In the first chapter of Genesis, which records the account of the Science of creation, we find the inspiring statement (verse 26), "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion . . . over all the earth." To emphasize the vitally important point that man was made in the image and likeness of God, Spirit, the Bible repeats this statement as follows (verse 27): "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
The word dominion is definable as sovereign power. Therefore a fundamental fact of being is that the heavenly Father, divine Spirit, has lovingly and impartially bestowed on all His offspring the sovereign power to possess by reflection His perfect dominion over all the earth. The Psalmist says of man (Ps. 8:6), "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." Thus we learn that man, individually and collectively, always has possessed and always will possess the divine heritage of dominion.
Here it may be asked, "If this is true, why does there seem to be so much sorrow, sickness, and sin among the inhabitants of the earth?" The answer is that the material conception of man with its false claims of sorrow, sickness, and sin is not, and never was, the true divine image and likeness. On the contrary, this false concept of man is but the misconception or counterfeit of creation. It is based on the false premise that matter is the offspring of Spirit, which is absolutely impossible, since like always reproduces like even in the so-called physical realm. In the words of our Master, Christ Jesus (Luke 6: 43, 44): "A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ... For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes."
