Recently I was re-reading a book of essays on Klaas Schilder and on the question of Christ and Culture, NH Gootjes asks if the cultural mandate changed radically after the Fall? Psalm 8 show the opposite, he asserts. 'Man has been given dominion over the works of God's hands (v.6). Man can rule over God's creation as Joseph ruled over Egypt (Gen. 45:8, 26). The psalm reminds us of Genesis 1. Man still has the position in creation as he had in the beginning, sin notwithstanding.'*
I always chuckle when appeals regarding power, politics, or economics appeal to Joseph. Is that really a model they want to emulate? Given the proclivity among modern Western Christians for Enlightenment concepts of rights, liberty, and free markets, I think not. The testimony of Joseph is not in their favour - nor does their reading properly render his role in terms of redemptive-history.
Gootjes makes several noteworthy errors in both assumption and argument. First of all he assumes the cultural mandate - a paradigm which itself is largely read into the text - given that 'culture' as we know of it and think of it emerged post-Fall among the offspring of Cain.
Second, he errs in thinking that man's position vis-a-vis the Edenic calling has not changed. If one looks closely at Genesis 9, the 'mandate' (as it were) given to Noah and his sons is not the same as that given to Adam. They are no longer in the garden, and there is no longer talk of 'subduing' the Earth. Dominion is replaced by dread. The post-Fall and post-Flood world is no longer the Eden-Kingdom, but one in which God's people live in the east of Eden, hoping for the Seed of the Woman who will redeem them and restore all things.
In the new arrangement, the animals are for meat and sacrifice. They will kill and be killed. This is a fallen arrangement that cannot be restored to the Holy Realm of God. There is no 'tending the garden' any more. The prophets will later kindle this expectation of a Holy Realm, but as we move through redemptive- history the hints emerge of a New Heavens and New Earth and ultimately in the New Covenant epoch we learn that the Kingdom is not temporal but eschatological. At present it is in Heaven and will only come to Earth when Christ comes and destroys this present evil age or order. It is only temporal in that the Church is (by the Holy Spirit) in union with Christ and thus in that capacity - the Kingdom is present.
This repudiates the Cultural Mandate hopes and aspirations of Dominionism - which finds its roots in the theology of the Dutch Reformed.
Likewise with regard to Psalm 8 itself - it does not support the argument Gootjes seems to suggest. It is not a call for man to take dominion. This is to read the psalm divorced from redemptive-history. It is to read the psalm absent the light of the New Covenant. It is in Hebrews 2 that we discover the psalm is ultimately about Christ Himself. He is the man, the true Adam, that is in the wonder of the incarnation made lower than the angels and yet crowned with glory and honour. It is He who will rule and reign and have all things in subjection under His feet. The psalm finds its fulfilment in Christ not in the Church conquering and subjugating the Earth.
Our calling is to be cross-bearing pilgrims, to gain victory by means of being martyr-witnesses. This teaching is hated by today's Church and often mocked - which is actually to blaspheme the Holy Spirit and the testimony of His work throughout Church history.
Contrary to Gootjes, the Bible does not teach 'Man still has the position in creation as he had in the beginning, sin notwithstanding.' On the contrary, sin has destroyed the ability for man to take dominion or to build the Kingdom by such means. Christ is 'the Man' that has the ability. It is His task and He has revealed that it will not occur in This Age but in connection with the consummation of the Parousia and the Age to Come. In these Last Days, the Church (His Body) are to bear witness and suffer - the exact opposite of what Gootjes argues and what is taught by Dominionism.
This is the danger in reading Old Testament passages and in particular prophecy and the psalms apart from the light of the New Testament. The consequences often prove both dire and destructive. In this case the end result is not only a false expectation but a complete distortion of New Testament ethics and the teaching of Christ and the apostles. What is undoubtedly well meant and even appealing to the flesh actually undermines some of the most fundamental aspects of Scriptural interpretation and the Christian's calling, life, and hope.
Though this error dominates in our day and has completely captured the Evangelical world (in one form or another), let us continue to testify against it, expose the nature of its errors, and the dangers it represents. The teaching is so pervasive that it has even infiltrated, infected, and completely subverted groups that previously rejected it. Since the days of Constantine, this pernicious teaching (through one form or another) has dominated and corrupted the mainstream sections of the Church. Many of the dissident groups and nonconformists have always rejected it - but at this point in time the testimony of dissent has almost been eradicated. By God's grace we will continue to testify against it - hoping that seeds are being planted that will bear fruit in a future generation.
----
* From p.47 Always Obedient: Essays on the Teachings of Dr. Klaas Schilder - edited by J Geertsema, P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ, 1995