The study of redemption and how the Lord brought it about crosses nearly every major doctrine in the Bible. Mankind was created and fell in the first three chapters of the Bible. The rest of the Bible describes the plan of redemption and how it was completed.

One aspect of redemption is the authority of mankind. What authority do we have? Is it the same now as it was in the Old Testament? How did it change over the centuries? There are four instances recorded in the Bible where authority was transferred from one party to another. In the book of Genesis, we see the first instance where authority is transferred.

Genesis 1:27-28
27 “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

In this case, the Lord God created man and immediately granted him authority over the earth. Note that He didn’t transfer ownership since the Bible says in both the Old Testament and New Testament that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. Adam was granted authority and responsibility of how the earth ran. If anything got out of order, it was Adam’s responsibility to correct it.

Notice in verse 28 that the scope of his authority was global and covered all other created beings except for mankind himself (this should give us a little insight into how much authority we should command over each other). At this point, the authority over the earth belonged to Adam.

In this study, one characteristic of how the Lord works becomes obvious. When the Lord gives us authority or any gift, He doesn’t constantly look over our shoulder and wait to take something back as soon as it appears we will misuse it. He could have stopped Adam before he committed treason in the garden, but 1 Tim 2:14 said that Adam was not deceived. So it was not a situation where the serpent took advantage of a naïve person.

Because of man’s free will, the Lord really had to let Adam make His choice knowing the ramifications. The Lord was willing to spend centuries of our time putting things back in order instead of violating the greatest gift He gave to man – our free will. He gave Adam authority without any strings attached. We should do the same when we give gifts as well.

We will continue this study with the second transfer of authority.