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Objection 1: It would seem that the human soul was made before the
body. For the work of creation preceded the work of distinction and
adornment, as shown above (Question 66, Article 1; Question
70, Article 1). But the soul was made by creation; whereas the
body was made at the end of the work of adornment. Therefore the soul
of man was made before the body.
Objection 2: Further, the rational soul has more in common with the
angels than with the brute animals. But angels were created before
bodies, or at least, at the beginning with corporeal matter; whereas
the body of man was formed on the sixth day, when also the animals were
made. Therefore the soul of man was created before the body.
Objection 3: Further, the end is proportionate to the beginning.
But in the end the soul outlasts the body. Therefore in the beginning
it was created before the body.
On the contrary, The proper act is produced in its proper
potentiality. Therefore since the soul is the proper act of the body,
the soul was produced in the body.
I answer that, Origen (Peri Archon i, 7,8) held that not only
the soul of the first man, but also the souls of all men were created
at the same time as the angels, before their bodies: because he
thought that all spiritual substances, whether souls or angels, are
equal in their natural condition, and differ only by merit; so that
some of them---namely, the souls of men or of heavenly
bodies---are united to bodies while others remain in their different
orders entirely free from matter. Of this opinion we have already
spoken (Question 47, Article 2); and so we need say nothing
about it here.
Augustine, however (Gen. ad lit. vii, 24), says that the soul
of the first man was created at the same time as the angels, before the
body, for another reason; because he supposes that the body of man,
during the work of the six days, was produced, not actually, but only
as to some "causal virtues"; which cannot be said of the soul,
because neither was it made of any pre-existing corporeal or spiritual
matter, nor could it be produced from any created virtue. Therefore
it seems that the soul itself, during the work of the six days, when
all things were made, was created, together with the angels; and that
afterwards, by its own will, was joined to the service of the body.
But he does not say this by way of assertion; as his words prove.
For he says (Gen. ad lit. vii, 29): "We may believe, if
neither Scripture nor reason forbid, that man was made on the sixth
day, in the sense that his body was created as to its causal virtue in
the elements of the world, but that the soul was already created."
Now this could be upheld by those who hold that the soul has of itself
a complete species and nature, and that it is not united to the body as
its form, but as its administrator. But if the soul is united to the
body as its form, and is naturally a part of human nature, the above
supposition is quite impossible. For it is clear that God made the
first things in their perfect natural state, as their species
required. Now the soul, as a part of human nature, has its natural
perfection only as united to the body. Therefore it would have been
unfitting for the soul to be created without the body.
Therefore, if we admit the opinion of Augustine about the work of the
six days (Question 74, Article 2), we may say that the human
soul preceded in the work of the six days by a certain generic
similitude, so far as it has intellectual nature in common with the
angels; but was itself created at the same time as the body.
According to the other saints, both the body and soul of the first man
were produced in the work of the six days.
Reply to Objection 1: If the soul by its nature were a complete
species, so that it might be created as to itself, this reason would
prove that the soul was created by itself in the beginning. But as the
soul is naturally the form of the body, it was necessarily created,
not separately, but in the body.
Reply to Objection 2: The same observation applies to the second
objection. For if the soul had a species of itself it would have
something still more in common with the angels. But, as the form of
the body, it belongs to the animal genus, as a formal principle.
Reply to Objection 3: That the soul remains after the body, is due
to a defect of the body, namely, death. Which defect was not due
when the soul was first created.
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