ach one.
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FIFTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 1, Art. 5]

Whether It Was Fitting That God Should Become Incarnate in the
Beginning of the Human Race?

Objection 1: It would seem that it was fitting that God should become
incarnate in the beginning of the human race. For the work of the
Incarnation sprang from the immensity of Divine charity, according to
Eph. 2:4, 5: "But God (Who is rich in mercy), for His exceeding
charity wherewith He loved us . . . even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together in Christ." But charity does not tarry in
bringing assistance to a friend who is suffering need, according to
Prov. 3:28: "Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again, and tomorrow
I will give to thee, when thou canst give at present." Therefore God
ought not to have put off the work of the Incarnation, but ought
thereby to have brought relief to the human race from the beginning.

Obj. 2: Further, it is written (1 Tim. 1:15): "Christ Jesus came into
this world to save sinners." But more would have been saved had God
become incarnate at the beginning of the human race; for in the
various centuries very many, through not knowing God, perished in
their sin. Therefore it was fitting that God should become incarnate
at the beginning of the human race.

Obj. 3: Further, the work of grace is not less orderly than the work
of nature. But nature takes its rise with the more perfect, as
Boethius says (De Consol. iii). Therefore the work of Christ ought to
have been perfect from the beginning. But in the work of the
Incarnation we see the perfection of grace, according to John 1:14:
"The Word was made flesh"; and afterwards it is added: "Full of grace
and truth." Therefore Christ ought to have become incarnate at the
beginning of the human race.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gal. 4:4): "But when the fulness of
the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law": upon which a gloss says that "the fulness of the time is when
it was decreed by God the Father to send His Son." But God decreed
everything by His wisdom. Therefore God became incarnate at the most
fitting time; and it was not fitting that God should become incarnate
at the beginning of the human race.

_I answer that,_ Since the work of the Incarnation is principally
ordained to the restoration of the human race by blotting out sin, it
is manifest that it was not fitting for God to become incarnate at
the beginning of t