s were created together at
the beginning of the world. For it is written (Gen. 2:2): "God rested
Him from all His work which He had done." This would not be true if He
created new souls every day. Therefore all souls were created at the
same time.

Obj. 2: Further, spiritual substances before all others belong to the
perfection of the universe. If therefore souls were created with the
bodies, every day innumerable spiritual substances would be added to
the perfection of the universe: consequently at the beginning the
universe would have been imperfect. This is contrary to Gen. 2:2,
where it is said that "God ended" all "His work."

Obj. 3: Further, the end of a thing corresponds to its beginning. But
the intellectual soul remains, when the body perishes. Therefore it
began to exist before the body.

_On the contrary,_ It is said (De Eccl. Dogmat. xiv, xviii) that "the
soul is created together with the body."

_I answer that,_ Some have maintained that it is accidental to the
intellectual soul to be united to the body, asserting that the soul
is of the same nature as those spiritual substances which are not
united to a body. These, therefore, stated that the souls of men were
created together with the angels at the beginning. But this statement
is false. Firstly, in the very principle on which it is based. For if
it were accidental to the soul to be united to the body, it would
follow that man who results from this union is a being by accident;
or that the soul is a man, which is false, as proved above (Q. 75, A.
4). Moreover, that the human soul is not of the same nature as the
angels, is proved from the different mode of understanding, as shown
above (Q. 55, A. 2; Q. 85, A. 1): for man understands through
receiving from the senses, and turning to phantasms, as stated above
(Q. 84, AA. 6, 7; Q. 85, A. 1). For this reason the soul needs to be
united to the body, which is necessary to it for the operation of the
sensitive part: whereas this cannot be said of an angel.

Secondly, this statement can be proved to be false in itself. For if
it is natural to the soul to be united to the body, it is unnatural
to it to be without a body, and as long as it is without a body it is
deprived of its natural perfection. Now it was not fitting that God
should begin His work with things imperfect and unnatural, for He did
not make man without a hand or a foot, which are natural parts of a
man. Much less, therefore, did He make the