Stephen Jones — Anthropology
b2 — The Restoration of All Things
Dominion Mandate: Gen. 1:26 as the Basis of Adam’s Authority
Jones locates the dominion mandate as the starting point of all delegated authority on earth:
“In Gen. 1:26 we read, ‘Then God said, Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ This was the dominion mandate given to man, and it was the point where man’s authority began, operating under the sovereignty of God.” — Ch.6
Psalm 8:6 repeats this: “Thou hast put all things under his feet.” Jones considers this the most frequently quoted Scripture in the New Testament:
“In fact, Psalm 8:6 is the most often quoted Scripture in the New Testament. For this reason it ought to be seen as one of the most important concepts to study.” — Ch.5
Interpretation: The dominion mandate serves as the structural framework for Jones’ entire anthropology and soteriology. Salvation is not arbitrary grace but the restoration of a legitimate mandate that was lost through legal means.
The Fall and the Human Person: Adam’s Sin as Debt-Slavery
Jones describes the fall as a legal transaction governed by Mosaic law (Ex. 22:3):
“Sin, of course, made man a debtor in the eyes of the law, and so he was ‘sold’ into bondage as ‘slaves of sin’ (Rom. 6:17). With him was sold his wife, his children (descendants), and his entire estate, which was the whole earth.” — Ch.6
“When Adam was ‘sold’ into bondage, his children were sold also, along with his entire estate (‘creation’). Thus, Jesus came to redeem that which He had owned but which later had been sold according to the divine law.” — Ch.7
Jones grounds this in the Law of Headship — the principle that the decisions of one in authority affect all under him:
“Even as Adam’s sin brought death to ALL men and subjected the entire creation to vanity (Rom. 8:20), so also Christ’s righteousness brought life to ALL men and set the entire creation free.” — Ch.5
“‘Creation was subjected to vanity not willingly,’ that is, apart from its own will or choice or decision. It was adversely affected through Adam’s sin, not for any sin of its own.” — Ch.5
Interpretation: Mankind does not bear guilt for Adam’s sin through personal choice, but bears its consequences as part of his legal estate. This is consistent with the imputation doctrine in b1 (Creation’s Jubilee).
Original Sin and Human Nature: Mortality via Rom. 5:12
Jones maintains his core thesis from Creation’s Jubilee and extends it through an exegetical argument on Rom. 5:12:
“Paul explains in Romans 5 that Adam’s sin was imputed to all of us. This means that we were all held accountable for Adam’s sin, as if we had done it. We were legally guilty, and so all men received the penalty for Adam’s sin. That penalty was death, or mortality.” — Ch.5
“Most translations, beginning with Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, say ‘for that all sin’ (KJV) or ‘because all sinned’ (NASB), as if to say that we became mortal because we sinned. This is incorrect. We sin because we are mortal, not the other way around.” — Ch.5
On Jerome’s translation error:
“When Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate around 400 A.D., he rendered the last phrase of Rom. 5:12, ‘because all have sinned’ instead of ‘on which all sinned.’ The Jerome Biblical Commentary, page 307, admits that this translation has a serious problem by making Paul contradict himself within the same verse.” — Ch.5
Two kinds of death as the key:
“The translators misunderstood Paul because they thought Paul had made a mistake… Very few realized that Paul was talking about two kinds of death: the first being the result of Adam’s sin, and the second being the result of our own sin.” — Ch.5
Interpretation: [TENSION with prior source] — this deepens b1 rather than contradicting it. In b1, the first/second death distinction was introduced; in b2, the exegetical basis is worked out via the Greek phrase eph ho.
Mankind as Adam’s Descendants: Part of the Redeemable Estate
Jones argues that humanity is not merely co-guilty with Adam but is legally part of what Adam lost and what Christ redeemed:
“Jesus came as the last Adam to reverse the curse and pay the full debt that Adam could not pay. In doing so, He redeemed not only Adam, but his wife and children (descendants) and the entire estate (the creation). Everything that was lost in Adam is redeemed in Christ.” — Ch.5
Jones cites Jesus’ parable (Matt. 18:25) to illustrate the scope of Adam’s loss:
“But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children AND ALL THAT HE HAD, and repayment to be made.” — Ch.5
And the parable of the treasure (Matt. 13:44):
“In verse 38 Jesus said that ‘the field is the world.’ We know from Exodus 19:5 that Israel was God’s peculiar treasure. Jesus Himself is the ‘man’ in the parable, who searches and finds the lost sheep… So Jesus found Israel, and in order to obtain that ‘peculiar treasure,’ He purchased the field—THE WORLD.” — Ch.5
Interpretation: Mankind as a whole is Adam’s “estate” — not merely heirs of a fallen nature, but legally part of what was sold and what is being reclaimed. This grounds universal redemption in law, not sentiment.
Restoration of the Human Person: Christ as Kinsman-Redeemer
Jones introduces the distinction between “purchasing” and “redeeming” as a theological key concept:
“You can purchase anything, but you can redeem only that which you once owned.” — Ch.7
Christ met three conditions for the right of redemption:
Right (legal):
“A kinsman was given the right of redemption (Lev. 25:47-49), as long as he had sufficient money to pay the debt… The kinsman’s redemption right takes precedence over the slave-master’s desire to keep the slave in his possession.” — Ch.7
“Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Heb. 2:14) — Ch.7
Means (price of blood):
“Jesus therefore had the MEANS to redeem all of creation, and as a near Kinsman, he also had the lawful RIGHT of redemption.” — Ch.7
Will (love):
“The only serious question remaining is this: Did Jesus actually WANT to redeem all of creation, or, as Calvinism teaches, is he content to redeem only a few items which He purchased by His blood?” — Ch.7
“The law of redemption does allow Him as a Kinsman-Redeemer to claim all that He purchased. There is nothing unjust in this.” — Ch.7
The final state:
“And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:28) — Ch.6
“God will not force this redemption upon them, in spite of His love. But He knows that in the end, after the time of redemption has run its course, and after all sin has been judged during that time, He will invoke eminent domain over all creation by the law of Jubilee.” — Ch.7
Moral Responsibility: Believers as Future Judges
Jones connects the calling of the believer directly to the restoration of Adam’s mandate:
“Paul alludes to this in 1 Cor. 6:2 and 3, when he says, ‘Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? … Know ye not that we shall judge angels?‘” — Ch.1
“In past ages God has been training judges for the age to come, that they might partake of the Elijah ministry to ‘restore all things,’ as Jesus said.” — Ch.1
The basis of the ambassadorial task:
“What is our message? It is ‘the word of reconciliation.’ We are to tell the world that God is ‘not imputing their trespasses unto them.‘” (2 Cor. 5:19) — Ch.1
Interpretation: Moral responsibility in Jones’ framework has an eschatological dimension: the believer is in training as a judge for the coming age, not merely a recipient of salvation. This links anthropology directly to ecclesiology.
Imago Dei as Foundation of the Dominion Mandate
Jones addresses the image of God functionally in Ch.6 as the basis for delegated dominion:
“When God created all things, He pronounced it ‘good’ at each stage of creation and then ‘very good’ at the end (Gen.1:31). Sin was not built into creation but was a later invasion, so to speak.” — Ch.6
“In my view, sin is temporary. Because it had a beginning, it also will have an end. The whole idea of ‘restoration’ implies that history is the process by which God is showing us the results of sin before finally restoring all things under His feet as it was at the beginning.” — Ch.6
Interpretation: Jones does not offer an explicit theological definition of the “image,” but treats imago Dei functionally in terms of the authority structure of Gen. 1:26-28. The restoration of the human person is the restoration of that image in its functional dimension.