Be Fruitful And Multiply Bible Verse Meaning And Study

Why did God tell Adam and Eve and Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply?

Be Fruitful

Just after God created man, He placed him in the garden and gave him dominion over the earth saying “let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Gen 1:26). Shortly after this, “God blessed them. And God said to them, “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 that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:28). This meant that man had dominion over “every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food” (Gen 1:29-30). God told man to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth so what is the meaning of the phrase “be fruitful and multiply?”

Noah’s Command

Just after the flood of judgment poured out by God on a decadent and immoral world and the flood waters receded, God told Noah “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth” (Gen 8:16-17) “So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark” (Gen 8:18-19). This command was not only given to Noah and his family but also to every living creature that came out of the ark so the command to “be fruitful and multiply on the earth” was not only directed to Noah and his family but to the creatures of the world too. Just as in Genesis, when the earth was uninhabited, God told Noah to refill or repopulate the earth that the flood had wiped out so Noah and his family and all the creatures left the ark and were fruitful (reproducing) and filled the earth once more with life.

Called to Celibacy?

Not everyone is called to be fruitful and multiply. Paul wrote that “he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better” (1st Cor 7:38) and even Jesus once said “there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it” (Matt 19:12). Jesus also said of those who left mother, brother, sister, wife, or husband for His sake, there are none “who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:30).

The Children of God

God has children. It is those who have repented and put their trust in Christ and for His sake, they put all others and all possessions behind Him. He is foremost in their lives. The Apostle John wrote of us being the children of God in the present tense, writing that “we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1st John 3:2). After the Sadducees had asked Jesus about the resurrection, He told them “they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons (and daughters) of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). Unfortunately, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, even though the Bible is clear that there will be one (Dan 12:1-3; Rev 20:12-15). Had they not read the Scriptures? Jesus said, time and time again things like “the peacemakers…shall be called sons (and daughters) of God” (Matt 5:9).

Conclusion

I would ask you to “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1st John 3:1). You have one of two fathers; the Devil or the Father. You must decide today, if you haven’t already done so, to repent and put your trust in Christ, or you will have the same fate as Satan and all his demons (Rev 20:10).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.