Dominion is the God-given mandate to rule, steward, and subdue creation as God's vicegerents on earth. The Cultural Mandate of Genesis 1:28 — "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing" — establishes humanity's unique role. This is not a license for exploitation but a commission of stewardship: man rules as an image-bearer of God, whose own dominion is characterized by wisdom, care, and justice. The Fall corrupted but did not erase this mandate. Christ, the Last Adam, reclaims it — "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matt 28:18) — and shares it with his people who will "reign with him" (Rev 5:10; 22:5). Dominion is ultimately eschatological: the fullness of the Kingdom will bring creation itself into the liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21).
DOMIN'ION, n. [L. dominium, from dominus, lord.] Sovereign or supreme authority; the power of governing and controlling; right of possession and use without being accountable; as the dominion of a king. God has dominion over all his creatures. In scripture, dominion sometimes denotes a class of beings superior to man. — Noah Webster, 1828
• Genesis 1:28 — "Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing."
• Psalm 8:6 — "You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet."
• Matthew 28:18 — "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
• Revelation 5:10 — "You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
• Romans 8:21 — "The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
H7287 — radah (רָדָה): to rule, have dominion, tread down; used in Gen 1:28; implies active exercise of authority over creation.
H3533 — kabash (כָּבַשׁ): to subdue, bring into bondage; paired with radah in Gen 1:28 — "subdue it and have dominion."
G2961 — kyrieuo (κυριεύω): to be lord over, to exercise dominion; from kyrios (Lord); used in Rom 6:14 — "sin will have no dominion over you."
The dominion mandate has been corrupted in two opposite directions. First, raw exploitation: stripping creation of resources without stewardship, treating the natural world as a commodity to be used up without accountability to the Creator. Second, the deep ecology movement has overcorrected by treating humanity as a plague on the earth — a species with no special dignity or mandate, who should minimize its "footprint" and subordinate itself to nature. Both distortions reject the biblical framework: man is neither an ecological vandal nor an ecological accident. He is God's image-bearer with a mandate to cultivate, create, and steward — under God, not over Him.