On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria is a brilliant account of why God became human. The incarnation cannot be understood apart from the death and resurrection of Christ, nor apart from God’s desire to heal the whole world.

Learn how the incarnation renews all of creation and makes possible a life of holiness.

Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373), one of the great church fathers of early Christianity, is best known for his patient and ultimately victorious defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. His opponents, the Arians (followers of Arius), denied the full divinity of Christ, arguing instead that the Son was a created being. As a young boy, Athanasius had witnessed many Christians becoming martyrs during the reign of Diocletian. Their courage no doubt inspired Athanasius’ own witness. For his defense of the Son as fully divine, he was banned by the emperor no less than five times. His epitaph aptly states, “Athanasius contra mundum” (Athanasius against the world).

This study on the incarnation is not only a theological argument; it is also a call to live a life of courage and holiness. As Athanasius emphasizes throughout, Christians need have no fear of death or of any other enemy. In Christ, all of creation, including our own lives, has been renewed.

In this summary, you will learn:

  • how creation sheds light on the incarnation and vice versa;
  • how the death and resurrection of Christ make sense of the incarnation; and
  • why belief in the incarnation leads to holiness and witness (and even martyrdom).

In creating the world, God does not withhold His goodness from us.

Any understanding of the incarnation must begin with creation. The same Word who is the Agent of creation is also the source of salvation; “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

We hear many different theories about how the world came to be. Some philosophers argue that the world appeared spontaneously without design. If this were true, however, all things would be more or less similar. There would be no distinct purpose for the moon or sun, much less for the different parts of our bodies, such as the fingers and ears. The distinct purpose of things points to a prior Cause.

Other philosophers, the Platonists, believe God created the world out of a prior substance. God is like a carpenter who uses wood to make furniture. This view, however, depends upon matter existing before or alongside of the existence of God. The Platonic god is thus not the Creator of all that is.

Finally, the Gnostics view creation and the body as a kind of prison. They deny the essential goodness of the created world. Does Scripture, however, not affirm the goodness of creation and the body, emphasizing that what God has joined (husband and wife) is cause for celebration?

In contrast to these erroneous views, Christian theology teaches that God created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo). Everything that is exists only through the creative love of God. It is the nature of true goodness to extend itself to others. God, who is pure goodness, does not, therefore, withhold His divine benevolence but extends it into the very heart of creation. As such, all of creation is profoundly good.

The clearest mark of this goodness is the creation of men and women in the image of God. This divine image is a “birthright of beauty.” As creatures in God’s image, all have the capacity to share in God’s own communion, beauty, and mind.

Humans, however, have gone astray in two key ways: They have ceased to contemplate God, and they have disobeyed Him. Corruption in the form of death and sin has entered the world. Just as rust corrodes metal, so also does sin corrode true being, Disorder rather than harmony rules the day. Conflict, battles, and warring nations have plunged creation into deeper darkness.

 

The divine dilemma is that God can neither negate His Word nor allow creation to disappear.

Humans who were created to be in communion with God were thus “disappearing.” They were ceasing to be: to be creatures delighting in God and His goodness. Creation itself was falling away from its very Source.

How was God to respond? On the one hand, if He allowed corruption to continue, His own creation would disappear, thus negating its goodness and, by implication, God’s own goodness. On the other hand, God could not turn back on His own word that death would follow disobedience. Even human repentance could not solve this “divine dilemma.” Through repentance, one might stop sinning for a while, but repentance alone could not overcome corruption and death; it could not renew creation.

Only God could resolve this dilemma, and He did so in an astounding way. While God has always been present throughout creation, He came into the world in a completely new way. He descended to our level, not merely pretending to be human but actually becoming flesh and blood. As such, He did not negate the Law but fulfilled it, thus displaying the fact that God’s Word never fails. Further, He became human, sharing death through a corruptible body in order to defeat death for all.

It might seem odd that the death of one Person could have anything to do with the death of all. Yet humanity shares a solidarity. In creation, the disobedience of Adam and Eve is the disobedience of us all. Apart from the grace of God, all follow the path of Adam and Eve toward idolatry. This same solidarity pertains when God became flesh. The Son defeats death, not only for Himself, but so that all might have true abundant life in God. Just as in Adam, we died, so now in Christ are we made alive (1 Corinthians 15:21).

When a great king or distinguished leader enters a town, the whole population is honored. Crowds gather, feasts are prepared, and a palpable excitement runs through the city. The same is true, though on a far grander scale, with the divine Prince. Christ has come to where we are. He dwells with us, having overturned the enemy and defeated the powers of death. The world has changed, whether the “villagers” recognize it or not…

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