On the Words "Let Us Make Man in Our Image and Likeness

[Ps. CXXXVIII, 14]. From where is it possible to find knowledge of you by such a wonderful manner? From myself, "Marvelously was thy knowledge made from me." Recognizing the artifice of the Wisdom by which my body was constructed, from this small structure I perceived the great Creator. ^A "Let us make man in our image and likeness," [Gen. I, 26]. It has been shown recently, in passing, and sufficiently demonstrated who it is that speaks and to whom the word is addressed; and the Church possesses the proofs concerning these things, or rather, it possesses a faith firmer than any proof. "Let us make man." Begin from here to know yourself. Not yet in any other work was this voice recorded. Light came to be, but by a simple command of God saying, "Let there be light." The heaven, and it was heaven without consultation: the stars, and no deliberation preceded the stars: the sea, and the infinite waters arose at the voice of the one commanding. In the same manner all the races of fish, beasts, and whales, and the animals that swim and that fly, were made by the Word of God commanding. Here, not yet is there man, and counsel is held concerning man. He did not say, as in the case of the others: "Let man come to be."

Learn your price and your dignity. He did not cast forth your procreation by command and order, but there was counsel and deliberation in God, as to how such an animal might be brought into life. "Let us make," the wise one counsels, the artisan meditates. Is anything lacking to His art? By what difficulty was He compelled to counsel, that He might make His dear work absolute and perfect and refined? Is it perhaps to show you that you are perfect before God? Observe two persons; the one who speaks, and the other to whom the word is directed. Why, however, did He not say, "Make," but "Let us make man"? So that you might understand the command and authority: ^B so that, knowing the Father, you might not be ignorant of the Son, that you might know that the Father made through the Son, and the Son created by the Father's will; and that you might praise the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Holy Spirit. You have become their common work, so that you might worship and honor them equally, lest you divide veneration and worship, since you understand that the divinity is one. See the history by its form, and the theology by its power. "And God made man." "Let us make," He says, and "He made": ^C lest you believe in a manifold number of Gods. For if it were said that many made him, men could be led to heap up for themselves many multitudes of Gods. But now it is written, "Let us make," so that you may know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and "God made man," so that you may unite the divinity, and know that it is one. ^D And I say one, not by unity of persons, but by power; so that when you approach to worship, you may praise and honor one God, and not be distracted into a multitude of Gods. He did not say, "The gods made man." But, "God made man." Proper is the hypostasis, or person, of the Father, proper that of the Son, proper that of the Holy Spirit. Why then are there not three Gods? Because there is one divinity. For the divinity which you see in the Father, the same you see in the Son. And the same as in the Son, you see in the Holy Spirit. Since the form in each is one. And the beginning from the Father in the Son is the same, and for this reason there is one worship and one doxology among us. The prelude of our creation is true theology.

^A «Let us make man in our image and likeness.» We have been made in the image of God. How, then, are we in the image of God? Let us purify our minds of vulgar, unlearned, and ignorant notions concerning God.

^B If we are made in the image of God, he says, God is shaped like us: He is endowed with eyes, ears, a head, hands, and the hip upon which He rests (for it is said in Scripture that God sits); and with feet, upon which He walks. Is God, then, like this? Banish from your mind such absurd notions. Cast away the thought that diminishes the greatness of God. God is without shape (ἀσχημάτιστος), simple, without magnitude, and without dimension. Do not imagine a form about Him; do not, in the Jewish manner, belittle the Great One; do not encompass God with bodily concepts; do not circumscribe Him with your own mind. He is incomprehensible in His magnitude. Contemplate the Great One, and to the Great One, add still more than what you have contemplated, and to that greater amount add even more, and persuade your own reason that it will never reach the infinite. Do not think of a shape, for God is known through His power, through the simplicity of His nature, and through the magnitude of His greatness. He is everywhere and exceeds everything; He is undefinable in His lack of shape, and that which exceeds your comprehension is confined neither by magnitude, nor captured by shape, nor measured by power, nor constricted by time, nor defined by boundaries. There is nothing in relation to God that is like things in relation to us. How, then, did Scripture say that we were made in the image of God? Let us be taught the things of God, and let us consider the things of our own selves, that we do not have our "in the image of" in the form of the body; for when the body decays, the form is lost. But the incorruptible is not shaped in the corruptible, nor is a corruptible thing the image of the incorruptible. The body increases, diminishes, ages, and is altered; it is one thing in youth, another when it is healthy, and another when it is in the midst of passions; one thing when fearing, and another when rejoicing; one thing in need, another in fullness; one thing in peace, another in war; one color when awake, and another when sleeping. In the former, a ruddier hue blossoms forth, as the heat moves outward, while in the latter, the heat has cooled and contracted to the depths; hence, the bodies of those sleeping are pale. How, then, can that which is altered be like that which is unalterable? Like that which is always in the same state, that which never remains the same? It escapes us like flowing things; before it is seen, it has slipped away; the human body appears as one thing after another. «In our image.» How will the flowing image be able to be saved in that which is of an immutable nature? How will the formed image be saved in the formless? How, then, shall we seek that which is "in the image"? In those things which the Lord Himself said. If I bring forward anything of my own, do not accept it; if it is of the Lord, accept it. «Let us make man...» ^{C D}

Is it in the body or in the faculty of reason? Does this empire reside in the soul or in the flesh? Our flesh is much weaker than that of many animals. For what comparison can the flesh of a man have with the flesh of a camel, or an ox, or any wild beast you might choose? Human flesh is vulnerable, laid open to the flesh of beasts. But in what does the ruling power consist? In the excellence of reason. By as much as a man is weaker than the other living creatures in bodily strength, by so much is he superior in the arrangement of his reason. For the huge masses and weights which men move at their own will, wherever they wish, are moved and impelled by skill, not by bodily strength. ^A

"Let us make man after Our image":

"Let us make man after Our image":

"And let him have dominion."

"And let him have dominion over the fishes."

rather rejoice and glory in the sovereignty granted to you by God? When you see your master enslaved to pleasure, while you are temperate, do you not understand that you are a slave in name only, while he, though possessing sovereignty in name, is in reality held in the most grievous servitude? You see him bound and fettered to a harlot, while you despise and spurn harlots. Therefore, you are the master of your passions, while he is the slave of those pleasures which you have conquered. Thus, the text, "Let us make man, and let him have dominion," ^A signifies that wherever the power to rule exists, there is the image of God.

"Let them have dominion over the fish." First, the authority over those things that are separated from us was given to us. He did not say, "Let them have dominion over the living creatures that are reared along with them," but "over the fish," for their dwelling is in the water. Therefore, the authority over the fish was the first given to us. And how do we rule over the fish? If you have ever found yourself appearing by a lake, how your shadow strikes fear into everything! What master of a household, suddenly arriving where his servants are in an uproar, puts them to silence and restores everything to order by the mere presence of the one in command? How does all the aquatic creation change its behavior upon the appearance of one man? It no longer pursues its free course, and it does not dare to swim on the surface of the sea or the lake. The dolphin itself, which is the most kingly of those that swim, ^B stands in awe when it sees a human nearby. Thus was dominion over those that swim given to man.

But when you see that your own reason governs and controls all things, do you not see that you rule over the sea monsters? I have observed human ingenuity, how they construct certain hooks and attach to them bait in proportion to the size of the whales that would swallow them. Then, at the ends of those lines to which the hooks are attached, at the other end, they fasten skins inflated with air, and letting them go, they cast them afloat upon the sea. When the wild monsters swallow the bait, accepting the hooks of their own accord, they drag the skins down into the depths. But the nature of the skins, being buoyant, pulls back toward the surface, and the creatures, pierced by their own food, churn up and down, and in their agitation, they explore the depths. They traverse sea after sea, and despite their great strength, having no success, they are finally captured by that hook, ^C exhausted by their struggle, overcome by hunger, and dragged along as a corpse with the skins; they become the prey of the hunter. The small overcomes the great; the weak, the massive. Why is this? Because man, having received the power to rule through the abundance of his reason, leads those who are most disobedient to justice, just like wicked fugitives. Those who cannot be brought to obedience through gentleness, he enslaves through necessity. Thus, the power to rule, implanted in man by the Creator, is evident everywhere. From this it comes to pass that the swordfish, the hammerhead sharks, the whales, the sawfish, the seals, and all those other terrible varieties of sea monsters have been made subject to man. ^D

^A Do you not see the heavy, roaring lion, whose very name is unbearable and whose growl makes the earth tremble? To whom is it so endurable that he could withstand its onslaught? No animal is so confident in its own power that it could endure the force of a lion. Yet you see him enclosed in a small cage. Who has imprisoned him? Who devised this small jail for such a huge beast? Who, by the thinness of those wooden bars, prepared a way for the beast to breathe, so that he might not be choked by his own panting, but rather was given the means to breathe freely and had his safety provided for? Who? Isn't it man? Man makes playthings of the cruellest beasts. Does he not mock the leopards when he holds up a paper shaped like a man? They tear the paper to pieces, while man, lying below, mocks the stupidity of the beast. Does man not, therefore, excel all things?

What shall I say of the birds? Man does not ascend into the air, for he has no wings, but he tracks the flight of birds by the power of his reason. For nothing can restrain the intellect. It investigates the things in the deepest parts of the sea, it hunts those things that inhabit the land, and it captures those that move in the air. Have you ever seen a bird sitting on the highest branch of a tree, feeling secure and scorning men, yet being caught by a playing child? He joins reeds to reeds and smears the tips with birdlime. Then, hiding among the branches and leaves, he arranges and places them so that the birdlime is not visible to the eyes of the bird hovering above. ^B By a slight touch, he overcomes it and holds it fast—the creature that inhabits the air and wanders in the ether. Man remains below, and his hand is below, but his thought ascends. And so there is nothing that he cannot reach through his art. He seeks the winged creatures with nets and arrows, and lures the greedier ones with bait. Have you ever seen an eagle, reaching for its prey, get caught in a snare? Thus, that which sought the heights is brought down, pulled by human lures. God has subjected all things to the hand of man. He filled the whole world, and He did not wish man to be without dominion. Do not say that you are surpassed by those things that move in the air; for by reason, even they become subject to you, just as you are the master of those that walk and creep upon the earth by reason. Do you see in what consists your being made in the image of God? ^{C D} “And God made man.” What, then, is man? Let us define him from what we have learned and heard. For there is no longer any need for us to borrow definitions from others, nor to insert into our discourse of truth things taken from external vanity. Man is a rational work of God, made in the image of Him who created him. If anything further is desired in this definition, let those who have labored much in the studies of transient wisdom consider it. Man was made in the image of God. “And God blessed man, and said: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.” It is in the same way that He blessed also

^A fish. And God said: “Let the waters bring forth the creeping things of living souls, and it was so.” And then God said: “Increase, and multiply, and fill the waters.” What then, you will ask, is there for me over and above these? Necessarily, these things, which He has shared with you, and other specific gifts remain for you. For you grow, just as the other living creatures do, and gradually through increments you arrive from a small size at the proper and perfect magnitude. Thus also horses and dogs, thus also eagles and ^B swans, and everything else you might name, upon receiving the perfection of growth by the small increment of the first conception, return again through diminution to a smaller size. Therefore, what was common to nature, He bestowed upon us as well. “Increase,” that is, be nourished, and when you are born small, become large, and let there be an end to this growth. For not because in the first septenniad we are nourished, and the transition of age takes us into the second septenniad of years, are we to suppose that we ought in every part of our lives, according to septenniads, to undergo a change of age. The first septenniad contains childhood. The boundaries of childhood are manifest: the change of teeth. The ones fall out; others grow in their place. Growth received a second beginning toward the end of the fourteenth year; the second stage, then, is that of the boys. For first a babe, then a boy, ^C then a youth, then a man from the fourteenth year—here are the boundaries of the third stage of growth. “Increase,” therefore—not that if one reaches the age of one hundred years, he continues to admit of growth from the first year to the hundredth, but this word, “Increase,” spoken wisely, is managed with providence. Increase up to a certain point; there are not, however, measures of growth [without end]. According to the first constitution established in the womb, the principles of growth were also established. For the gift of age is not something newer that comes subsequently, but the maternal seeds have within them the abilities for growth already deposited. The teeth have fallen out; we have known that such a measure of growth has been attained. A father measures the three-year-old child; he knows that he will attain double that size in his ^D maturity. For as much as he is at the third year, so much he will be, or rather, he will be such amount at the fulfillment of his growth. This is the boundary and measure of human nature, up to the limit, from the first septenniad to the second. There, then, the heat is more abundant, the formation of the body more rarefied, the moisture fails, the limbs are strengthened; in the beginning of the stronger stage of those nearing adulthood, men exist, not yet having, however, the perfection. For their flesh is still newly set and unsuited for arduous labors. The animal thus acquired lightness and agility. But in the third septenniad, it attains the perfection of growth. No longer does the body stretch in length after the third septenniad. When nature has finished the labors of its upward growth, it begins to pass on into width, and as it were to lay the foundations of what was raised up, and to build onto them, and to make the limbs of the body strong. Nature does these things according to its own order. The power of this order, however, depends upon that first command of God, which, having been issued once, proceeds through all things that are created to the very end.

^A “Be fruitful and multiply.” ^B “Be fruitful,” that is, so that creation might not be confined to one; “multiply,” that is, so that it might not be confined to one, but to many. “And fill the earth.” Fill it, I say, not by habitation—for we would be stifled if the earth were so filled by us that it measured out equally to us—but fill it by authority. For He gave us dominion over the earth. “Fill the earth.” Men do not, of course, fill this by necessity, but He made us lords to fill it, and we fill it through our reason. When we see what portion of the earth is scorched and uninhabitable; when we see the northern climate, which because of excessive cold is uncultivable and useless—have we not filled the earth? Have we not left behind what was useless for human conduct while selecting what was useful? So that, in the command “Fill the earth,” He made us lords. Not because we do not have use of the whole, do we therefore not have dominion over the whole. For when you have bought grain, you are nonetheless lord of all of it, even though you have in the grain that which is edible and that which is to be cast away. You cast away the grit, the stones, the chaff, and whatever else is mixed in that is unfit for food; having winnowed the chaff and separated the tares, you select what is pure for the sustenance of life. Thus, then, the earth was bestowed: one part suitable for the dwelling of the fitting or the better sort, another necessary for agriculture, another left for the grazing of four-footed animals. Tell me, is it not possible for me to dispose of the earth as I wish, since I have been made its lord by the gift of the Master who created me? “And fill the earth, and rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the earth.” This, then, is the blessing, this the legislation, this the dignity given to us by God. “And God made man; according to the image of God He made him.” Have I not pointed out to you that the demonstration was lacking? “Let us make man according to our image and likeness.” The counsel had two parts: “according to the image,” and “according to the likeness.” The creation has but one. Was His counsel otherwise, and did He then change His mind? Did some repentance follow in the creation? Was there some weakness in the Creator, that He should determine one thing and do another, or was there some idle chatter in His words? For perhaps He says this, “Let us make man according to the image and likeness,” since by saying “according to the image,” He has also said “according to the likeness.” But whatever choice we make, we shall be accusing the writer. For if he says this, it is superfluous to say the same things twice. To say that any word in Scripture is redundant is a grave impiety. But if nothing is redundant, nothing is empty, nothing superfluous, then it is necessary that man be made according to the image and likeness of God. Why, then, did He not say, “And God made man according to His image and likeness”? What then? Could He perhaps not have done so? It is impious to say this. Did He repent of His decree? It is wicked even to think this.

^A Does the Scripture say this? No. Does the Creator lack power? No. Was the counsel made void? Not at all. What then is the reason for the silence? “Let us make man according to our image and likeness.” We possess the former by creation; the latter we achieve by our own power of choice. In our first formation, the having been made in the image of God exists in us; the being in the likeness of God is achieved by us in accordance with our power of choice. But this, which is in accordance with choice, exists in us as a capacity, and we bring it into act through ourselves. If the Lord, when making us, had not previously said, “Let us make,” and “According to likeness,” if He had not granted us the power to become according to likeness, we would not have received the likeness to God by our own authority. ^B Now, however, He has made us capable of being like God by power. But by giving the power to be made like God, He left us to be workers of the likeness to God, so that there might be a reward for the labor, and so that we might not be like images produced by a painter, lying about in vain, or so that our likeness might not bring praise to another. For when you see an image accurately formed according to its prototype, you do not praise the image, but you marvel at the painter. Therefore, so that the wonder might be mine and not another’s, He left it to me to become according to the likeness of God. For I have “according to the image” from being rational, but I become “according to the likeness” by becoming a Christian. “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Do you see where the Lord assigns us the “according to the likeness”? It is because “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” ^C If you become a hater of evil, free from resentment, not remembering yesterday’s hostility; if you become a lover of the brethren, compassionate, you have become like God. If you forgive your enemy from the heart, you have become like God. If, as God is toward you, a sinner, so you show yourself toward a brother who has offended you, in your compassion for your neighbor you have become like God; so that while you possess the “according to the image” from being rational, you become the “according to the likeness” from taking on goodness. Take on bowels of mercy, goodness, so that you may put on Christ. For through those things by which you take on compassion, through them you put on Christ, and by intimacy with Him you are made familiar with God. Thus, the history is a training of human life. “Let us make man according to the image.” I have, then, in creation, the “according to the image”; but I become, by my own intention, also “according to the likeness.” Where then is your grace? Why are you crowned? ^D For if the Creator had given everything, how would the kingdom of heaven be opened to you? But now, one thing was given, and the other was left incomplete, so that, by perfecting yourself, you might become worthy of the reward from God.

How, then, do we become according to likeness? Through the Gospels. What is Christianity? It is the likeness of God according to the capacity of human nature. If you have accepted being a Christian, hasten to become like God; put on Christ. But how will you put on Christ if you have not received baptism? If you have not accepted the garment of incorruptibility? Are you sending away the likeness to God? If I said to you, “Come,”

be like a King, would you not consider me a friend and a benefactor? But now, when I wish you to be like God, do you flee and spurn the word that makes you divine, and stop your ears so as not to hear the words of salvation? ^A “And God made man to His own image.” “Man,” says the woman, “so it is written, so that only the male is understood. What is that to me?” But in order that, by the term “man,” you might not understand only the male, He added, “Male and female He made them.” And the woman has the status of having been made in the image of God, just as the man does. The natures are of equal honor; the virtues are equal; the struggles are the same; the judgment is identical. Do not say, “I am weak.” Weakness is in the flesh, but in the soul there is power and strength. Because, therefore, the virtue is equal, let the demonstration of good works also be equal. That softness was not given to the woman without reason, but so that she might be more inclined to humanity and more prone to mercy. In matters, however, that require fortitude, she is robust, constant in vigils and labors. When can man’s nature contend with the nature of a woman living her life courageously? When can a man imitate the firm self-control of a woman in fastings? When can he equal their sedulous zeal in prayers, their pious inclination to weeping, their readiness for well-doing? I have seen a woman secretly using a very noble type of theft. Without her husband knowing, she would distribute from the family wealth to the poor. For the prosperity of her husband, for the flourishing of her family, for the safety of her children, she was bestowing—hiding it from her husband, but doing it for the sake of the husband himself. She was giving on his behalf, though he did not know it. For she was performing it to the favor of Him who sees in secret, and she did not divulge her good deeds. Therefore, the woman also has the status of being in the image. Do not consider the human being who is on the outside. For that is like a veil. But the soul sits within, beneath the veil, even in an infirm body. They are equal in the honor of the soul; the difference is in the veils. ^B Wherefore, that you may become like God, embrace liberality, exercise beneficence, pursue innocence, follow all with brotherly love and benevolence, flee from crimes, and master the perturbations of sin. “And let him have dominion over the fish.” That you may have dominion over the fish that lack reason, overcome the perturbations and movements of the soul that are contrary to reason. ^C “And let him have dominion over the beasts.” You have dominion over every beast. What then? You will say, “Do I have beasts within myself?” You do indeed have beasts, and truly, countless ones; there is a very great multitude of beasts within you. And that you may not think me insulting, tell me, I pray, is anger a small beast when it barks in your heart? Is it not crueler than any dog? What? In your crafty mind, does guile lie hidden—is it not more savage than any treacherous bear? What? Is hypocrisy not a beast, and a most monstrous one at that? Is he not a scorpion who is sharp in his abuse? Is he not more grievous than a viper, who rushes secretly toward revenge? Is not the greedy man a rapacious wolf? There is no beast that is not found within us. Is the lecher not a horse raging with lust? For “horses,” he says, “became lustful; each of them neighed at the neighbor’s wife.” He turned him toward...

In this way, each person is transformed into the nature of some wild beast, according to the specific vice of the soul and the perturbation by which he is overcome. From this it follows that there are within us innumerable wild beasts. Do you believe, ^A therefore, that you are the master and lord of wild beasts, if you rule over those that are outside, but do not tame and govern those that dwell within? To what end do you possess reason, with which you conquer lions and do not fear their roaring, when you yourself gnash your teeth like a lion, and emit from your anger a confused voice and a perturbed clamor? For what is more grave or more bitter than when the fury of anger strives to break forth entirely, and cannot in any way be contained within? When a human being is overcome by some perturbation, it is no longer he who rules, but perturbation that reigns in his soul. Therefore, since you were created in such a way as to rule over beasts, ^B and serpents, and birds, rule over your perturbations. Do not allow your thought to wander on high. Do not let your mind be carried about, unstable in its levity. It was granted to you to preside over the birds: it would be absurd if, while capturing those that fly by means of birdlime, you yourself should be light-headed and carried away by pride. Do not lift up your spirits, do not swell with vanity, do not think too highly of yourself, or believe that you are anything great. For then you will be like the birds, which by nature are light and unstable, being carried hither and thither and flitting about. Therefore, moderate your own mind and govern it, if you wish to rule over all things. In this way, the dominion given to us over the animals trains us and disposes us to rule over ourselves. For it is preposterous ^C for one who is enslaved at home to rule over nations; for one who is mastered inside by a harlot to be a leader of a city in public affairs. It is necessary to manage well one’s own household goods and, having adorned the things within with order, to assume the oversight of others. For the argument will be turned back upon you by those under your rule, if you keep your home disorderly and unarranged, saying: “Physician, heal yourself.” Let us, therefore, first heal ourselves. For no one is condemned because he has not hunted a lion; but having failed to master anger, one is an object of laughter to everyone. Thus, he who does not master his own passion is led to condemnation; but he who has not been able to master wild beasts does not appear to have done anything worthy of reproach. May the Lord, who ordered these things to be written, and who has allowed our weak and feeble tongue ^D to speak to you thus far, and who through our weak intellect has unfolded to you great treasures in these few shadows of the truth, grant to you through the small the great, through the few seeds the perfection of knowledge, and grant to us all the full fruit of the enjoyment of the divine words; for to Him is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ORATIO II

The wise Solomon, instructed not by the persuasive words of wisdom but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in those things which were recently read by us, extolling human nature, cried out saying: “Great is a man, and precious is a merciful man.” Indeed, I, in my own vain thoughts,