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THE CULTURAL MANDATE OF GENESIS 1 REMOVES THE SACRED SECULAR

DISTINCTION OF WORK

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BY BRIAN K. SMITH

NOVEMBER 28, 2018

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THE CULTURAL MANDATE OF GENESIS 1 REMOVES THE SACRED SECULAR DISTINCTION OF WORK

Is work an eternal investment or merely a temporal preoccupation to pass the time? Does

what we do as an occupation in this life matter from the perspective of God’s eternal

kingdom or are the two related? Is there a difference between sacred and secular work, or

are those the correct adjectives to describe our labor? Does all work give evidence of

God’s call upon a person or does that distinction rest only on those who are engaged in

‘spiritual’ occupations? While some contend that there is a distinction between sacred

and secular occupations, this author will argue that this dichotomy is rooted in a

misunderstanding of work and that the Cultural Mandate in Genesis 1:26-28 creates the

foundation for a biblical framework that removes this separation. From this perspective

the clergyman and the carpenter, the missionary and the stay-at-home mom, the pastor

and the painter all engage in work that is in obedience to God’s command, gives evidence

of God’s call, expresses characteristics of being an image bearer of God and can

ultimately lead to God’s glory.

To accomplish this goal, the author will examine the biblical text of Genesis 1

while taking special note of key words in the text, clarify what is meant by work and

calling, provide a brief examination of the argument for the sacred secular dichotomy,

and then show how all legitimate, not sinful, work can be of eternal value according to

the cultural mandate of Genesis 1.

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Biblical Context

In Genesis 1:26-28, the biblical author records God’s instruction to his creation.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over ever living thigs that moves on the earth.’”(Gen 1:26–28 NASB)

This passage contains what is often called the cultural mandate. Michael Goheen

and Craig Bartholomew refer to Abraham Kuyper’s use of the term.1 Anthony Hoekema

also uses this terminology. Referring to Genesis 1, Hoekema writes, “Though these

words are called a blessing, they also contain a commandment or a mandate. God

commands man to be fruitful and to have dominion. This is commonly called the cultural

mandate: the command to rule the earth for God, and to develop a God glorifying

culture.”2 In Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, Albert

Wolters uses the term creation mandate to describe the four commands given in the text.3

Additionally, Leland Ryken employs both phrases as he writes, “It is an easy step from

the image of God in people to the idea that work is a creation ordinance. The usual term

for it is the creation mandate…It does, of course, involve the control and nurture of the

1 Michael W. Goheen and Craig G. Bartholomew, Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to

Christian Worldview (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 16. 2 Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,

1986), 14. 3 Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, 2nd

Edition (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005), Kindle edition, loc. 506.

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physical environment. But it is also a cultural mandate – a command by God to work

through culture and civilization as well as to till the ground.”4

The cultural mandate is given in the context of God’s creative work. On the sixth

day of creation God made man in his image, blessed them, and gave them work to do.

The verses immediately following explain how God provided plants and trees for food

for mankind and then declared the goodness of his creation. “And God saw all that He

has made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning,

the sixth day.”(Gen 1:31 NASB) Tim Keller observes,

“Finally, we see God not only working, but commissioning workers to carry on his work. In Genesis chapter 1, verse 28 he tells human beings to ‘fill the earth and subdue it.’ The word ‘subdue’ indicates that, though all God had made was good, it was still to a great degree undeveloped. God left creation with a deep untapped potential for cultivation that people were to unlock through their labor.”5

Key Terms of the Cultural Mandate

The cultural mandate contains five terms that are key to the foundation and application of

God’s command to man. Mankind is created in the image of God, often referred to as the

imago dei. Additionally, mankind is blessed then commanded to multiply and fill the

earth, then rule and subdue it.

Image of God

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to our likeness…”(Genesis

1:26 NASB). There are two Hebrew terms used in this text to describe how God made

4 Leland Ryken, Work and Leisure in Christian Perspective (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock

Publishers, 2002), 123. 5 Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work (New York:

Penguin Books, 2012), 22.

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man; tselem translated as image, and demuth translated as likeness. While these words do

seem similar, there are differences to be observed. Hoekema explains,

“Although these words are used generally as synonyms, we may recognize a slight difference between the two. The Hebrew word for image, tselem, is derived from a root that means ‘to carve’ or ‘to cut’…The Hebrew word for likeness, demuth, comes from a root that means ‘to be like’…The two words together tell us that man is a representation of God who is like God in certain respects.”6

Baker and Carpenter identify tselem as “A masculine noun meaning an image, a

likeness, a statue, a model, a drawing, a shadow. The word means image or likeness; its

most celebrated theological and anthropological use was to depict human beings as made

in God’s own image.”7 Brown, Driver, and Briggs also translate tselem as “resemblance,

as God’s making man in His own image.”8

Being made in the image of God enables mankind to follow the God’s commands

in the cultural mandate. Hoekema continues, “For example, from Genesis 1:26 we may

infer that dominion over the animals and over all the earth is one aspect of the image of

God. In exercising this dominion man is like God, since God has supreme and ultimate

dominion over the earth.”9 Human beings are the only part of creation made in God’s

image. They also are entrusted with special responsibilities and commands. The

implication is that the blessing of being an image bearer is accompanied by the

responsibilities and activities associated with that image.

6 Hoekema, 13. 7 Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament

(Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003), 952. 8 F. Brown and S. Driver and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 853. 9 Hoekema, 14.

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Blessed

After God created the man and woman, he blessed them. The word used here for blessed

is the Hebrew word barak. Baker and Carpenter define the term, “A verb meaning to

bless, kneel, salute, or greet. The verb derives from the noun knee and perhaps suggests

the bending of the knee in blessing. Its derived meaning is to bless someone or

something. The verb is used when blessing God (Gen. 9:26) or people (Num. 24:9) God

used this verb when He blessed Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 13:3).”10

The question remains, what does it mean for God to bless those he created? The

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary describes this idea of blessing. “To ‘bless’ meant to

fill with benefits, either as an end in itself or to make the object blessed a source of

further blessing for others.”11

Multiply

In Genesis 1:26 God declares his plan for his creation. He proclaims his intent to create

man in his own image and for man to rule and have dominion over the creation.

However, it does not appear that his intent was for this to be the responsibility of the first

couple of creation only. William Edgar writes, “In the second, the ‘accounting’ (Gen

1:27–30, 31), there is blessing, then the command to procreate and fill the earth, and then

dominion over the earth, underscoring that what is ruled is God’s gift. In this second

10 Barker and Carpenter, 166. 11 Chad Brand, ed., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Holman Reference, 2015),

225.

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version, procreation (‘multiply’) and subduing the entire earth go together, since that

work could hardly be limited to the first couple in the garden.”12

The third key term in the cultural mandate is the first command, multiply.

Multiply is translated from the Hebrew word rabah. Rabah is “a verb meaning to be

many or to become many; to be abundant. It means to become numerous or great: it

expresses God’s original mandate for humans to multiply on earth.”13 Clearly, the tasks

that God has planned for his creation require more than his original couple, thus the need

to multiply.

Subdue

Following the command to be fruitful and multiply, God commanded man to subdue the

earth. God’s creation is enormous and requires many hands for any work, therefore,

filling the earth precedes subduing it. So then, what does it mean to subdue the earth?

The word used here for subdue is the Hebrew term kabas. Kabas is a verb

meaning “to subdue, to bring into subjection, to enslave. It means basically to overcome,

to subdue someone It is used to described God’s mandate to humans to subdue the

created order.”14 There is no process or description given of how to subdue the earth,

merely the command. However, the next part of the command gives some parameter as to

the end result of the subduing. Again, Hoekema explains,

“This verb tells us that man is to explore the resources of the earth, to cultivate its land, to mine its buried treasure. Yet we must not think simply about land, plants, and animals; we must also think about human existence itself insofar as it is an aspect of God’s good creation. Man is called by

12 William Edgar, Created and Creating: A Biblical Theology of Culture (Downers Grove: IVP

Academics, 2017), 166. 13 Brown, Driver, and Briggs, 1029. 14 Baker and Carpenter, 495.

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God to develop all the potentialities found in nature and in humankind as a whole. He must seek to develop not only agriculture, horticulture, and animal husbandry, but also science, technology, and art. In other words, we have here what is often called the cultural mandate: the command to develop a God-glorifying culture.”15

For Hoekema, this command to subdue provides the expectation for man to take

God’s good creation and to do good things with it. This is at the center of the cultural

mandate and the foundation of a proper understanding and application of work.

Therefore, work is in obedience to God’s command to subdue his creation.

Rule

God commands man to rule over his creation. The term rule is from the Hebrew word,

radah. Radah means “to rule, to have dominion, to subjugate…It is related as the

exercise of authority by the priesthood (Jer. 5:31); by slave owners over their slaves (Lev.

25:43); by supervisors over their workers (I Kgs 9:23); and by a king over his kingdom (I

Kgs 4:24). Theologically significant is the use of this word to identify people’s God-

ordained relationship to the created world around them.”16 Modern Bible translations use

the terms “rule” and “have dominion” to translate radah. The English Standard and the

New King James versions use “have dominion”, while the New American Standard and

the Christian Standard versions both employ “rule”.

The implication of these ideas, subdue and rule over, seems to be an expression of

man’s being created in God’s image. Part of image bearing is to be an extension of God’s

authority over that which he created. This shared rule is inherent in image bearing. Part of

being the imago dei is serving not merely as a ruler, but also as a responsible caretaker.

15 Hoekema, 79. 16 Baker and Carpenter, 1037.

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The authors of the New Bible Commentary explain this responsibility in this way,

“Secondly, because human beings are created in God’s image, they are his

representatives on earth and should ‘rule…over all the earth…Rule implies lordship but

not exploitation. Man, as God’s representative, must rule his subjects, as God does, for

their own good. While legitimizing human use of the world’s resources, God gives no

license for our abuse of his creation.”17

Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration, and Work

In addition to the creation account of Genesis 1, the cultural mandate fits in the larger

narrative of creation, fall, and redemption or restoration. Genesis 1–3 records the creation

process, specifically the making of man in God’s image, the introduction of sin into that

creation, God’s proclamation of consequences of that sin, and finally the beginning of

God’s intent to redeem and restore what has been corrupted by sin. This sequence of

events has implications on the execution of work and the sacred secular distinction. Each

of these topics need to be addressed to have a proper understanding of the structure and

direction of work.

Creation

Creation is good. God’s handiwork recorded in the creation narrative is declared good by

God himself. In Genesis 1, no less than seven times God declares parts of his creation as

good. In verse four God calls the light good. In verse ten God declares that the separation

of land and water is good. God proclaims in verse twelve that the vegetation, and fruit

17 G.J. Wenham, J.A. Motyer, D.A. Carson, and R.T. Frank, ed., The New Bible Commentary

(Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1994), 61.

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and seed-bearing trees are good. In verse eighteen God says that the sun, moon, and stars

are good. In verse twenty-five God calls the cattle, creeping things, and beasts good.

Finally, in Genesis 1:31, God looks over all of his created work and is pleased. “And God

saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there

was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31 NASB) God’s creation, by his own

declaration, is good.

God declares his creation to be good and there is no record in the Bible to the

contrary. While not all in creation remained pristine, God does not declare his creation to

lose its inherent goodness. Goheen and Bartholomew write, “Throughout the creation

account we hear repeatedly, ‘God saw that it was good.’ And at the climax of the story,

‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good’(Gen 1:31). What comes afterward

is not all good, of course, but Genesis insists that the goodness of creation as it comes

from the hand of God had no taint of evil in it.”18 Work remained good in its structure

even though the direction had been altered; therefore, work as part of creation is good and

like the rest of creation bears the marks of the fall.

Fall

Genesis 3 contains the record of sin’s invasion of creation. Man and woman enjoy the

benefit of being made in the image of God and being given work and responsibility in

creation in Genesis 2. As they are engaging in the work given them, the serpent deceives

them, and they do the one thing they are required not to do in eating of the forbidden

fruit. The consequences of this choice are severe and wide reaching. Most importantly the

18 Goheen and Bartholomew, 40.

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introduction of sin introduced death to the creation. Edgar states the severity of the fall,

“It would be hard to overstate the devastation of the fall. Everything has been corrupted.

True enough, when our first parents sinned they did not immediately experience physical

death. But death was all around them.”19 Edgar continues, “We still have dominion over

the earth, but it now sadly includes the malignancy of sin. We still procreate and enjoy

childbearing, but it has been made hard…Human labor is cursed and made hard.

Nevertheless, it goes on.”20

While the effects of the fall are severe, the fall does not taint the structural

goodness of God’s created order, including work. The fall affected the direction of

creation, not the structure. This structure and direction language is at the center of

Wolters’ treatment of worldview. In Creation Regained, of the relationship of sin and

creation, he writes, “This relation is crucial for a Christian worldview. The central point

to make is that, biblically speaking, sin neither abolishes nor becomes identified with

creation. Creation and sin remain distinct, however closely they may be intertwined in

our experience.”21 Wolters continues, “Sin introduces an entirely new dimension to the

created order. There is no sense in which sin ‘fits’ in God’s good handiwork. Rather, it

establishes an unprecedented axis, as it were, along which it is possible to plot varying

degrees of good and evil. Though fundamentally distinct from the good creation, this

axis attaches itself to creation like a parasite.”22 This axis imagery provides a picture of

the structure and direction verbiage in Wolters’ argument. Wolters submits that while the

19 Edgar, 179. 20 Edgar, 180. 21 Wolters, loc 654. 22 Wolters, loc. 662.

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structure or nature of creation remained good, the direction of creation expresses the

evidence of the fall. He writes, “In the context of the two ‘orders’ of which we have been

speaking, it can be said that structure refers to the order of creation, to the constant

creational constitution of any thing or entity that is. Structure is anchored in the law of

creation, the creational decree of God that constitutes the nature of different kinds of

creatures.”23 Conversely, Wolters argues, the direction of creation does not remain

constant. “Direction, by contrast, designates the order of sin and redemption, the

distortion or perversion of creation through the fall on the one hand and the redemption

and restoration of creation in Christ in the other. Anything in creation can be directed

either toward or away from God – that is, directed either in obedience or disobedience to

his law.”24

Wolters’ argument summarizes well the conflict of the good structure of work that

was established in creation and the effects of sin on the direction of work. Work by its

nature is good but can be abused and corrupted by sin. However, work, like all of

creation will be completely restored. Veith describes it this way, “This then is the human

condition: Work is a blessing; work is a curse. Work can indeed be satisfying, since it is

what we were made for, but it can also be frustrating, pointless, and exhausting. Work is

a virtue, but it is tainted by sin.”25

23 Wolters, loc. 680. 24 Wolters, loc. 680. 25 Gene Edward Veith, God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (Wheaton: Crossway,

2002), 63.

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Redemption and Restoration

While the eternal and complete redemption and restoration of all things is not the focus of

this paper, it is necessary to address the reality that God’s intent is to make all things

new. All things would certainly include work. Quinn and Strickland write,

“Every good story has a conflict and resolution, and Scripture is no exception. In the same chapter that chronicles the fall of humanity – the conflict – the biblical writer records the resolution – the beginning of God’s plan for redemption. Genesis 3:15 declares, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’ In short, this is the first proclamation of Christ’s coming to restore all that God originally declared to be good.”26

Work and Vocation

God has created all things and made man in his image. God has given blessing,

instruction, and responsibility to man. God gave his image bearers things to do.

Essentially, God gave his creation work. But what constitutes work? To proceed, work

must be defined and clarified.

Work Defined

What does the word work mean? What qualifies as work? What is omitted? Furthermore,

is all work related to a vocation? Are the words work and vocation synonymous? These

are important questions to consider as we examine the foundation, application, and

direction of the cultural mandate.

Benjamin Quinn and Walter Strickland define work this way, “What do we mean

when we say ‘work’ and ‘vocation’? Although these terms are often used

26 Benjamin T. Quinn and Walter R. Strickland, Every Waking Hour: An Introduction to Work and

Vocation for Christians (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), 11.

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interchangeably, in this book we will use them as defined below. Work is what creatures

do with God’s creation.”27 Bruce Ashford defines culture as, “anything that humans

produce when they interact with each other and with God’s creation.”28 This idea of

culture as a product of man’s engagement with God’s creation is the result of work. Work

is the engagement of mankind with God’s creation, and culture is the product of that

work. Ryken places work on a continuum with leisure activities. He writes, “The simplest

dichotomy into which we can divide the twenty-four hours that make up the day is

between activities that are obligatory and those that are discretionary – between activities

we have to do and those we choose to do. These should be viewed as two poles on a

continuum, not as two separate columns of activities.”29

While work does contain the potential to obey and glorify God and benefit other

image bearers, not all work does. Work, while remaining good in its structure, can and

does get abused and redirected because of the fall. Ryken reminds, “Work in a fallen

world has the character of striving against forces that resist the worker’s efforts.”30

Because of the fall, work is now hard. Not only has work become more difficult and

laborious, it can also create effects that harm other image bearers.

27 Quinn and Strickland, 6. 28 Bruce Riley Ashford, Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for

Christians (Bellingham, MA: Lexham Press, 2015), 13. 29 Ryken, 19-20. 30 Ryken, 129.

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Vocation Defined

What is a vocation? Is it simply an occupation that provides a paycheck or is it something

greater? Is it something God directs his image bearers to or is it more open in choosing?

How do the ideas of work and vocation relate to each other?

Of vocation, Veith writes, “The term vocation comes from the Latin word for

‘calling.’ The Scripture is full of passages that describe how we have been called to faith

through the Gospel (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 2:14), how God calls us to a particular office or

way of life (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:1-2; 7:15-20).”31 Veith argues that we are not merely

called to faith but that as Christians we are called as workers, family members, citizens,

and to particular areas of service in the church. This idea of calling communicates that

God only created work but also has particular works for his creation to do.

Ryken traces the idea of call to the Reformers. He argues, “With the idea of

calling we get to the very heart of the Protestant contribution to ideas about work. Every

Christian, said the Reformers, is called by God to serve him. To follow that call is to obey

God.” Ryken further explains the Reformers’ position,

“The Reformers actually spoke of a double call by God, and this is important to our understanding of the subject. The general call comes in the same form to every person and consists of the call to conversion and sanctification…The particular calling consists of the specific job and tasks that God places before us in the course of daily living. It focuses on a person’s occupation, but it not limited to that. It includes one’s work more generally.”32

31 Veith, 17. 32 Ryken, 96.

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Paul makes this same argument in Ephesians 2. Paul writes, “For we are His

workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,

that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NASB)

The Sacred Secular Distinction: The two-world view

Some, however, disagree with Wolters and others and hold that there is a two worlds

dualism that exists regarding work. Regarding the debate between evangelism and social

action, Edgar writes, “The latest form is the heated debate over the ‘two-kingdoms’ view.

According to some of its advocates, believers live in two kingdoms, the one being ruled

directly by Jesus Christ through his Word and Spirit, the other being ruled by him

through less direct means, such as natural law.”33 According to Goheen and

Bartholomew, this dualistic worldview is founded in ignoring part of the creation, fall,

restoration narrative of scripture. As previously noted, the structure of creation is good,

but the direction of creation is infected by the fall. God is working to restore his creation.

Goheen and Bartholomew argue that each of these parts they call ‘lenses’, working

together, guard against a dualistic view.

They state,

“Looking at the world through the lenses of creation, fall, and restoration in this way will keep us form a dualism, prominent in Western evangelical Christianity, whereby life is divided into ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ realms. In such a dualistic view, prayer and worship, for example, might be considered sacred activities, while entertainment and sex would be seen as merely secular. A minister or missionary would be seen as ‘doing the Lord’s work’ (in the sacred realm), but a journalist or politician would be in a secular occupation. The church (and perhaps the family) would be sacred; the university and the business world would be secular.”34

33 Edgar, 159. 34 Goheen and Bartholomew, 64.

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This dualistic view not only separates the types of work into different worlds, but

it also assigns increased value to the sacred over the secular. Goheen and Bartholomew

continue, “In a dualistic worldview, social institutions, work, and activities in the ‘sacred’

realm are usually thought to be superior to those in the ‘secular’ realm; thus prayer is

better than entertainment, a minister is better than a journalist, the church is better than

the university.”35

This dualism is also expressed in the way that culture and Christianity relate to

each other. Ashford outlines three expressions as Christianity against culture, Christianity

of culture, and the view set against dualism referred to as Christianity in and for culture.

The views of Christianity of and against culture are rooted in this dualism that separates

secular and sacred while Christianity in and for culture fits more properly in the cultural

mandate. Of this view Ashford writes, “A third and better mindset is one that views

human beings as representatives of Christ who live their lives in the midst of and for the

good of their cultural context, and whose cultural lives are characterized by obedience

and witness.”36 In his classic work, Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr five such

relationships; Christ against culture, the Christ of culture, Christ above culture, Christ and

culture in paradox, and finally Christ the transformer of culture. It is this last expression

that most closely affirms the cultural mandate and stands against the dualistic approach.37

35 Goheen and Bartholomen, 64. 36 Ashford, 14-17. 37 H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper Collins, 1951).

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Work Restored

Structurally, work is good. Directionally, some work is not. The difference in these

approaches is not in the concept of sacred and secular work, but rather work that is

obedient or disobedient, God-honoring or sinful, image bearer benefiting or abusing

work.

Just because the nature of work is good, not all work is functionally good.

Because of the fall and the infected direction of creation, work has been influenced and

corrupted. Human beings can and do engage in activities and occupations that are sinful,

disobedient to God’s commands in the Bible, and are often harmful to other image

bearers. These occupations certainly fall outside the scope of work that is considered to

be God glorifying, people honoring work.

Ryken posits that work, rightly expressed, has three main purposes. “Work serves

three main purposes in the world. It exists to provide for human needs, to fulfill our

humanity, and to glorify God.”38 These three purposes are reflected in the conclusions of

this writer as to the means by which image bearers, engaging in the cultural mandate,

remove the sacred secular distinctions of work.

As stated in the introduction, the author posits that as human beings engage in the

cultural mandate, those activities, rightly exercised, remove the distinction of sacred and

secular perspectives of work. Humans accomplish this removal by observing the value of

work that meets the standard, not of sacred and secular, but of faithfulness to bearing the

image of God, obedience to the commands of the mandate, and ultimately working for

God’s glory.

38 Ryken, 165.

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Work as Shared Characteristics of the Imago Dei

Mankind is made in the image of God. This image bearing function enables human

beings to work with shared characteristics of God. This writer argues that there are three

main ways in which human workers express the imago dei in work; creativity,

productivity, and rule or dominion.

While directionally affected by the fall and unable to perform these actions

perfectly, the structure of creation is good and humans are able to function as image

bearers in creativity. As stated previously, to subdue the earth involves taking what God

has made and exploring it and making things from it. As we make new things from what

God has made, we express that creative characteristic that God expressed in creation.

Second, as humans explore and create, they produce. Whether it is the creation of

items or cities, or things developed through exploration or science, mankind is in the

work of production. From great pieces of art and music to skyscrapers and jets, man

produces things. This is one of the primary arguments of Ashford in Every Square Inch.

Of this process Ashford writes, “When we interact with each other and with God’s

creation, we cultivate the ground (grain, vegetables, livestock), produce artifacts (clothes,

housing, cars), build institutions (governments, businesses, schools), form worldviews

(theism, pantheism, atheism), and participate in religions (Christianity, Hinduism,

Buddhism, Islam, Atheism).”39

Finally, as mankind creates and produces, they make things that must be managed

and governed. Whether it is people, process, or products things must be governed. When

39 Ashford, 13.

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mankind expresses this governance, they express their God given position of authority

over his creation.

Work as Obedience to a Command

While humans are made in the image of God, they are still subservient to God and

required to obey. Obedience is a key to the cultural mandate because it does come as a

command to those created. It does not appear to be optional or up for debate. Therefore,

obedience to God in his mandate is a key component of a proper understanding of work.

God gave image bearers work, responsibility, and expectations that those things

be accomplished. The response of humans to engage in these things shows obedience to

God who commanded these things. Obedience to the cultural mandate engages image

bearers in the work that God created and sustains. Paul writes of this creation and

sustaining in Colossians 1. Paul proclaims, “For by Him all things were created, both in

the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or

authorities – all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all

things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16–17 NASB)

Conclusion

Creation is good. Work is part of creation. Therefore, work as created by God is good, in

obedience to his command, a reflection of the image bearing of mankind, and used for his

glory. However, because of the fall of man and sin’s influence, work can be corrupted.

Not all work is used for the purposes for which it was given. Therefore, even though

work by its nature and structure is good, not all work is directionally good.

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These distinctions create necessary and valid questions regarding our work.

However, the position of this writer that the question of sacred or secular work is not one

of them. The cultural mandate of Genesis 1 declares that work is the expression of being

made in the image of God and obeying his command to subdue and rule over his creation.

This is his work and, therefore, sacred in nature. Because of the fall, the better questions

regarding work is not whether it is sacred or secular but rather is a particular work

honoring to the imago dei in others? Is a particular work one that brings glory to God? Is

a particular occupation one that creates income in a way that is harmful to other people or

to the creation for which God has called us to care? God gave work to those created in his

image for good purposes and good results and when those image bearers engage in work

that is faithful to God’s cultural mandate, there is not secular and sacred distinction.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ashford, Bruce Riley. Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians. Bellingham, MA: Lexham Press, 2015.

Baker, Warren and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003.

Brand, Chad, ed. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2015.

Brown, F., S. Driver, and C. Briggs. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999.

Edgar, William. Created and Creating: A Biblical Theology of Culture. Downers Grove: IVP Academics, 2017.

Goheen, Michael W. and Craig G. Bartholomew. Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Hoekema, Anthony A. Created in God’s Image. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1986.

Keller, Timothy. Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. New York: Penguin Books, 2012.

Neibuhr, H. Richard. Christ and Culture. New York: Harper Collins, 1951.

Quinn, Benjamin T. and Walter R. Strickland. Every Waking Hour: An Introduction to Work and Vocation for Christians. Bellingham, MA: Lexham Press, 2016.

Ryken, Leland. Work and Leisure in Christian Perspective. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2002.

Veith, Gene Edward. God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002.

Wenham, G.J., J.A. Motyer, D.A. Carson, and R.T. Frank, ed. The New Bible Commentary. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1994.

Wolters, Albert M. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview,

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2nd Edition. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005. Kindle edition.