Why did God create man? Basic theories, parables and legends. How God Created Man, or Three Women's Commandments

According to biblical history, which is adhered to by the majority of believers on earth, our world was created by God, a powerful spirit governing the universe on the planet.

The Creator lit the sun, and on the planet, which he decided to decorate with forests, mountains, waters and skies, a vegetative and animal world... In the garden that He called Eden, God perfected His act of creation. A man was born. Why did God create man? For what purpose? Why did mankind follow the path of sin and not joy?

Excursion to world religions

Before proceeding to an analysis of the origin of man from a biblical point of view, let's see what other world religions have to say about this event. Why did God create man?

In Islam, only the creation of a man, Adam, is described. The creation of a woman is not mentioned. According to the Koran, the Creator made the first man out of clay. The Creator made created man his governor on earth, and the angels bowed down to Adam, except for one rebellious spirit.

In ancient times, the Hindus believed that a person's heart was inhabited by a purusha, which inhabits the entire universe. From this creation a man was born who carries not only the material, but also the spiritual world.

Kabbalah says that in the first man, Adam, God laid spiritual and material principles. Adam became the first prophet and author of the book of Raziel. This fact is unlikely, it is unlikely that writing already existed at that time.

In Judaism, Adam and Eve were created in unity and then separated. Therefore, a person has both masculine and female signs in its essence. But there is another position in Judaism, according to which Eve is a new creation of God.

The idea of a person

The Bible tells us why God created man in the book of Genesis, which opens the Pentateuch of Moses. For six days God created the world, and on the seventh he rested from work. He managed to do a lot during these days: he separated the light from the darkness, divided the firmament and the waters, according to His word gave the existence of vegetation and the animal world.

But something was missing for the world created by God - the guardian. Therefore, the Creator intended to create man in His own image and likeness. Why did God create man? So that he takes care of the beautiful world, cultivates the land and protects everything that the Almighty created. Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, says:

And God said: In our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creeping things that creep on the earth.

The human body

In the 2nd chapter of the book of Genesis we read the following words:

And the Lord God created man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Let's take a closer look at this verse from the Bible. God created man from the dust of the earth. In the head of a modern person at the word "dust" the following associations arise: dust, something dirty and barely perceptible to the eye. There is a lot of dust on the ground. Volcanoes, desert, for example, are sources of dust. Dust is found in both animals (bacteria) and plants (pollen, mold).

In the Bible in the meaning of "dust", "dust" is used the word of Hebrew origin "afar". This word has several meanings and can be translated as "earth" or "clay".

We can conclude that God made the human body from the earth. If we look again at the Hebrew language, we find the word "yatsar", which is used in Scripture to "create." In the direct meaning "yatsar" means "to mold". God shaped the human body with clay. The Creator sculpted the kidneys, liver, heart and breathed his breath into this vessel.

Human soul

First, God created the human body, and the next step, or stage of creation, was to revive this earthen vessel. The Creator breathed a spirit, or soul, into the first person. Thus, man is conceived by God as a material shell and spiritual. The source of life in man is the soul that the Creator gave us, and we have become the image and likeness of God.

The following verses from Genesis 1:26 are confused and misunderstood by many:

And God said: Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.

How did God create man? God made Adam, and after him all mankind, not outwardly similar to himself, but inwardly. God is immaterial, He is spirit. To be created in the likeness and image of God means the presence of a person's mind, intellect (for example, composing music, painting pictures or creating masterpieces of world literature and architecture), will and freedom of choice. Thanks to these qualities, the creature has the ability to communicate with its Creator and be responsible for the one who takes over.

Man and animals

God created man differently from animals. He created the animals with a word (Genesis 1:24):

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind. And it became so.

He sculpted the first person from clay, directly took part in his "birth". Man is the main creation of God, a masterpiece. As people admire the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo or Gaudi, so God admired his creation - beautiful and incomparable. The creator personally participated in the birth of man. By creating the body, and then breathing into the body - the soul, God intended us for both the material and the spiritual world. To be the representative of the creator on earth, the mediator between heaven and earth.

There is a hypothesis that the Creator put the skin of a monkey on man when Adam and Eve sinned and drove people out of Eden. He changed their bodies and made them mortal with the help of the skin of an animal. In Genesis 3:21 we read the following verses:

And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.

From this point of view, Charles Darwin's theory and evolution has a right to exist. The genetic relationship with the monkey can be explained by divine intervention in the human body, which originally had a different appearance. Many scientists do not want to consider such a variant of human development or purposefully close their eyes to it. It all depends on the angle from which to look at this or that issue.

Adam and eve

The first man created by God was named Adam. God took care of his creation from the beginning. To make him feel good and joyful, the Creator planted a garden - Eden, where God created man, where man first saw the light and felt the aromas of herbs and flowers.

God made Adam king over every creature on earth, in Eden. Paradise, or Eden, was nourished alone big river, which was divided into four rivers. One of them was called the Euphrates. Using this information, archaeologists and historians claim that heaven on earth really was and was on the territory of modern North Africa.

Initially, man did not eat meat, but ate plants and fruits from trees. The functions of the first person included taking care of the garden and protecting it. The man named the animals and gave them the first names (Genesis, 2nd chapter):

The Lord God formed out of the earth all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air, and brought them to man so that he could see what he would call them, and that, as a man called every living soul, so was its name.

God saw that it was hard for a man alone. He put Adam to sleep, and from his rib he created a woman, whom he brought to him when Adam woke up. God named the woman - Eve. In Kabbalah, the mystical direction of Judaism, it is written that the wife's name was not Eve, but Lilith, but the Bible is a more weighty and authoritative source than the mysterious current of Judaism.

When Adam saw Eve, he exclaimed (Genesis 2:24, 25):

Behold, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called wife, for she was taken from her husband.

The man and woman became one flesh. Eve was created from a part of Adam's body. The wife and husband are one whole, whose name is man.

Adam and Eve walked around Eden naked and did not hide their nakedness, since they had not yet tasted the forbidden fruit, and the feeling of shame was not yet characteristic of man.

Purposes of Human Creation

Why did God create man? What goals did He pursue? These questions are on the minds of many people. The Bible clearly states for what purpose man was created:

to guide God's created material things;
to care for the world and the garden in Eden;
to communicate with God (the Creator was interested in communicating with a person);
to rejoice when looking at a person;
God created man for happiness.

God is a spirit, He does not live in a body like we do, and He cannot completely control life on the planet. For this, the Creator must become a human being. Here is another hypothetical goal of the creation of man - to receive a body thanks to the created man (the birth of Jesus Christ from Mary, the virgin birth).

Difficult questions

God created man in such a way that he could enjoy every moment lived on earth, in the happiness of communication with the Creator of this world.

Skeptics often ask why God created man, if he knew that he could sin and the soul of many would go to hell? The thing is that man was created in the image and likeness of God and was endowed with freedom of choice, that is, he could decide which way to go and not be a puppet.

God warned Adam that in Eden he can eat the fruit from any tree, but not touch the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. The first people disobeyed God. The man himself decided which way to go.

The biblical book of Ecclesiastes says:

Only this I found that God created man to be right, and people indulged in many thoughts.

In these lines, the wise Solomon says that God created man to be correct, pure, sinless. chose a different path, and then, having received abilities from God, applied them as they saw fit. Often human decisions are aimed not to approach God, but to purposefully prove His absence. People endowed with God's gifts use them for other purposes, inventing and fantasizing, passing off these theories as indisputable facts. But in the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians (1: 19-20), God answers mankind that He will humiliate the wisdom of the age and show its folly:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the prudent. Where is the sage? Where is the scribe? Where is the co-questioner of this age? Hasn't God turned the wisdom of this world into madness?

Afterword

The man disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. We are all familiar with the scene of the temptation of Eve by an insidious serpent, whose image Satan assumed. Eve listened to the seductive speeches of the devil that, having bitten off the fruit, people would know good and evil, and would become immortal. Eve tasted the fruit and gave it to her husband. Adam confided in his wife, silence hung in the air - the world was different. God drove people out of Eden, clothed them in leather clothes and punished the woman to suffer difficult childbirth, and the man - by exhausted labor until the end of days. The man made a choice.

The first people had an amazing opportunity to communicate directly with God, take care of the garden, and have light and weightless bodies. They lost all this in one moment, including the opportunity to live in the presence of the Creator. And only many years later, God had to incarnate in a human body, be born of a woman, suffer, be beaten by a crowd, die and rise again in order to restore relations with a person.

God created man differently from other creatures. Before his creation, God, in the Most Holy Trinity, confirmed His desire, He said: " let us make man in our image and in our likeness".

And God created man from the dust of the earth, that is, from the substance from which the entire material, earthly world was created, and breathed into his face breath of life, that is, he gave him a free, rational, living and immortal spirit, in his own image and likeness; and a man became with an immortal soul. It is this "breath of God" or the immortal soul that distinguishes man from all other living creatures.

Thus, we belong to two worlds: with the body - to the visible, material, earthly world, and by the soul - to the invisible, spiritual, heavenly world.

And God gave the first man a name Adam which means "taken from the earth." God raised for him on earth Paradise, that is beautiful garden and put Adam in him to cultivate and keep him.

All kinds of trees with beautiful fruits grew in paradise, among which were two special trees: one was called tree of life and the other is the tree of knowledge of good and evil... Eating the fruits of the tree of life had the power to protect a person from illness and death. On the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God commanded, that is, he commanded a person: "You can eat from every tree in paradise, but you cannot eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if you eat of it, you will die."

Then, at the command of God, Adam gave names to all the beasts and birds of the air, but he did not find among them a friend and helper similar to himself. Then God caused a deep sleep on Adam; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs and covered that place with flesh (body). And God created a wife from a rib taken from a man. Adam named her Eve, that is, the mother of people.

God blesses the first people in paradise

God blessed the first people in paradise and told them: " be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and own it".

A short answer to the question "why did God create us?" will be "for Your pleasure." Revelation 4:11 says: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you created everything, and everything exists and was created according to Your will." Colossians 1:16 echoes this: "For by Him was created everything that is in heaven and everything on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or powers — all were created by Him and for Him." Being created for God's pleasure does not mean that humanity's calling is to entertain God or bring Him pleasure. God is a creative Being and creation itself brings Him pleasure. God is a Person and it delights Him to have other beings with whom He can have a sincere relationship.

By being created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27), human beings have the ability to know God and thus love Him, worship Him, serve Him, and have a relationship with Him. God did not create human beings because he needed them. Like God, He does not need anyone. Throughout the past eternity, He did not feel lonely, so He did not look for a "friend." He loves us, but that is not the same as needing us. If we never existed, God would still be the Unchanging God (Malachi 3: 6). The I AM (Exodus 3:14) have never felt dissatisfied with My eternal existence. When He created the universe, He did what pleased Him, and since God is flawless, His actions were flawless. “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Also, God had no purpose to create equal to Himself. It is logical that He could not do that. If God created another being of equal strength, intelligence and impeccability, then He would cease to be the only and true God for the simple reason that there would be two gods - and this is impossible. "Only the Lord is God, and there is none yet besides Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35). Everything that God creates must be less than Him. A created thing can never be higher or equal to the One who created it.

Recognizing the complete authority and holiness of God, we are amazed that He crowned man as the top of His creation: "What is man, that you remember him, and son of man, that you visit him?" (Psalm 8: 5) and that He condescended to call us “friends” (John 15: 14-15). Why did God create us? God created us for His pleasure and so that we, as His creation, have the pleasure of knowing Him.

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What is the most amazing phenomenon in this world that you have seen? You shouldn't go deep into reflections: this is an amazing phenomenon - you yourself! Knowledge of oneself and other people around us (and even those who lived in distant antiquity) attracts everyone, probably more than the knowledge of anything else in the entire Universe.

What is man? What is my self?

We are all the greatest mystery of the universe. Divine Revelation lifts the veil of this mystery for us and testifies that man is a special creation of the Lord. He is the most perfect of all beings on earth, the completion and crown of creation.

God created man

This cosmic event is simply and clearly described in the 1st and 2nd chapters of Genesis (the first book Old Testament). In the first chapter, you will read:

And God said: Let us make man in Our image and in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over beasts, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creeping things that creep on the earth. And he created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the beasts, and over the birds of the air, and over every cattle, and over all the earth, and over everyone. animals, reptiles on the ground. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb that sows seed that is on all the earth, and every tree that has tree fruit that sows seed; this will be food for you. And to all the beasts of the earth, and to all the birds of the air, and to every reptile that creeps on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I gave all herbal herbs for food. And it became so ().

In the second chapter you will find some additions:

And the Lord God created man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted paradise in Eden in the east; and put there the man he had made ... And the Lord God took the man he had made, and put him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded to man, saying: Of every tree in the garden you will eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, do not eat from it; for on the day that you eat of it, you will die. And the Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a helper corresponding to him. The Lord God formed out of the earth all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air, and brought them to man to see what he would call them, and so that, as man called every living soul, so was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to all the beasts of the field; but for man there was not found a helper like him. And the Lord God brought a deep sleep to man; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs, and covered that place with flesh. And the Lord God created a woman from a rib taken from a man, and brought her to a man. And the man said: Behold, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called wife: for she was taken from her husband. Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and the two will be one flesh. And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed ().

What is the peculiarity of human creation?

Let's pay attention to how the Creator acted when creating the angelic world, the material world and man. Of course, there are many symbols in these descriptions, they have a spiritual meaning that requires interpretation. But anyway. The angelic world was created in silence.

The material world is created by the creative command “let there be”. And before the creation of man, according to Divine Revelation, a certain advice in the Trinitarian God Himself. Three Persons of the Holy Trinity had eternal advice about the creation of man: "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness"(). This indicates a special purpose and the highest dignity of man. It is to him that Special attention Creator.

Thus, man is not created simply as component the visible world. He is a living person and was created in the image of God. This means that it is closely related to the higher, Divine life, it bears a reflection of the properties of God Himself.

Did you know?

Do you know the first person's name Adam means “Taken from the earth? Because the human body is created from the dust of the earth. But what is so special about it? And the fact that if during the creation of other living beings the Lord commanded the earth to produce them, gave it the strength for this, then during the creation of man He acts personally and directly. The Creator creates the human body from the earth as if With your own hands... And the soul is called to life by the Divine breath.

Thus, by his nature, man belongs to two worlds at the same time: with his body - the visible, material, earthly world, and with his soul - the invisible, spiritual, heavenly world.

Divine breath also means that During the creation of man, the Lord gave him the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the exclusivity and uniqueness of man. And if the life of our body depends on the presence of the soul in it, then the life of the soul is directly related to the communion with the Spirit of God.

For the first person the Lord creates specially "A helper corresponding to him" - a wife(). First woman's name Eve means "life".

Part of the whole I am the universe,

Delivered, it seems to me, in a venerable

In the middle of nature I am the one

Where did you end bodily creatures,

Where did you begin the spirits of heaven

And the chain of beings tied everyone with me.

I am the connection of worlds that exist everywhere,

I am an extreme degree of substance;

I am the focus of the living

Deity chief trait ...

This is how Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin wrote about created man. Man created by God is a harmonious unity of soul and body. Human nature is twofold. The body is made of earth, and the soul belongs to another world - the spiritual. In man, the heavenly and earthly worlds are united. Man crowns the whole universe.

But first, let's pay attention to what immediately catches the eye - the bodily nature.

Bodily nature

From the lessons of biology and anatomy, you know that by the body a person is one of the organisms that live on earth. The body contains everything that exists in nature. Inanimate and animate matter, elementary particles and nervous system- everything is combined in a person.

The need for self-preservation and procreation is embedded in our bodily nature, as well as in all living things. For communication with the outside world, the body is endowed with five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.

The entire apparatus of the human body is complex and wise. What is the law underlying the constitution of the body? it the law of beauty and proportion... And you observe this law every time you look at each other. You will probably agree that the human body is more perfect than the bodies of all other earthly beings.

Even by its appearance, it indicates the sublime destiny of a person. How exactly? So, the vertical position of the body shows that we should direct our spiritual gaze to Heaven, avoiding the earthiness of thoughts and deeds. Remember the translation of the word "man"? .. By the way, do you know which animal cannot look up? Yes, yes - it's a pig! Her head is always directed to the ground - there are all her values. To whom does a person become like when he forgets about Heaven?

According to the remark of the "Father of the Church" St. John Chrysostom, the human body is "an abbreviated and small world."

A certain scientist calculated that if we decompose the human body into separate chemical elements, then their cost will be equal to six million dollars. But don't be in a hurry to rejoice. To collect the body from these elements and bring it back to life - all the jewels of the world are not enough. The body itself would be completely motionless if the soul did not revive it. So, the soul is priceless! A the purpose of the body is to be a worthy instrument and temple of the soul.

And - attention! - in our souls, each of us was originally like an angel. The essence of the soul is invisible to the bodily eyes, but it is she who sets the whole body, thoughts and feelings in motion.

So does the soul really exist?

You know that the existence of the soul is sometimes criticized. In this respect, an example from life will be interesting. Once one surgeon said to another: "No matter how much I opened a person, I did not see the soul, and I came to the conclusion that it is not in a person." And another objected: “How many times have I opened the cranium, touched the brain, and never found the mind. This does not mean that he does not exist! "

Really, the invisibility of the soul does not mean its absence. All of you, for example, see rain, hail and snow falling on the ground. You understand that the reason for the fall is the gravity of the earth, but no one has ever seen the very force of gravity. So it is with the soul - it contains the entire body and controls it, although it is itself invisible.

In the world of soulless matter, everything is subject to the law of strict causality. There is no possibility of choice, any free, arbitrary actions. For example, the ball will only roll when you kick or push it. He is incapable of thinking or choosing where and how he rolls - it all depends on your influence on him. Of course, someone would like the balls to be hammered into the goal by themselves - but this does not happen in the material world.

But a person acts completely differently. Even a child, a baby, may not obey someone's order.

In this regard, there is wise reasoning in Andersen's tale "The Nightingale": "The Kapellmeister praised the artificial bird and assured that it surpasses the real one not only in plumage and diamonds, but also in its inner virtues.

- As for a living nightingale ... you can never know in advance what exactly he will decide to sing, with an artificial one, everything is known in advance! You can even be fully aware of his art, you can disassemble it and show it internal organization- all this is a product of the human mind, the location and action of the rollers and nothing more! "

Each person does not feel himself as a soulless clot of matter. There is a spiritual force in a person that can dominate physical needs: for example, you can long time do not eat food, although the whole body asks for it. The spirit is able to overcome the sensations of physical pain and even, for the sake of a higher idea, go to the bodily, despite all the desires of the flesh. Thanks to the soul, a person possesses by will and the choice. Abilities belong to the soul mental activity, memory and imagination. It is the soul that experiences joy or sorrow, experiences feelings of love or hate. Lives in my soul conscience, constantly testifying whether the person is right or wrong. We are able to be ashamed of some of our actions. Each of us realizes himself as a living person. All this cannot be explained by one chemical processes brain and nervous system.

But if a person's soul has free will, if it is able to choose, then it can lean towards both good and evil. This means that a person's decisions largely depend on his life path... And in this case, the question arises: is not astrology right?

Do these soulless, incandescent lumps of cosmic bodies, remote from us by billions of billions of kilometers, have no power over us?

Isn't astrology right?

Then why did astrology arise? But because earlier they looked at the stars and constellations as gods - living, intelligent, almost omnipotent beings who rule the world. This belief originated in ancient Babylon, long before the creation of telescopes. It was believed there: in the heavenly reign of which god you were born, he patronizes you and imparts your character traits. Moreover, this reign, as well as the gods themselves, especially man, are subordinate to fate (fate, fate, karma).

But if everything depends on the stars, then “and we will not need reason, for since we are not powerful in any action, then we do not need to think about anything. Meanwhile, reason is undoubtedly given to us for pondering our actions, why every rational being is at the same time a free being "(St. John of Damascus).

It is truly a great responsibility to be human.

Astrology offers its own alternative. Which one?

And you have never heard such a dialogue (it was recorded by a modern Orthodox researcher of sects Alexander Dvorkin, having heard it by chance on the train):

- Tell me, are you not a scorpion?

- No, I'm cancer. Are you a Capricorn?

- What are you, I'm a ram.

- And by eastern horoscope?

- In the east, I am a pink rat.

- And I'm a blue pig.

- How wonderful, I love pigs so much.

What does a person exchange for the dignity and value of his soul?

However, a counter question arises: why do some people see in the horoscope a correspondence to their character, and astrological predictions sometimes come true?

One European country conducted such an experiment. They made an astrological forecast of fate and a horoscope for a famous criminal executed in the 19th century. These data were sent to many addressees with a request to answer whether they correspond to their fate. Further consultations were also promised. What do you think many have answered? The fact that the forecast is largely consistent with their nature and reflects their fate!

The human soul is much deeper, wider, richer in its feelings, its inner life than meager sketches of astrological charts. Each of you experiences, experiences, feels and does so much that, undoubtedly, the features presented in the horoscope have long been known to your soul. But these features are far from exhausting your unrepeatable life!

Belief in astrology arose from the fear of realizing the mission entrusted to us, people. It is easier to believe in a predetermined fate and the law of the stars than to think about your behavior, to try not to ruin your soul, but to keep it clean, to make it godlike.

So is it worth submitting yourself to sheep, goats and reptiles, and even more so to those who boldly interpret our fate with the help of a star flock?

More about the soul

This is likeness to God to the extent that it is possible for human nature. If you, by the grace of God, have decided to be a Christian, hurry up to become like God, put on Christ. "

And now let's turn our gaze to the very depths of centuries and ask ourselves the question: what was the person like at first?

What was the person like at first?

Now it is difficult for us to imagine the state in which the primordial people were when they left the hands of the Creator. Modern man looks at everything through the veil of his own depravity.

And the first people, when they were born, were distinguished by their purity, purity, sinlessness, and holiness. There was not even a shadow of sin or the slightest opposition to good in them. Their conscience was calm, their souls were not worried, they were not afraid of anything.

The mind of the primordial man easily assimilated both the highest spiritual truths and knowledge about material objects. God brought to all animals, "So that, as a person calls every living soul, so be its name"(). What does this mean? The fact that he comprehended the very essence, the meaning of all living things and the universe in general, penetrated their secret, could express this secret in words. The giving of names to animals shows that man knew the depth of things and their distinctive properties. However, the human mind was even then limited, much less tempted by the experience of life. He should have developed and improved.

What was the heart of primordial people? It was originally the abode of kindness, love, the brightest and warmest feelings. The heart did not know the vicious movements and erratic feelings.

The person was completely absent carnal lust- this abnormally overgrown sensuality, hostile to the spirit. That's why "They were both naked, and his wife, and were not ashamed"(). According to the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas (XIV century), the ancestors were clothed in the Divine light, which surrounded them and was better than the royal porphyry.

The will of the first people possessed complete moral freedom, did not experience any oppression. The person was free from the painful choice of what to do to make him feel better. He naturally loved goodness and strove for it. His will was in harmony with the will of God. But did this mean that man could not sin at all? No. Will possessed absolute freedom... And following God always presupposes voluntariness.

Finally, the body of primordial people did not have any blemish, any internal or external defect. It was remarkable for its amazing beauty, freshness of strength, did not experience fatigue, illness, or suffering. Yes, human nature, as created, is itself changeable, perishable and mortal. But it was originally involved in Divine grace, did not have an internal disorder, therefore it should not have died.

Man is destined for immortality, and it can be achieved only in communion with the Source of life - God.

Closeness to the Creator

This was the main feature of the first people, that they were in close proximity to their Creator. The man in Paradise truly loved God.

The Lord Himself was the first Mentor and Teacher of people. He appeared to them, talked and revealed His will. Primordial people had a perfect sense of God's closeness. Moreover, they themselves were the temple, the abode of God, so close was their communion with the Heavenly Father.

"Man is a God-given temple of the Divine in soul and body",- wrote Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov). "The purpose of man is to be a vessel and instrument of the Divine." And Saint Macarius the Great explains it this way: “As God created heaven and earth for man to inhabit, so He created the body and soul of man in His dwelling in order to dwell and rest in his body, as in His house, having a beautiful bride, a beloved soul, created in his image. "

Participation in God with all nature meant a state of deep spiritual joy, inexpressible peace, amazing inspiration, lightness and freedom, everything that can be called happiness or bliss.

By showing love and obedience to Heavenly Father, man himself appeared lord of the visible world. The animals did not harm him, but obeyed, seeing him as their king.

There was no enmity among the animals themselves, the strong did not touch the weak. All animals ate only grass and plants.

Nature was not outraged by cataclysms. The sun did not dry out the face of the earth, there were no frosts. There was nothing that currently causes suffering and damage to the animal and flora... Harmony, beauty, peace and order reigned everywhere, since the entire universe so far existed in full accord with the will of the Creator.

The purpose of a person was to improve more and more both himself and his subordinate visible world, confirming the Kingdom of God in everything and glorifying his Heavenly Father.

Not for everyday excitement,

Not for self-interest, not for battles,

We were born for inspiration

For sweet sounds and prayers.

What was it for?

Man could be immortal only in closeness to the Creator. Communication with God is possible only with sincere love for Him. And love always manifests itself in the joyful fulfillment of the will of the one you love.

In obedience to the command God's people could really show their love for the Creator and thus improve in goodness. Did this represent excessive work for the person? Not at all. After all, the first people originally had deep trust in God. They possessed the fullness of all kinds of blessings. And within them there was no need to partake of the forbidden fruit.

But why was this tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? In that - deep meaning... By itself, this tree could not communicate the knowledge of good and evil. After all, man initially possessed clarity of emotional feelings, purity of conscience and therefore discerned what is virtue and what is vice. But through this tree man learned by experience what good is contained in obedience, and what evil is in opposition to the will of God.

And the fruit of the tree itself was not deadly. This tree, like others, was good and beautiful. Disobedience to God was deadly. So, the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil meant testing a person how much he voluntarily and sincerely loves his Creator and God, in whose closeness all his eternal life lies.

Remember what was the peculiarity of human creation?

What does this feature indicate?

What is the uniqueness of human nature?

Why is it possible to assert about the existence of the soul, even if it is, by its nature, invisible?

Can you talk about the relationship between soul and body?

What is conscience and why is it needed?

How would you characterize the image of God in man?

And what is the likeness of God?

How was primordial man different from all of us?

What is and why was the tree of knowledge of good and evil needed?

Man was the final creation of God. This does not mean that God does not continue to create. Quite the opposite, in the New Testament Christ says:

My Father still does, and I do. (Gospel of John, chapter 5)

This means that God continues to create. When we say that the final creation of God was man, we mean the process of the Creation of the world, which lasted six days and is described in the first two chapters of Genesis.

God created man differently from animals.

Why is man the main creation of God? Simply because a person does not belong either to the material world or to the spiritual. He is a child of two worlds: he has a spiritual origin (soul) and a material body. Thus, man is the link between the spiritual and material worlds. To understand this better, let's see what says Holy Bible about how God created man.

God created all animals and birds with just one word. But in creating man, he chose a completely different method - action.

And the Lord God created man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. (Genesis chapter 2)

We see that God created man differently - He did special efforts He gave man a soul and a body, and made him king on earth, so that he would have power over all earthly creatures.

God created man in his own image.

When God created man, He said:

let us make man in our image [and] in our likeness (Genesis chapter 1)

But what does it mean for us to be created in the image and likeness of God? To be created in the image does not mean to be outwardly similar. God has nothing to do with this material body. In the image of God means we are sovereign and independent. That is, we have freedom of choice. Without freedom of choice, a person would not be perfect.

"Similarity" is an image in action, it is the use of a person's free will in order to improve oneself morally. This is a movement towards holiness and perfection.

To be created in the image and likeness of God means to have necessary qualities personality, intellect and mind, sensuality and feeling, and will, that is, the ability to make moral choices. Other beings do not have these qualities. They allow a person to communicate with God and also be morally responsible for their actions.

Creation of man: Boch breathed soul into man.

The human soul, as its spiritual component, is of great importance, so great that even Christ tells us:

For what benefit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?

Or what ransom will a man give for his soul? (Gospel of Mark, chapter 8)

The Bible often tells us about the soul and spirit. The spirit of a person is his soul. It should not be confused with the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God. First, God created the human body, and then he breathed a “living soul” into the person. This is how God created man. The human soul and body are conceived and created at the same time. It is this fact that is at the heart of the fact that the Church is against abortion. It is believed that the soul of a child exists from the moment of conception - from the moment the first cell of his body appears.

God created the human body.

And the body is also of great value, since the soul is inseparable from the body. The body is the temple of the soul that dwells in it.

Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit living in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter 6)

The body is sanctified by the spirit of God that lives in it. A person receives the body and blood of Christ during Holy Communion. After death, the body will return to the earth, but at the second coming of Christ, the person will be resurrected. Resurrected and reunited with the soul.

God created woman.

When God created man, he decided to create a helper and partner for him. He created Eve from Adam's rib.

Why was a woman created from a rib? This was done in such a way that there was no doubt that a woman has the same nature and essence as a man, and therefore there will always be cooperation and love between them. The man complements the woman and the woman complements the man; both complement each other. They do not live alone, but together. A woman is not inferior to a man, and does not surpass him. She is flesh of his flesh. A woman is equal to a man, so the nature of man was established by God.

All people are descendants. It seems strange, especially when you remember that there are several races and many languages. Even after, in times,

There was one language and one dialect throughout the whole earth. (Genesis chapter 11)

This means that there is one race of people on earth, and that they all spoke the same language. Then what happened? How were we fragmented? People have multiplied. They became proud and stopped respecting God. They decided to build, not for the glory of God, but for their own glory.

God came down and mixed their languages - and the people were divided into nations and settled across the earth. Living in different climatic conditions, they have changed outwardly. However, do not forget that all people descend from one ancestor, Adam, from one pair, Adam and Eve. From one blood. Apostle Paul in:

From one blood He made the entire human race to inhabit the entire face of the earth, setting predetermined times and limits for their habitation (Acts of the Holy Apostles, chapter 7)

Man is the crown of creation.

The first chapter of the Book of Genesis gives us an idea of the creation of everything, including man. But man is so important that the second chapter of Genesis focuses on additional information about the creation of mankind. That man was someone special to God is evidenced by the fact that God created a home for man:

And the Lord God planted paradise in Eden in the east (Genesis, chapter 2)

Attention should be paid to the special care of God for man, he did not create a garden for man, but planted him, made an effort to make the person feel good. God showed personal concern for man.

According to the Bible, the first man was perfect, created in the image of God.

God has endowed man with some of his divine attributes, thereby separating and distinguishing him from beasts. What special Divine qualities did a person receive? There are six of them:

language,
creation,
love,
holiness,
immortality,
freedom.