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.