.

One such creation story sought to describe the existence of creation as the result of an epic battle between two warring deities. In this instance, God would be placed in a struggle with some other deity and win the battle because He was stronger. This view clashes with the beliefs of those who maintain that there is only one true living God. All other gods are idols that are incapable of providing anything we need and nothing promised to us by our Triune God. In the telling of the creation narrative in the Bible, a theological position is put forward early that will inform the rest of Scripture; that position is that there is only one true and living God.

In recent days, scientists have declared the world came into existence because of a big bang in the cosmos. The Bible refutes this position and declares that it was God and God alone who created the heavens and the earth. The proof of God’s deity and power is viewed in the work no one other than God is capable of doing.

The opening statement of the Apostles Creed, a summary document attesting to Christian beliefs, gives witness to the lone action of God in creation by providing a doctrinal statement to help guide the faith of all of Christians for all times: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth . . . which declares the Sovereign God to have initiated and now sustains all that was, is, and shall be.

Before the world as we know it took on any form, the Spirit of God moved upon the void and formless darkness, and the moving of the Spirit began to introduce order into the chaos. Some ascribe Gap Theory to the space between the first and second verses of Genesis. This indicates there are untold years (whether thousands or millions) between, In the beginning . . . and . . . the earth . . . in an attempt to explain how God was able to form earth and all that the universe contains in what the Bible describes a six-day period. Gap theorists basically try to make science fit the Bible rather than applying biblical knowledge to the data emerging from good science.

The created universe was energized; and matter, space, and time came into existence at once. The order God brought to the chaos made possible physical realities that we now know as the world and everything in it. The order that God brought from the chaos to make the heavens and the earth possible gives us insight into an attribute of God that will manifest itself further when God offers salvation through Jesus Christ for all who are lost and without hope. God alone makes new beginnings possible, from the foundation of the world to our individual lives, as often as necessary to achieve His redemptive purposes.

II. THE BEGINNING OF TIME

(GENESIS 1:3–5)

After forming matter from chaos, God created light. The light mentioned in verse 3 is not the light of the sun, moon, or stars, which are not created until verse 14. The light in this passage is the light of God Himself. God does not merely create, but He imparts Himself to His creation. Already we see a God who is willing to be with—to identify with—what He has created before humanity comes into existence. The intimate participation of God with creation speaks of God’s care and concern for all that He either has ordained or has allowed to exist.

God created the heavens and the earth to be spaces where His will could be seen, responded to, and carried out for our blessing and His glory. Whereas God is infinite and beyond time and space, He has created space that is finite so His creation can respond to His desires and participate with Him in the witness of creation.

The words Let there be . . . repeated multiple times in the creation narrative carry the tone of participation with God as the created order responds to God and His spoken commands.

An infinite God operating in finite space established time as a way of regulating the space and providing order that allows for change in a perpetual continuum which we know as day and night. Day and night provide a model not only for the establishment of time but a model to see the faithfulness of God in creation with the dawn of each new day.

Terence E. Fretheim, in his commentary on Genesis said, Israel believed light, often a symbol of life and salvation and characteristic of the presence of God, was fundamental to the creation, pushing back the darkness and making life possible. Every morning was a kind of new creation. Beginning with God’s fast act of creation, He declared it to be good, for it is not His nature or intent to create anything other than that which is inherently good in keeping with who He is.

Do not miss the fact that the first 24-hour period began with evening followed by morning. Evening is when we rest, so God graciously inaugurated His order of creation in rest, already pointing us toward the Sabbath, the first ordinance to govern His created world.

In Judaism, the concept of day always begins with the evening prior. Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday. Likewise, the same holds true for holidays, which always begin the evening before in keeping with God’s order of creation.

III. A FRUITFUL WORLD

(GENESIS 1:6–11)

The world God creates is a world with boundaries, which maintain order from what otherwise would be chaos. After separating day from night, God established the boundary of earth and sky. The separation of earth from sky opened new possibilities for the created order. The division of the waters of the earth and those of the sky would lead to the ability of living things to occupy the respective spaces they had been assigned.

Each time God creates a new boundary, it is seen not as a restriction but a new possibility. Further, it’s significant to note that boundaries are not barriers. In fact, boundaries can be moved and repositioned as necessary where barriers usually are more fixed or permanent. The story builds upon itself in ways that allow readers to see the layers that are placed upon one another, giving all things their proper and respective places that they might fulfill the purposes God has established for them.

Next, God separated the water from dry ground. What is apparent is that in the plan of God, water plays a vital role in sustaining creation. Yet, too much water harms creation, as we will see later in Genesis in the account of the Flood narrative with Noah.

Therefore, God places limits on how far water can go. Dry ground becomes the focus of God’s next creative activity. Dry ground is where God creates vegetation and trees that are not just instruments of beauty but are fruitful and will serve to sustain other living things. The vegetation and trees have a responsibility to the spaces they occupy and are commanded to be fruitful. This tells us something about the plan of God in creation. It is God’s desire that His creation be fruitful and productive. Creation is to bear perpetual witness of God’s hand upon it by providing something of value that the writer of Genesis described as ongoing, continuing in growth and productivity. God’s world is a fruitful world; and in the process of bearing fruit, His creation is alive with new opportunities. Just as God desires His creation to be fruitful, God desires His ultimate creation—human beings—to be fruitful. The three ordinances of creation are Sabbath, marriage, and labor. God has delivered us from slavery to idleness into meaningful work in service to Him. Likewise, He later will expect the church to be fruitful. Fruitful means bearing some witness of God’s hand upon us in constructive ways so as to be present and available for new possibilities.

IV. WHAT GOD SEES AS GOOD

(GENESIS 1:12–13)

A repeated theme in the creation narrative is that God regards and evaluates what He has created and declares it to be good. God evaluates His own work because there is no else who can evaluate the work of God. Declaring what He has created to be good is the seal that what has been created is capable of serving the purpose for which it was intended at its point of creation.

Further, as Sovereign of the universe, nothing He does will fall short of His standards. Each time God acts in creation and declares what He has done and the result of His creative action to be good opens a new possibility. In other words, God built on His most recently created act. In Genesis 1:1–13, there are multiple occasions when God declared what He had created to be good. God sees all the work of His hand as good.

However, because of the Fall, what God originally created as good has become corrupted by sin. All of creation is subject to the consequences of sin. However, God’s original intent to make all things good was for the purpose of continuing in their respective abilities to operate the way God originally intended at creation and will return to as He makes all things new in redemption.

THE LESSON APPLIED

We live in a world that gives witness to a great deal of chaos. There are school shootings, political corruption, genocide, hunger, poverty, mass incarceration, and a host of other abuses. The world we live in today is not the world God originally intended. The God who spoke and by the power of His word brought order from chaos is able to speak again.

The Church can be the instrument God uses to restore and make His creation whole again. In fact, the church is His plan for the dissemination of His Gospel, and there is no Plan B. Therefore, as believers in Jesus Christ we are to trust in the power of God to use us to shape the world according to the view God originally intended. We are called to be participants with God by being change agents wherever and whenever we are given the opportunity. We may not be able to do everything that needs to be done, but there is always something each of us can do when we discern the Spirit’s leading and make ourselves willing instruments.

The first created human beings knew what it was to enjoy pristine, unspoiled fellowship with the Lord. He formed the first humans and fellowshiped with them in the Garden of Eden. They knew the sound of Him walking in the Garden in the cool of the day. Yet, due to their disobedience, they quickly learned the feeling of falling out of fellowship with the Lord and the shame that corresponded with their disobedience.

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

1.What role does the creation narrative play in the faith development of the church?

The creation narrative establishes the presence of God and the initiative He took on behalf of all of creation. God has ensured a place where all of creation is provided for and purposed to be. Just as God has prepared a place in glory for us to be with Him, He has prepared a place on earth for us to live until we are called home, as well.

2.Why do we so often view boundaries as limitations as opposed to how boundaries are effective?

The boundaries God establishes are for the good of the order and help make new possibilities reality. Without the boundaries between land and water, there would be no trees; the world would not be as fruitful as it is if the environment prevented any part of creation from existing.

Boundaries are moveable limits that serve to establish the guides by which an entity is governed for a set and specific purpose. Boundaries are not confining as we sometimes consider them to be, but encourage freedom within a safe space to promote less risk.

3.Why is it important in the plan of God that the world be fruitful?

God created and sustains a world that will be fruitful so that His created order is able to propagate in healthy ways. Some of God’s first recorded words entailed the command-blessing to be fruitful and multiply. Fruitfulness shows obedience to God. To be fruitful and multiply is one indication we are doing exactly what God ordained for us to do. If we are not being fruitful, His word tells us we risk being cut off to make room for vines that will yield a greater harvest.

HOME DAILY DEVOTIONAL READINGS

SEPTEMBER 3–9, 2018

GENESIS 1:14–25

MAIN THOUGHT: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. (Genesis 1:14, KJV)

LESSON SETTING

Time:  Creation

Place: The Garden of Eden

LESSON OUTLINE

I. The God Who Gives Light

(Genesis 1:14–19)

II. Filling the World with Life

(Genesis 1:20–23)

III. Animals Before Men

(Genesis 1:24–25)

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

People’s life experiences sometimes lead them to question whether the universe is ordered or unpredictably chaotic. How do the diverse parts of nature work together? Genesis 1 shares that God brought order to the universe He had made, establishing the heavenly bodies and filling the sea, sky, and land with diverse and abundant life.

INTRODUCTION

The continuing story of creation reveals a God who still is working to bring completion to His plan for creation. God does not create everything that is a part of creation at one time. Creation is a process by which God prepared for the next work He would do. In this lesson, God begins to order creation. The work did not end with land, sky, and sea.

The created order includes life in the form of creatures brought into being by the Creator. Each creature would have a relationship to the place where God determined for it to reside. The fish would be in the sea, birds would populate the air, and animals would be on dry ground. All that God created has function and purpose and honors God in the fulfillment of the function of each kind. Since the beginning of time, all creatures continue to follow the function God designed for each one at the moment He formed them.

EXPOSITION

I. THE GOD WHO GIVES LIGHT

(GENESIS 1:14–19)

God created light as the means by which to illuminate creation. Light is divided into various categories. The greater light to rule the day is a reference to the sun. The lesser light to rule the night is a reference to the moon and stars. Other celestial beings reflect the light bouncing off of them from the sun or moon. We have lost most of the wonder of the night sky in large parts due to street lights and other artificial sources that obscure the magnificence of God’s glorious work.

Once humans entered creation, they began to view the light of the sun and the moon as independent deities. Humanity found itself worshiping what God created as opposed to the God who created the light. The Babylonians and Egyptians worshiped the sun. The Mesopotamians and West Semites paid homage to the moon. Because the sun, moon, and stars were depended on by ancient people for travel, they often attributed to those sources of light religious devotion that God never intended for anyone other than Himself. Only He deserves honor, glory, and praise. The God who gives light never desires for us to worship what He created. We are to worship Him alone.

The Hebrew people hold to the teaching that the light of the world that humanity depends on is subject to the purpose and will of God. The Genesis narrative makes it clear that the sun, moon, and stars are objects created by God to fulfill His purpose along with the rest of creation. The sun, moon, and stars are not elevated to a greater place simply because of our reliance upon the light they provide. The sun, moon, and stars are to work together with all of creation, making the whole of creation possible because each part is working together.

God calls for collaboration in His created order, not competition. All parts of creation are to work together to make something that would not be possible without each part fulfilling its purpose. The God who gives light invites all people to ponder His greatness and faithfulness. We see the greatness of God in the stars that light the sky. We see His faithfulness as the sun rises each new day. Day and night are more than forms of light. Day and night give us a view into the mystery of God.

The division of day and night culminates in signs and seasons, days and years. By God’s divine order, the creation and division of light is the means by which He chose to mark time that we would be able to see the progression of His redemptive activity throughout history.

The creation account of light concludes with God saying it is good. This word of affirmation about light says there is no need to alter or change it; the light is able to fulfill its purpose for all time. Still today we are able to determine the seasons by the signs we see in the environment that indicate another season is on the way—as days become longer or shorter as we see the habits of animal life change, and as plants and vegetation go through their life cycles. What God created then is still sufficient for us now and will be until God creates the new heaven and new earth that is promised to come.

II. FILLING THE WORLD WITH LIFE

(GENESIS 1:20–23)

God’s divine plan for creation was to have a world teeming with life. Life is God’s gift and God’s investment to ensure procreation and the continuation of His creation.

For the first time, in these verses we hear God blessing His created order. The blessing indicates the animals were in a favored position with God. God bestowed upon the animals something He had not bestowed on any other part of creation to this point. The blessing points to life and the God who chose to give life as a sign of His favor. God blessed the animals He created with the ability to reproduce and extend life. God placed within every living type or kind the ability to reproduce according to its kind. God’s intention for the animals to reproduce is indicated in the commandant to be fruitful and multiply.

God’s blessing and commands always are wrapped up together. The world is to be filled with the witness of life because the witness of life is God’s greatest expression in creation. Filling the world with life provides an outward witness or a general revelation to God’s continual blessing within creation. The world is not meant to be simply a place of beauty; the world is meant to be a place where there is life that can interact with all the elements God has made. The life that God gives is able to interact with God, each other, and the world. The interaction and fellowship of created life with the Creator is one of the great mysteries of life itself. From the beginning, God has made it clear that He wanted to be with His creation.

God has designed all living things with the ability to interact with Him and with the animal kingdom, as well. What the Genesis narrative makes clear is that there are restrictions on the interaction of animals, however. God’s command and intended order was for the animal kingdom to be subdued by humanity, and each animal is to interact with its own kind.

There is to be a special relationship that each animal shares with the animals that are like them. The various fields of science have spent years trying to understand and explain the complicated relationships among various animals and species. Why do birds migrate during various seasons but remain within their own groups? How are salmon able to swim upstream to return to the places they were born before dying? What makes bears hibernate during the winter? God’s order of creation answers these and many other questions about nature and the nature of the universe.

In God’s plan, during creation each animal was given a unique character and purpose to fulfill God’s plan for all of creation. God fills the world with life and makes the continuation of life possible for all creation through His divine order. Only an intelligent Creator could have designed and orchestrated all aspects and forms of life to work together the way they do. There is a place and purpose in His economy for everything that His hands have created.

III. ANIMALS BEFORE MEN

(GENESIS 1:24–25)

The final day of creation (the sixth day), God created the life that would populate dry ground. It is noteworthy that God created the animals to populate the earth before creating people. Animals were created before humans. Everything in creation was complete and determined to be good before Adam, the first man, was formed and given life.

The man entered a self-sustaining creation. All of God’s created order was planned and designed to work together perfectly. God’s plan of creation followed logical steps, each aspect building on the one before it, signaling a need for those first things to be in place and function according to their respective designs. The things that followed were dependent on those first things for their very survival.

The sea can only go so far; each animal is made after its kind; and everything follows the plan of God. There is no sign of resistance by what has been created to do something other than what God desired. All of creation at this moment gives witness to what it means to be participants in what God wants to achieve. On the sixth day, there was perfect collaboration with the plan and will of God that we can look to what’s described here as a foreshadowing of the greater perfection yet to come in the eternal kingdom.

Here in the garden, God looked upon what He had created and saw it was good. He deemed it to be good because He always and only does what is good. He cannot do otherwise, because it would go against His character, and the Lord God cannot contradict Himself.

This is the last time this phrase is used to describe God’s opinion and assessment of what He had created. The creation of the last categories of animals on the earth set the stage for what would come later.

Subsequently, still on the sixth day of creation, God made man in His image. All the prior creative activity of God had been building up to this final act of creation, the climax or crowning achievement of God’s creative work. Whereas it may be humbling to hear God created animals before man, it is also an act of God’s grace to have provided the animal kingdom for man before he arrived in the world.

The phrase in Our image speaks of how highly God thought of the human race. Adam, the first man, was created—along with all his progeny contained therein—in the very image, the exact likeness, of God. From this, not only should we derive our confidence in being made like Him, but we also can understand that just as God was in Triune community, so we are made to be in community. As God later would say, It’s not good that man should be alone. God created us for fellowship, not to exist in isolated vacuums. We were created to be in fellowship with Him and with one another.

Furthermore, the fact that we are created in His image and likeness complements the fact that He extended the blessing of sharing in His authority over the created order by commanding Adam and his progeny to rule over the lower orders of creation—to have dominion over all living things in the sea, sky, and on land—and subdue them. That is to say, humanity was to rule over the animal kingdom, not vice versa.

THE LESSON APPLIED

The mistake we too often make as image bearers of our Creator is to worship the gifts God has provided instead of the God who gave the gifts. We are guilty of misusing God’s gifts by employing them in ways God never intended.

God does not guide His people by the alignment of the stars, other than for the purposes of navigation. God guides His people through the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. The Holy Spirit is to be our Guide and Teacher to lead us to all things truthful, as well as the things that honor our Creator. God’s universe is to be marveled at and enjoyed but never worshiped. Worship belongs to God and Him alone.

Anytime we reverse the order of creation—allowing the animal kingdom to subdue us rather than us subdue them, for example—is a form of idolatry, of worshiping the created order rather than the Creator. God established the order He intended for the world for a reason, and whenever we lose sight of His will and commands, we are falling into disobedience and away from fellowship with Him.

As Christians, we are called to be salt and light. There’s a significant connection here between the light God created and His command to us. Light pushes away darkness; the two cannot coexist. There are no shadows in well-lit areas.

Light serves to lead and show us where we are to go. As Christians called to be light, we are to lead others out of the darkness and into God’s marvelous light that the lost may see Him as He truly is with their own eyes. We are to be light, always pointing the way to God’s truth.

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

1.What do we learn about the value of interaction with others from the lesson?

God has created all facets and components of life with the purposeful ability to interact. Interaction is unique to life itself. Through interaction, decisions are made and choices are determined. In some instances, the choice or decision may be based on instinct, yet interaction on some level informs the instinct.

2.Why did God create everything else in the world before creating Adam?

Creation is a sign of God working from a plan that He had developed in which each part of creation builds upon the prior phase of creation. Creation occurred in an ordered process, not as something that happened all at once. Once humanity was created, God ordained a world of order that followed His will, and God’s people were expected to be obedient to God just as they had witnessed every other part of creation doing.

Disobedience signifies that we are placing someone or something else in the place that only is rightfully God’s. Only He should occupy the thrones within our hearts. No one and nothing else deserves that honor.

3.How are we to understand the blessing of God in this lesson?

The blessing of God in the creation narrative in part is the ability to reproduce. However, the blessing also was a command; and God’s commands are not negotiable. God gives life and extends life through reproduction.

God perpetuates every life form by the means of reproduction. The animals were told to be fruitful and multiply, and humanity was to do the same.

These words should serve to encourage us rather than feel as if they are burdensome. God has deemed His creation to be good, and it is His will that all life forms continue to glorify Him by continuing His life-giving purposes. Death and inactivity or loss of productivity never serve to honor Him.

HOME DAILY DEVOTIONAL READINGS

SEPTEMBER 10–16, 2018

GENESIS 1:26–31; 2:4–7

MAIN THOUGHT: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27, KJV)

LESSON SETTING

Time:  Creation

Place: The Garden of Eden

LESSON OUTLINE

I. Created in the Image of God

(Genesis 1:26–27)

II. Given Dominion over Other Life Forms

(Genesis 1:28)

III. Sustained by the Provisions of God

(Genesis 1:29–31)

IV. Rest from Labor

(Genesis 2:4–7)

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

How the world and humans came to be is explored and questioned by many people. Where did people come from, and how long ago did the first people appear? According to Genesis, God created people as the highest form of creation because we are made in the image of God, and people are supported by all of God’s creation.

INTRODUCTION

One of the first lessons in Genesis tells the story about the creation of humankind. It is important to note there are two separate stories in Genesis about the creation of humankind. In Genesis 1:26–28 the man and woman are created at the same time. There is no indication the man was created first and the woman second as in the case of Genesis 2:7–22.

God pronounced His intention for the man and woman as He had for all of life to go and multiply. The man and woman were given the same ability and command to reproduce that had been provided to other life forms.

Reproduction is not a sign of the curse because of sin; reproduction is a sign of God’s grace at work among His created beings in the world.

In addition to being given the blessing of reproduction and the charge to go and be fruitful, the man and women were given equal dominion of the earth. God delegated responsibility and authority to the man and woman. How that responsibility and authority would be handled would introduce a new reality to God’s original created order.

EXPOSITION

I. CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

(GENESIS 1:26–27)

Whereas the Bible makes it clear that humanity has been created in the image of God, the debate about what that image actually means has been an ongoing conversation in the life of the church. The principal thesis for many years had identified the image as spiritual or immaterial properties of a person (i.e., humans are the only part of creation to possess souls).

Augustine attempted to explain the image of God in ontological terms by appealing to the Trinity. Thus, Augustine said the image of God was proven in that humans possess memory, knowledge, and will. Furthermore, humans bear their own consciences, indicative of the fact that God wrote His Law on our hearts.

Twentieth century theologian Karl Barth interpreted the image of God as the relational dimension of humankind’s ability to engage in dialogue with one another. Human beings alone have the ability to converse logically with one another and choose to enter relationships based on the course of the dialogue. Barth goes as far to say it is our ability as humans to dialogue that makes fellowship with God possible.

African-American theologian John Kinney has said the image of God is the ability to imagine and act upon what is imagined. It is this ability that allows us to aspire and hope.

God has placed within humans the ability to think and see a possibility that has not yet come to fruition and work to make possibilities realities, to set goals, to obey His will, to be productive.

Other theologians, building upon Augustine’s use of the Trinity as the model for the image of God, have declared the image is in humans, who are triune in nature because we have bodies, souls, and spirits.

Another consideration to factor into how to interpret what it means to be made in God’s image is that humanity was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the animal world. Adam and Eve were to be God’s representatives in the world, carrying out God’s desire for creation centered upon justice. Such a view of the image of God reflects the stewardship responsibility of life. In this view, God has placed us in the world and given us individual and corporate responsibilities and opportunities. No other part of creation has been given the responsibilities and opportunities that humans have received. God not only grants us opportunities to respond obediently in faith but has empowered us to consider our opportunities and create new ones for His glory.

The power that God gives humanity is another sign of what it means to be created in the image of God. Wherever one may fall on the theological debate about the meaning of the image of God, what is clear in Genesis is that God made humans different and empowered them in ways He did not empower any other part of creation. The difference is so unique that it helps confirm the special relationship humanity has with God and has a direct impact on the course of creation.

II. GIVEN DOMINION OVER ALL OTHER LIFE FORMS

(GENESIS 1:28)

God has given humans responsibility and power to carry out those responsibilities. At the very dawn of creation, humankind was told to subdue the earth. This is a role that humans are to play in the care of creation, not with cruelty but with the same concern God has for His creation. Whereas God has created the world, God has delegated to humans the responsibility to take care of creation.

The word subdue implies that part of the care humanity is to provide is to work with creation in ways so that it becomes more fruitful than in its present state. The instruction to subdue the earth also informs us that work did not come after sin entered the world. Work is not punishment because of sin. Work is the responsibility God gives humans within His covenant relationship with them.

In addition to being told to subdue the earth, humans were given dominion over all other forms of life. Whereas God created everything, God’s intention was to empower humans to oversee the things He created. Only humans were given any power to be able to exercise control over other parts of creation.

Whenever power is