IV. Man in Paradise

The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ.

The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original “state of holiness and justice”.1 This grace of original holiness was “to share in … divine life”.2

By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die.3 The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman,4 and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called “original justice”.

The “mastery” over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. the first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence5 that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.

The sign of man’s familiarity with God is that God places him in the garden.6 There he lives “to till it and keep it”. Work is not yet a burden,7 but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation.

This entire harmony of original justice, foreseen for man in God’s plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.