Whether Paradise Was a Place Adapted to Be the Abode of Man?
Objection 1: It would seem that paradise was not a place adapted to
be the abode of man. For man and angels are similarly ordered to
beatitude. But the angels from the very beginning of their existence
were made to dwell in the abode of the blessed--that is, the empyrean
heaven. Therefore the place of man's habitation should have been
there also.
Obj. 2: Further, if some definite place were required for man's
abode, this would be required on the part either of the soul or of
the body. If on the part of the soul, the place would be in heaven,
which is adapted to the nature of the soul; since the desire of
heaven is implanted in all. On the part of the body, there was no
need for any other place than the one provided for other animals.
Therefore paradise was not at all adapted to be the abode of man.
Obj. 3: Further, a place which contains nothing is useless. But after
sin, paradise was not occupied by man. Therefore if it were adapted
as a dwelling-place for man, it seems that God made paradise to no
purpose.
Obj. 4: Further, since man is of an even temperament, a fitting place
for him should be of even temperature. But paradise was not of an
even temperature; for it is said to have been on the equator--a
situation of extreme heat, since twice in the year the sun passes
vertically over the heads of its inhabitants. Therefore paradise was
not a fit dwelling-place for man.
_On the contrary,_ Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 11): "Paradise
was a divinely ordered region, and worthy of him who was made to
God's image."
_I answer that,_ As above stated (Q. 97, A. 1), Man was incorruptible
and immortal, not because his body had a disposition to
incorruptibility, but because in his soul there was a power
preserving the body from corruption. Now the human body may be
corrupted from within or from without. From within, the body is
corrupted by the consumption of the humors, and by old age, as above
explained (Q. 97, A. 4), and man was able to ward off such corruption
by food. Among those things which corrupt the body from without, the
chief seems to be an atmosphere of unequal temperature; and to such
corruption a remedy is found in an atmosphere of equable nature. In
paradise both conditions were found; because, as Damascene says (De
Fide Orth. ii, 11): "Paradise was permeated with the all pervading
brightness of a temperate, pure, and exquisite atmosphere, and decked
with ever-flowering plants." Whence it is clear that paradise was
most fit to be a dwelling-place for man, and in keeping with his
original state of immortality.
Reply Obj. 1: The empyrean heaven is the highest of corporeal places,
and is outside the region of change. By the first of these two
conditions, it is a fitting abode for the angelic nature: for, as
Augustine says (De Trin. ii), "God rules corporeal creatures through
spiritual creatures." Hence it is fitting that the spiritual nature
should be established above the entire corporeal nature, as presiding
over it. By the second condition, it is a fitting abode for the state
of beatitude, which is endowed with the highest degree of stability.
Thus the abode of beatitude was suited to the very nature of the
angel; therefore he was created there. But it is not suited to man's
nature, since man is not set as a ruler over the entire corporeal
creation: it is a fitting abode for man in regard only to his
beatitude. Wherefore he was not placed from the beginning in the
empyrean heaven, but was destined to be transferred thither in the
state of his final beatitude.
Reply Obj. 2: It is ridiculous to assert that any particular place
is natural to the soul or to any spiritual substances, though some
particular place may have a certain fitness in regard to spiritual
substances. For the earthly paradise was a place adapted to man, as
regards both his body and his soul--that is, inasmuch as in his soul
was the force which preserved the human body from corruption. This
could not be said of the other animals. Therefore, as Damascene says
(De Fide Orth. ii, 11): "No irrational animal inhabited paradise";
although, by a certain dispensation, the animals were brought thither
by God to Adam; and the serpent was able to trespass therein by the
complicity of the devil.
Reply Obj. 3: Paradise did not become useless through being
unoccupied by man after sin, just as immortality was not conferred
on man in vain, though he was to lose it. For thereby we learn God's
kindness to man, and what man lost by sin. Moreover, some say that
Enoch and Elias still dwell in that paradise.
Reply Obj. 4: Those who say that paradise was on the equinoctial line
are of opinion that such a situation is most temperate, on account of
the unvarying equality of day and night; that it is never too cold
there, because the sun is never too far off; and never too hot,
because, although the sun passes over the heads of the inhabitants,
it does not remain long in that position. However, Aristotle
distinctly says (Meteor. ii, 5) that such a region is uninhabitable
on account of the heat. This seems to be more probable; because, even
those regions where the sun does not pass vertically overhead, are
extremely hot on account of the mere proximity of the sun. But
whatever be the truth of the matter, we must hold that paradise was
situated in a most temperate situation, whether on the equator or
elsewhere.
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