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Still reading Genesis, Creation, and Early Man with the fellas, and it’s crazy just how different the Thomistic view of human nature is from the Patristic view.
“in the state of innocence, the human body was in itself corruptible, but it could be preserved from corruption by the soul.” - Thomas Aquinas
“It belongs to man to beget offspring, because of his naturally corruptible body.” - Thomas Aquinas
“In Paradise man would have been like an angel in his spirituality of mind, yet with an animal life in his body. Man’s body was indissoluble, not by reason of any intrinsic vigor of immortality, but by reason of a supernatural force given by God to the soul,
whereby it was enabled to preserve the body from all corruption so long as it itself remained subject to God... This power of preserving the body from corruption was not natural to the soul, but the gift of grace.
Now it is clear that such a subjection of the body to the soul and of the lower powers to reason (as Adam had in Paradise) was not from nature, or othersise it would have remained after sin.” - Thomas Aquinas
This is contrary to the Patristic view of man’s incorruptible nature.
This is contrary to the Patristic view of man’s incorruptible nature.
“The immortality of the first state was based on a supernatural force in the soul, and not on any intrinsic disposition of the body.” - Thomas Aquinas
The Patristic consensus is that God created Adam instantly with a single act, both mind and soul simultaneously. Adam was created to be incorrupt and became subject to corruption as a result of the transgression. His incorruptible nature and image of God is still there post-fall.
With that in mind, it follows that there was not death, pooping, reproduction, marriage/sexual intercourse in Paradise.
“Some say that in the state of innocence man would not have taken more than necessary food, so that there would have been nothing superfluous. This, however, is unreasonable to suppose, as implying that there would have been no faecal matter.
Therefore there was need for voiding the surplus, yet so disposed by God as not to be unbefitting.” - Thomas Aquinas
In short there was pooping, but it was dignified in his view.
In short there was pooping, but it was dignified in his view.
This view of man’s corruptible nature pre-Fall comes about when the Scholastic tradition and later modern scientific world try to understand God’s original creation starting from everyday observation in our fallen world, which is completely different from what it was in Paradise.
It also comes from a general misunderstanding of how God creates in instantaneous individual creative days. He created in Six Days, but each day the act of creation that He did, happened instantly according to His Word.
In the Roman/Thomistic view, its understood that there was a chronological approach to man’s creation. God created Adam’s body from the dust of the earth then breathed the soul into him, and bestowed on him a special supernatural grace. This is not the Orthodox view.
“In the state of innocence, man’s body could be preserved from suffering injury from a hard body, partly by the use of his reason, whereby he could avoid what was harmful;
and partly also by Divine providence, which do preserved him, that nothing of a harmful nature could come upon him unawares.” - Thomas Aquinas
“Man was not created in grace, but grace was bestowed on him subsequently, before sin.” - Thomas Aquinas
To show some contrast, here is a quote from St. John Damascene.
“From the earth [God] formed his body and by His own inbreathing game him a rational and understanding soul, which last we say is the divine image...
“From the earth [God] formed his body and by His own inbreathing game him a rational and understanding soul, which last we say is the divine image...
The body and the soul were formed at the same time— not one before and the other afterwards, as the ravings of Origen would have it.”
In summation:
“Adam’s nature in Paradise was different from present human nature, both in body and soul, and this exalted nature was perfected by God’s grace;
“Adam’s nature in Paradise was different from present human nature, both in body and soul, and this exalted nature was perfected by God’s grace;
but according to Latin doctrine, which is based on rationalistic deductions from the present fallen creation, man is naturally corruptible and mortal, just as he is now, and his state in Paradise was a special, supernatural gift.” - Father Seraphim Rose
