Thursday, June 11, 2009

Q102 A3: Whether man was placed in paradise to dress it and keep it?

Yes. God placed man in paradise that man might dress and keep paradise (which dressing would not have involved labor, as it did after sin, but would have been pleasant on account of man's practical knowledge of the powers of nature), because paradise was ordered to man's benefit, and not conversely.

Deus posuit hominem in Paradiso, ut homo operaretur et custodiret Paradisum (nec tamen illa operatio esset laboriosa, sicut post peccatum, sed fuisset iucunda, propter experientiam virtutis naturae), quia Paradisus ordinatur ad bonum hominis, et non e converso.

God placed man in paradise that He might Himself work in man and keep him: by sanctifying him (for if this work cease, man at once relapses into darkness, as the air grows dark when the light ceases to shine); and by keeping man from all corruption and evil.

Deus posuit hominem in Paradiso, ut ipse Deus operaretur et custodiret hominem: operaretur, inquam, iustificando ipsum, cuius operatio si ab homine cesset, continuo obtenebratur, sicut aer obtenebratur si cesset influentia luminis; ut custodiret vero ab omni corruptione et malo.

It is written (Genesis 2:15): "The Lord God took man and placed in the paradise of pleasure, to dress and keep it."

Dicitur Gen. II, "tulit dominus Deus hominem, et posuit illum in Paradiso voluptatis, ut operaretur et custodiret illum."