Was man created mortal or immortal?

We can find three different views among the Syrian Fathers on this question.

The first view is that of Theodore of Mopsuestia , Narsai , and the Fathers of the Nestorian School . God created human beings with a nature that is subject to corruption. The commandment allowed the human being to practice free will and to know that he is subject to death.

The second view is that of Miaphysite Fathers such as St. Severus of Antioch and St. Philoxenus of Mabbug . They believed that God created human beings immortal by nature, but that they became subject to death when they sinned. Thus, humanity inherited death from Adam and our nature became a mortal nature as an inheritance from our father Adam. Some scholars believe that St. Jacob of Sarug adopted the same view. He considered the human being, into whom such beauty was poured, to be immortal; and that the incarnate Lord Christ was in the state of the first Adam before his fall into sin: “For God did not make death, neither does He have pleasure over the destruction of the living” (Wisd. of Sol. 1:13). And the apostle Paul says, “Through one man sin entered the world and death through sin” (Rom. 5:12).

The third view is that of St. Ephrem the Syrian , Diodore of Tarsus , and Theophilus of Antioch . This is the view that human beings are by nature neither mortal nor immortal. If they were immortal from the moment of their creation, they would have been God Himself; and if they were mortal from the moment of their creation, then God would be responsible for their death. Rather, the human being himself chooses by his own free will whether to be immortal or mortal. Some scholars consider St. Jacob of Sarug to have held this view. Adam’s nature was beautiful and perfect, for it was immortal, yet also subject to death;

489 Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 12 (ANF 2:154–155).

490 J. Danièlou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity . A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea, Vol. 1. (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1964): p. 47.

491 Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 18, 20 (ANF 2:158–160).

composed of a soul like the angels and a body like the animals. And it was capable of free will through which it could tend towards whatever it willed. Here we see the ingeniousness of the Creator in that He created a being that would not die, unless it so chose.⁴⁹² He says, “He formed Adam and gave him life rather than death; but when he accepted evil counsel, this was by nothing but his own free will.”⁴⁹³