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)
Scripture informs us that man is created in the image of God (Gen.1:26-28). The Hebrew word “image” as used in Genesis chapter one is: tselem; the definition is from an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, an illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure. In other words, man is analogically (meaning different with some similarities) in the image of God, rather than being the “express image of God” as St. Paul rightly affirms of Christ in Hebrews 1:3.
Man is also God’s vice-regent: a steward of all things God has given him. Yet, he is required to be a wise, provident steward (Matt.25:14-30). Work expresses who man is as well as what he is and what he believes. Just as the created order – God’s work – expresses His character (Psalm 19:1-6), so man’s work makes visible his invisible spiritual nature. It shows his character, just as truly as good works make visible the presence of faith in the heart of one who professes it (Jam.2:18).
The Bible frequently employs the realm of economics to illustrate a point to the reader, many times in situations that have nothing to do with economics in the primary sense. Nonetheless, economic concerns are important for man to consider. For instance, the English word “economy” is derived from the Greek word, oikonomia which is derived from two other Greek words, oikos, meaning “household,” and nomos, meaning “law.” An “economy” in this limited sense is the law, or regulation of a household. An expanded definition of the word “economy” is: a frugal and judicious use of money; that management which expends money to advantage, and incurs no waste; frugality in the necessary expenditure of money.
The example used most by Christ when discussing man in relationship to God is that of the steward (Lk.12:42). The word “Steward” in the Greek language is “Oikonomos” which refers to a manager or fiscal agent of the house. In other words, we can say, the steward is the manager of an owner’s resources. He is responsible to his employer – in this case God – for all the assets that he manages. This is the biblical doctrine of stewardship (Psalm 24:1; Lk.12:42-48; 16:11-13; Mat.25:14-30) which is part and parcel of who man is, and what his purpose is as a being created in the image of God (Gen.1:26-28).
Man was created to rule the earth as God’s representative. He is not to rule as an overlord or some petty tyrant over land, animals, and other men! Indeed, the only authority man has is in his office of vice-regent is delegated. It is only because man is under God that he possesses a limited sovereignty over the creation, and only as a steward who will someday have to give an account to God for all that he has possessed, or had an opportunity to possess.
Therefore, and as Merrill D. Moore in his essay “Stewardship” wrote:
Properly understood, stewardship includes all of life; all of men’s actions and attitudes; personality and personal influence; in money matters, the acquisition, handling, spending, saving, investing, giving, and final disposition; use of the land, resources, and tools; one’s profession, job or place of service; education and the use of education; one’s worship of God, the witness of his life, his personal testimony, his purpose and goals in life.[1]
The great Protestant theologian John Calvin wrote likewise nearly 500 years ago:
The custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things which God has committed to our hands, on the condition, that being content with a frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain. Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence; but let him endeavor to hand it down to his posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits, that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred or ruined by neglect. Moreover, that this economy, and this diligence, with respect to those good things which God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among us: let every one regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse of those things which God requires.[2]
Thus, we can say that although man was named by the very fact of his being created in the image of God, the reality remains that his true “name” is in his calling, or occupation as steward, meaning manager, over God’s resources, which includes himself. Equally, as a steward whose authority is delegated, man cannot be the source of his dominion over the earth. In other words, man’s authority to steward the earth, and to rule over it comes not only in the creational proclamation that he “have dominion” but also due to the fact that he is the image-bearer of God, and must reflect God’s righteousness in his life, in all areas of his personality while taking dominion. Both are part and parcel of God’s covenant of “dominion” with man by which he is to rule over the earth (Gen.1:26-28; 9:1-11).
Work was and remains a privilege for the human race and sloth is condemned not only as rebellion against God’s primary command for man to take dominion as His image-bearer, but also a perverted repression of the image of God.[3] This means that work – including what we think about it and how we think about it, is closely linked with our spiritual maturity. God’s goal for believers is that they should be “conformed” to the image of His Son (Rom.8:29). The Son of God is, like the Father whose Image He displays, a worker (John 5:17), creating, sustaining, and redeeming the world (Col.1:15-20).
Growth in Christian maturity as His image bearers implies not only increasing righteousness, holiness, and truth (Eph.4:23-4), but also growth as workers fulfilling God’s purpose for all mankind to cultivate and keep the earth (Gen.2:15). God is originally creative. Humans, as His image bearers are re-creative in the sense that we take what He has given us and seek to be prudent investors who count the cost of our stewardship as we act and gain an increase during our time on earth (Matt.25:14-30) because accountability is essential to stewardship and sound economics.
Enter the Dragon
Adam and Eve had an astonishing destiny before them. As the image-bearers of God, they were masters of the world and could work, plan, develop and take dominion over the created order without the frustration of sin, sinful men, time, sickness and death that we all face on a daily basis today. They had a clear path before them as they served God by stewarding His property in an obedient fashion and gaining an increase for Him as they experienced beatitude.
The key to Adam and Eve’s life of beatitude and their vice-regency was in the recognition of the Creator-creature distinction, and God’s ownership of the world, and His delegation of it to man as image bearer for a specific purpose. It was necessary for them as God’s representatives on earth to live a life of service and obedience. In as much as they did so – God would continue to bless them. In as much as they disobeyed the one command that He had given them – they would surely die (Gen.2:15-17).
As the biblical account shows us, man shortly after his creation fell into sin (Gen.3:15; Rom.5:12,19) “and the rest,” as they say, “is history.” We do not know God face to face as they did, humanly speaking. Equally, due to the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we no longer live in a zero-cost world (i.e. there is now a scarcity of goods, time and energy thus there is a cost to everything we do). There is now risk in living in a sinful world because not all investments of time, money and effort will be fruitful: they can be the opposite with loss or profit occurring depending upon one’s wisdom and planning in the context of God’s providential opportunities that become manifest in the ebb and flow of human life.
Thus, work was not part of the curse God cast on man for sin (Gen.1:28). The curse promised hardship in childbirth (Gen.3:16) and in subduing the earth (vv.17-19); the latter because the ground itself was cursed so that its natural productivity would be perverted. Man was, prior to the fall, to go forth from the Garden of Eden as an expression of the Creator’s image and have dominion over the earth as God’s steward. The curse only made this more difficult as man now had to deal with his own sin, the sins of others, and the curse of the ground that would increase the difficulty of his stewardship notremove the responsibility of it (Matt.25:14-30).
The Market
The issue of profit and loss is at the heart of the matter regarding the dilemma that people face when interacting with the world, particularly dealing with the area of “economics.” After the Fall of Adam in the Garden, there are costs to everything we do in time and effort and not all costs can be recovered. Thus, man must manage all the resources he has while he lives both as a servant of God, but equally in terms of how he manages his household affairs (Matt.25:14-30). He must learn the proper, meaning wise methods of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services if he is to survive, not to mention prosper. He must be a wise problem-solver who is willing to count the cost to all that he does (Luke 14:28-31) because nothing comes free: someone somewhere has to pay.
The market is the arena of buying and selling that takes place in the world everyday where buyers and sellers of goods and services compete with one another to achieve their goals financially. The market determines the true cost of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services at the real price; meaning the market value that people are willing to pay for that “good” or “service.”
Either an individual person has managed his time, money and effort wisely and makes the right choice regarding the price of purchase as a buyer or seller – or he suffers a loss. That is the heart of economics for everything costs someone something: time, money or effort. Time, money and effort are not “free” except for people who live off of other people.
Therefore, as stewards of the most-high God, Christians have to be wise in their management of all that God places into their hands. They are expected to gain an increase for Him during their brief sojourn on His earth and be wise in the management of this stewardship. Ultimately, they will receive both temporal and eternal rewards or sanctions as to how they have carried out their task (Eccl.12:13; Rom.14:12; Gal.6:7).
Conclusion
Adam was a steward before the Fall (Gen.3:15) but he did not face the curse. Post-fall he did have a curse both upon him, and the created order (Gen.3:17) which he, and all his posterity would have to work through as God’s stewards of the earth and all that it contains. Although some mistakenly believe that the curse of God on Adam for his sin removed the dominion covenant, the fact is that God restated the same command to Noah post-flood that he had given to Adam in the Garden (Gen.1:26-28; 9:1-11).
Thus, man cannot escape the necessity of being a wise master-builder in all areas of life. Indeed, and to quote Mr. Moore again:
Properly understood, stewardship includes all of life; all of men’s actions and attitudes; personality and personal influence; in money matters, the acquisition, handling, spending, saving, investing, giving, and final disposition; use of the land, resources, and tools; one’s profession, job or place of service; education and the use of education; one’s worship of God, the witness of his life, his personal testimony, his purpose and goals in life.[4]
Lastly, the Scriptures inform us of judgment day, when the Master returns in power to judge every man’s performance to see if he has been a faithful steward (Mat.25:14-30) and to reward each one according to the value for God of his efforts while on earth as St. Paul makes clear (I Cor. 3:11-15). The “real world” application of the theological principle of “judgment day” is of course the free market not only in the purely economic sense of buying and selling, but in the moral sense of how one not only manages his resources, but equally how he treats others in the operation of this management in work and charity (Prov.11:1; James 5:12).
[1] Merrill D. Moore, “Stewardship,” in Carl F. H. Henry, ed., Baker’s Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids: Baker House, 1973), p. 649.
[2] John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, two vols. in one, trans. John King (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984 rpt.), Vol.1, p.125.
[3] The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute (Prov.12:24). Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son [or daughter] who acts shamefully (Prov.10:4-5).
[4] “Stewardship,” in Carl F. H. Henry, ed., Baker’s Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids: Baker House, 1973), p. 649.