Be Fruitful and Mulitply

Lilias Trotter

For most Christians, the Creation Mandate is familiar. It's the calling given to man in the garden, the purpose bestowed upon him, the responsibility to care for and maintain the world God has created. The Creation Mandate encourages humankind to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over its creatures. While there are obviously many interpretations as to what it means to have dominion over the earth, one thing is clear: we are explicitly called to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). 

Many people assume this means to bear children, and they are not entirely wrong. God does encourage us to bear and build up younger generations, though Paul makes it clear that not every Christian is called to have a marriage and children. However, to be fruitful and multiply can mean more than simply raising children. 

Think of the Parable of the Talents. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable in which three servants are given different numbers of "talents." While these talents are an actual monetary unit of the time, the modern understanding of what a talent is still plays a role in understanding this parable. When the master goes away, two of the three servants choose to take what they have been given, trade with it, and make more money in return. The third servant chooses to bury his talent. When the master returns, the first two servants are pleased to show him their earnings, while the third shows what he has been given. The master is delighted with the servants who have taken action, and disappointed in the servant who was too afraid to use what he had been given.

This is in many ways reflective of what it means to be fruitful and multiply. God gives all of us talents and abilities, and with those we have the opportunity to explore hundreds of potentials. With our strength for understanding numbers, we could go on to be astronauts, to teach children, or to develop computer programs. With our interpersonal strengths, we could speak at conferences, build up those who are doubting, or run marketing campaigns. To be fruitful and multiply applies to our talents: that we might embrace the ability God has given us and, with it, build for His glory. 

To be fruitful and multiply also applies to our bearing of spiritual fruit. God has given us an inkling, yes. He's given us a spark, an innate ability to bear some fruits far more easily than others. Some of us are immensely kind, but struggle with self-control. Some of us are immensely joyful, but struggle with patience. We can be fruitful in continuing to draw closer to God so that He might strengthen us, and we can multiply in encouraging others to do the same. 

The Creation Mandate applies to all people, but particularly those who know and proclaim the truth and authority of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a special and specific role to play in our communities, be it churches, schools, offices, or elsewhere. We have a responsibility to love God and others, to be fruitful in the gifts that He has given us, and to multiply and extend those gifts to others.