Peter Lombard (Sentences, II.I.6.2-3) gives two answers to the question: "why was the soul united to the body?"
To this it may first be answered: because God willed it, and the cause of his will is not to be sought.
Secondly, it may be said that God willed it to be united to the body so that he might show forth in the human condition a new example of the blessed union that is between God and spirit, in which he is loved with the whole heart and is seen face to face. For the creature might think that it could not become united with its Creator with such closeness as to love and know him with its whole mind, if it did not see the spirit, which is a most excellent creature, united in such love to such a base creature as is the flesh that it cannot be pressed to wish to leave it behind. The Apostle shows this by saying: We do not wish to be stripped of the body, but to be clothed anew; by this it is shown that the created spirit is united in ineffable love to the uncreated Spirit.
Secondly, it may be said that God willed it to be united to the body so that he might show forth in the human condition a new example of the blessed union that is between God and spirit, in which he is loved with the whole heart and is seen face to face. For the creature might think that it could not become united with its Creator with such closeness as to love and know him with its whole mind, if it did not see the spirit, which is a most excellent creature, united in such love to such a base creature as is the flesh that it cannot be pressed to wish to leave it behind. The Apostle shows this by saying: We do not wish to be stripped of the body, but to be clothed anew; by this it is shown that the created spirit is united in ineffable love to the uncreated Spirit.
