How Genesis 1 Helps Us Understand the Great Commission Better
By: Cities Project Global
Tags: Christianity, Spirituality, Faith, Theology, Life

You’re probably familiar with the verse, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

This is the great commission — the assignment that, as Christians, we all take very seriously.

How do you view your role within the great commission? Does it mean you should go into full-time ministry or missions? Get more involved in your church? Try to bring up Jesus with your coworkers?

If these are some of the first things that come to mind, you’re not alone — but the great commission is about so much more than winning others over to Christ. This is important, but the picture is much bigger.

There was another commission first

Before the great commission, there was another commission, and it appears in Genesis 1: 28: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

This isn’t just an affirmation of humans’ right to have authority over the rest of creation; it’s an assignment to become co-creators with God, building societies and creating culture that reflects him in every sphere of society. This is often referred to as the cultural mandate, which you can read more about here.

God’s first commission was for us to create flourishing cultures. This would have happened naturally before the fall, when everyone followed God; but when humanity fell, the cultural mandate was never rescinded, and humans kept creating culture. The problem is that many of these were distorted because people no longer followed God and instead redefined “good” and “bad” to suit themselves.

As we know, God had a plan to fix that and give people a new way to live: Jesus.

The great commission in a new light

Since Jesus offers redemption from the fall, the new way of life he offers also gives us a way to fulfill the first commission. And when he said, “go and make disciples,” this directly reiterated the first commission, which was to spread across the earth and make flourishing societies. And disciples — those committed to truly following in Jesus’s footsteps — are the best equipped to carry out that mission.

What does this mean for you?

Think again about what usually comes to mind when you reflect on the great commission. For many Christians, “make disciples” translates roughly to “make converts” through being involved with the church or directly sharing the gospel with acquaintances. But when we see the great commission with its roots stretching back to Genesis, we can appreciate how one-dimensional that interpretation is. We’re called to introduce whole-life change to others through the gospel.

Understanding the great commission more deeply should be encouraging; while ministry work is important, so is all other work. That’s because all of our work, and every interaction we have with our communities, is an opportunity to create culture, and culture has a significant impact on individuals and entire cities.

Every vocation and occupation is significant in the effort to build flourishing societies, whether in the area of family, commerce, art and entertainment, education, government, science — the list goes on.

When we build societies that flourish because they are designed to reflect the goodness of God, other people who did not previously know him can’t help but start to notice him — and when they notice him, they have an opportunity to live in alignment with him. And that is a fulfilment of the great commission.