In His infinite grace, God bestowed His divine image upon man in order a) that he might know and serve Him and experience perfect enjoyment in communion with Him, and b) that he might be His representative ruler upon earth, Gen. 1, 27. 28. As after the Fall the redemption of man was motivated by divine love, John 3, 16, so also the creation of man in God's image before the Fall, Ps. 104, 23. 24; 136, 1-9. Although man in the state of integrity intimately knew God, he did not know the eternal decree of redemption; for this was especially revealed to him after the Fall, Gen. 3, 15. Hence our first parents knew God as gracious in Himself, but not as gracious on account of Christ's vicarious atonement. After the Fall and the promulgation of the protevangelium the divine object of man's knowledge and adoration has therefore become different; for now he trusts and adores God as gracious only through the priceless redemption of the Savior, Luke 1, 77. The Biblical concept of salvation (σωτηρία, salus) cannot be applied to man's state of integrity, since it presupposes both sin and the redemption from sin, Luke 19, 10.