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John
Paul II- Theology of the Body |
MAN BECOMES THE
IMAGE OF GOD BY COMMUNION OF PERSONS
General Audience, November 14, 1979
1. Following the
narrative of Genesis, we have seen that the "definitive" creation of
man consists in the creation of the unity of two beings. Their
unity denotes above all the identity of human nature; their
duality, on the other hand, manifests what, on the basis of this
identity, constitutes the masculinity and femininity of created
man. This ontological dimension of unity and duality has, at the
same time, an axiological meaning. From the text of Genesis 2:23 and
from the whole context, it is clearly seen that man was created as a
particular value before God. "God saw everything that he had made,
and behold, it was very good" (Gn 1:31). But man was also created as
a particular value for himself—first, because he is man; second,
because the woman is for the man, and vice versa, the man is for the
woman.
While the first
chapter of Genesis expresses this value in a purely theological form
(and indirectly a metaphysical one), the second chapter, on the
other hand, reveals, so to speak, the first circle of the
experience lived by man as value. This experience is already
inscribed in the meaning of original solitude and then in the whole
narrative of the creation of man as male and female. The concise
text of Gen 2:23, which contains the words of the first man at the
sight of the woman created, "taken out of him", can be considered
the biblical prototype of the Canticle of Canticles. And if it is
possible to read impressions and emotions through words so remote,
one might almost venture to say that the depth and force of this
first and "original" emotion of the male-man in the presence of the
humanity of the woman, and at the same time in the presence of the
femininity of the other human being, seems something unique and
unrepeatable.
Unity in
"communion of persons"
2. In this way
the meaning of man's original unity, through masculinity and
femininity, is expressed as an overcoming of the frontier of
solitude. At the same time it is an affirmation—with regard to both
human beings—of everything that constitutes man in solitude. In the
Bible narrative, solitude is the way that leads to that unity which,
following Vatican II, we can define as communio personarum.(1)
As we have
already seen, in his original solitude man acquires a personal
consciousness in the process of distinction from all living beings
(animalia). At the same time, in this solitude, he opens up
to a being akin to himself, defined in Genesis (2:18, 20) as "a
helper fit for him." This opening is no less decisive for the person
of man; in fact, it is perhaps even more decisive than the
distinction itself. In the Yahwist narrative, man's solitude is
presented to us not only as the first discovery of the
characteristic transcendence peculiar to the person. It is also
presented as the discovery of an adequate relationship "to" the
person, and therefore as an opening and expectation of a "communion
of persons."
The term
"community" could also be used here, if it were not generic and did
not have so many meanings. Communio expresses more, with
greater precision, since it indicates precisely that "help" which
is derived, in a sense, from the very fact of existing as a person
"beside" a person. In the Bible narrative this fact becomes
eo ipso—in itself—the existence of the person "for" the
person, since man in his original solitude was, in a way,
already in this relationship. That is confirmed, in a negative
sense, precisely by this solitude.
Furthermore, the
communion of persons could be formed only on the basis of a "double
solitude" of man and of woman, that is, as their meeting in their
distinction from the world of living beings (animalia), which
gave them both the possibility of being and existing in a special
reciprocity. The concept of "help" also expresses this reciprocity
in existence, which no other living being could have ensured. All
that constituted the foundation of the solitude of each of them was
indispensable for this reciprocity. Self-knowledge and
self-determination, that is, subjectivity and consciousness of the
meaning of one's own body, was also indispensable.
Image of
inscrutable divine communion
3. In the first
chapter, the narrative of the creation of man affirms directly,
right from the beginning, that man was created in the image of God
as male and female. The narrative of the second chapter, on the
other hand, does not speak of the "image of God." But in its own way
it reveals that the complete and definitive creation of "man"
(subjected first to the experience of original solitude) is
expressed in giving life to that communio personarum that man
and woman form. In this way, the Yahwist narrative agrees with the
content of the first narrative.
If, vice versa,
we wish to draw also from the narrative of the Yahwist text the
concept of "image of God," we can then deduce that man became the
"image and likeness" of God not only through his own humanity, but
also through the communion of persons which man and woman form
right from the beginning. The function of the image is to reflect
the one who is the model, to reproduce its own prototype. Man
becomes the image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in
the moment of communion. Right "from the beginning," he is not only
an image in which the solitude of a person who rules the world is
reflected, but also, and essentially, an image of an inscrutable
divine communion of persons.
In this way, the
second narrative could also be a preparation for understanding the
Trinitarian concept of the "image of God," even if the latter
appears only in the first narrative. Obviously, that is not without
significance for the theology of the body. Perhaps it even
constitutes the deepest theological aspect of all that can be said
about man. In the mystery of creation—on the basis of the original
and constituent "solitude" of his being—man was endowed with a deep
unity between what is, humanly and through the body, male in him and
what is, equally humanly and through the body, female in him. On all
this, right from the beginning, the blessing of fertility descended,
linked with human procreation (cf. Gn 1:28).
The body reveals
man
4. In this way,
we find ourselves almost at the heart of the anthropological reality
that has the name "body." The words of Genesis 2:23 speak of it
directly and for the first time in the following terms: "flesh of my
flesh and bone of my bones." The male-man uttered these words, as if
it were only at the sight of the woman that he was able to identify
and call by name what makes them visibly similar to each other,
and at the same time what manifests humanity.
In the light of
the preceding analysis of all the "bodies" which man has come into
contact with and which he has defined, conceptually giving them
their name (animalia), the expression "flesh of my flesh"
takes on precisely this meaning: the body reveals man. This concise
formula already contains everything that human science could ever
say about the structure of the body as organism, about its vitality,
and its particular sexual physiology, etc. This first expression of
the man, "flesh of my flesh," also contains a reference to what
makes that body truly human. Therefore it referred to what
determines man as a person, that is, as a being who, even in all his
corporality, is similar to God.(2)
Meaning of unity
We find
ourselves, therefore, almost at the very core of the anthropological
reality, the name of which is "body," the human body. However, as
can easily be seen, this core is not only anthropological, but also
essentially theological. Right from the beginning, the theology of
the body is bound up with the creation of man in the image of God.
It becomes, in a way, also the theology of sex, or rather the
theology of masculinity and femininity, which has its starting point
here in Genesis.
The original
meaning of unity, to which words of Genesis 2:24 bear witness, will
have in the revelation of God an ample and distant perspective. This
unity through the body—"and the two will be one flesh"—possesses a
multiform dimension. It possesses an ethical dimension, as is
confirmed by Christ's answer to the Pharisees in Matthew 19 (cf. Mk
10). It also has a sacramental dimension, a strictly theological
one, as is proved by St. Paul's words to the Ephesians(3) which
refer also to the tradition of the prophets (Hosea, Isaiah,
Ezekiel). And this is so because that unity which is realized
through the body indicates, right from the beginning, not only the
"body," but also the "incarnate" communion of persons—communio
personarum—and calls for this communion right from the
beginning.
Masculinity and
femininity express the dual aspect of man's somatic
constitution. ("This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh"), and indicate, furthermore, through the same words of
Genesis 2:23, they indicate the new consciousness of the sense of
one's own body: a sense which, it can be said, consists in a
mutual enrichment. Precisely this consciousness, through which
humanity is formed again as the communion of persons, seems to be
the layer which in the narrative of the creation of man (and in the
revelation of the body contained in it) is deeper than his somatic
structure as male and female. In any case, this structure is
presented right from the beginning with a deep consciousness of
human corporality and sexuality, and that establishes an inalienable
norm for the understanding of man on the theological plane.
Footnotes
1) "But God did
not create man as a solitary being, for from the beginning "male and
female he created them" (Gn 1:27). Their companionship produces the
primary form of interpersonal communion" (Gaudium et Spes
12).
2) The dualistic
contraposition "soul-body" does not appear in the conception of the
most ancient books of the Bible. As has already been stressed (cf.
L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, November 5, 1979, page
15, note 1), we can speak rather of a complementary combination
"body-life." The body is the expression of man's personality, and if
it does not fully exhaust this concept, it must be understood in
biblical language as pars pro toto; cf. for example: "Flesh
and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father..." (Mt
16:17), that is, it was not a man who revealed it to you.
3) "For no man
ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, as
Christ does the Church, because we are members of his body. For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is a profound
one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church" (Eph
5:29-32).
This will be the subject of our reflections in the part entitled
"The Sacrament."
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 19 November 1979,
page 1.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
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