It follows that we consider the
form which is the third cause. Now truly, the lowlier the matter is from which
man was made, so much more precious and excellent is the form which was given
to him. I pass over the exterior form of the body, i.e. the figure of the human
body, which is more excellent than the figures of all animals. This form is not
substantial, but accidental. Thus, the substantial form of man, namely what
makes him man, is what distinguishes him from other living creatures. This is
his immortal soul, endowed with reason and free will, which is God’s Image made
to his own likeness.
We read that God said when he made
man, “Let us make man to our image and likeness; and let him have dominion over
the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts, and the whole
earth, and every creeping creature that moves upon the earth.” Thus, man is God’s
image, not because of his body, but of his soul, for God is a spirit, not a
body, and as St. Basil says “Wherever there is one with command over other living
creatures there is the image of God.” Now, man does not command the beasts by
the members of the body, which are stronger in many beasts than in man, but by
his mind endowed with reason and freewill. For not by that which he has in
common with them does he rule them, but by that whereby he is distinguished
from them and made like unto God. (Robert Bellarmine, The Ascent of The Mind
To God: By the Ladder of Creation [trans. Ryan Grant; Port Falls, ID.:
Mediatrix Press, 2022], First Step, Chapter 4, pp. 7-8)
Further Reading:
Lynn Wilder vs. Latter-day Saint (and Biblical) Theology on Divine Embodiment