To Timothy my true son in the faith… (1 Timothy 1:2)

God told the first man, Adam, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Although it is often called the “Cultural Mandate,” and it is indeed a mandate, it does not suggest the scope of the culture-making that some Christians attempt to infer from it. The command to populate the earth encourages human reproduction, and to make the enterprise more reliable, it might also imply the establishment of families and states. And the command to subdue the earth might provide justification for the development of all relevant techniques and technologies, and whatever it takes to exploit nature for our short-term and long-term benefits, and for God’s glory and honor, which might include a preservation of nature itself. Many other less obvious implications that are in line with the spirit and the purpose of the mandate might also be permitted.

The mandate indeed requires mankind to “make culture” in this sense. But it seems too farfetched to make it justify everything from painting to capitalism, and from poetry to rock climbing. This is not to say that these things, and many others that people attempt to justify by the Cultural Mandate, are illegitimate (although some may very well be illegitimate, or at least a waste of time), but they cannot be justified on the basis of the Cultural Mandate. Sometimes people are enthusiastic about things that they wish to pursue if they had not become Christians, and after their conversion, they wish to find biblical justification to pursue these very things, as if they were even commanded to do so.

Reproduction is without doubt a part of the mandate. God commanded man to increase and fill the earth. Nevertheless, as with some of the other commands that have been intended to be carried out by entire communities, no individual is expected to fulfill it in all the possible ways. For example, the very fact that one cannot be male and female at the same time, or to reproduce by one’s sole efforts and resources, demonstrate that it is impossible for any one person to fulfill even the most basic demands of the mandate. Humanity as a whole fulfills it.

In addition, there are different ways to contribute to the fulfillment of the mandate. Certainly, we should not say that a person who adopts and raises orphans, but who has no children of his own, fails to fulfill the Cultural Mandate. He indeed contributes to the increase of humanity. It is a mistake to think that every individual must have his own biological children in order to fulfill the Cultural Mandate. The Bible says that each man has his own gift from God, so that one might remain single, and another might marry. Each must contribute to the Cultural Mandate in his own way.

Christ adds another dimension, a spiritual dimension, to the fulfillment of the Cultural Mandate. After the Fall, God divided mankind into two lines – the line of Christ and the line of Satan – and promised that a Savior would be born who would crush the head of the serpent. All are born as sinners, but some are changed and translated to the line of Christ. It is essential to understand that the two lines of humanity are not distinguished by blood, but by God’s sovereign choice of the individuals, that is, by his kindness toward these individuals and by the work of his Spirit in them. Many errors have originated due to a failure to consistently apply this principle. It remains one of the root causes for a perversion of the gospel.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would fill the earth, but he never intended this to mean his natural descendants, or his descendants according to the flesh. Rather, God referred to his descendants according to the spirit, or descendants that would come about by promise, even by acts of his resurrection power. This was indicated in Ishmael and Isaac. Both were the natural descendants of Abraham, but only Isaac was the child of promise, a son that God brought about by his power, and who Abraham symbolically received from the dead when he offered him to God on an altar, only to be halted by the Angel of the Lord at the last moment. So, the children that God promised would be descendants of Abraham, would be related to him, not by the common bond of blood, but by the common bond of faith. And they would increase, multiply, and fill the earth.

This teaching would continue to receive emphasis throughout the Bible. John the Baptist rebuked the Jews for thinking that they could appeal to Abraham as their natural ancestor. He said that God could make children of Abraham out of rocks. Jesus denied that the Jews were the descendants of Abraham, since the Jews were plotting to murder Jesus, something that Abraham would never have done. In fact, Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoiced. This is clear indication that the promise concerning Abraham’s descendants refers to those who inherit the faith of Abraham, and not the blood of Abraham. He revered Christ, and anyone who does not is no son of his. In another context, Jesus stated that anyone who does the will of the Father is his brother, sister, and mother. And in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes that those who are of faith are the children of Abraham, and heirs of the promise.

As Christians, our mandate is not just to make children, or even to make culture, but to “make disciples of all nations.” We are not to fulfill only the Cultural Mandate, but also the Great Commission. And just as Abraham’s true children are children of his faith, our true sons are those who follow our Christian doctrine and example, and not those who inherit our genetic materials. I would much more readily regard someone as a son who shares my beliefs and visions, and who could promote and continue my work, than I would someone who is my biological offspring but who has not inherited my spiritual characteristics, and who does not share my devotion to Christ.

Timothy was not Paul’s biological offspring, but the apostle called him a “true son,” that is, a son in the faith. Are you a true son in the faith? And are you making sons in the faith? Seeing that the flesh profits nothing, but it is the spirit that counts with God, let us commit ourselves to produce not a carnal and natural legacy, but a spiritual legacy for God’s glory and honor.