30. Man
13. The Creation of Man
In the hierarchy of created beings, man is the apex of creation; he comes after only the angels. Man has a spiritual component—the soul—which is endowed with intellect and will. He is, therefore, responsible and free. He also has a material body that is united to the soul. God created man as a composite of body and soul, matter and spirit.1
13a) Man as a Creature
God created man out of nothing (de fide).
This truth of faith was defined by the Magisterium of the Church in the Fourth Lateran Council and the First Vatican Council, using the same words: “God created both orders of creatures in the same way out of nothing, the spiritual or angelic world and the corporeal or visible universe. And afterwards He formed the creature man, who in a way belongs to both orders, as he is composed of spirit and body.”2
13b) The Creation of the First Man
God created Adam in body and soul by a special intervention (sent. certa as regards the soul, sent. comm. as regards the body).
Sacred Scripture narrates this truth in detail in the Book of Genesis: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.’ … So God created man in his own image” (Gn 1:26–27). “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gn 2:7).
The soul originates directly from God. The definitions of the Magisterium of the Church stating the spiritual and immortal nature of the soul exclude any possibility of the soul’s originating from some pre-existing being. God creates it directly and without mediation. Regarding the body, the traditional interpretation of its origin is that God created it directly out of clay or earth. Nevertheless, the hypothesis that God may have used a living animal organism as a starting point, instead of clay, is not contrary to the faith.3 In any case, we should be aware that evolutionary theory is often maintained as a matter of principle, rather than as a rigorous scientific conclusion. Besides, even if the evolutionary hypothesis is accepted, one must still acknowledge that the body used by God was previously prepared to receive the human soul by a special divine intervention.
13c) The First Woman
In order to form the body of Eve, God took matter from the body of Adam; her soul, on the other hand, was created directly out of nothing (sent. certa).
Sacred Scripture narrates the creation of the first woman in the Book of Genesis. “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (Gn 2:21–22).
In 1909, the Pontifical Biblical Commission declared that the formation of the first woman from the first man is among the events in Genesis whose historical literal sense should not be doubted, while noting that room for some particular interpretations may exist.4
Sacred Tradition points out that the special creation of Eve indicates the essential equality and mutual dependence of man and woman. It also reminds us of the divine origin and the indissolubility of marriage. Jesus Christ himself interpreted this part of Genesis when teaching the essence and properties of marriage (cf. Mt 19:4–8).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that man and woman are created, that is, loved by God:
· in perfect equality—equal dignity—because both are human persons; and
· in the individual characteristics inherent in being man and woman. “To be a man” and “to be a woman” are realities loved by God that reflect his wisdom and goodness.5
Man and woman are loved by God, one for the other (cf. Gn 2:18); they were created by him to form a communion of persons in which each is a “helpmate” for the other. They are equal as persons, paired as male and female. United in marriage, they form “one flesh” (Gn 2:24) and are capable of transmitting human life (cf. Gn 1:28). In so doing, they cooperate—as spouses and parents—in a unique manner with the work of the Creator.
13d) Man as Image of God
Because of his spiritual nature, man is a true, though imperfect, image of God (sent. certa).
Sacred Scripture explicitly says that man was created in the image and likeness of God, a dignity not attributed to any other creature (cf. Gn 1:26ff; 5:1–3; 9:6; Wis 2:23; Sir 17:1, 3). The superiority of man over the other material creatures is due to his rational soul and spiritual powers of intellect and will. His materiality, which he shares with the animals, does not imply any special likeness with God.
The Magisterium of the Church, in the Second Vatican Council, has recently reminded us of mankind’s superiority: “All, in fact, are destined to the very same end, namely God himself, since they have been created in the likeness of God who ‘made from one every nation of men who live on all the face of the earth.’”6
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes how man was created in the image of God: He has the dignity of a person; he is not merely something, but someone. Man is capable of knowing himself, possessing himself, giving himself, and entering into communion with other persons. Through grace, he is called to a covenant with his Creator to offer him the response of faith and love that no other being can.7
All the Fathers of the Church taught that man is an image of God because he is a spiritual being. St. John Damascene, for example, said, “With his own hands, God made man from the visible and the invisible nature. He formed the body from the earth, and he gave him a rational soul through his breath. This is what we call image of God. Because ‘in the image of’ refers to the understanding and free will.”8
Children tend to resemble their parents. This likeness refers to physical traits and expressions and mannerisms that children learn from their parents. When Sacred Scripture says that man was made in the image and likeness of God, this cannot be a similarity of body, since God does not have a material body. It refers to the soul, which is spiritual and subsistent. While the soul was created to be the form of the body (body and soul together compose man), that the soul is subsistent means the soul can continue to exist even when separated from the body by death. Thus, the soul is immortal, and man is an image of God on account of his soul, which is both spiritual and immortal.9
14. The Human Body
The body is a constitutive part of human nature (sent. certa).
This truth is presupposed in the whole of Christological dogma, since our Lord became “consubstantial with us in his humanity” and he is “perfect man, with a rational soul and human flesh.”10 Gaudium et Spes affirmed that “man may not despise his bodily life; rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”11
When Sacred Scripture narrates the creation of man, it explicitly indicates that God “formed man of dust from the ground” (Gn 2:7). Other passages speak about the “resurrection of the bodies” (cf. 1 Cor 15:35ff), thereby implying that the body is an essential part of human nature.
Reason confirms that the body is necessary to human nature.12 The body is good, since God created it, yet it can be used for God’s glory or for offending him (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–43ff). St. Paul draws an opposition between the life according to the flesh and the life according to the spirit, but this distinction must be understood in the light of original sin. As a consequence of this sin, the body has to be mortified in order to subdue those tendencies contrary to the Christian life and to make reparation for sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Jesus’ call to conversion and penance … does not aim first at outward works … but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion.… [which] urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.”13 Mortification should not be done out of hatred or disdain for the body.
15. The Human Soul
15a) The Soul as a Substance
The human soul is a true substance (sent. certa).
The Church describes the soul as a substance. The Ecumenical Council of Vienna explicitly stated that the rational soul is a substance.14
The Fathers of the Church also affirmed this truth. St. John Damascene, for example, taught: “The soul is a living substance, simple and incorporeal.”15
A substance is the reality that is in itself and not in another subject. This means that a substance has its own act of being, and therefore does not need to be “in another,” as does an accident. For example, the color white is an accident since it does not have its own act of being but has to rely on something else that has its own being, such as paper, snow, or a handkerchief.
A soul can exist independently of matter. Actually, as the Catholic faith teaches, many souls are currently separated from their bodies—all the deceased are waiting for the universal judgment in order to be reunited with their bodies.
Human reason can demonstrate that the human soul is a substance. Operation follows being. Therefore, whatever can operate by itself must have being by itself. The human soul can perform operations that are not dependent on the body (i.e., to reflect on one’s knowledge).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that some people distinguish between soul and spirit.16 The Church teaches that this distinction (cf. 1 Thes 5:23) does not introduce two separate realities. “Spirit” means that man is destined to a supernatural end17 and that his “soul” is able to be gratuitously elevated to communion with God.18
15b) The Spirituality of the Soul
The human soul is a spiritual substance (de fide).
The Magisterium of the Church defined this truth in the Fourth Lateran Council and the First Vatican Council, when it declared that God created out of nothing “the spiritual, or angelic, world and the corporeal, or the visible, universe. And afterwards He formed the creature man, who in a way belongs to both orders, as he is composed of spirit and body.”19 Also, the Fourth Council of Constantinople refers to the soul as “one rational and intellectual soul.”20
Sacred Scripture, as early as the Book of Genesis, suggests that man—created in the image of God—has a spiritual vital principle (cf. Gn 1:26ff). The Hebrew word used to designate the soul means breath, inhalation, or exhalation. The soul is always opposed to the flesh and always appears as dominating it (cf. Gn 6:3). The soul is infused by God, and it returns to God when it abandons the body: “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccl 12:7).
The New Testament reiterates the doctrine found in the Old Testament regarding the soul. The following words of Jesus can make sense only if the soul is spiritual: “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the world and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26).
The spiritual nature of the soul was consistently taught by the Fathers of the Church. For example, St. John Damascene said that “the soul is a living substance, simple and incorporeal, with a nature that bodily eyes cannot see. It is immortal, rational, capable of thinking.”21
Through natural reason, the spiritual nature of the soul can be known.22 This reasoning starts from the consideration that the operations of the intellect and the will are spiritual in nature. For example, we can know abstract notions like love, loyalty, or friendship. These concepts have not been seen by the eyes, and they were not chemically produced in the brain cells. They must have been made by a spiritual faculty capable of abstracting them from the concrete realities that we perceive. To produce them, the soul—which is the substance behind these spiritual operations—must also be spiritual.
15c) The Immortality of the Soul
The human soul is immortal (de fide).
Sacred Scripture explicitly teaches the immortality of the soul. Jesus Christ said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Mt 10:28).
All the texts that refer to the destiny of the soul presuppose its immortality. “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt 25:46). The immortality of the soul can be deduced from the fact that it is a spiritual and substantial being. Since it has its own act of being, it continues to subsist even when separated from the body. And, since the soul is spiritual, lacking the matter-form composition, it is also simple and cannot be divided. Hence, the soul is incorruptible and immortal, just like the angels.
The only way in which a soul could cease to exist is by annihilation. However, as we already have seen in the discussion of the preservation of creatures, this would not happen because annihilation is unbecoming of the divine wisdom and goodness. Besides, in the case of the human soul, divine justice demands that it receive its reward or punishment in the next life, since justice in this life is always imperfect.23
16. The Union of Body and Soul
The body and soul are united in such a way that the soul is per se the form of the body (de fide).
The Council of Vienna (1312) condemned as heretical the teaching that “the rational or intellectual soul is not truly and of its own nature the form of the human body.”24 With this statement, the Church did not intend to establish the hylomorphic theory (matter-form) of Aristotle as a truth of faith. The Church merely used the terminology of Aristotle, thereby acknowledging that it is appropriate to express the manner in which two distinct principles (the body and soul) are united to form a substantial unity. Pius IX explained this truth by stating that the rational soul is a single principle of life, and that, from the soul, “the body receives all movement, life, and sensation.”25
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 343, 355–412.
2. DS 800, 3002.
3. Cf. Pius XII, Enc. Humani Generis: DS 3896.
4. Cf. DS 3514.
5. Cf. CCC, 369–373.
6. GS, 24.
7. Cf. CCC, 357.
8. St. John Damascene, De Fide Orth. 2.12.
9. Cf. J. Ortiz López, Palabras de Vida Eterna: Charlas Sobre el Credo (Madrid: Magisterio Español), p. 92.
10. DS 76; cf. 301.
11. GS, 14; cf. CCC, 364.
12. Cf. ST, I, q. 75, a. 4; St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 19.3.
13. CCC, 1430.
14. Cf. DS 902; CCC, 362–368.
15. St. John Damascene, De Fide Orth. 2.12.
16. Cf. CCC, 367.
17. Cf. DS 3005; GS, 22.
18. Cf. Pius XII, Enc. Humani Generis: DS 3891; DS 657.
19. DS 800, 3002.
20. DS 657.
21. St. John Damascene, De Fide Orth. 2.12.
22. Cf. DS 2812.
23. Cf. CCC, 366.
24. DS 902.
25. Cf. DS 2828; Pius IX, Ep. Dolore Haud Mediocri, Apr. 30, 1860; cf. CCC, 365.
In the hierarchy of created beings, man is the apex of creation; he comes after only the angels. Man has a spiritual component—the soul—which is endowed with intellect and will. He is, therefore, responsible and free. He also has a material body that is united to the soul. God created man as a composite of body and soul, matter and spirit.1
13a) Man as a Creature
God created man out of nothing (de fide).
This truth of faith was defined by the Magisterium of the Church in the Fourth Lateran Council and the First Vatican Council, using the same words: “God created both orders of creatures in the same way out of nothing, the spiritual or angelic world and the corporeal or visible universe. And afterwards He formed the creature man, who in a way belongs to both orders, as he is composed of spirit and body.”2
13b) The Creation of the First Man
God created Adam in body and soul by a special intervention (sent. certa as regards the soul, sent. comm. as regards the body).
Sacred Scripture narrates this truth in detail in the Book of Genesis: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.’ … So God created man in his own image” (Gn 1:26–27). “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gn 2:7).
The soul originates directly from God. The definitions of the Magisterium of the Church stating the spiritual and immortal nature of the soul exclude any possibility of the soul’s originating from some pre-existing being. God creates it directly and without mediation. Regarding the body, the traditional interpretation of its origin is that God created it directly out of clay or earth. Nevertheless, the hypothesis that God may have used a living animal organism as a starting point, instead of clay, is not contrary to the faith.3 In any case, we should be aware that evolutionary theory is often maintained as a matter of principle, rather than as a rigorous scientific conclusion. Besides, even if the evolutionary hypothesis is accepted, one must still acknowledge that the body used by God was previously prepared to receive the human soul by a special divine intervention.
13c) The First Woman
In order to form the body of Eve, God took matter from the body of Adam; her soul, on the other hand, was created directly out of nothing (sent. certa).
Sacred Scripture narrates the creation of the first woman in the Book of Genesis. “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (Gn 2:21–22).
In 1909, the Pontifical Biblical Commission declared that the formation of the first woman from the first man is among the events in Genesis whose historical literal sense should not be doubted, while noting that room for some particular interpretations may exist.4
Sacred Tradition points out that the special creation of Eve indicates the essential equality and mutual dependence of man and woman. It also reminds us of the divine origin and the indissolubility of marriage. Jesus Christ himself interpreted this part of Genesis when teaching the essence and properties of marriage (cf. Mt 19:4–8).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that man and woman are created, that is, loved by God:
· in perfect equality—equal dignity—because both are human persons; and
· in the individual characteristics inherent in being man and woman. “To be a man” and “to be a woman” are realities loved by God that reflect his wisdom and goodness.5
Man and woman are loved by God, one for the other (cf. Gn 2:18); they were created by him to form a communion of persons in which each is a “helpmate” for the other. They are equal as persons, paired as male and female. United in marriage, they form “one flesh” (Gn 2:24) and are capable of transmitting human life (cf. Gn 1:28). In so doing, they cooperate—as spouses and parents—in a unique manner with the work of the Creator.
13d) Man as Image of God
Because of his spiritual nature, man is a true, though imperfect, image of God (sent. certa).
Sacred Scripture explicitly says that man was created in the image and likeness of God, a dignity not attributed to any other creature (cf. Gn 1:26ff; 5:1–3; 9:6; Wis 2:23; Sir 17:1, 3). The superiority of man over the other material creatures is due to his rational soul and spiritual powers of intellect and will. His materiality, which he shares with the animals, does not imply any special likeness with God.
The Magisterium of the Church, in the Second Vatican Council, has recently reminded us of mankind’s superiority: “All, in fact, are destined to the very same end, namely God himself, since they have been created in the likeness of God who ‘made from one every nation of men who live on all the face of the earth.’”6
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes how man was created in the image of God: He has the dignity of a person; he is not merely something, but someone. Man is capable of knowing himself, possessing himself, giving himself, and entering into communion with other persons. Through grace, he is called to a covenant with his Creator to offer him the response of faith and love that no other being can.7
All the Fathers of the Church taught that man is an image of God because he is a spiritual being. St. John Damascene, for example, said, “With his own hands, God made man from the visible and the invisible nature. He formed the body from the earth, and he gave him a rational soul through his breath. This is what we call image of God. Because ‘in the image of’ refers to the understanding and free will.”8
Children tend to resemble their parents. This likeness refers to physical traits and expressions and mannerisms that children learn from their parents. When Sacred Scripture says that man was made in the image and likeness of God, this cannot be a similarity of body, since God does not have a material body. It refers to the soul, which is spiritual and subsistent. While the soul was created to be the form of the body (body and soul together compose man), that the soul is subsistent means the soul can continue to exist even when separated from the body by death. Thus, the soul is immortal, and man is an image of God on account of his soul, which is both spiritual and immortal.9
14. The Human Body
The body is a constitutive part of human nature (sent. certa).
This truth is presupposed in the whole of Christological dogma, since our Lord became “consubstantial with us in his humanity” and he is “perfect man, with a rational soul and human flesh.”10 Gaudium et Spes affirmed that “man may not despise his bodily life; rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”11
When Sacred Scripture narrates the creation of man, it explicitly indicates that God “formed man of dust from the ground” (Gn 2:7). Other passages speak about the “resurrection of the bodies” (cf. 1 Cor 15:35ff), thereby implying that the body is an essential part of human nature.
Reason confirms that the body is necessary to human nature.12 The body is good, since God created it, yet it can be used for God’s glory or for offending him (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–43ff). St. Paul draws an opposition between the life according to the flesh and the life according to the spirit, but this distinction must be understood in the light of original sin. As a consequence of this sin, the body has to be mortified in order to subdue those tendencies contrary to the Christian life and to make reparation for sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Jesus’ call to conversion and penance … does not aim first at outward works … but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion.… [which] urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.”13 Mortification should not be done out of hatred or disdain for the body.
15. The Human Soul
15a) The Soul as a Substance
The human soul is a true substance (sent. certa).
The Church describes the soul as a substance. The Ecumenical Council of Vienna explicitly stated that the rational soul is a substance.14
The Fathers of the Church also affirmed this truth. St. John Damascene, for example, taught: “The soul is a living substance, simple and incorporeal.”15
A substance is the reality that is in itself and not in another subject. This means that a substance has its own act of being, and therefore does not need to be “in another,” as does an accident. For example, the color white is an accident since it does not have its own act of being but has to rely on something else that has its own being, such as paper, snow, or a handkerchief.
A soul can exist independently of matter. Actually, as the Catholic faith teaches, many souls are currently separated from their bodies—all the deceased are waiting for the universal judgment in order to be reunited with their bodies.
Human reason can demonstrate that the human soul is a substance. Operation follows being. Therefore, whatever can operate by itself must have being by itself. The human soul can perform operations that are not dependent on the body (i.e., to reflect on one’s knowledge).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that some people distinguish between soul and spirit.16 The Church teaches that this distinction (cf. 1 Thes 5:23) does not introduce two separate realities. “Spirit” means that man is destined to a supernatural end17 and that his “soul” is able to be gratuitously elevated to communion with God.18
15b) The Spirituality of the Soul
The human soul is a spiritual substance (de fide).
The Magisterium of the Church defined this truth in the Fourth Lateran Council and the First Vatican Council, when it declared that God created out of nothing “the spiritual, or angelic, world and the corporeal, or the visible, universe. And afterwards He formed the creature man, who in a way belongs to both orders, as he is composed of spirit and body.”19 Also, the Fourth Council of Constantinople refers to the soul as “one rational and intellectual soul.”20
Sacred Scripture, as early as the Book of Genesis, suggests that man—created in the image of God—has a spiritual vital principle (cf. Gn 1:26ff). The Hebrew word used to designate the soul means breath, inhalation, or exhalation. The soul is always opposed to the flesh and always appears as dominating it (cf. Gn 6:3). The soul is infused by God, and it returns to God when it abandons the body: “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccl 12:7).
The New Testament reiterates the doctrine found in the Old Testament regarding the soul. The following words of Jesus can make sense only if the soul is spiritual: “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the world and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26).
The spiritual nature of the soul was consistently taught by the Fathers of the Church. For example, St. John Damascene said that “the soul is a living substance, simple and incorporeal, with a nature that bodily eyes cannot see. It is immortal, rational, capable of thinking.”21
Through natural reason, the spiritual nature of the soul can be known.22 This reasoning starts from the consideration that the operations of the intellect and the will are spiritual in nature. For example, we can know abstract notions like love, loyalty, or friendship. These concepts have not been seen by the eyes, and they were not chemically produced in the brain cells. They must have been made by a spiritual faculty capable of abstracting them from the concrete realities that we perceive. To produce them, the soul—which is the substance behind these spiritual operations—must also be spiritual.
15c) The Immortality of the Soul
The human soul is immortal (de fide).
Sacred Scripture explicitly teaches the immortality of the soul. Jesus Christ said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Mt 10:28).
All the texts that refer to the destiny of the soul presuppose its immortality. “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt 25:46). The immortality of the soul can be deduced from the fact that it is a spiritual and substantial being. Since it has its own act of being, it continues to subsist even when separated from the body. And, since the soul is spiritual, lacking the matter-form composition, it is also simple and cannot be divided. Hence, the soul is incorruptible and immortal, just like the angels.
The only way in which a soul could cease to exist is by annihilation. However, as we already have seen in the discussion of the preservation of creatures, this would not happen because annihilation is unbecoming of the divine wisdom and goodness. Besides, in the case of the human soul, divine justice demands that it receive its reward or punishment in the next life, since justice in this life is always imperfect.23
16. The Union of Body and Soul
The body and soul are united in such a way that the soul is per se the form of the body (de fide).
The Council of Vienna (1312) condemned as heretical the teaching that “the rational or intellectual soul is not truly and of its own nature the form of the human body.”24 With this statement, the Church did not intend to establish the hylomorphic theory (matter-form) of Aristotle as a truth of faith. The Church merely used the terminology of Aristotle, thereby acknowledging that it is appropriate to express the manner in which two distinct principles (the body and soul) are united to form a substantial unity. Pius IX explained this truth by stating that the rational soul is a single principle of life, and that, from the soul, “the body receives all movement, life, and sensation.”25
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 343, 355–412.
2. DS 800, 3002.
3. Cf. Pius XII, Enc. Humani Generis: DS 3896.
4. Cf. DS 3514.
5. Cf. CCC, 369–373.
6. GS, 24.
7. Cf. CCC, 357.
8. St. John Damascene, De Fide Orth. 2.12.
9. Cf. J. Ortiz López, Palabras de Vida Eterna: Charlas Sobre el Credo (Madrid: Magisterio Español), p. 92.
10. DS 76; cf. 301.
11. GS, 14; cf. CCC, 364.
12. Cf. ST, I, q. 75, a. 4; St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 19.3.
13. CCC, 1430.
14. Cf. DS 902; CCC, 362–368.
15. St. John Damascene, De Fide Orth. 2.12.
16. Cf. CCC, 367.
17. Cf. DS 3005; GS, 22.
18. Cf. Pius XII, Enc. Humani Generis: DS 3891; DS 657.
19. DS 800, 3002.
20. DS 657.
21. St. John Damascene, De Fide Orth. 2.12.
22. Cf. DS 2812.
23. Cf. CCC, 366.
24. DS 902.
25. Cf. DS 2828; Pius IX, Ep. Dolore Haud Mediocri, Apr. 30, 1860; cf. CCC, 365.