Chapter V: The Purpose of Creation
CHAPTER V: ON THE PURPOSE [FINIS] OF CREATION
The internal impulsive cause1 [causa προηγουμένη] of creation.
§ 84. Augustine (De civ. Dei, bk. 11, ch. 24): “God was not driven by necessity, nor was He moved because He lacked something He needed, but whatever He created, He created solely out of His goodness and free will.” Gregory the Theologian [Nazianzen] (Εἰς τὰ γενέθ.): “What was good had to be held onto so as to have more good accomplished, for this was the height of His goodness.” He saw that His goodness could be shared, and thus the streams of His goodness [flow] to His creatures, while the spring remains inexhaustible forever and is in no wise diminished. Theodoret (on Genesis, q. 3): “The Lord God does not need [creatures] to praise Him. In fact, by nature He lacks nothing; rather, moved solely by His goodness, He graciously bestowed existence upon the angels, archangels, and every creature.” Eucherius (on Genesis, bk. 1): “God performed His works not out of need, but out of beneficence and omnipotence; not to be magnified by our praises, but to be revealed by His works.” Damascenus (Orth. fid., bk. 2, ch. 2) is correct in claiming that the cause of the creation of all things is “the lavish goodness of God.” Thomas writes beautifully ([ST,] part 1, q. 46, art. 1): “God is the final cause2 of the world with regard to His goodness, the pattern with regard to His wisdom, the efficient cause3 with regard to His power.” Furthermore, he proves that divine goodness is the goal [finis] of all things in this way ([ST, part 1] q. 44, art. 4): “Everything that acts, acts for the sake of a goal; it happens that the First Mover, because He is only doer, does not act to gain a goal, but simply aims to share His own perfection, which is His goodness. So, too, every creature aims to achieve its own perfection, which is the likeness of God’s perfection and goodness. Therefore divine goodness is the goal of all things.”
The glory of God is the ultimate purpose of creation.
§ 85. Therefore this is the ultimate purpose [finis] of creation: the glory of God. The heavens proclaim it, the earth declares it, and all things therein make it known. Hence we can say about all creatures what Augustine says about miracles: that “they have their own tongues” (on John, tractate 24). Blessed is he who hears the voice of creation admonishing him (which says: “See, O man, how I have loved you! For He made me for your sake, and I serve you that you may serve Him who made us both.”), lest he be compelled one day to hear its voice threatening him in the judgment (when the fire says to the wicked: “I will burn you”; the water: “I will drown you”; the earth and hell: “We will swallow you up”).
Its intermediate purpose is usefulness to man.
§ 86. That ultimate and primary purpose [finis] of creation includes the other, secondary, purpose, namely, that all things were created for the use and help of man. Damascenus is correct in writing (Orth. fid., bk. 2, ch. 10): “There is neither animal nor plant in which the Creator and Artificer of all things has not placed something useful for man.” The Manichaeans used to make the false charge that God made many things that people do not need, and even some things that are destructive, but Augustine answers them correctly (De Genes. contra Manich., bk. 1, ch. 10):
When they say those things, they do not understand that all things are beautiful to their Creator and Maker, who uses all things to govern the universe, which He controls by the highest law. Now, if an unskilled person enters the shop of some craftsman, he sees there many tools whose purposes he does not know; and, if he is very foolish, he thinks they are superfluous. Again, if some incautious fellow falls into a kiln or wounds himself with a sharp iron tool by handling it poorly, he associates much danger and harm with it. However, because the craftsman is aware of their use, he laughs at the other’s stupidity, and, unconcerned with his foolish words, he steadily goes to work at his job. Even so, men are so foolish that though they dare not find fault with what they do not understand when in the presence of a human crafts-man—and seeing such things, they believe that they are necessary and serve specific purposes—yet when it comes to this world, whose Maker and Preserver is (as we preach) God, they dare to censure many things whose reasons for existence they do not see, and they want to seem knowledgeable of what they do not know regarding the works and tools of the almighty Craftsman.
§ 87. The Scholastics, especially Bonaventure and Biel (Sent., bk. 2, dist. 15), write on this subject in the following way:
Animals that are capable of sensation are arranged for man’s use in one way according to the state of innocence and in another way according to the state of fallen nature. This happens according to the state of innocence for four reasons: first, to reveal the dominion of man, because they are to obey him in all things; second, to adorn the dwelling place of man; third, to stir up man’s perception in recognizing the wisdom of the Creator; and fourth, to arouse his affection, that it be stirred to love God. According to the state of fallen nature, harmless animals are arranged for food, clothing, obedience, and comfort; dangerous animals either do injury by way of punishment or work them for profit or test their usefulness or train them because of their ignorance.
§ 88. To this is related that outstanding passage of Bernard (on Song of Songs, sermon 5, col. 53):
What if some living creatures, as regards their usefulness to man, are found to be impractical and suited to no uses for human needs? Surely they are beneficial to see, even if not to use. They can be more useful to the hearts of those who look at them than to the eyes of those who use them. Although we may agree that they are harmful and even dangerous to the temporal safety of man, yet their bodies can still work together for good for those who are called saints according to His purpose [cf. Rom. 8:28]. Even though those creatures do not lend themselves for food nor provide a service, they certainly exercise one’s skill in the progress of that common discipline (which is readily apparent to all who use their reason) by which the invisible things of God are seen and understood through the things that He has created [cf. Rom. 1:20].
So much for Bernard.
Briefly, every creature is good, though not all are useful to some. Therefore the matter comes down to this: from the recognition of divine power in creatures there should develop in us a fear of God; from the recognition of divine wisdom there should be born a trust in God; from the recognition of divine goodness there should arise a love of God so that in all things God will be praised and blessed forever.