Man's Companion

Item alia quaestio, quia dixit Dominus: Non est bonum solum esse hominem. Primo omnium cognosce quia in superioribus, ubi hominem finxit Deus de limo terrae, non addidit: Et vidit Deus quia bonum est, quemadmodum in singulis operibus suis. Nam si dixisset illic bonum esse, quia homo factus est, inveniretur hoc esse contrarium, ut hic non esse bonum diceret, cum in superioribus bonum esse dixisset. Sed hoc ibi cognosce, ubi solum Adam fecit. Caeterum ubi communiter comprehendit et virum et mulierem factos, licet ne ibi quidem dixerit specialiter; tamen quia postea habes: Vidit Deus omnia quae fecit, et ecce erant bona valde, evidenter declaratur bonum esse quod et vir sit factus, et mulier. Sed ex hac quaestione alia quaestio rursus emergit. Quomodo enim quando solus factus est Adam, non dictum est bonum esse factum Adam: quando autem et mulier ex eo facta est, tunc esse bona omnia comprehensum est? Licet illic omnem laudaverit creaturam, et universitatis creatio sit probata, quoniam in homine naturae praedicta communitas est: tamen non videtur otiosum, qua ratione ubi solus factus est Adam, non solum nequaquam praedicatio boni complacito operi adjecta sit; sed etiam dictum sit non esse bonum solum hominem: cum sciamus quod antequam fieret mulier, non erraverit Adam; postea vero quam mulier est facta, prior divinum praevaricata mandatum, etiam virum suum traxerit in errorem, et incentivum ejus exstiterit. Si igitur vero culpae auctor est mulier, quemadmodum pro bono videtur adjecta? Verum si consideres quia Deo universitatis est cura, invenies plus placere Domino debuisse id in quo esset causa universitatis, quam condemnandum fuisse illud in quo esset causa peccati. Et ideo quia ex viro solo non poterat humani esse generis propagatio, pronuntiavit Dominus non esse bonum solum esse hominem. Maluit enim Deus plures esse quos salvos facere posset, et quibus donaret peccatum, quam unum solum Adam, qui liber esset a culpa. Denique quia idem utriusque auctor est operis, venit in hunc mundum, ut salvos faceret peccatores. Postremo nec Cain parricidii reum priusquam generaret filios, passus est interire. Ergo propter generationem successionis humanae debuit mulier adjici viro. Denique hoc ipsa verba declarant dicentis Dei, non bonum solum esse hominem. Nam etsi mulier prior peccatura erat, tamen redemptionem sibi paritura non debuit ab usu divinae operationis excludi. Quamvis enim Adam non est seductus, mulier autem seducta et in praevaricatione fuerit, salva tamen, inquit, erit per filiorum generationem, inter quos generavit et Christum. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Paradiso, Caput X Migne PL 14.297-298

Likewise there is another question, since the Lord said: 'It is not good for man to be alone.' 1 First of all recognize that when above God created man from the mud of the earth, He did not add: 'And God saw that it was good,'  2 as in the case of each of His works. For if then He had said that it was good that man was made, then here in this passage would be found its contrary, and so here He did not say it was good when concerning previous things he had said that it was good. Understand this, then, when Adam alone was created. But when He perceived man and woman were joined together in creation, He did not there speak in a special manner, for after it we have: 'God saw all that He had made, and, behold, it was very good,' 3 openly declaring that the creation of both man and woman is a good. But from this question again another question arises. How was it that when Adam alone was created, it was not said that the making of Adam was good, but when the woman was made from him, then it is to understood that everything was good? When He commended the whole of creation and the creation of everything approved, in this judgement man is included, and it does not seem otiose because when Adam alone was created an assertion that the work was good would not have been by any means a fitting judgement of a good work, but indeed it was said that it was not good for man to be alone. But we know that before woman was created Adam did not err; however, after her making, she was the first to disobey the Divine command and even drew her man into error, provoking him to it. If, therefore, the woman is the author of error, how can her addition be considered a good? If you consider that everything is in the care of God, you will discover that it was more pleasing to the Lord to be responsible for all creation than to condemn it for providing the basis for sin. And therefore, because from man alone the the human race could not be propagated, the Lord declared that it was not good for man to be alone. For God preferred that He be able to save many, even giving to them the ability to sin, than one Adam alone exist free from fault. Then, as He is the Creator of both man and woman, He came into this world to redeem sinners. Finally, He did not permit Cain, a man guilty of the murder of his own brother, to perish before he sired children. 4 Therefore, for the sake of successive human generations, it was that woman should be joined to man. Thus we must interpret the very words of God when He declared that it was not good for man to be alone. For even if the woman was to be the first one to err,  that she was the one who was to bring forth redemption should not be excluded from the Divine work. Although 'Adam was not led astray, the woman was and was in sin.' 5 Yet she, he says, 'will be saved by childbearing,' 6  by which she gave birth to Christ.    Saint Ambrose, from On Paradise, Chap 10 1 Gen 2.18 2 Gen 1.14 3 Gen 1.31 4 Gen 4.15-17  5 1 Tim 2.14    6 1 Tim 2.16