Commerce

Implied in the great Dominion Mandate is the necessity of distribution. Science is charged with the responsibility of researching the forces and processes of the earth to determine how things function. Technology is delegated the task of developing useful tools and techniques for the application of the information gained in research. Commerce (business) is the complementary discipline necessary to distribute the “useful things” to everyone.

In essence, commerce is complying with the “fill the earth” portion of the mandate.

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden and told to “dress and keep” it. They were not told how to do so, only that it was their responsibility before the Creator to maintain and develop what had been provided for them. As the population of earth grew, it would be necessary to develop skills to make their tools and talents available to others. That procedure in modern terms is “commerce.”

There are a number of commerce-related instructions throughout the Scriptures. We are told not to be “slothful in business” but “fervent in spirit; serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). Someone who is “diligent in his business” will “stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Proverbs 22:29). In one sense, business (commerce) is the familial responsibility of every person, and we are told to “study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11)

Given the somewhat sordid reputation of business in general, it would be well if all commerce would heed the Golden Rule: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke 6:31). There is no doubt that those words were intended to be implemented by humanity when the mandate to “fill the earth” was first given.