Colossians 1:6 → Genesis 1:28

At creation God blessed humanity with a commission: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28), image-bearers spreading God's rule across the world. The LXX renders "be fruitful" with αὐξάνω (G837), grow. When Paul writes, "All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing" (Colossians 1:6), he uses that verb beside καρποφορέω (G2592), and repeats the pair in his prayer: "bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God" (1:10). Paul does not cite Genesis, so the tie is lexical and quiet, but it is real, and the chapter strengthens it: "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" (1:15), and "in Him all things were created" (1:16). The fruitfulness given at the beginning now spreads "all over the world" through the word about the Son, filling the earth with people brought "into the kingdom of His beloved Son" (1:13). Its fruit is joy as well as growth: Paul prays they will be "joyfully giving thanks to the Father" (1:11-12), because the One through whom all things were made is reconciling all things to God (1:20).