Why should Christians know what the cultural mandate is?
For one thing, we know that at some level, every group has a cultural mandate. Various groups in society provide suggestions (and sometimes lobby for laws) for preserving art and culture, for improving the earth and its people. These proposals make up society's cultural mandate. So, what is the biblical cultural mandate? Does it match the larger societal one?
Where Is the Cultural Mandate in Genesis?
When the Lord God addressed Adam and Eve after He created them, He gave them the cultural mandate in Genesis 1:26-28 (cf. Genesis 2:15).
As Focus on the Family writer Subby Szterszky relates, "To many Christians, the cultural mandate may sound more like a United Nations resolution than a teaching of Scripture. But in fact, it's the first instruction God gave to the original human couple. Also called the creation mandate, it's in the opening chapter of Genesis . . ."
What Does God Tell Humans to Do in the Cultural Mandate?
The Lord God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth (with more humans), and subdue it. God told Adam and Eve to exercise dominion (authority) over fish, birds, livestock, and creeping things. God's command to the first couple encompassed the sea, the air, and the land, all the areas found within this visible space we call earth.
Genesis 1:28 begins, "And God blessed them." The cultural mandate that follows is a part of that blessing. Therefore, it is a blessing to participate in fruitful living, filling the earth, subduing it, and exercising dominion over the land, air, and sea creatures. Everything God blessed them to do requires work, and in His original economy, work is good. While we now work a "cursed ground" because of the Fall (Genesis 3:17-19), work done for God's glory remains good and receives His blessing (John 6:27; Romans 15:17; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:11).
Does the Cultural Mandate Apply to Making Culture?
Since God's cultural mandate has to do with work, and He provides all the materials (physical, spiritual, and psychological), we will build a culture as we follow God's command to have dominion over the other created beings and subdue the earth.
All people are held to God's cultural mandate to our federal head, Adam, and his wife, Eve, the first created human beings. Therefore, God's cultural mandate is not just for Christians. The mandate (command) unique to Christ-followers, however, is the Great Commission Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them all Christ teaches us through the Scriptures.
Adam and Eve were at one time the only people and acted as representatives for all of humanity. The cultural mandate was passed to Noah after the flood to represent all humankind. Everyone is to hold to the command to employ their control over the earth. Dominion means control. As such, we are to subdue the earth (subjugate it) and cultivate its potential.
Wives bear children, and that's the first part of the command, as in producing children to continue the dominion over the earth and its creatures. We are all made in God's image; therefore, we fill the earth with God's glory by creating culture. The 9Marks organization adds, "Only the true people of God (the church) will be able to fulfill the cultural mandate as it was intended—according to the desire to give glory to God."
What is culture? Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines culture as "The act of tilling and preparing the earth for crops; cultivation; the application of labor or other means of improvement." Culture, however, is a byproduct and natural outflow of the human condition—that's why we are necessary for culture.
As bystanders, though, the rest of the world will be influenced by Christians' cultural and creative work. Songwriters who pen lyrics for God's glory add to the culture with the prayers and hope worship songs we sing to the Lord will permeate society. Christian writers add to culture with pure and edifying articles and books. Christians who work in the secular world live their God-honoring work ethic and, as a result, help make a culture of peace, honest labor, and good stewardship.
Making culture is a natural progression proceeding from God's cultural mandate. For us, culture includes using the natural God-given talents He gives to all people using materials/foods from this earth God created. Everyone can use specific animals for farming to harvest produce from cultivated land. Certain animals are also given to us as food (cows, chickens, pork, seafood, etc.). The physical earth has elements and resources to help us fulfill God's command.
Throughout the Bible, we are given instructions on how to live holy lives. In the Old Testament, God told the people to follow His commands and to be holy because He is the Lord God and He is holy (Leviticus 20:7). The mandate continues in the New Covenant under Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:15).
As we become holy, the Holy Spirit guides us in understanding the Scriptures (John 16:13-15), and our charge as Christians is spelled out throughout the New Testament. As we work and create culture, we are stewards of what belongs to God (Psalm 50:10). Therefore, all we "create" should be for our good and His glory. We will flourish when we direct our culture-making in a godly way.
God's mandate gives us vast possibilities beyond the earth's population, for the earth's peoples use our resources to improve and preserve our God's wondrous creation. Our intellect, emotions, and talents have enabled us to use the earth's resources for making and using paper, iron ore, salt, etc. The need for basic housing eventually created architecture using the earth's resources. The Bible began with elementary yet brilliant usage of papyrus and scrolls, leading to paper and then to the printing press in the fourteenth century (and mechanized in the fifteenth century). Culinary arts are vast in developing various uses for all edible foods. The list can go on indefinitely, but suffice it to say the earth's inhabitants are without excuse for expanding their culture.
Christians receive an extra, supernatural boost in advancing the Christian worldview culture by using the Spirit's gifts bestowed only to believers. Normal gifts are elevated to bring glory to the Lord. Architects, Pastors, artists, writers, etc., all use their gifts to make much of Christ and magnify His name.
Does the Cultural Mandate Allow Humans to Exploit the Earth?
A solid line of demarcation exists between Christians and unregenerate people. The main difference is that Christians have surrendered in repentance and faith to Jesus as Lord and Savior (Acts 20:21). The main disparity emanating from our separate identities is our motives (desires) and our obedience, whether to one's self or to our Creator.
Exploitation of the earth is a great act of wickedness against our Creator. Secular humans don't feel a responsibility to God. They may see the earth as a resource to be maintained and furthered, but some deplete resources for their own gain instead of benevolent uses. Various industries have overused the land and its resources to near extinction.
We are called to be good stewards, which means we carefully use what God's given to us, but we stop at its misuse. Mindlessly exploiting God's marvelous ecosystem (for various reasons, including greed) is to rebel against His call to care for His creation.
When God finished creating the heaven and the earth, He declared it good (Genesis 1:31). It's the humans' responsibility—saved or unsaved—to carefully superintendent His creation. All will be held responsible for their actions (Romans 14:10). A balance of needs and resources is entirely possible because the Lord is not surprised by a booming world population that needs basic necessities of clean water, clean air, and good food from the land, air, and seas. According to God's cultural mandate, extinct species and corrupted lands are bad.
How Can Humans Use the Cultural Mandate Responsibly?
As beings created in the image of God, everyone somehow reflects God, whether as obedient (fruitful) or rebellious (fruitless and subtracting). Only Christians will be able—even in our limited capacity—to fulfill God's intended purpose stemming from His cultural mandate. God calls us and equips us to glorify Himself while the world seeks its own glory through its own purposes.
The Environment: God, while calling us to have dominion over and subdue the environment, and giving us all good things to eat (Mark 7:18-19), commands us to avoid wasting things. We are never commanded us to put all of our time and effort into protecting and preserving it above people's needs, but we are commanded to use well what we are given. Responsible balance is necessary for maintaining a solid ecosystem.
Christian stewardship means using God's resources for His glory and the benefit of His creation. An unbeliever may desire to use and improve nature, but his purpose is temporal and not for God's glory. His stewardship is for the next generation, the next, and so on, and this goal may consume him above all else. A Christian is called to a balanced life of good stewardship of his time and resources, contentment as he lives peaceably with others while glorifying the Lord in all he does (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:23-24).
Time: All of history is God's history. It's HIStory in His time. So many of us (Christians and non-Christians) hold onto time like so much loose change. Yet our days are numbered by God (Psalm 90:12; 139:16), and within the time He gives us on earth, we are to create as holy and pure a culture as possible and impact our world with how we reflect Christ. We are wise to use the time God gives us to bring glory to Him in the myriad ways He has shown us in the Bible.
The Human Race: Every life is precious; no mere mortals exist. Man is created in God's image, so to value each person is to share the Gospel with them and treat them as we would have them treat us (Matthew 7:12).
Money: We can use the money God gives us to further His kingdom by supporting our churches, trusting ministries, using His good provision for life's needs, and helping others.
In all the list above, we are to be careful not to make any of it an idol.
The Arts and Culture: Various Christians (particularly art and music critic Hans Rookmaaker) particularly have written about how to create a God-honoring culture. Three influential Christians working today particularly help us understand how to create a God-honoring culture.
Painter Makoto Fujimura provides great insights in his book Culture Care: "Culture is not a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward with care. Culture is a garden to be cultivated." Fujimura helps artists explore how to steward culture through his organization IAMCultureCare, which states its mission as follows: "We are dedicated to a Biblical vision of flourishing, to a desire to create a generative conversation that gives attention to the care of culture, and to creating and stewarding the 'ecosystem of culture.'"
Andy Crouch has a wide résumé of editorial, writing, and leadership experience that he applies in his book Culture Making. In it, he calls Christians not simply to ingest but to create culture.
Andrew Peterson is a prolific recording artist and author. He discusses culture in two books:
The God of the Garden considers the cultural mandate applied to nature, encouraging readers to "wake to the glory of God shining through His creation." Adorning the Dark considers "my own faltering journey as a songwriter, storyteller and Christian," with lessons he's learned from failures and successes.
Since the first century, Christians have made immense inroads into the world's culture. Some laziness has crept in, but Christians can continue making great strides to spread the Gospel through biblical stewardship of God's cultural mandate. Making disciples can change the culture.
Further Reading:
What Are the 7 Mountains of Influence and Is It an End Times Prophecy?
Why Do Christians Seem Suspicious of the Arts?
How Can Christian Culture Be Dangerous for Us?
50 Great Books on Christian Art
How Can Christians Know if They're Trapped in Culture Wars?
Why do so many Christians ventures into pop culture fail? What can we do about it?
What Does the Bible Say about Art?
What Is Christian Art and Can it Be Better?
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/YakubovAlim
This article is part of our Christian Terms catalog, exploring words and phrases of Christian theology and history. Here are some of our most popular articles covering Christian terms to help your journey of knowledge and faith:
The Full Armor of God
The Meaning of "Selah"
What Is Grace? Bible Definition and Christian Quotes
What is Discernment? Bible Meaning and Importance
What Is Prophecy? Bible Meaning and Examples
