Taking out of context???????

Not at all ! I think you hit the nail on the head !! Have a great weekend !!!

 

I you were attempting to make this the full meaning, you would be out of context--but there is more than an application here.

Consider--The Husband-Wife/Christ ad the Church relationship in Eph 5:21-33

Consider--fruit bearing in the context of Jn 15

Some points

1. Seven Physical Commands to Adam (and his helper, Eve)

a. Be fruitful
b. Multiply
c. Fill the Earth
d. Subdue the Earth
e. Maintain Dominion over the Earth
f. (Gen 2:15-16) Tend the Garden
g. Keep (protect) the Garden
[Note, Adam did not accomplish any of these]

2. Seven Physical Commands Disobeyed:

a. Man is not fruitful
b. Man's perversion and disobedience prevents Complete multiplication,
c. God's desire for marriage is to have Holy Seed Mal 2, and to fill the Earth--neither has been done.
d. Earth has never been subdued
e. Man has incomplete dominion at best, and he has perverted that
f. Adam did not tend his garden, he and his wife were hanging around the tree that was in the center of the garden!
g. Adam did not protect his garden--else, why was the Serpent even there.

3. Spiritual multiplication

a. In the OT, Israel was to be the light of the Gentiles--they mainlly ignored her because she isolated herself

b. In the NT, we are to follow the program laid out in Mat 28:18-20
(1) Go to all ethnic groups (meaning of "nations")
(2) make Disciples
(3) Baptise them into a local church
(4) Teach them to live by all of Jesus' commands

c. God's Plan for Growth
(1) Acts 2:42-47--the basics
(2) Eph 4:11-16--the mature practice of the church

d. Individual Maturity--the vine and the branches--Jn 15

The Key to Church Growth is to use Biblical methods

 

The Great Commission is the spiritual application of the physical command in Genesis.

Because there are many things in the physical world that are shadows of the spiritual world, this concept works.

I think you would be safe to use it.

 

Major B is right. Scripture can only have one meaning, though the application of the application may vary slightly. However, the Bible can never mean what it never meant. If the Gen 1 passage didn't mean for Adam to grow the church, it can't mean that for us. Now, you may have some lattitude in Gen 35, but I'd want to study that further.

In short, our interpretation/application must match the original meaning/application as closely as possible. Haddon Robinson famously said that most heresy in preaching is not in interpretation (debatable) but in application. Think about it.

BTW, I see six times in Gen where the phrase is used.