Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part One › Section Two › Chapter One › Article 1 · Paragraph 6 (§§355–384)
Paragraphs · 30
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
Paragraph 6. MAN
- §355 — "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual…vatican.va
I. "in the Image of God"
- §356 — Of all visible creatures only man is "able to know and love his creator". He is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for himself", and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life.vatican.va
- §357 — Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons.vatican.va
- §358 — God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him: What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honour?vatican.va
- §359 — "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear."vatican.va
- §360 — Because of its common origin the human race forms a unity, for "from one ancestor (God) made all nations to inhabit the whole earth":vatican.va
- §361 — "This law of human solidarity and charity", without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and peoples, assures us that all men are truly brethren.vatican.va
Ii. "Body and Soul but Truly One"
- §362 — The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. the biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his…vatican.va
- §363 — In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person. But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.vatican.va
- §364 — The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:vatican.va
- §365 — , it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.vatican.va
- §366 — The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.vatican.va
- §367 — Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly", with "spirit and soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming.vatican.va
- §368 — The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God.vatican.va
Iii. "Male and Female He Created Them"
- §369 — Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman.vatican.va
- §370 — In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes.vatican.va
- §371 — God created man and woman together and willed each for the other. the Word of God gives us to understand this through various features of the sacred text.vatican.va
- §372 — Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that God left them half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons, in which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are equal as persons ("bone of my bones.vatican.va
- §373 — In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of "subduing" the earth as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and destructive domination.vatican.va
Iv. Man in Paradise
- §374 — 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.vatican.va
- §375 — 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".vatican.va
- §376 — 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.vatican.va
- §377 — 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 concupiscence that subjugates him to…vatican.va
- §378 — The sign of man's familiarity with God is that God places him in the garden. There he lives "to till it and keep it". Work is not yet a burden, but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation.vatican.va
- §379 — This entire harmony of original justice, foreseen for man in God's plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.vatican.va
In Brief
- §380 — "Father,. . you formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures" (Roman Missal, EP IV, 118).vatican.va
- §381 — Man is predestined to reproduce the image of God's Son made man, the "image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), so that Christ shall be the first-born of a multitude of brothers and sisters (cf Eph 1:3-6; Rom 8:29).vatican.va
- §382 — "Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity" (GS 14 # 1). the doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God.vatican.va
- §383 — "God did not create man a solitary being. From the beginning, "male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27). This partnership of man and woman constitutes the first form of communion between persons" (GS 12 # 4).vatican.va
- §384 — Revelation makes known to us the state of original holiness and justice of man and woman before sin: from their friendship with God flowed the happiness of their existence in paradise.vatican.va
Scripture cited · 90 verses
Genesis 1:27 · Genesis 1:28 · Genesis 2:7 · Genesis 2:8 · Genesis 2:15 · Genesis 2:17 · Genesis 2:18 · Genesis 2:19 · Genesis 2:20 · Genesis 2:22 · Genesis 2:23 · Genesis 2:24 · Genesis 2:25 · Genesis 3:16 · Genesis 3:17 · Genesis 3:18 · Genesis 3:19 · Deuteronomy 6:5 · Deuteronomy 29:3 · Tobit 8:6 · Psalm 131:2 · Psalm 131:3 · Wisdom 11:24 · Isaiah 29:13 · Isaiah 49:14 · Isaiah 49:15 · Isaiah 66:13 · Jeremiah 3:4 · Jeremiah 3:5 · Jeremiah 3:6 · Jeremiah 3:7 · Jeremiah 3:8 · Jeremiah 3:9 · Jeremiah 3:10 · Jeremiah 3:11 · Jeremiah 3:12 · Jeremiah 3:13 · Jeremiah 3:14 · Jeremiah 3:15 · Jeremiah 3:16 · Jeremiah 3:17 · Jeremiah 3:18 · Jeremiah 3:19 · Jeremiah 31:33 · Ezekiel 36:26 · Daniel 3:57 · Daniel 3:58 · Daniel 3:59 · Daniel 3:60 · Daniel 3:61 · Daniel 3:62 · Daniel 3:63 · Daniel 3:64 · Daniel 3:65 · Daniel 3:66 · Daniel 3:67 · Daniel 3:68 · Daniel 3:69 · Daniel 3:70 · Daniel 3:71 · Daniel 3:72 · Daniel 3:73 · Daniel 3:74 · Daniel 3:75 · Daniel 3:76 · Daniel 3:77 · Daniel 3:78 · Daniel 3:79 · Daniel 3:80 · Hosea 11:1 · Hosea 11:2 · Hosea 11:3 · Hosea 11:4 · Matthew 6:21 · Matthew 10:28 · Matthew 16:25 · Matthew 16:26 · Matthew 26:38 · Luke 8:15 · John 12:27 · John 15:13 · Acts 2:41 · Acts 17:26 · Romans 5:5 · 1 Corinthians 6:19 · 1 Corinthians 6:20 · 1 Corinthians 15:44 · 1 Corinthians 15:45 · 1 Thessalonians 5:23 · 1 John 2:16