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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Four — the creation of the first human beings

QUESTION IV. Whether the body of the first man was formed earlier in time than the soul was created and infused into the body

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QUESTION IV. Whether the body of the first man was formed earlier in time than the soul was created and infused into the body.1

QUAESTIO IIII. An corpus primi hominis prius tempore formatum sit, quàm sit creata anima & corpori infusa.

NEc paucorum, nec ignobilium auctorum & olim & nostro saeculo sententia fuit, priùs tempore factum esse corpus Adae quàm creata sit anima rationalis, & cum corpore coniuncta: hoc enim tradit Gennadius explanans haec Mosis verba quae nunc tractamus: & Chrysostomus in Genesim, homi-[lia...]
It was the opinion neither of few nor of ignoble authors, both of old and in our own age, that the body of Adam was made earlier in time than the rational soul was created and joined to the body: for this Gennadius teaches, expounding these very words of Moses which we now treat; and Chrysostom on Genesis, in homi-[ly...] [continues on the next page]2
[...in Genesim, homi]lia 12. & 13. id videtur etiam innuere Augustinus libro decimotertio, de Civitate Dei, capite vigesimoquarto, Tostatus item & Ioannes Ferus super hoc loco Geneseos, Alfonsus de Castro libro secúdo contra haereses, ubi disputat de Anima, Augustinus Eugubinus in Cosmopoeia & in Annotationibus suis in Pentateuchum, super his verbis Mosis, idémque sensisse videtur auctor libri quarti Esdrae in eius libri capite tertio, ad hunc modum scribens: Tu Domine dedisti Adae corpus mortuum, sed & ipsum figmentum manuum tuarū erat, & insufflasti in eum spiritum vitae, & factus est vivens corā te.
[...on Genesis, in homi]lies 12 and 13; the same Augustine too seems to suggest, in book thirteen of the City of God, chapter twenty-four; Tostatus likewise and Johann Wild (Ferus) on this passage of Genesis; Alfonso de Castro in book two Against Heresies, where he disputes On the Soul; Agostino Steuco of Gubbio in the Cosmopoeia and in his Annotations on the Pentateuch, on these words of Moses; and the author of the fourth book of Esdras seems to have held the same, in the third chapter of that book, writing in this manner: “Thou, Lord, gavest Adam a dead body, but it too was the workmanship of Thy hands, and Thou didst breathe into him the spirit of life, and he was made living before Thee.”3

But it is pleasing here to set down the words of Chrysostom, in which this is delivered by him most openly. In homily 12, then, he says thus: “Consider, I beseech you, the order of Adam's formation, and weigh with yourself: before the breath of life was breathed into him by the Lord, what was that one who had been formed? Simply a certain inanimate image, devoid of operation, and useful for nothing. But that which advances man to so great an honor is nothing else than that breath of life inspired by God.” The same, in homily 13, declares this very thing in more illustrious words, writing in this manner: “And perhaps someone would say: Why, if the soul is worthier than the body, was the worthier formed first, and afterward what is more eminent? Do you not see, beloved, that in created things this same thing happens in practice? For just as heaven and earth and Sun and Moon, and all the rest, were formed, and the irrational animals, and after all these, man, who was to take up rule over them; so too in this formation of man the body is produced first, and afterward the soul, which is worthier. And just as the animals, destined to be useful for man's service, are formed before man, that he might have his minister ready, for whose use they were being created, so also the body is formed before the soul, in order that, when according to the ineffable wisdom of the Creator the soul should be produced, it might be able, according to its powers, to operate through the motion of the body.” Thus Chrysostom.4

Verùm lubet hic adscribere Chrysostomi verba quibus hoc apertissimè ab eo traditur. In homilia igitur 12. sic ait: Cogita obsecro formationis Adae ordinem, & expende tecum antequam inspiraretur à Domino spiraculū vitae, quis erat formatus ille? Simpliciter inanimis quaedam imago, operatione carēs, & ad nihil utilis. Id autem quod hominé in tantum provehit honorem nō aliud est nisi spiraculum illud vitae à Deo inspiratum. Idem in homilia 13. hoc ipsum illustrioribus verbis declarat hunc in modum scribens: Et forte diceret aliquis, Quare si anima dignior est corpore, indignius primo formatū est, & posteà quid eminentius? Non vides dilecte quòd & in creaturis hoc idem usu venit. Sicut enim coelū & terra & Sol & Luna, & caetera omnia formata sunt, & irrationalia animalia, & post haec omnia homo, horum principatū suscepturus; ita & in hac hominis formatione prius corpus producitur, & posteà anima quae est dignior. Et sicut animalia ministerio hominis utilia futura ante hominem formantur, ut paratū haberet ministrū is ad cuius usum creabantur, ita etiam corpus ante animam formatur, ut cùm secundū ineffabilem conditoris sapientiam anima produceretur, posset secundùm suas potentias operari per corporis motionem. Sic Chrysost.

Videtur etiam hoc significare narratio ipsa Scripturae, cùm hoc loco dicit: Formavit Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae, & inspiravit in faciem eius spiraculum vitae, & factus est homo in animam viventem. Quibus verbis indicare videtur Scriptura, priùs formatum esse corpus humanum de limo terrae, & in ipso iam formatum & figuratum, inditum esse spiraculum vitae quo illud corpus evasit in hominem viventem. Et in naturali quidem hominis generatione idem ordo servari videtur: nam priùs tempore particulatim formatur corpus humanum, deinde creatur anima & in ipsum infunditur.
The narration of Scripture itself also seems to signify this, when it says in this place: “The Lord God formed man from the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man was made into a living soul.” By which words Scripture seems to indicate that the human body was formed first from the slime of the earth, and that into it, now already formed and figured, the breath of life was put, by which that body emerged into a living man. And in the natural generation of man, indeed, the same order seems to be preserved: for first in time the human body is formed part by part, then the soul is created and infused into it.5
Ex adverso autem, corpus humanum non esse formatum ante animum, sed simul, id est, eodem puncto temporis & corpus & animum & hominem ipsum esse factum, censent viri doctissimi maxiváque auctoritatis, veluti est Gregorius Nyssenus in libro de homine, capite 29. & 30. & Damascenus in libro secundo, de Fide Orthodoxa capite duodecimo, & Sanctus Thomas prima parte, quaestione nonagesima prima, idémque videtur innuere Augustinus libro de Genesi contra Manichaeos capite octavo, quae iam pridem est in scholis Theologorum recepta sententia, quam licet ex verbis Mosis colligere; ait enim Deum formasse hominem ex limo terrae. Si igitur formando corpus humanum dicitur formasse hominem, & corpus non [formatum est ante hominem...]
On the contrary, however, that the human body was not formed before the soul, but at the same time — that is, that at the same point of time both the body and the soul and the man himself were made — is the judgement of most learned men of the greatest authority: such as Gregory of Nyssa in the book On Man, chapters 29 and 30; and Damascene in the second book, On the Orthodox Faith, chapter twelve; and Saint Thomas in the First Part, question ninety-one; and the same Augustine seems to suggest, in the book On Genesis against the Manichees, chapter eight. This is now long since the received opinion in the schools of the theologians, which may be gathered from the words of Moses; for he says that God formed man from the slime of the earth. If, therefore, in forming the human body He is said to have formed man, and the body was not [formed before the man...] [continues on the next page]6
[...dicitur formasse hominem, & corpus] non est homo sine anima, efficitur cum formavit corpus, simul etiam creasse animum: & ita verum est formatum esse hominem. Licèt enim & formatio corporis, & creatio animae, & procreatio totius hominis uno & eodem puncto temporis perfecta sint, distinctè tamen & separatè explicanda erant. Et priùs quidem formatio corporis, quoniam praecedit ordine generationis, idem enim punctum temporis, seu ut in scholis loquuntur, instans terminat ultimam dispositionem & formationem corporis, & inchoat ac metitur creationem & infusionem animae rationalis & generationem hominis.
[...He is said to have formed the man, and since the body] is not a man without the soul, it follows that when He formed the body He also at the same time created the soul: and thus it is true that the man was formed. For although the formation of the body, and the creation of the soul, and the procreation of the whole man are completed in one and the same point of time, they nevertheless had to be explained distinctly and separately. And the formation of the body, indeed, comes first, since it precedes in the order of generation; for the same point of time — or, as they say in the schools, the same instant — terminates the final disposition and formation of the body, and begins and measures the creation and infusion of the rational soul and the generation of the man.7
Nec pro nihilo ducenda est ea ratio qua Beatus Thomas utitur ad id confirmandum: Haec, inquit, natura est partium, sive ut vocant essentialium, sive integralium, ut invicem disiuncta, & extra totú quod constituunt posita, sint in statu imperfecto. Cum enim pars sit propter totum, hinc fit ut bonum & perfectio partis extra totum ei non possit contingere. Cùm igitur Deus in prima illa rerum procreatione omnia fecerit in statu perfecto, incongruum erat vel corpus sine anima, vel animam sine corpore separatim efficere: utrumque nimirum in statu imperfecto. Quod si animum non creavit Deus ante corpus, ut mox dicemus, nec corpus ante animam creasse eum fas est credere: magis enim corpus pendet ab anima quàm animus à corpore: animus enim à corpore seiugatus & seiunctus, aequè quàm in corpore substantiá & existentiam suam tuetur & conservat. Corpus autem digressa ab eo anima, non est corpus hominis nisi aequivocè, & paulatim dissolvitur atque corrumpitur. Nihil tamen prohibet opinari, corpus primi homi-[nis...]
Nor is that reasoning to be reckoned of no account which blessed Thomas uses to confirm this: “This,” he says, “is the nature of parts — whether of those they call essential, or of integral parts — that, disjoined from one another and placed outside the whole which they constitute, they are in an imperfect state. For since a part exists for the sake of the whole, it follows that the good and perfection of a part cannot befall it outside the whole.” Since, therefore, God in that first procreation of things made all things in a perfect state, it was incongruous to make either body without soul, or soul without body, separately: both, namely, would be in an imperfect state. And if God did not create the soul before the body, as we shall presently say, neither is it lawful to believe that He created the body before the soul: for the body depends on the soul more than the soul on the body — for the soul, severed and disjoined from the body, guards and preserves its substance and existence just as much as when in the body; whereas the body, once the soul has departed from it, is not a man's body except equivocally, and gradually dissolves and is corrupted. Nothing, however, forbids the opinion that the body of the first man... [continues]8
[...corpus primi homi]nis secundùm aliquas dispositiones fuisse prius formatum: sed tunc non erat corpus hominis nisi in potentia remota, statim verò ut habuit ultimam dispositionem per quam verè ac propriè est corpus hominis, accepit à Deo animam rationalem: idémque servatum est deinceps ac servatur quotidie in generatione cuiuslibet hominis.
[...that the body of the first man] was first formed according to certain dispositions: but then it was not a man's body except in remote potency; and as soon as it had the final disposition by which it is truly and properly a man's body, it received from God the rational soul: and the same has been preserved ever since, and is preserved daily, in the generation of every man.9

Translator’s notes

  1. Section divider (rule above). Fourth quaestio: the temporal order of the formation of body and soul. ↩
  2. Large decorated initial 'N' opens the body of the quaestio. Gennadius and Chrysostom cited for the 'body formed first' view. Sentence breaks at the catchword 'homilia'; completed on PDF 458 ('homilia 12. & 13.'). ↩
  3. Roll of authorities for the 'body first' view: Augustine (City of God 13.24), Tostatus, Ferus, Alfonso de Castro (contra haereses 2), Agostino Steuco Eugubinus, and 4 Esdras 3. ↩
  4. Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 12 and 13, block-quote: the unensouled body is an inanimate image; the body is formed first as the soul's prepared instrument, like the animals made before man. Marginal gloss (overlapping the next paragraph): 'Simul esse formatum corpus Adae, & creatum animum' (that the body of Adam was formed and the soul created at the same time). ↩
  5. Gen 2:7 read as supporting a temporal priority of the body; the analogy of natural embryology. ↩
  6. The opposing (simultaneist) view: Gregory of Nyssa (de hominis opificio 29-30), John Damascene (de Fide Orth. 2.12), Aquinas (ST I q.91), and Augustine (de Gen. contra Manich. 8) — now the schools' received opinion. Page ends at catchword 'non' (signature GG). RESUME POINT for next batch: '...dicitur formasse hominem, & corpus non [formatur ante hominem]...'. ↩
  7. Completes the sentence broken at the catchword 'non' on PDF 458. Resolves the simultaneist position: body and soul made at one instant, but the body prior in the order of generation. ↩
  8. Aquinas (ST I q.91 a.4): a part outside its whole is imperfect; God's first works being perfect, body and soul were not made separately. Marginal gloss: 'Ratio B. Thomae' (the reasoning of blessed Thomas). ↩
  9. The body 'first formed' only in remote potency; ensoulment follows upon the final disposition. The daily pattern of human generation. ↩