Whether the Woman Was Fittingly Made from the Rib of Man?
Objection 1: It would seem that the woman should not have been formed
from the rib of man. For the rib was much smaller than the woman's
body. Now from a smaller thing a larger thing can be made
only--either by addition (and then the woman ought to have been
described as made out of that which was added, rather than out of the
rib itself)--or by rarefaction, because, as Augustine says (Gen. ad
lit. x): "A body cannot increase in bulk except by rarefaction." But
the woman's body is not more rarefied than man's--at least, not in
the proportion of a rib to Eve's body. Therefore Eve was not formed
from a rib of Adam.
Obj. 2: Further, in those things which were first created there was
nothing superfluous. Therefore a rib of Adam belonged to the
integrity of his body. So, if a rib was removed, his body remained
imperfect; which is unreasonable to suppose.
Obj. 3: Further, a rib cannot be removed from man without pain. But
there was no pain before sin. Therefore it was not right for a rib
to be taken from the man, that Eve might be made from it.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gen. 2:22): "God built the rib,
which He took from Adam, into a woman."
_I answer that,_ It was right for the woman to be made from a rib of
man. First, to signify the social union of man and woman, for the
woman should neither "use authority over man," and so she was not
made from his head; nor was it right for her to be subject to man's
contempt as his slave, and so she was not made from his feet.
Secondly, for the sacramental signification; for from the side of
Christ sleeping on the Cross the Sacraments flowed--namely, blood
and water--on which the Church was established.
Reply Obj. 1: Some say that the woman's body was formed by a material
increase, without anything being added; in the same way as our Lord
multiplied the five loaves. But this is quite impossible. For such an
increase of matter would either be by a change of the very substance
of the matter itself, or by a change of its dimensions. Not by change
of the substance of the matter, both because matter, considered in
itself, is quite unchangeable, since it has a potential existence,
and has nothing but the nature of a subject, and because quantity and
size are extraneous to the essence of matter itself. Wherefore
multiplication of matter is quite unintelligible, as long as the
matter itself remains the same without anything added to it; unless
it receives greater dimensions. This implies rarefaction, which is
for the same matter to receive greater dimensions, as the Philosopher
says (Phys. iv). To say, therefore, that the same matter is enlarged,
without being rarefied, is to combine contradictories--viz. the
definition with the absence of the thing defined.
Wherefore, as no rarefaction is apparent in such multiplication of
matter, we must admit an addition of matter: either by creation, or
which is more probable, by conversion. Hence Augustine says (Tract.
xxiv in Joan.) that "Christ filled five thousand men with five
loaves, in the same way as from a few seeds He produces the harvest
of corn"--that is, by transformation of the nourishment.
Nevertheless, we say that the crowds were fed with five loaves, or
that woman was made from the rib, because an addition was made to
the already existing matter of the loaves and of the rib.
Reply Obj. 2: The rib belonged to the integral perfection of Adam,
not as an individual, but as the principle of the human race; just as
the semen belongs to the perfection of the begetter, and is released
by a natural and pleasurable operation. Much more, therefore, was it
possible that by the Divine power the body of the woman should be
produced from the man's rib.
From this it is clear how to answer the third objection.
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