What kind of authority did Adam have over creation before the Fall?
Before the Fall, Adam possessed total dominion over creation under God. God commanded him to be fruitful, multiply, replenish and subdue the earth, and have dominion, making him God's second in command. When Adam sinned, he lost that dominion, and Satan picked it up.
Les goes back to Genesis 1:28 to explain the need for a mortgage or payment. God blessed Adam and Eve and said, "Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion." Adam was to rule over the creation under God, with total dominion, literally God's second in command. But when Adam sinned, he lost that role of dominion. He dropped the ball, and Satan picked it up.
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.