Understanding God’s StorySample

God’s Purpose for His People

Our identity as the people of God translates to our purpose as the people of God. We are now God’s royal representatives. This is often referred to as the cultural mandate.

Immediately after God created Adam and Eve in His image, Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.’” At the heart of the King’s plan for the kingdom is the purpose that His image-bearers would rule over His kingdom as His royal representatives.

Humanity’s purpose is to give glory to God as His representatives and royal image-bearers.

Humanity has not been given the authority to do whatever we want with God’s creation. We are meant to be stewards, caretakers, and ambassadors for the King who presides over His kingdom. No other creature in God’s kingdom has been commissioned in the same way God commissions humanity. We have been given a unique vocation and a holy calling in that we have been commissioned by God Himself to rule over the kingdom.

Central to the purpose of God’s people is the expansion of the kingdom of God. As Adam and Eve began to rule over and subdue the earth, they were meant to extend the boundaries of the kingdom to all creation. They aren’t meant to sit idly in the garden of Eden enjoying paradise; they are called to kingdom work. Humanity is meant to cultivate the garden of Eden and extend God’s dominion and authority to all of creation.

Specifically, humanity is instructed to be fruitful and multiply in order to fill the earth (Gen. 1:28). This gives us a picture of an ever-growing population of royal representatives who will eventually fill the earth for the glory of God.

As they fill the earth with God’s royal image, they are also given the divine right to extend dominion and authority over everything that God has made. The Bible makes clear that one of the primary vocations of humanity is to work and keep the ground that God has graciously given them (Gen. 2:15). As image-bearers, they represent God by bringing order to chaos and by making broken things beautiful.

Our role as image-bearers is best understood as a royal stewardship. As God’s ambassadors, our purpose is to serve, develop, and indwell God’s creation in such a way that it is enhanced and God is glorified.

From the very beginning of Scripture, humanity has been endowed and commissioned with a holy calling and purpose. We were made to work for the glory of God and His kingdom.


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T. Desmond Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 126

Craig G. Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today, Illustrated edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 13.

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This plan was adapted from Remember and Rehearse by author J.T. English. Click here to learn more or purchase your copy.