Analysis of the First Chapter of Athanasius' "On the Incarnation"
"On the Incarnation" by the early church father Athanasius of Alexandria is one of the great classic works of the Christian faith. The author himself was present at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and was most known for his defense against Arianism and for Trinitarianism. We would do well as modern Christians to look back on such a man as Athanasius. His boldness and heart for the Triune God of the universe can be clearly seen as you work your way through his writings, but especially through this one that we will talk about here. I will first preface this by saying that there are many men who are smarter than me that have discussed this work and I do not want to make it seem like I am a world class scholar on this subject. All I want to do is to present an analysis of the first chapter in a manner that is accessible and easy to understand while also hoping that it will encourage the reader to take up reading the classics of the faith. Let us begin.
The Divine Word
Athanasius starts his book by referring to a previous work where he made the following point, which he is reestablishing now: The Word of the Father is Himself divine. When saying "the Word" here, the theologian is clearly referring to Jesus. He is using the title "Word" exactly the way the Apostle John uses it in his Gospel (John 1:1). He will continue to refer to Jesus in this way though not every time throughout the work, but many times, so it is important to note that when Athanasius is talking about someone and he says "the Word," that is who he is talking about.
He goes on to explain that all things owe their being to His (Christ) will and power. Not only so, but also that through Christ the Father gives order to creation. This might sound familiar to you because once again, this is what the beginning of John's Gospel says in verse 3, "All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made."
Working off of the fact that Christ is not only truly human, but truly divine, Athanasius talks about how things unbelievers rule out as impossible, God makes plain to see as possible. Believers can see what he is talking about here, it is relevant today just as it was then. Unbelievers suppress the truth in their unrighteousness and think of God and His work as not only impossibility but absurdity. Paul talks about this in Romans 1:18-19, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them." Here is what Athanasius says in his own words, "that which they deride as unfitting, His goodness makes most fit; and things which these wiseacres laugh at as "human" He by His inherent might declares divine."
So it is established:
- Christ is human, He is also divine
- All things owe their entire being to Him
- Creation is given it's order through Him
- Unbelievers suppress this truth in unrighteousness
Why was the Word manifested in bodily form?
So why did the Son of God take on a human nature? Athanasius says, "He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father. for the salvation of us men." It could not get more simple than that, Christ took on flesh for the salvation of men (mankind; he is obviously including women).
Athanasius declares this as the first fact to grasp: "the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word who made it in the beginning." Simply, the salvation of the world is brought about by the same one who created the world. Which you would expect. He created the world, He took time with it, He will care for it. The author says that because of this, there is no inconsistency between creation and salvation. The Father employed the same Agent (Jesus) in effecting the salvation of the world and the creation of it.
Different Views on Creation
Athanasius then pivots to differing views on creation, and his response to them.
- Epicurean View - All things are self-originated and there is no Mind behind the universe
REBUTTAL: If all things came out of an automatic fashion without a Mind, all things would be uniform. However, things have distinction. This distinctness argues for a prevenient cause which we can apprehend as God, the designer.
2. Plato's View - God made all things out of pre-existent and uncreated matter.
REBUTTAL: This view denies that God is the cause of matter and puts limit on Him. Therefore, if He only worked with already existing matter and did not bring matter into being Himself, then He is not the creator but a mere craftsman who worked with what He was given.
3. Gnostic View - An artificer (or inventor) other than the Father of Christ created all things.
REBUTTAL: The Gnostics clearly just shut their eyes to the plain meaning of Scripture of who the creator was. It is plain to see just from Genesis and the Gospel of John who the creator was and it could not be anyone other than the Father of Christ.
The divine teachings of the Christian faith declare just how foolish each of these views are. Athanasius says there IS a Mind behind the universe. Since God is infinite, the universe wasn't made from pre-existing matter. Even so, God created everything "ex nihilo" (out of nothing) and brought everything into being through the Word (Christ). He gives us a quote from an early Christian writing known as The Shepherd of Hermas directly addressing this subject, "Believe thou first and foremost that there is One God who created and arranged all things and brought them out of non-existence into being."
Special Mercy for Man
The theologian brings our attention to humanity itself. Of everything God created, of all His earthly creatures, He reserved a special mercy for the race of men (mankind). God gave men a grace which all other creatures lacked, which is, the impression of His own image. Athanasius says man was made with "a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself."
Not only was man made uniquely in His image, man also had a will. They could turn towards His grace or against it. The author tells us God made His grace upon man conditional upon two things -- a law and a place. Which we could say He cut (or established) a covenant with Adam which includes a blessing and a curse. The bishop says, "If they guarded the grace and retained the loveliness of their original innocence, then the life of paradise should be theirs, without sorrow, pain or care, and after it the assurance of immortality in heaven." Here you can see the blessing that would be bestowed upon them if they kept the Law. This is where you might here the talk of a Covenant of Works which began with Adam.
NOTE -- I already know someone might have a negative reaction to that. You might say, "There is that Calvinist propaganda you're trying to read into the text" or "Athanasius wasn't Reformed." I am well aware of such things. It is not historically accurate to claim Athanasius was Reformed in every thought, he was not a Presbyterian, or Baptist; however, it is also inaccurate to say he was Roman Catholic in the sense of what we know as today as the Papal-led establishment. When we (Reformed) say Covenant of Works, in the most simple terms, we mean there was a covenant made with Adam that if he kept the Law, he would live [blessing], if he broke the law, he would die [cursing]. You can go much deeper with that, but at surface level, this is exactly what Athanasius is talking about here.
The curse that the breaking of this covenant would bring is described as thus, "But if they went astray and became vile, throwing away their birthright of beauty, then they would come under the natural law of death and live no longer in paradise, but, dying outside of it, continue in death and in corruption."
Hence, original sin. Adam, as our federal head, did in fact choose the latter and not the former. Which is why the corruption of sin has passed on to his descendants ever since.
Athanasius assumes the reader is wondering why we are discussing the origin of man when he set out to talk about the Incarnation. Here's why.
Our Sin and His Love
He says the Incarnation is relevant to the origin of man because "it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us." There is genuine debate about whether the Incarnation was necessary only because man sinned or if the Incarnation would have been necessary even if man never sinned (this would fall under the Supralapsarian view rather than the Infralapsarian view, that's a debate for another time). Whatever side of the aisle you land on, Athanasius takes a more Infralapsarian view in that Christ took on flesh to deal with humanity's sin problem. God willed that man should remain in incorruption, men turned to the evil of their own devising, then God out of His love willed to save His people.
Athanasius ties this back to the creation of man. God created man good and from non-existence. Now that sin had entered, through corruption, man was in a sense returning to non-existence. Man broke the Law of God, therefore, deserved death and non-existence. He continues concerning the sinful ways of man, "they had gone on gradually from bad to worse, not stopping at any one kind of evil, but continually, as with insatiable appetite, devising new kinds of sins."
He ends chapter one by continuing to explain just how sinful humanity had gotten; injustice, iniquities, wars, crimes contrary to nature, and the like. You're left with feeling guilt and shame, but as you could probably tell, this isn't the end of the story. Those beautiful words "but God" ring true throughout the rest of the classic work.
This is just how jam-packed with information Athanasius comprised chapter one with. He explains the necessity of the Son of God becoming man to pay the debt we owed in his following chapters. It is pure gospel truth. Hopefully this leaves you with wanting to read this book for yourself, as well as other Christian classics from saints who have gone before us. I pray this has been a help to any who have read it and hope that your interest in such writings will bring you closer to the God who created you.
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