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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Four — the creation of the first human beings

QUESTION III. Whether Adam was created by God perfect according to age and according to the bulk of his body

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QUESTION III. Whether Adam was created by God perfect according to age and according to the bulk of his body.1

QUAESTIO III. An creatus sit Adam à Deo perfectus secundùm aetatem & secundùm molem corporis.

Concerning age, indeed, Augustine raises this same question, in chapter 13 of book 6 of On Genesis according to the Letter, writing thus: “But in what way did God make man from the slime of the earth? Was it suddenly, in a perfect age — that is, in a manly and youthful one — or just as He still now forms man in the wombs of mothers? so that Adam would have had only this as his own peculiarity, that he was not born of parents but made from the earth, yet in such a manner that in his being brought to completion and in his being increased through the ages those numbers of time would be fulfilled which we see assigned to the nature of the human race. Or is this rather not to be inquired into? For whichever of the two He did, He did that which it befitted a God both omnipotent and wise to be able to do and to do. For He has so assigned fixed laws of time to the kinds and qualities of things in their being brought forth from the hidden into the manifest, that His will is over all. For by His power He gave to the creature its numbers, yet He did not bind that very power to those same numbers: for His Spirit was so borne over the world in making it, as also to be borne over it when made — not by corporeal places, but by the excellence of His power.” Thus Augustine.2

DE aetate quidem quaestionem eandem ponit Augustinus, in capite 13. libri 6. de Genesi ad litteram, ita scribens: Sed quomodo fecit hominem Deus de limo terrae. Utrùm repentè in aetate perfecta, hoc est, virili atque iuvenili, an sicut nunc usque format in uteris matrum? ut illud tantùm proprium habuerit Adam, quòd non ex parentibus natus est, sed factus ex terra, eo tamen modo ut in hoc perficiendo & per aetates augendo hi temporum numeri complerentur quos natura humani generis attributos videmus. An potiùs hoc non est requirendum? Utrumlibet enim fecerit, hoc fecit quod Deum & omnipotentem & sapientem posse ac facere congruebat. Ita enim certas temporum leges generibus qualitatibúsque rerum in manifestum ex abdito producendis attribuit, ut eius voluntas sit super omnia. Potentia quippe sua numeros creaturae dedit, non ipsam potentiam eisdem numeris alligavit: nam Spiritus eius ita faciendo mundo superferebatur, ut & facto superferatur, non corporalibus locis, sed excellentia potestatis. Sic Augustinus.

His verbis Magister sententiarum in secundo distinction. 17. significari putavit Augustinum sensisse primum hominem in aetate perfecta creatum esse à Deo. Sic enim scribit: Augustinus super Genesim dicit, quòd Adam in virili aetate continuò factus est, & hoc secundùm superiores non inferiores causas, id est, secundùm voluntatem & potentiam Dei quam naturae generibus non alligavit: qualiter & virga Mosis conversa est in draconem. Nec talia contra naturam fiunt, nisi nobis quibus aliter natura [cursus...]
By these words the Master of the Sentences, in the second book, distinction 17, judged it to be signified that Augustine held the first man to have been created by God in a perfect age. For thus he writes: “Augustine, on Genesis, says that Adam was made at once in a manly age, and this according to the higher, not the lower, causes — that is, according to the will and power of God, which He has not bound to the kinds of nature; in the same way too that the rod of Moses was turned into a serpent. Nor do such things happen contrary to nature, except for us, to whom the course [of nature is otherwise known...]” [breaks at the catchword]3

[...except for us, to whom in another way the] course of nature has become known; but to God, nature is whatsoever He does. Thus, then, was Adam made: not according to the lower causes — because it was not in the seminal causes of things that it should so come to pass — but according to the higher causes, not operating against nature: because it was in the natural causes of things that it could so come to pass. And the Master, thus far.”4

[...natura] cursus innotuit: Deo autem natura est quodcumque facit. Sic ergo factus est Adam: non secundùm inferiores causas, quia non erat in rerum causis seminalibus ut ita fieret, sed secundùm superiores non contra naturam operantes: quia in rerum causis naturalibus erat ut ita posset fieri. Et Magister quidem hactenus.

Sed profectò si quis Augustini verba quae hoc loco Magister indicat, & nos paulò suprà commemoravimus, bene perpenderit, facilè animadvertet Augustinum quaestionem quidem de aetate qua creatus est Adam posuisse, & in utramque partem tractasse, sed expressè tamen & affirmatè neutram quaestionis partem definivisse.
But assuredly, if one weighs well the words of Augustine which the Master points to in this place, and which we too recalled a little above, he will easily observe that Augustine indeed raised the question of the age at which Adam was created, and treated it on both sides, yet did not expressly and affirmatively define either part of the question.5
QUANQUAM non potest negari, quin ad eam partem quae Adamum perfecta aetate creatum facit, propensior Augustinus esse videatur: & meritò sanè. Prima enim illa Dei opera quae in mundi molitione proximè ab eo facta sunt perfecta esse decuit: Sicut igitur caeteras animantes corporis mole aetatéque perfectas condidit, itidem quoque ac multo etiam magis, quanto scilicet maior est hominis quàm aliarum animantium dignitas, hominem in perfecta aetate condidisse existimandum est. Cui rei magno esse debet argumento, quod statim ut creati sunt Adam & Eva, dixit eis Deus: Crescite & multiplicamini & replete terram: quo licet intelligere Adamum & Evam firma iam aetate & ad generandum idonea esse procreatos. Opinantur igitur nonnulli, eos fuisse creatos aetate iuvenili, qua videlicet aetate Dominus noster Iesus Christus è mortuis resurrexit, hoc est, inter trigesimum & quadragesimum annum.
ALTHOUGH it cannot be denied that Augustine seems more inclined to that side which holds Adam to have been created at a perfect age — and rightly indeed. For those first works of God which were made by Him in the very building of the world ought to have been perfect: just as, therefore, He founded the other living creatures perfect in bodily bulk and in age, so likewise too — and much more so, by as much, namely, as the dignity of man is greater than that of the other animals — it must be reckoned that He founded man at a perfect age. Of which a great argument ought to be the fact that, as soon as Adam and Eve were created, God said to them: “Increase and multiply and fill the earth” — whereby one may understand that Adam and Eve were brought forth already at a firm age and fit for generation. Some, then, are of the opinion that they were created at a youthful age — namely, at that age at which our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, that is, between the thirtieth and fortieth year.6
Verùm ut ita fuerit, credibilius tamen est eo tempore aetaté hominis perfectam non ante quinquagesimum annum futuram fuisse: cùm enim tunc longissima esset hominis vita, hoc est, decuplo fermè longior quàm nunc est, singulae etiam aetates pariter longiores erant quàm nunc sunt, longior igitur erat pueritia & adolescentia: & priori aetate longius producta, proximè consequens aetas tardiùs accedebat. Comparatione igitur & proportione totius vitae nongentesimum annum supergressae, iuvenilis aetas primi hominis non ante quinquagesimum annum contingere ei potuisset. Ex quo nonnulli argumentantur, Adamum longissimam omnium mortalium vitam egisse, longiorem nempe ipso Mathusalem, quem Sacrae litterae perhibent ad nongentos sexaginta novem annos vitam produxisse. Adam enim cùm aetate perfecta creatus sit, id est, ea aetate quae respondebat quinquagesimo anno, posteà verò vixerit nongentos triginta annos: concluditur, si aetatis eius ratio habeatur, ultrà nongentos octoginta annos vixisse.
But granting that it was so, it is nevertheless more credible that at that time the perfect age of a man would not have come before the fiftieth year: for since then the life of man was longest — that is, nearly tenfold longer than it is now — the individual ages were likewise longer than they now are, and so childhood and adolescence were longer; and the prior age being drawn out further, the next following age arrived more slowly. By the comparison, then, and proportion of a whole life passing beyond the nine-hundredth year, the youthful age of the first man could not have reached him before the fiftieth year. From which some argue that Adam lived the longest life of all mortals, longer even than Methuselah himself, whom Holy Scripture reports to have prolonged his life to nine hundred and sixty-nine years. For since Adam was created at a perfect age — that is, at the age that corresponded to the fiftieth year — and afterward lived nine hundred and thirty years: it is concluded, if account be taken of his age, that he lived beyond nine hundred and eighty years.7
DE mole autem corporis qua creatus est Adam, similiter dicendum est, atque dictum est de aetate, eum factum esse perfecta corporis magnitudine, quae scilicet naturalis viventium accretionis terminus esse solet, & quae homini perfecta in aetate cōtingit. Primùm enim hominé & Scriptura non obscurè significat, & Patres concordi sententia cōfirmant, perfectù animo & corpore, beatúmque (quanta nempe homi-[nis...]
Now concerning the bulk of body in which Adam was created, it must similarly be said — as was said concerning his age — that he was made at a perfect bodily size, namely that which is wont to be the natural limit of the growth of living things, and which befalls a man at his perfect age. For both Scripture not obscurely signifies, and the Fathers confirm by a concordant judgement, that the first man was perfect in mind and body, and blessed (with as great a happiness, namely, as can belong to a man...) [the sentence continues on the next page]8
[...quanta nempe homi]nis in terris viventis beatitudo esse potest) à Deo esse procreatum.
[...with as great a happiness, namely, as] the blessedness of a man living on earth can be) — brought forth by God.9
IOANNES Lucidus, in lib. 1. de emendatione temporum, cap. 4. existimat, Adamum proceritate corporis fuisse gigantem, quinimo omnium gigantum qui unquam fuerunt maximum, idque probare vult ex lib. Iosue, in cuius cap. 14. extremis verbis ita scriptum est: Nomen Hebron ante vocabatur Cariatharbe: Adam maximus ibi inter Enacim situs est. Enacim autem fuisse gigantes, manifestum est ex his quae speculatores Iosue explorata terra Chanaan reversi dixerunt, sicut traditur cap. 13. lib. Numer. Populus, inquiunt, quem aspeximus, procerae staturae est, ibi vidimus monstra quaedam filiorum Enac de genere giganteo, quibus comparati quasi locusta videbamur. Si igitur Adam maximus erat comparatione Enacinorum gigantum, liquet eum fuisse maximum gigantem.
Giovanni Lucido, in book 1 of On the Emendation of Times, chapter 4, holds that Adam was, in the tallness of his body, a giant — indeed the greatest of all the giants who ever existed; and this he wishes to prove from the book of Joshua, in whose chapter 14, in the closing words, it is thus written: “The name of Hebron was formerly called Cariath-arbe: Adam, the greatest, was set there among the Enacim.” That the Enacim were giants is manifest from what the scouts of Joshua said on returning from exploring the land of Canaan, as is related in chapter 13 of the book of Numbers: “The people,” they say, “whom we beheld is of tall stature; there we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac of the giant race, compared to whom we seemed as locusts.” If, then, Adam was the greatest in comparison with the Enacim giants, it is clear that he was the greatest giant.10
Quod autem Scriptura eo loco de Adam loquatur qui parens fuit generis humani, confirmatur auctoritate B. Hieronymi qui super 27. cap. Matthaei asseveranter scribit, Adamum non in monte Calvariae, ut multi putarunt, sed in Hebron, ut tradit Iosue (eo scilicet loco quem memoravimus) sepultum esse. Adstipulantur praeterea huic sententiae auctores illi quos refert Moses Barcephas in libro quem scripsit de Paradiso, à quibus proditum est, cum Adamus in Paradiso terrestri, qui immenso Oceano interfuso à nostro orbe disiunctus erat, locatus à Deo esset: eum posteà propter peccatum è Paradiso eiectum, suis pedibus (tanta erat proceritate corporis) transmisso Oceano in hunc nostrum orbem venisse.
That Scripture in that place speaks of the Adam who was the parent of the human race is confirmed by the authority of blessed Jerome, who, on chapter 27 of Matthew, writes assertively that Adam was buried not on Mount Calvary, as many supposed, but in Hebron, as Joshua relates (namely in that place we have mentioned). There support this opinion, moreover, those authors whom Moses Barcephas reports in the book he wrote On Paradise, by whom it is handed down that, when Adam had been placed by God in the earthly Paradise — which, separated by a vast intervening Ocean, was sundered from our world — he, afterward cast out of Paradise on account of his sin, came on his own feet (so great was the tallness of his body), the Ocean being crossed, into this world of ours.11
SED profectò parum firma, parúmque probabilis est haec opinio, quin etiam parum consentanea divinae Scripturae, ex cuius narratione, quae est in cap. 6. libri Geneseos, facile est intelligere, gigantes non ante mortem Adami, cùm videlicet genus humanum immanissimis flagitiis atque sceleribus maiorem in modum corrumpi coeperat, extitisse. Sic enim ibi est: Gigantes erant super terram in diebus illis. Postquam enim ingressi sunt filii Dei ad filias hominum, illásque genuerunt, isti sunt potentes à saeculo viri famosi. NEc locus ille Iosue istorum iuvat opinionem: ut enim taceam eum locum multo aliter vertisse LXX. Interpretes, his scilicet verbis: Nomen autem Hebronis olim urbs Arbe, praecipua urbs Enacim ista, quibus verbis significatur, urbem illam fuisse metropolim eius regionis quam inhabitabat gens Enacinorum: Certè in translatione nostra vocabulum illud Adam, non est proprium primi illius hominis, sed est commune, idem significans apud Hebraeos, quod apud Latinos [vocabulum hominis...]
BUT assuredly this opinion is little firm and little probable — nay rather, little consonant with divine Scripture, from whose narrative, which is in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis, it is easy to understand that the giants arose not before the death of Adam, but namely when the human race had begun to be corrupted in great measure by the most monstrous outrages and crimes. For thus it stands there: “There were giants upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in unto the daughters of men, and these bore to them, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.” Nor does that passage of Joshua aid their opinion: for — to say nothing of the fact that the Seventy Translators rendered that place far otherwise, namely in these words, “Now the name of Hebron of old was the city Arbe, this chief city of the Enacim,” by which words it is signified that that city was the metropolis of the region the Enacim nation inhabited — certainly in our translation that word “Adam” is not the proper name of that first man, but is a common noun, signifying among the Hebrews the same as among the Latins [the word for “man”...] [continues on the next page]12
[...quod apud Latinos] vocabulum hominis, ut sit haec sententia illius loci: Propterea urbem Hebron olim esse dictam Civitatem Arbe, quod Arba maximus homo fuerit inter Enacinos: Maximus autem fuisse dicitur, vel nominis celebritate & rerum gestarum gloria, vel principatus amplitudine, potentia, aut diuturnitate; vel denique quòd illius urbis conditor, aut gentis Enacinorum sator & parens fuerit. Atque hanc sententiam expressam reddit Scriptura Hebraica eius loci, quae ad verbum Latinè reddita sic habet, Nomen Hebronis olim fuerat Cariatharbe, is fuerat homo inter Enacinos maximus. Non igitur de primo homine loquitur ibi Scriptura: nec potest ex eo loco probari Adamum inibi fuisse humatum, praesertim cùm ex antiquissima traditione, sepultum esse Adamum in monte Calvariae confirment multi & magni Patres: velut, Cyprianus in sermone de resurrectione Christi, Epiphanius lib. 2. contra haereses, cap. ult. Augustinus sermone LXXI. qui est de Immolatione Isaac, Paula & Eustochium in Epistola ad Marcellam, quae fertur inter Epistolas Hieronymi, quanquam Isidorus & Carthusianus super illo loco Iosue Hieronymum secuti sunt.
[...the same among the Hebrews as among the Latins] the word for “man,” so that the sense of that place is this: Therefore the city of Hebron was of old called the City of Arbe, because Arba was the greatest man among the Enacim. And he is said to have been “greatest” either by the celebrity of his name and the glory of his deeds, or by the extent, power, or duration of his rule; or finally because he was the founder of that city, or the begetter and parent of the Enacim nation. And the Hebrew text of that place renders this sense expressly, which, rendered word-for-word into Latin, runs thus: “The name of Hebron had of old been Cariath-arbe; he had been the greatest man among the Enacim.” Therefore Scripture there does not speak of the first man; nor can it be proved from that passage that Adam was buried there — especially since, by a most ancient tradition, many and great Fathers confirm that Adam was buried on Mount Calvary: such as Cyprian in his sermon On the Resurrection of Christ, Epiphanius in book 2 Against Heresies, last chapter, Augustine in Sermon 71 which is On the Immolation of Isaac, Paula and Eustochium in the Epistle to Marcella which is carried among the Epistles of Jerome — although Isidore and the Carthusian followed Jerome on that passage of Joshua.13
Verùm, esto Scripturam eo loco de Adamo, id est, primo homine loqui, tamen is appellatus est maximus non proceritate corporis, sed dignitate, propter duas scilicet praerogativas quibus cunctos homines antecelluit, alteram originis, quod proximè à Deo supernaturali modo creatus; origo fuit & seminarium totius generis humani: alteram verò singularium munerum & beneficiorum quibus ornatus & cumulatus à Deo est, iustitiam dico originalem, scientiam rerum omniú, immortalitatem, & domicilium Paradisi terrestris. Illud autem Inter filios Enacim, non significat Adamum fuisse maximum corpore, comparatione gigantum qui erant ex genere Enacim, inepta enim fuisset ea comparatio, sed illud potiùs significat, Adamum fuisse conditum & humatum inter filios Enacim, id est, in civitate Hebron (ut Hieronymus, Isidorus, & Hebraei censuerunt) quae, ut dixerunt LXX. Interpretes, fuit metropolis gentis Enacim.
But, granting that Scripture in that place speaks of Adam — that is, the first man — nevertheless he was called “greatest” not by the tallness of his body, but by dignity, on account, namely, of two prerogatives by which he surpassed all men: the one of origin, in that he was created immediately by God in a supernatural manner, and was the origin and seedbed of the whole human race; the other of the singular gifts and benefits with which he was adorned and heaped up by God — I mean original justice, knowledge of all things, immortality, and the dwelling of the earthly Paradise. And that phrase “among the sons of Enac” does not signify that Adam was the greatest in body, by comparison with the giants who were of the race of Enac — for that comparison would have been inept — but rather signifies that Adam was founded and buried among the sons of Enac, that is, in the city of Hebron (as Jerome, Isidore, and the Hebrews held), which, as the Seventy Translators said, was the metropolis of the Enac nation.14
Non me fugit, in antiquis Hebraeorum commentariis quae illi nominant Berescithraba, legi ideo nomen Arba quod significat quatuor, illi urbi esse impositum, quia priscis saeculis quatuor illic viri habitaverunt, Aner, Escol, Manre, & Abrahá, iidem illic sint circumcisi: quatuor item matronae celeberrimae ibidem sepultae fuerint, Heva, Sara, Rebecca & Lia: & quatuor Patriarchae, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, & Iacob: & quod ex eo loco Abraham quatuor reges insecutus percusserit. Verùm ut plurima quae sunt in illis Commentariis fictitia esse constat, sic haec parùm firma & probabilia esse debent.
I am not unaware that in the ancient commentaries of the Hebrews, which they name Bereshith Rabbah, it is read that the name Arba — which means “four” — was imposed on that city for this reason: that in ancient ages four men dwelt there, Aner, Eshcol, Mamre, and Abraham, who were circumcised there; that likewise four most celebrated matrons were buried there, Eve, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah; and four Patriarchs, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and because from that place Abraham pursued and struck the four kings. But just as it is agreed that most of the things in those commentaries are fictitious, so these too ought to be reckoned little firm and little probable.15

Translator’s notes

  1. Section divider (rule above). Third quaestio: whether the first man was created already full-grown. ↩
  2. Augustine, de Gen. ad lit. 6.13, block-quote on whether Adam was made full-grown or formed gradually as in the womb. Large decorated initial 'D' opens the body of the quaestio. ↩
  3. Peter Lombard, Sentences II, dist. 17. Quote breaks at the catchword 'cursus' at the foot of the page; it resumes on PDF 455. RESUME POINT for next batch: '...nisi nobis quibus aliter natura cursus [est notus]...' ↩
  4. Completes the Peter Lombard (Sentences II, dist. 17) block-quote broken at the catchword 'cursus' on PDF 454. 'Et Magister quidem hactenus' closes the quotation; Pererius resumes in his own voice. ↩
  5. Pererius' caution: Augustine left the question of Adam's age open. ↩
  6. Gen 1:28 'Crescite & multiplicamini' adduced for created maturity. Marginal gloss: 'Adamum perfecta aetate creatum esse' (that Adam was created at a perfect age). ↩
  7. The longer antediluvian lifespans imply a 'perfect age' of ~50; so Adam, created at that maturity + 930 recorded years, outlived Methuselah's 969. Marginal glosses: 'In exordio mundi ut vita hominis, ita singulae aetates eius longiores erant quàm nunc sunt'; 'Adam longaevissimus omnium mortalium' (Adam the longest-lived of all mortals). ↩
  8. Opens the parallel point on bodily stature. Marginal gloss: 'Adamum perfecta corporis statura esse creatum' (that Adam was created at a perfect bodily stature). Sentence breaks mid-clause; completed on PDF 456 ('...nis in terris viventis beatitudo esse potest) à Deo esse procreatum'). ↩
  9. Completes the sentence carried over from PDF 455. ↩
  10. Joshua 14:15 (Vulgate) and Numbers 13:33-34 cited. Marginal gloss: 'An Adam fuerit gigas omnium qui fuerunt maximus, ut putavit Ioannes Lucidus' (whether Adam was a giant, the greatest of all who ever were, as Giovanni Lucido supposed). ↩
  11. Jerome (on Matt. 27), and the authors cited by Moses Barcephas (de Paradiso) on Adam crossing the Ocean on foot. Marginal gloss: 'Hieronymus putavit Adamum in Hebron fuisse sepultum' (Jerome supposed Adam was buried in Hebron). ↩
  12. Pererius' refutation: Gen 6:4 places the giants after Adam's lifetime; and the LXX of Joshua 14:15 shows 'Adam' there is the common noun (= homo). Marginal glosses: 'Refellitur Lucidus' (Lucido is refuted); 'Quando gigantes esse coeperint' (when the giants began to be); 'Explicatur locus Iosue c. 14. de Adami sepultura' (the passage of Joshua ch. 14 on Adam's burial is explained). Sentence breaks at 'quod apud Latinos'. ↩
  13. The Fathers placing Adam's tomb on Calvary: Cyprian, Epiphanius (contra haereses 2), Augustine (Serm. 71), Paula & Eustochium (ep. ad Marcellam, among Jerome's letters); Isidore and Denis the Carthusian followed Jerome's Hebron view. ↩
  14. Adam's primacy reinterpreted as dignity, not stature: his two prerogatives (supernatural origin/seedbed of humankind; the gifts of original justice, knowledge, immortality, Paradise). ↩
  15. The Bereshith Rabbah etymology of Arba ('four') reported and dismissed as fiction. Marginal gloss: 'Traditio Hebraeorum' (a tradition of the Hebrews). ↩