We Can Only Serve God by Serving His Creation! Dr. Chapman Chen
As God already has everything and does not need anything from us, the only way we can practically love God is to love His creatures; the only way to serve God is to serve His creation (cf. Phelps 2002, 35-37). In this connection, “dominion” in Genesis 1:26 and 1:28 should be understood as servanthood in the compassionate spirit of Jesus Christ with no authority whatsoever on the part of humans over animals. For the ancient, pre-Masoretic Hebrew word in consonantal form for “dominion” is yirdu ( ירדו), which could refer to either radah (רָדָה /subjugate) or yarad (יָרַד /lower oneself) (cf. Ehrenfeld and Bentley 1985:301). IMO, only yarad could be the right interpretation, because Jesus stresses that He “came to serve, NOT to be served!” (Matthew 20:28).
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