Against Heresies: Book IV
Chapter 38: Why Man Was Not Made Perfect From the Beginning
If anyone asks, "Why couldn’t God have made man perfect from the beginning?" let them understand that while God is always the same and uncreated, making all things possible for Him, created beings are inherently inferior to their Creator due to their later origin. It was impossible for newly created things to be uncreated. Since they are not uncreated, they naturally fall short of perfection. Being created later means they are immature and inexperienced in perfect discipline. Just as a mother could give strong food to her baby but doesn't because the infant is not ready for solid nourishment, God could have made man perfect from the start, but man was not ready for that perfection, being still an infant. For this reason, in these last times, our Lord summed up all things in Himself and came to us in a way we could understand. He could have come in His immortal glory, but we could not have handled such greatness. Therefore, He, being the perfect bread of the Father, offered Himself as milk to us, since we were like infants. He appeared as a man so that we, nourished by the milk of His flesh, could gradually learn to partake in the Word of God and be ready to receive the Bread of immortality, which is the Spirit of the Father.
Paul tells the Corinthians, "I have fed you with milk, not solid food, for up to now, you were not able to handle it." This means that you have learned about the coming of our Lord as a man; yet, due to your weakness, the Spirit of the Father has not yet settled upon you. He says, "For when there is envy, strife, and dissension among you, are you not acting in a human way?" This indicates that the Spirit of the Father was not yet with them because of their imperfection and shortcomings in their way of life.
Just as the apostle had the ability to give them solid food—because those upon whom the apostles laid hands received the Holy Spirit, who is the food of eternal life—they could not take it, as their soul's faculties were still weak and undisciplined in matters related to God. Similarly, God had the power from the beginning to grant perfection to man, but because man was newly created, he could not possibly have received it. Even if he had received it, he could not contain or retain it.
For this reason, the Son of God, though perfect, went through infancy like the rest of humanity, doing so not for His own benefit, but for the sake of the early stage of human existence, so that man could receive Him. There was nothing impossible or lacking in God implied by the fact that man was not an uncreated being; this simply applied to man, who was newly created.
With God, power, wisdom, and goodness are all shown at the same time. His power and goodness are evident in that He, by His own will, called into being and shaped things that did not exist before; His wisdom is shown by making creation a harmonious and consistent whole. Those things that, through His great kindness, receive growth and a long life reflect the glory of the uncreated One, of that God who generously gives what is good. The mere fact that these things were created means they are not uncreated.
However, by continuing to exist over long ages, they shall receive a trait of the Uncreated, through God’s free gift of eternal existence.
Thus, in all things, God has the pre-eminence, being the only uncreated one, the first of all things, and the primary cause of everything that exists, while everything else remains under God’s authority. Being subject to God means continuing in immortality, and immortality is the glory of the uncreated One. Through this arrangement, these harmonies, and this sequence, man, a created and organized being, is made in the image and likeness of the uncreated God—the Father plans everything well and gives His commands, the Son carries them out and performs the work of creation, and the Spirit nurtures and increases what is made.
Meanwhile, man progresses day by day, moving towards perfection, which is becoming more like the uncreated One. The Uncreated is perfect, that is, God. It was necessary for man first to be created; then, having been created, to grow; having grown, to be strengthened; having been strengthened, to abound; having abounded, to heal from the disease of sin; having healed, to be glorified; and being glorified, to see his Lord. For God is He who is still to be seen, and seeing God leads to immortality, in turn bringing one close to God.
In every respect, those who do not wait for the time of growth and instead attribute the weaknesses of their nature to God are irrational. Such people know neither God nor themselves, as they are insatiable and ungrateful, unwilling to start as what they were created to be—humans subject to passions. They go beyond the law of the human race and, before becoming fully human, wish to be like God, their Creator. They, more lacking in reason than animals, claim there is no difference between the uncreated God and mankind, who are newly created.
For the animals do not accuse God for not making them humans; rather, each gives thanks for being created as they are.
However, we blame God for not making us gods from the start, but first as men, and eventually as gods.
Yet God chose this path out of His pure kindness, so that no one could accuse Him of envy or stinginess. He declared, “I have said, You are gods; and you are all sons of the Highest.” But since we could not handle the power of divinity, He adds, “But you shall die like men,” showing both His gracious gift and our weakness, as well as our power over ourselves.
After His great kindness, He generously gave us good things and made humans in His likeness, giving them control over their own lives. At the same time, in His foresight, He knew the weaknesses of humans and the results that would come, yet through His love and power, He will overcome the nature of creation. It was necessary, at first, for nature to be expressed; then for mortality to be conquered and swallowed up by immortality, and the corruptible by incorruptibility, and for humans to be made in the image and likeness of God, having gained the knowledge of good and evil.