The worldview of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Restoration was that all of creation was arranged in various hierarchies. This hierarchical arrangement by Milton is not simply happenstance. Even in Hell, Satan sits on a throne, higher than the other demons. On Earth, Adam is superior to Eve humans rule over animals. Angels are arranged in groups according to their proximity to God. God literally sits on a throne at the top of Heaven. The universe that Milton imagined with Heaven at the top, Hell at the bottom, and Earth in between is a hierarchical place. The first part of Milton's argument hinges on the word disobedience and its opposite, obedience. To understand the theme of Paradise Lost then, a reader does not have to accept Milton's ideas as a vindication of God's actions rather the reader needs to understand the idea of justice that lies behind the actions. Milton wishes to show that the fall, death, and salvation are all acts of a just God. Rather, Milton uses justify in the sense of showing the justice that underlies an action. Such a reading of justify would mean that Milton is taking it upon himself to explain the propriety of God's actions - a presumptuous undertaking when one is dealing with any deity. Milton does not use the word justification in its modern sense of proving that an action is or was proper. However, Milton's idea of justification is not as arrogant as many readers think.

And, just as frequently, readers and those casually acquainted with Paradise Lost misunderstand what Milton means by the word justify, assuming that Milton is rather arrogantly asserting that God's actions and motives seem so arbitrary that they require vindication and explanation. Frequently, discussions of Paradise Lost center on the latter of these three to the exclusion of the first two. The purpose or theme of Paradise Lost then is religious and has three parts: 1) disobedience, 2) Eternal Providence, and 3) justification of God to men. Milton begins Paradise Lost by saying that he will sing, 'Of Man's First Disobedience' (I, 1) so that he can 'assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men' (I, 25-26). His purpose or theme in Paradise Lost is relatively easy to see, if not to accept. He was not always completely orthodox in his ideas, but he was devout. Milton's religious views reflect the time in which he lived and the church to which he belonged. One problem is that Paradise Lost is almost militantly Christian in an age that now seeks out diverse viewpoints and admires the man who stands forth against the accepted view. Modern criticism of Paradise Lost has taken many different views of Milton's ideas in the poem.

Paradise lost book 1