On the Incarnation

I was parusing the local "Christian" book store, I put that in quotes because when you have TD Jakes on the shelf one has to wonder where this store draws the line. I am guessing it is drawn on profit margin. Anyways, I found a small book on their "classics" bookshelf by Athanasius. I wanted to pick up this book so that I could read one of the greatest defenders of God incarnate in our history. I have read many quotes by Athanasius and also read some biographies on Athanasius, but I had never taken up the task to read any of his works. I am glad I decided to do so.

On the Incarnation is very well put together and I wish that more people would put together their argumentation for Christ in this way. Athanasius wrote this book sometime probably in his youth in the early 4th century to his friend, new to the faith, named Macarius.

To prove the incarnation of God the Word, Athanasius starts at Creation and the Fall, continues with the Divine dilemma and its solution in the incarnation, the death of Christ, the resurrection and then ends with refuting the Jews and Gentiles.

The letter to his friend is very easily set up and the use of logic as a defense and offense of argumentation is done very well. He not only does this, but also uses the Scriptures (a lot) and external proofs to lay out his argumentation for the incarnation of God through Christ.

I was expecting this read to be very laborious, but the translation is done very well and makes for an easy, yet edifying read. By the time the reader gets to the refutation of the Jews and Gentiles the arguments have been laid out so well that these arguments are not difficult to prove. Although some of these would not hold water now, as Athanasius does employ the fruits of conversion of people as proof. Using this same logic one could point to Mormomism and Islam in the same light. Even with this, the way that he shows these proofs is still very interesting to read and look to as great reminders of what Christ and the Holy Spirit were doing in the early years of Christianity.

What I like most about this book is that I was still able to glean much truth from it even though it was written 1700 years ago. I was able to take a glimpse into life in the 4th century and to see what was happening in early Christianity and watch a messenger of God put forth the great Gospel truths.

This book is still for readers and apologists today and shows why Athanasius was one of the most intelligent and used men of God. Highly Recommended.

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Athanasius on the Death of Christ

I am reading "On the Incarnation" by Athanasius for personal study and found an interesting section this morning on the death of Christ. I thought I would put up the quote for all to look at. I have found this small treaties on the Incarnation to be very profitable and will put up a review when I am finished. But for now, here is a quote on the atonement:

Even the very creation broke silence at His behest and, marvellous to relate, confessed with one voice before the cross, that monument of victory, that He who suffered thereon in the body was not man only, but the Son of God and Saviour of all. The sun veiled his face, the earth quaked, the mountains were rent asunder, all men were stricken with awe. These things showed that Christ on the cross was God, and that all creation was His slave and was bearing witness by its fear to the presence of its Master.

Thus, then, God the Word revealed Himself to men through His works. We must next consider the end of His earthly life and the nature of His bodily death. This is, indeed, the very centre of our faith, and everywhere you hear men speak of it; by it, too, no less than by His other acts, Christ is revealed as God and Son of God.

We have dealt as far as circumstances and our own understanding permit with the reason for His bodily manifestation. We have seen that to change the corruptible to incorruption was proper to none other than the Saviour Himself, Who in the beginning made all things out of nothing; that only the Image of the Father could re-create the likeness of the Image in men, that none save our Lord Jesus Christ could give to mortals immortality, and that only the Word Who orders all things and is alone the Fathers' true and sole-begotten Son could teach men about Him and abolish the worhship of idols. But beyond all this, there was a debt owing which must needs be paid; for, as I said before, all men were due to die. Here, then, is the second reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all,surrendering His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man's account with death and free him from the primal transgression. In the same act also He showed Himself mightier than death, displaying His own body incorruptible as the first-fruits of the resurrection.

You must not be surprised if we repeat ourselves in dealing with this subject. We are speaking of the good pleasure of God and of the things which He in His loving wisdom thought fit to do, and it is better to put the same thing in several ways than to run the risk of leaving something out. The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus it happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord's body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. Death there had to be, and death for all, so that the due of all might be paid. Wherefore, the Word, as I said, being Himself incapable of death, assumed a mortal body, that He might offer it as His own in place of all, and suffering for the sake of all through His union with it, "might bring to nought Him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver them who all their lifetime were enslaved by the fear of death."
On the Incarnation, Athanasius, Chapter 4; The Death of Christ; pgs. 48-49

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