The First Commission

‘Fill the earth and subdue it.’ Genesis 1:28

The first thing God told Adam and Eve to do was ‘fill the earth and subdue it’.

Because Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden doesn’t mean they were originally limited to the Garden of Eden.

God had told them to ‘fill the earth (the whole earth) and subdue/govern it’.

Stop and think about it.

God was inviting Adam and Eve to explore. Everything outside Eden was uncharted territory. They could travel in any direction and never see the same landscape twice. There were miles of virgin territory to explore.

One way we glorify God is by exploring and educating ourselves about everything He has created.

One author explains: ‘The astronomer who charts the stars, the geneticist who maps the human genome, the researcher who seeks a cure for Parkinson’s disease, the oceanographer who explores the barrier reef, the ornithologist who studies and preserves rare bird species, the physicist who tries to catch quarks, the chemist who charts molecular structures, and the theologian who studies God have one thing in common. All of them are explorers. They are fulfilling the Genesis commission.

Their exploration honours God if it’s done for the right reasons and results in the right response: to know Him and to worship Him.’

There will always be some scientists who arrive at atheistic conclusions. But rather than abandon science, we have been called to reclaim it.

If God created everything, then everything carries His holy fingerprint. All truth is God’s truth.

Since all creation belongs to God, we are to honour Him in all our explorations.