Spirituality

Man is capable of God

God not only created man in his image, but he also created him with an immediate tendency toward Him. In consequence Saint Augustine holds that man has the possibility and the ability to reach God, thus man is capable of God. In fact, Augustine affirms that man is the image of God precisely because he is capable of God. (cf. The Trinity 14,8,11) Yet man is only an imperfect image, as Augustine himself explains:

But man, that image of God, was not made in any sense equal, being created by him, not born of him; so to make this point man is image of God in such a way as to be “to the image”; that is, he is not equated in perfect parity with God, but approaches him in a certain similarity. One does not approach God by moving across intervals of place, but by likeness or similarity, and one moves away from him by dissimilarity or unlikeness.
(The Trinity 7,6,12)

Since man is only an imperfect image of God, accordingly he can only imperfectly reach God here on earth. In fact it is only in heaven where man can perfectly reach God, for it is only then that he becomes a perfect image of God. During his lifetime man is called to grow in greater likeness to God, for man is free to tend either towards God or else away from Him. As Augustine goes on explaining, growing in greater likeness to God is not a question of spatial physical distance between God and man. Since God is a spiritual being man moves closer to God the more he discovers the spiritual dimension in him while he moves farther from God the more he disregards this spiritual dimension. Finally, Augustine considers that man’s honour consists in being the more like God. (The Trinity 12,11,16)

God not only created man in his image, but he also created him with an immediate tendency toward Him.