Covenants 3

The Covenants of God
Part 3—The Cultural Mandate:
God’s Instructions to Adam
Reading: Gen 1:26-31, 2:1-16

Introductory Thoughts

· This lesson, we look at something else that is not a covenant—God’s instructions to Adam.

1. Why this is Not a Covenant—

a. Some think this is a Covenant.
(1) Called “The Covenant of Works” by some, “The Edenic Covenant” by others.
(2) Not called any kind of Covenant by God!

b. Does not meet all of the criteria of a covenant

(1) Criteria not met

(a) Covenants always involve blood and cutting—: there is no sacrifice here.
(b) Covenants are so named by God—and God does not use the word “covenant,” to describe this, nor does God say He will establish a covenant with Adam.

(2) Why does this matter?

(a) Because “covenant” is a Biblical word laden with much meaning, and God very carefully refers to some things as covenants, and some things He very definitively does not refer to as covenants.

(b) There is nothing wrong with using certain theological terms (e.g., “Trinity”), to describe Biblical Truth, but when a term is a Biblical term whose meaning is well-established, to use that term incorrectly, or even loosely, is a violation of Scripture.

c. What we do have here in this passage is the creation of man, and God’s instructions to mankind through the first man.

2. Man Was Created In God’s Image, Male and Female— Gen 1:26-27

a. First, we are created in God’s spiritual image
(1) God, in His Essence, is Spirit, He does not have a body—John 4:24 "God is a Spirit:[the original does not say “a” spirit, but it says “God is spirit] and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
(2) If God is Spirit, then what does it mean when we say that we are created in His image?

(a) It means that we are spirit in our essence as well.
(b) We have physical bodies and a physical existence, but each one of us is also possessed of an inner self which is spirit.
(c) Eccl 12:7, Luke 23:46, Rom 8:16, Phil 1:23-24, Phil 3:3, Heb 12:23

b. We are created in God’s image Mentally. We are thinking, rational, creatures.
c. We are created in God’s image Emotionally. We have feelings. We can be in joy or grief; we know anguish and delight.
d. We are created in God’s image Morally—we have the right to make choices, and within the limitations of our ability, we have the wherewithal to make choices.
e. We were created in God’s image authoritatively— “…and let them have dominion…” We were created to have authority, to rule and reign as God’s stewards.
f. We were created in God’s image creatively—human beings create! Creativity is part of every human heart. Some create with their hands, some with their minds, some with all their faculties, but we are creative creatures.

g. God’s image in us has been marred by the Fall, but can still be seen.
(1) Our minds have been corrupted by sin. Rom 8:7-8
(2) Our emotions have been corrupted by sin.
(3) Our wills are bound by sin.
(4) We have both neglected and abused the natural tendency to dominate.

(a) Failure to lead or be led.
(b) Failure to lead well
(c) Dominion perverted into oppression.


(5) We have abused our creativity

(a) Evil intentions
(b) Evil ideas
(c) Evil inventions with evil purposes
(d) Evil, man-made religion.

h. So, we are fallen creatures, made in the image of God, but containing a marred and distorted version of that image.

3. Man Was Created to Fill the Earth—1:28

a. We were blessed, male and female together— Gen 1:27-28 "… male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, …”

(1) God blessed marriage
(2) “Who gives this woman?” God said, “I do.”
(3) God blessed man and woman, He blessed heterosexual marriage, He blessed ONLY heterosexual marriage, and He blessed them for a purpose, to be fruitful and multiply.

b. We were blessed to procreate and replenish the earth— Gen 1:27-28

(1) Fill the earth—a spatial term—it means what it says
(2) God loves people, and He wanted the Earth filled with people.
(3) God loves babies, He loves children, He loves life—it is evil and Satanic to hate children, to hate life, to abort and kill, and maim, and torture. It is the height of ungodliness!

c. We were blessed to subdue the earth itself—clear it, till it, tame it, use it, restore it, manage it—we are to be the masters of the soil— Gen 1:28 “… fill the earth, and subdue it…have dominion …”

(1) We were to master the Earth—tame the wilds, explore the reaches, domesticate the animals, control the natural order.

(a) Note that when man fell, a special curse was put on this aspect of humanity.
(b) The Ground Cursed, the natural order upset.—Gen 3:17. Rom 8:19-23

(2) We were to be the stewards over the Earth, using it wisely and properly.

d. We were blessed to have a special kind of dominion: over all the other creatures of this earth— Gen 1:28

(1) Man is the dominant Creature.
(2) We are not animals, we are the masters of the animals.
(3) We are not part of the animal kingdom, we are the stewards over the animal kingdom.
(4) Animals should not be treated cruelly, since they are God’s property; they are not to be wasted or needlessly slaughtered, but we are to use them as God told us to use them, and we are to have the dominion over them.

4. God Provided For Man—1:28-29

a. God Provided A Job: chief manager of Earth—
b. God Provided Food—Gen 1:29-30
(1) Man was originally a vegetarian.
(2) There was no sin as yet, there was no blood shed or which needed to be shed.
(3) The first hunter was God, who first slew animals to clothe fallen man—Gen 3:21
(4) God Provided A Place to Live—Gen 2:8

5. Creation Was Pleasing to God— 1:31

a. Creation, in its original form, was good!
(1) Everything was good.
(2) The Angelic beings were good.
(3) The created order, the plant and animal kingdoms, were good.
(4) Mankind was good.
(5) There was no sin, no disharmony

b. Creation was pleasing to God
c. There was no Hell!
(1) Mat 25:41 ""Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:"
(2) We don’t know when the place of eternal punishment was created, but it was created for fallen angels.

6. The First Law—

a. The Law was in Two Parts
(1) Part 1—the positive Law—Gen 1:28-29
(a) Is this a Law?
(b) These are commands
(c) It is possible to disobey these commands
(d) In fact, it was violation of these commands which led to the confusion of languages at Babel.
(2) Part 2: the Negative law, the only “shall not…” Gen 2:16-17

b. God gave the one negative law, perhaps as a test. Why did God do that? There are many speculations, but no biblical answers.

c. Man violated that one Law

Applications—Adam’s Instructions Today

1. The image of God continues, though marred by sin.
2. The Dominion of man over the Earth continues, though perverted into oppression and misuse.
3. The basic institution (the family) set up by God is under attack as never before:
a. Free and easy divorce
b. Free and promiscuous fornication and adultery.
c. Perversion masquerading as a “right.”
d. And now, even paedophiles are taken to be “normal.”
4. The Command to be fruitful and multiply continues, though many societies are murdering babies at a faster rate than they are having babies.
5. The Law of the Tree today—
a. The law of the Tree is abrogated because we are no longer in the Garden. We don’t even know what kind of tree it was.
b. The temptations that arose from that Law are still with us, and are the heart of all temptations— 1 John 2:16
c. The effects of the violation of that Law continue with us—Rom 5:12, 1 Cor 15:22, 1 Tim 2:11-14