Dominion

Who among us wants to be -dominated- by another? What Christ-follower wants to be "lorded over" by someone? What person in ANY group or society actually wants somebody else to fully control them?!

Dominion (with several derivatives) is an old term not used much these days. The idea of domination is all about ultimate control of people, territory, wealth and on this earth has a decidedly political bent.

The problem for a thinking, Bible-studying person or group is that following Jesus has everything to do with the true, one-and-only God's dominion of -us-, not we as humans (professing Christians or not) seeking to dominate others.

The Bible term shows up over 60 times in the King James translation, but here I'll just mainly focus on 4 instances and add a link to those wishing to do a deeper dive into the word in the Word of God.

The term is often used in the Old Testament, mostly regarding people gaining control over people and land. Every so often the context is about God having it over people, the earth and His created universe.

Psalm 145.13: "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations." Then vs. 14- "The LORD sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down." Therefore His dominion over us is about loving grace, help and not mere mastery over us, please don't miss that!

In the New Testament "sin shall not have dominion over you" is a very uplifting, encouraging truth for those who know, love and follow Jesus Christ (wait for it...) as Lord and Savior. It's that "Lord" matter that we sometime wrangle with, no?

Indeed the whole verse reads "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." The grace and mercy of the only One Who is worthy of and should have dominion over us leads, directs, gives and teaches us out of and for us to grow in HIS grace! Jesus said He came to serve not to be served (Mt. 20.28, Mk. 10.25, see John 13.1-17) -quite a reverse of what's common for worldly rulers...

Jude 1.25 and Revelation 5.13 are my last quoted verses in this short piece:

Jude writes his benediction- "to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

John writing in Revelation: "And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

For a deeper look at the Bible term: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7985.htm

And as always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn