Article May 20, 1967 Issue

Claiming Man's Dominion

PERRY H. RADCLIFFE

The Bible states, "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." ^{Gen. 1:26:} By claiming this spiritual gift from the creator, we gain freedom, superiority over error, self-discipline, and control of whatever would adversely affect us or limit any of our rightful activities.

The grant of spiritual authority was never bestowed upon Adam or upon Adam's progeny, mortal man. Dominion is reserved for man made in God's likeness and can be expressed humanly only by those who set aside their own human will and are obedient to the divine will in thought, word, and deed—those who follow the example set by Christ Jesus.

The dominion which Jesus exercised was complete and authoritative. Consider this verse about the disciples in a ship: "In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the Sea." ^{Matt. 14:25:} Peter also, at the Master's bidding, was able to take a few steps on the water. But he became frightened and, beginning to sink, called to Jesus for aid. John's Gospel ends the account of this incident as follows: "Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." ^{John 6:21;} Time and distance were set at naught to bring the ship instantly to shore.