Gary North

And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 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 (Gen. 1:26- 28).

In this passage, God says, "Let us [plural] make man in our [plural] image after our [plural] likeness." This statement affirms a fundamental doctrine of God that only Christianity teaches: God, while a single being, has multiple persons. This is the doctrine of the Trinity. It is the second fundamental doctrine of all Christian theology. The doctrine of creation out of nothing, when combined with the doctrine of the plurality of the Godhead, is the starting point of all accurate understanding of the universe and everything in it.

God said that mankind must exercise dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. That certainly is comprehensive. Mankind has been given comprehensive authority over the earth.

A HIERARCHY OF RESPONSIBILITY

God is superior to man. Man is superior to the earth. There is a hierarchy of authority downward. There is therefore also a hierarchy of responsibility upward. The earth and its creatures are responsible to mankind, and mankind is responsible to God.

Man is in the middle of the hierarchy. He represents God to the creation, and he represents the creation to God. He speaks to the creation on behalf of God, and he speaks to God on behalf of the creation.

Mankind collectively has been given many gifts. So have individuals. Most important, individuals are given life. Second, they are given an inheritance from God which they did not create. The raw materials of the creation, the laws of nature, and mankind's understanding of both are surely gifts. Man's understanding of cause and effect is a tool of production. In this sense, it is capital. Capital is the product of land and labor over time. Mankind is the recipient of capital, because God gave man the raw materials of production, plus ideas regarding cause-and-effect, and also life.

Man is born dependent on his parents. His parents are dependent on God. There is a hierarchy of dependency. There is therefore a hierarchy of responsibility.

No man owns himself or anything around him on his own authority. Everything that man owns, he owns on the basis of God's grant of ownership to him. He possesses goods, including his life, as a steward. He is a steward of God, meaning that he represents God.

God owns the creation, and He is delegated subordinate ownership to individuals and organizations. This delegation of ownership involves a transfer of responsibility to individuals. They are responsible for whenever they have been given by God. They must make decisions regarding the use of their gifts. They are responsible for these decisions.

Jesus made it clear that there is a fixed relationship between whatever God has given to mankind, including knowledge, and the responsibility that man owes to God. The greater the assets possessed by an individual, the greater is his responsibility.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:47-48).

There is no escape from personal responsibility. There is no escape from God's final judgment. There is no escape from judgments by God in history regarding an individual's administration of whatever it is that God has given to him.

TRUSTEESHIP

The doctrine of stewardship is the basis of the doctrine of individual responsibility for our possessions. We hold these possessions in trust. They are held as a trust for God. Everyone is a trustee of whatever he owns. There is no escape from the office of trustee.

Christian maturity involves an expansion of the areas of responsibility for whatever it is that we own. The responsibility of serving as a trustee for God's resources is a lifetime task. There is no escape from this, short of senility or death. When we spend what we own, when we give away what we own, or when we waste what we own, we act as responsible agents before God. We are held accountable.

In the parable of the talents, Jesus said that God is like an absentee owner. He transfers the administration of his estate to subordinates. At some point, he returns and requires an accounting. The parable is about the final judgment, but it also applies to preliminary judgments that God makes regarding an individual's competence. This parable appears in a section of the Bible on the final judgment (Matt. 25).

Just as we have superiors making judgments about our performance in our jobs, so does God make judgments about our performance. All of life is a series of performances, judgments, and sanctions imposed by God through the creation. These sanctions, both positive and negative, are part of God's covenant with us as individuals. It is also a covenant with respect to our families.

God's covenants have five parts: the sovereignty of God, the responsibility of man, the law of God, the sanctions of God, and the expansion of his kingdom over time. We are part of a covenantal administration. We operate under a sovereign God, who is owner of everything, based on His creation of everything. Here are the five parts.

1. God is in charge. We are not. God created the universe. We did not.

2. We are stewards of this God, because we are made in his image. He has placed us in a position of responsibility over our individual little portions of the earth. We are responsible to God for the administration of whatever God has placed under our jurisdiction.

3. There are laws of God, and we are not to disobey them. One of them is the command not to steal. Another is the command not to covet what our neighbor owns. There are many laws associated with these two laws, but these are the fundamental laws of ownership.

4. God imposes sanctions on us in terms of our performance. He judges us in terms of how well we do what he says. Some of the judgments are positive. Some of the judgments are negative. These judgments reflect the final judgment, which is entirely positive for some, and entirely negative for others. There is no escape from sanctions. Their eternal sanctions, and there are historical sanctions.

5. God establishes his kingdom in history. Men are told to work as agents of God, and to work to extend his kingdom in history. Our assets are to be put in service to God, meaning in service to the kingdom of God.

We must not think of our property as independent of God, our stewardship, the laws of God, the judgments of God, and the kingdom of God. If we do think of any of these things as if we were completely in charge, we commit sin. We are not completely in charge. We are subordinate to God. We do have a great deal of authority, but this authority is always in terms of God's covenant with us.

With this in mind, you should consider the importance of the rebellion of mankind in the garden.