Creator of Heaven and
Earth: Man
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him” (Gen. 1:27).
God then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living being” (Gen. 2:7). Man was also given dominion over all the other
creatures upon earth.
However, in the plan of God He saw that it was not good for Adam to be
alone for he needed companionship with one like himself. So God sent a
deep sleep upon Adam, and while he was sleeping took one of his ribs and
from it created Eve whom God gave to Adam as his companion and
helpmate. Beholding his new partner for the first time Adam was ecstatic
and exclaimed, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this
one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken” (Gen. 2:23).
Being made in the image and likeness of God, Adam and Eve possessed the
spiritual powers of intellect and will. They were created in a state of
innocence and happiness, and enriched with supernatural (above nature)
gifts to elevate, or “divinize,” them and so enable them to participate in the
life of God. These gifts included sanctifying grace with the concomitant
infused theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, the infused moral
virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, the seven gifts of the
Holy Spirit, and the uncreated grace of the indwelling of the Blessed
Trinity. Through such gifts, Adam and Eve possessed the sonship of God
and the right to inherit heaven. In addition to these supernatural gifts, Adam
and Eve possessed preternatural (beyond nature) gifts to perfect them as
human beings, namely, impassibility, immortality, integrity and infused
knowledge. Their lower instincts, or passions, obeyed their reason and their
reason obeyed God. All these were gifts freely given by God, above our
natural rights.
God placed Adam and Eve in the paradise of Eden, a garden of delights,
where they would live in happiness and innocence, growing in grace, until
God transported them body and soul to heaven for all eternity. However, it
was God’s determination for Adam and Eve to merit heaven through
 |
 |
 |