Charles Hodge: The Dominion Mandate Is Realized in Christ
What is the extent of the dominion granted to man, or to which our race was destined, it is not easy to determine. Judging from the account given in Genesis, or even from the stronger language used in the eighth Psalm, we should conclude that his authority was to extend only over the inferior animals belonging to this earth. But the Apostle, in his exposition of the words of the Psalmist, teaches us that far more was intended. In 1 Cor. 15:27, he says, “When he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.” And in Heb. 2:8, he says, “In that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.” It was therefore an absolutely universal dominion, so far as creatures are concerned, with which man was to be invested. This universal dominion, as we learn from the Scriptures, has been realized and attained only by the incarnation and exaltation of the Son of God. But as God sees the end from the beginning, as his plan is immutable and all comprehending, this supreme exaltation of humanity was designed from the beginning, and included in the dominion with which man was invested.
-Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 2.102-103.