Were Adam and Eve's bodies before the Fall like that of the Resurrected Christ?

[MysticMissMisty]

Hello.

First of all, I’m not sure if I’m posting this to the right forum, so, apologies, if not.

When Christ was resurrected and walked on this Earth still for a brief time, His Body is said to have been in its glorified state. In this, He could, for instance, pass through solid matter such as locked doors, he could move much more quickly from place to place than the nomral human eye could track, and, basically, whatever His Soul jwished to do, His Glorified Body obliged, etc., or at least so I’ve heard and such would seem to be indicated in Sacred Scripture as well as in Tradition.

We are also told that we eventually will possess such glorified bodies.

Yet, in our current state, we are subject to such limitations as not being able to go through solid objects or move so quickly.

Paul somewhere says that our bodies are sown in weakness, corruption, etc.

So, then, are our mortal bodies, at least presently, imperfect and do they not therefore contain some element of evil/sin as they are made presently?

If so, shouldn’t Adam and Eve’s bodies, before the Fall, have been in a perfect state like the one of the Resurrected Jesus? Shouldn’t the consequences of the Fall have lead to any weakness/corruption/etc. on our bodies and shouldn’t our bodies’ original state have been like that of Jesus Resurrected when He walked upon the Earth?

If Adam and Eve’s bodies were like ours in all except the absence of pain, suffering, concupiscence and mortality, would not those bodies have been made, even before the Fall, somehow imperfect (“weaker” than the glorified body shown to us by Jesus), since they were not in all ways subject to/in harmony with the movements of the soul, being able, if they wished, to pass through matter, move with supreme agility, etc.? If Adam and Eve’s bodies were like ours with a few important exceptions, would God not be said to have made bodies imperfectly weaker than Jesus’ glorified one? Could God be said to have made bodies lacking in good in some ways for Adam and Eve before the Fall and even, in some respects, for us post-Fall, who do not have the extraordinary abilities that Jesus demonstrated after His Resurrection? And, then, how can God be said to have made anything in such weakness/evil, since He is Good/Perfect?

Is there any Church teaching on this issue? If not, is there good Catholic theological/philosophical speculation on it? If there is no official teaching, what are your thoughts on this?

I hope what I’m asking is making sense…

Thanks.

 

[Dan_Defender]

I don’t think there is a teaching with respect to Adam and Eve having glorified bodies but before the fall Adam and Eve had the gifts of immortality and of perfect integration between their reason and their appetites. Now these gifts are beyond man’s nature. By nature a man is capable of death. Also a man is capable of having his lower sexual appetite fight against his reason. But the grace of God not only made man capable of pleasing God but also capable of never dying and never being overwhelmed by sexual temptation. When grace was lost through sin, the preternatural gifts were also lost.

 

[twf]

In the Exsultet we pray “O truly necessary sin of Adam…O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer.”
The Incarnation, in which the human and divine natures are united, raised man to new heights. Glorified man, Christ and those in Christ, is superior to man’s original pre-fall state.

 

[Dovekin]

The LORD God made for the man and his wife garments of skin, with which he clothed them.
Genesis 3:21

Some have read this verse as describng Adam and Eve receiving their fleshy bodies. That does not fit with other elements of the story, eg Eve made from a part of Adam, “flesh of my flesh, bone of my bones,” they were naked, etc. It is not a simple identification of our flawed bodies with theirs.

I am not sure you can say things were perfect before the Fall. Adam was lonely enough that Eve was created. That loneliness was a major flaw, though I suppose it could be seen as being too perfect. There were limitations before death, Do not eat…”

The first chapters of Genesis have more commentary than anything else, at least across the three Abrahamic religions. Almost every opinion has been expressed many times. There are a few things that the Church has ruled on, but not many.

 

[JerryZ]

Did you know that some Saints while they were still alive manifested some phenomena that could not be explained even with modern science.

The ability to nullify gravity for example was manifested in St Joseph da Copertino who was named “The Saint that flew on the wings of faith”. He would very often levitate while offering Mass before the astonished eyes of the congregation. St. Martin de Porres was another Saint who also exhibited this phenomena. This has also been seen in more “modern” Saints like St. Padre Pio and there are others. Google “Saints that levitated” and you will get a few hits.
Another amazing faculty that some Saints have exhibited is the “Bi-Location” the power to be in 2 places at once. There is an example of this with St, Padre Pio that is well documented. But many of the Saints that could levitate had also this faculty.
So as you can see ability to perform extraordinary feats is possible with GOD’s grace. In the next life we will all be like that…Provided we make it

 

[Vico]

…

Adam’s body is not described as a spiritual body. See 1 Corinthians 15:44

Gen 2:

7 then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Catechism

997 What is “rising”? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection.

 

[GEddie]

Nope.

They did not have immortal bodies, as shown by the fact they went on to die.

Because they did not possess immortal bodies, they were not invulnerable. They would have been subject to stubbing their toes, cricking their necks, feeling hunger and cold (if it got cold in Eden,) etc.

The luminous nudes shown in the film NOAH were a cinematic invention. A&E had bodies essentially like our own once the clothes come off. Only at a higher level of genetic perfection.

ICXC NIKA

 

[bobperk]

Yes, I believe so. I actually think this intro scene from the movie “Noah” captures this theory quite nicely. (admittedly, I do not agree with the implied naturalistic evolution portrayed in this scene, but our first parents’ bodies are shown to be glorious):