Question
Why did God give humanity the cultural mandate?
Answer
God gave humans the cultural mandate, which we see in Genesis, really 1:26 as well as 1:28, and in 1:26 when God says I'm going to create humans and they're going to rule, then 1:28, after he creates them, he gives them this command to rule over creation, to have dominion over creation. I call the cultural mandate, actually, the first great commission, because it's really a great task. So, with this first great commission, the cultural mandate, God gives it to humans because, as part of being his image bearers, because humans are the only ones that bear the image, though the rest of creation may reflect the fact that God has made it, only humans are the ones that God says are actually in his image itself. So, as part of being in the image, as part of being human, God gives them the great responsibility, the great commission, of caring for his world, being the ones who have the great opportunity, I like to say, to steward the world so that it goes to its fruition, so that its potential can be developed. One way to think about that further is in Genesis 2 we kind of see it action because God comes to Adam and says, "You name the animals." God doesn't say, "Here's the names of the animals." So you see God bringing the animals, so to speak, to Adam, but Adam is the one who has the responsibility of taking care of this. So the cultural mandate is the responsibility that all of us have as humans for taking care of God's world.