MAN, THE IMAGE OF GOD. . .

WORK

Of all the trades, the one that Adam first practiced was the trade of the tailor.  Yes, before taking up any other trade, he collected some fig leaves and sewed them together. 

Who taught him this skill?  How did he learn it?  The fact is that he had received from God the gift of intelligence;  the fact is that he was the image of God. 

You may ask yourselves in what way man arrived at the construction of the first plough, at woodwork, at forging iron, at putting oxen under the yoke, and in what way woman invented the art of spinning. 

Where did all these come from? 

When a trade comes into being, it is plied with a tool.  The hands are not involved in the work as much as the reason, intelligence, which arranges different objects in different shapes.  It is the intelligence, for example, that manufactures clothes.  The shape of the clothes reveals the intelligence of the tailor.  When you read in the bible that God worked in creating the world, do you really think he needed hands for his work? 

If you are looking for the origin of a trade, if you are asking how a discovery or an invention could have come about, remember the word that God spoke: "Let us make humanity in our image." 

Then you will have the solution at once, humanity in the image of God.  How could humanity possibly fail to use intelligence?  Humanity in the image of the Creator.  How could humanity possibly fail to imitate his Creator? 

Severianus of Gabala

(10-26-10)