Whether in the State of Innocence Man Would Have Been Passible?
Objection 1: It would seem that in the state of innocence man was
passible. For "sensation is a kind of passion." But in the state of
innocence man would have been sensitive. Therefore he would have been
passible.
Obj. 2: Further, sleep is a kind of passion. Now, man slept in the
state of innocence, according to Gen. 2:21, "God cast a deep sleep
upon Adam." Therefore he would have been passible.
Obj. 3: Further, the same passage goes on to say that "He took a rib
out of Adam." Therefore he was passible even to the degree of the
cutting out of part of his body.
Obj. 4: Further, man's body was soft. But a soft body is naturally
passible as regards a hard body; therefore if a hard body had come in
contact with the soft body of the first man, the latter would have
suffered from the impact. Therefore the first man was passible.
_On the contrary,_ Had man been passible, he would have been also
corruptible, because, as the Philosopher says (Top. vi, 3): "Excessive
suffering wastes the very substance."
_I answer that,_ "Passion" may be taken in two senses. First, in its
proper sense, and thus a thing is said to suffer when changed from
its natural disposition. For passion is the effect of action; and in
nature contraries are mutually active or passive, according as one
thing changes another from its natural disposition. Secondly,
"passion" can be taken in a general sense for any kind of change,
even if belonging to the perfecting process of nature. Thus
understanding and sensation are said to be passions. In this second
sense, man was passible in the state of innocence, and was passive
both in soul and body. In the first sense, man was impassible, both
in soul and body, as he was likewise immortal; for he could curb his
passion, as he could avoid death, so long as he refrained from sin.
Thus it is clear how to reply to the first two objections; since
sensation and sleep do not remove from man his natural disposition,
but are ordered to his natural welfare.
Reply Obj. 3: As already explained (Q. 92, A. 3, ad 2), the rib was
in Adam as the principle of the human race, as the semen in man, who
is a principle through generation. Hence as man does not suffer any
natural deterioration by seminal issue; so neither did he through the
separation of the rib.
Reply Obj. 4: Man's body in the state of innocence could be preserved
from suffering injury from a hard body; partly by the use of his
reason, whereby he could avoid what was harmful; and partly also by
Divine Providence, so preserving him, that nothing of a harmful
nature could come upon him unawares.
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