This first responsibility given by the Creator to his image-bearer is multifaceted in its purpose. To begin with, naming is an act of dominion – an expression of the commandment given to Adam: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Gen. 1:28).
Parents name their children, a founder names her company, a craftsman names his product. All have the authority to name, and this authority is an expression of rule. The named doesn’t get to choose its own name. Likewise, Adam had a God-given delegated authority over the rest of creation, and with that authority came the extraordinary privilege to name what came before him – extraordinary in the sense that the Maker delegated his own right to name his creation to humankind. Only one creature was named by God – Adam himself – a mark of his own submission to his Maker.
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