Lactantius — Divine Institutes 7.5
Let us now assign the reason why He made man himself. For if the philosophers had known this, they would either have maintained those things which they had found to be true , or would not have fallen into the greatest errors . For this is the chief thing; this is the point on which everything turns. And if any one does not possess this, the truth altogether glides away from him. It is this, in short, which causes them to be inconsistent with reason; for if this had shone upon them, if they had known all the mystery of man , the Academy would never have been in entire opposition to their disputations, and to all philosophy . As, therefore, God did not make the world for His own sake, because He does not stand in need of its advantages, but for the sake of man , who has the use of it, so also He made man himself for His own sake.
What advantage is there to God in man, says Epicurus , that He should make him for His own sake? Truly, that there might be one who might understand His works; who might be able both to admire with his understanding, and to express with his voice, the foresight displayed in their arrangement, the order of their creation, the power exerted in their completion. And the sum of all these things is, that he should worship God. For he who understands these things worships Him; he follows Him with due veneration as the Maker of all things, He as his true Father, who measures the excellence of His majesty according to the invention, the commencement, and completion of His works.
What more evident argument can be brought forward that God both made the world for the sake of man , and man for His own sake, than that he alone of all living creatures has been so formed that his eyes are directed towards heaven, his face looking towards God , his countenance is in fellowship with his Parent, so that God appears, as it were, with outstretched hand to have raised man from the ground, and to have elevated him to the contemplation of Himself. What, then, he says, does the worship paid by man confer on God , who is blessed, and in want of nothing? Or if He gave such honour to man as to create the world for his sake, to furnish him with wisdom, to make him lord of all things living, and to love him as a son, why did He make him subject to death and decay? Why did He expose the object of His love to all evils ?
When it was befitting that man should be happy , as though closely connected with God , and everlasting as He is, to the worship and contemplation of whom he was formed. Although we have taught these things for the most part in a scattered manner in the former books, nevertheless, since the subject now specially requires it, because we have undertaken to discuss the subject of a happy life, these things are to be explained by us more carefully and fully, that the arrangement made by God , and His work and will, may be known .