Birth rates are falling. Christians must ‘go forth and multiply’

A new UN report says all but three countries in the world will have below replacement levels of reproduction by the end of the century. God’s command to “increase in number” was never meant to be an optional extra, says Miriam Cates. It’s time that Christians took it seriously again

As Christians, we are familiar with the most important commandment, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). But are we as familiar with the very first command that he gives to humanity?

In Genesis 1:28 God says to the people he has just created: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” God’s first requirement of us is to reproduce. Why? Because human beings are good. God delights in us and has given us work to do, to “Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).