The Creation Mandate 

In Gospel-Centered Counseling, I defined the Creation Mandate as:

The God-given, repeated command that image bearers subdue and rule the earth as God’s vice-regents, under-shepherds, and under-scientists. God’s mandates that we be good stewards of His creation by studying it and learning from it. 

Biblical Conviction #1: The Creation Mandate is a primary scriptural catalyst for studying science and neuroscience related to embodied-soul illness and wellness.

I believe that God’s special revelation (His all-sufficient written Word) teaches us what we can learn from His general/natural revelation. From general/natural revelation, we not only learn about God; we also learn life lessons from observing and studying God’s creation.

• We are to learn about God by observing and studying God’s creation—the fingerprints of God. We are to learn from creation about God, God’s goodness, God’s power, God’s affectionate sovereignty, God’s care, and God’s providence. See: Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 9:1-3; Genesis 9:7; Genesis 9:12-17; Job 38:1-41; Job 39:1-30; Job 40:15-24; Job 41:1-34; Psalm 8:1-4; Psalm 19:1-6; Psalm 24:1-2; Psalm 65:5-13; Psalm 74:12-17; Psalm 89:1-18; Psalm 95:3-5; Psalm 97:6; Psalm 103:24-28; Psalm 104:1-35; Psalm 136:1-26; Psalm 145:1-21; Psalm 147:7-9; Psalm 148:1-14; Isaiah 40:21-26; Romans 1:18-25.

• We are to learn life lessons from observing and studying God’s creation—observational wisdom. God calls all of us to be wise observers of His creation who use our redeemed minds to learn life lessons and wisdom principles from His creation. See: Job 12:7-12; Proverbs 6:6-8; Proverbs 30:24-31; Ecclesiastes 1:12-13, 17; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 7:25, 27-29; Ecclesiastes 8:9-10, 16-17; Ecclesiastes 9:1, 11-18; Matthew 6:25-27; Matthew 6:28-30; Luke 6:43-45; Luke 12:22-26; Luke 12:27-31. (Note: For more about observational wisdom, see: Two Very Different Ways of Looking at Life: What Does Ecclesiastes Teach Us About How We View Traumatic-Suffering?).

God calls some people to fulfill His Creation Mandate by being research scientists and neuroscientists. God calls some of us at least to “research the research.” God calls all of us to observe creation wisely and to learn from it.

Biblical Conviction #2: The Creation Mandate Is Fulfilled by Cooperative Engagement

I believe that a large part of fulfilling the Creation Mandate is cooperative engagement between theologians, pastors, educators, counselors, psychiatrists, doctors, neuroscientists, scientists, researchers, etc., looking for embodied-soul diagnosis and embodied-soul treatment of issues impacting the finite (and now) fallen body in our (now) fallen world. Engagement does not equal capitulation—Christians are to use their God-given, redeemed reasoning capacities/wisdom in submission to God’s all-sufficient Word to assess extra-biblical information. Likewise, engagement does not mean outright rejection, instead it means a humble openness to learning from Creation-Mandated-extra-biblical information. (See, Powlison on Biblical Counseling and Secular Psychotherapy: Informed Biblical Counseling.)

Biblical Conviction #3: The Creation Mandate and Embodied-Soul Illness and Wellness

I believe that had humanity, throughout history, done this cooperative, comprehensive work in submission to God, then long ago we would have identified many embodied-soul causes and cures for many physical ailments and for many issues we label as mental illness. Had this “history-long-process occurred, then perhaps today we might even describe these issues as embodied-soul weaknesses effecting our “jar of clay” embodied-souls that “groan until glory.”

Biblical Conviction #4: The Ongoing Creation Mandate

I believe that God continues to call us to be His under-shepherds and under-scientists, advancing His sovereign plan in submission to His sovereign will, in alignment with His holy love. I pray that we would still engage in this type of Creation Mandate cooperative, comprehensive, compassionate, constructive embodied-soul work of descriptive diagnosis and prescriptive care and cure.

A Word from Bob

This is a first draft of my thinking. I am open to constructive, cooperative feedback…

Addendum #1: Two Vital Questions 

In considering if, when, how, and why Christians might engage with non-Christian researchers, there are two vital questions. My post today is addressing the first question:

Question #1: What Does the Bible Call Humanity to Do (The Creation Mandate)? 

The Creation Mandate addresses what God calls humanity to do. We are to:

Subdue and rule the earth as God’s vice-regents, under-shepherds, and under-scientists. God’s mandates that we be good stewards of His creation by studying it and learning from it.

Question #2: What Does the Bible Say about Extra-Biblical Information? What Does the Bible Teach About How to Assess Extra-Biblical Information? How Should Christians Engage with the Research/Thinking of Non-Christians?

These questions address theological issues like total depravity, the noetic effect of sin, the noetic effect of God’s sovereign common grace, the sufficiency of Scripture, natural/general revelation, a biblical view of science, etc. I believe that many times we skip question #1—related to the Creation Mandate.

I believe it is a mistake to ignore the Creation Mandate when we ponder the nature of Christian engagement with non-Christian research.

Here are three resources (out of scores of sources) where I address the issue of the Christian’s use of the Bible to assess extra-biblical information:

• The Sufficiency of Scripture and Extra-Biblical Information. This links you to a free twenty-seven-page PDF that explores how the Bible is sufficient to equip us to engage with, evaluate, and potentially employ extra-biblical information.
• Common Grace and Biblical Counseling: Wisdom from Reformed Theologians. This links you to a free 114-page, 44,500-word PDF document on common grace and biblical counseling. Read it to see how Reformed thinkers addressed this second vital question: What does the Bible say about extra-biblical information.
• Two Very Different Ways of Looking at Life: What Does Ecclesiastes Teach Us About How We View Traumatic-Suffering? In this post, I contrast how Solomon observed life from two very different lenses—one wise, the other foolish. This post helps us to ponder how the Christian might engage with non-Christian observations and interpretations of life.

Addendum #2: The Creation Mandate and God’s Sovereign Common Grace 

No one is exempt from the Creation Mandate. It is a central part of the imago Dei—the image of God.

Unbelievers will suppress their awareness of and accountability to the Creator. Nevertheless, they will reflect on, observe, and make interpretations about creation (Romans 1). Unbelievers will not fulfill this mandate with a conscious awareness of their accountability to God as stewards. Nevertheless, they will reflect on, observe, and make interpretations about creation (Romans 2). Because of God’s sovereign common grace, in His providence He uses unbelieving researchers to advance His purposes.

Abraham Kuyper rightly taught that the instinct to investigate continues today even in the lives of unbelievers—because of God’s sovereign providence. Mouw explains Kuyper’s Reformed theology of the Creation Mandate and Common Grace:

“The capacity for cultural formation was not lost in fallen humanity. Scarred, yes, and even seriously distorted and corrupted. But the impulse toward cultural activity deeply implanted in human beings by God continues. And common grace sees to it that good things are produced, even where rebellious spirits are in charge” (Common Grace, Vol. 1, xxvii).

Kuyper taught that to diminish the Creation Mandate and God’s sovereign common grace in the life of the unbeliever is to diminish God’s glory.

“The doctrine of common grace is an idea deduced directly from the sovereignty of the Lord, a doctrine that is and remains the root conviction of all Reformed people. If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit. The non-Christian world has not been handed over to Satan, nor surrendered to fallen humanity, nor consigned to fate. God’s sovereignty is great and all-dominating in the life of that unbaptized world as well” (Common Grace, Vol. 1, xxxvii).

Denying God’s all-encompassing common grace in the life of the unbeliever is saying that God has surrendered the non-Christian world over to Satan.

Kuyper maximizes God’s glory as he maximizes the extent of God’s common grace which fulfills God’s Creation Mandate.

“Common grace extends over our entire human life, in all its manifestations. There is a common grace that manifests itself in order and law; there is a common grace that manifests itself in prosperity and affluence; there is a common grace that becomes visible in the healthy development of strength and heroic courage of a nation; there is a common grace that shines in the development of science and art; there is a common grace that enriches a nation through inventiveness in enterprise and commerce; there is a common grace that strengthens the domestic and moral life; and finally there is a common grace that protects the religious life against an excessive degeneration. As for the latter, we only have to compare Islam with the service of Baal Peor (see Numbers 25) to sense immediately what a powerful functioning of common grace is active in the religious realm in Islamic counties. And if we want to get a clear picture of the difference in the effect of common grace in another area, compare then, for example, what we are told of the Egyptians in the days of Moses and the Batavians in the days of Claudis Civilis. Among the Egyptians we see a high development of wisdom, as well as skill in various areas of art and business enterprise” (Common Grace, Vol. 1, 497-498).

You can read more in, Every Square Inch of Human Existence: Kuyper on God’s All-Encompassing Common Grace.