"REPLENISH" the earth.....

[BrotherTony]

Genesis 1:28 KJV: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

I have been asked by a Ruckmanite about this verse. I know that my father and i went round and round about this verse and the one word "replenish" in particular. If the "Gap Theory" isn't correct, then what is the resoning behind this particular word being used in the English (KJVO) translation?

[Salyan]

I don’t think replenish had the exact same meaning in 1611 as now. Now if means specifically to refill; then it meant simply to fill. 
 

https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/what-does-replenish-the-earth-mean/

[Jerry]

Exactly, Salyan. This is Webster's 1828 Dictionary's definition of replenish as used in Genesis 1 - his definition is almost 200 years closer than ours, so would more reflect the word usage in 1611 than any modern dictionary:

REPLEN'ISH, v.t. L. re and plenus, full.

1. To fill; to stock with numbers or abundance. The magazines are replenished with corn. The springs are replenished with water.

Multiply and replenish the earth. Gen. 1.

2. To finish; to complete. Not in use.

[BrotherTony]

5 hours ago, Jerry said:

Exactly, Salyan. This is Webster's 1828 Dictionary's definition of replenish as used in Genesis 1 - his definition is almost 200 years closer than ours, so would more reflect the word usage in 1611 than any modern dictionary:

REPLEN'ISH, v.t. L. re and plenus, full.

1. To fill; to stock with numbers or abundance. The magazines are replenished with corn. The springs are replenished with water.

Multiply and replenish the earth. Gen. 1.

2. To finish; to complete. Not in use.

For some reason this person won't accept that same explanation. I'm finding this typical of people who follow Ruckman. I usually try to aboid them just fot the fact that they seem so contentious and pretentious about the Bible and things of God. I find very little "Christian" attitude in them..period. Just an observation.

[SureWord]

The argument lies not with the definition of the word everyone knows what that is: "to fill up again". The argument is it's usage.

God tells Adam to replenish the earth the next commandment similar to that is Noah (Gen. 9:1) telling his sons to replenish the earth after all people were wiped out. So these scarey bogeymen Ruckmanites, as well as any Ruckmanite before there was any Peter Ruckman, are saying this means there was a pre-Adamic population on Earth before Adam that had been wiped out so Adam needed to fill the Earth up again.

I don't know if I agree with this and I'm not going to argue over it but I do understand why they teach this from this verse.

Personally, I lean more towards a injunction to keep having children (replenish, fill up) and growing the human race as the old die off.

[John Young]

12 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

replenish the earth, and subdue it

As always context is key. The false theory of prior peoples has to take the verse out of proper context to make their doctrine. They claim replenish is referring to the people and then attempt to say this means Adam is and his descendance are replacing people that were killed off. They claim  The directive is for mankind but the context shows "Be fruitful, and multiply," is about the people but "Replenish is not about the people but about what the people are to do with the earth.

"replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Means that mankind is given authority by God over the earth to "Dress and Keep it" as also stated in Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 

Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 2:15 are companion texts teaching the same directive. "Replenish" with "Dress" refer to the same directive to put things back to how God made it and "Subdue" with "Keep" means we are to suppress things from over growing and keep it how God made it. 

Edited December 1, 2021 by John Young

[Hugh_Flower]

6 hours ago, John Young said:

As always context is key. The false theory of prior peoples has to take the verse out of proper context to make their doctrine. They claim replenish is referring to the people and then attempt to say this means Adam is and his descendance are replacing people that were killed off. They claim  The directive is for mankind but the context shows "Be fruitful, and multiply," is about the people but "Replenish is not about the people but about what the people are to do with the earth.

"replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Means that mankind is given authority by God over the earth to "Dress and Keep it" as also stated in Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 

Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 2:15 are companion texts teaching the same directive. "Replenish" with "Dress" refer to the same directive to put things back to how God made it and "Subdue" with "Keep" means we are to suppress things from over growing and keep it how God made it. 

Very nicely explained! You should be a pastor

[Jerry]

Also, we know from the rest of the Bible that it cannot mean refill the earth due to its previous occupants being killed off because the Bible also teaches this:

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

There was no death of people or animals until Adam fell - Romans 5 and 8 and 1 Corinthians 15 all teach how Adam's sin affected this whole world. Death in creation was caused by the fall - that means no gigantic fossil graveyard or old earth before Adam and Eve sinned.

[BrotherTony]

3 minutes ago, Jerry said:

Also, we know from the rest of the Bible that it cannot mean refill the earth due to its previous occupants being killed off because the Bible also teaches this:

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

There was no death of people or animals until Adam fell - Romans 5 and 8 and 1 Corinthians 15 all teach how Adam's sin affected this whole world. Death in creation was caused by the fall - that means no gigantic fossil graveyard or old earth before Adam and Eve sinned.

I've never been one to believe in the Gap Theory. My father and I went round and round on this subject, and he and I enjoyed doing so because of my Bible college and Christian school background. He was raised Catholic and Lutheran and Boys Town, where he was for a couple of years off and on, had a priest who believed in the gap. Dad was sharp as a tac, and he knew his Bible, but he could convince very few of the Gap Theory. 

[Bro. West]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:08 AM, SureWord said:

The argument lies not with the definition of the word everyone knows what that is: "to fill up again". The argument is it's usage.

God tells Adam to replenish the earth the next commandment similar to that is Noah (Gen. 9:1) telling his sons to replenish the earth after all people were wiped out. So these scarey bogeymen Ruckmanites, as well as any Ruckmanite before there was any Peter Ruckman, are saying this means there was a pre-Adamic population on Earth before Adam that had been wiped out so Adam needed to fill the Earth up again.

I don't know if I agree with this and I'm not going to argue over it but I do understand why they teach this from this verse.

Personally, I lean more towards a injunction to keep having children (replenish, fill up) and growing the human race as the old die off.

 

[Bro. West]

  Clarence Larkin taught this in 1918 and so did others long before Dr. Ruckman was a gleam in his father's eye. Ruckman also believed in the Virgin birth. Do we deny this because he taught that also. REPLEN'ISH, v.i. To recover former fullness. Webster 1828 Did Webster know Ruckman?

[BrotherTony]

18 minutes ago, Bro. West said:

  Clarence Larkin taught this in 1918 and so did others long before Dr. Ruckman was a gleam in his father's eye. Ruckman also believed in the Virgin birth. Do we deny this because he taught that also. REPLEN'ISH, v.i. To recover former fullness. Webster 1828 Did Webster know Ruckman?

The Oxford English Dictionary says that it means "to fill", not to REFILL....The English language wasn't even the same from the 1500's to the 1800s, which puts at question the definition in the Websters dictionary. Mr. Ruckman, Larkin, and others are incorrect in believing there was a pre-Adamic race and that the world needed to be reconstructed. Otherwise God couldn't have thought that all he had created each day "was good." That would have been negated by the former world had there been one, which there wasn't.

[Bro. West]

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 2Pe 3:5
It was like a fishing bobbin, the flood with Noah the Earth was submerged. 9, And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20, Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. Gen 7

You can not say the Earth was good here And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Gen 1:2 Does God create thing with form and void.

God create the Earth to be inhabited For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I [am] the LORD; and [there is] none else. Isa 45:18 You could not inhabit a earth that is without form and void and darkness. What happen?                                                   And to use Rom. 5: 12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Rom 5:12 as a proof text will not work because Satan sinned before this and was in Eden walking on stone of fire (Eze. 28). Wrong Eden Brother
 

[Bro. West]

 Dear Brother, you are not a bondservant but a child of God adopted, You are not from the bond woman but the free.                     But he [who was] of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman [was] by promise. Gal 4:23

[Jerry]

No one said all was good during the time of the flood - the reference was to creation week - and by the end of the week, God said it was VERY good. NO sin or death yet in His creation.

Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

Right, God did not create this world to be empty, He formed it to be inhabited. God started with a formless ball of dirt, water, etc. and then started to form it. Think of making anything - for the sake of an illustration, start off making a plasticine earth - you start off with the basic ball of clay, then you form it. In the Lord's case, that is what He did, THEN He created life to inhabit it. He started off with nothing and made it into the planet we now inhabit (with life and features, but no sin yet).

Also, words are defined by their context in the Bible, and by the overall teachings of the Bible. A word may have a broader range of meaning, but the context of the passage (and of the whole Word of God) determines what the word means in a particular place. It is never going to mean something that contradicts the rest of the Bible. So even if the word replenish included the meaning of refill or later added that definition as the English language developed, it does not mean that in Genesis 1 because that would contradict all the rest of the Bible, including Romans 5 which teaches no death or sin on this world until Adam sinned - therefore no need to refill or recreate this planet.