Humanity as a Ruler (Genesis 1)

Humanity as a Ruler

God created the heavens and the earth. 

On the fifth and first part of the sixth day He created the animals and He blessed them.


[Gen 1:20-25 NKJV] 20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that [it was] good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, [each] according to its kind"; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that [it was] good.


This blessing is clearly still found in the very nature and way of living of the animals. A desire and ability to reproduce has been given to them.

Then humanity was made:


[Gen 1:26-28 NKJV] 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His [own] image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."


They too were to reproduce with the goal of filling the whole earth. Thus even today we have the ability and also in a way the natural desire to reproduce.

But men had another special blessing. He was made in the image of God. Just like God rules, men would have dominion in a smaller sense. They would rule the earth and all that was in it. They would have dominion over the animals too.

This is not a curse in itself. Some have seen our rule as an inherent curse, but this was supposed to be a blessing. The question is what we do with it.

It is in the nature of man to see himself as ruling too. Do we not think of ourselves that way collectively? Do we not even keep pets or keep animals in a zoo if we wish? Do we not often feel a certain responsibility towards them which animals barely even feel towards their own species? Can we not easily kill and make alive these animals especially in this day and age? 

Yes, if we wish we establish civilization and entire cities on places where animals first seemed to rule.
Our intellect is higher than that of animals and this is a blessing from God.

It is up  to us whether or not we will make this blessing a curse to the earth.

Thus, just like reproduction, our dominion seems to be ingrained in our psyche. The clear distinction between men and animals is a very real distinction.

Thus we are made in the image of God. Thus we are quite a special part of creation.

But just like God loves that which He rules and cares for it, so we are supposed to love it and take care of it.

Though the idea of dominion has as well stayed and perhaps even increased over the centuries in our way of thinking, the way in which we have dominion can sometimes disappear from our thought-process.
We were once made in the image of God, but it is the loving part that often seems erased. God never intended creation to fall into corruption and sin. He hates it and He only called the whole of creation very good when no such thing existed, in the beginning.

Do we have this same mind towards that over which we have dominion over?

Or is this image of God deformed and does it need a reformation?

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