On the Incarnation (PDF)

On the Incarnation by St.Athanasius

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On the Incarnationby

St. Athanasius

Made available to the net by:Paul Halsall [email protected]

Formatted into HTML by:Tim Hawes [email protected]

Formatted into E-texton March 1, 1998

This book is in the public domain.It is not copyrighted.


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Table of Contents

Chapter I Creation And The Fall

Chapter II The Divine Dilemma And Its Solution In The Incarnation

Chapter III The Divine Dilemma And Its Solution In The Incarnation--Continued

Chapter IV The Death Of Christ

Chapter V The Resurrection

Chapter VI Refutation Of The Jews

Chapter VII Refutation Of The Gentiles

Chapter VIII Refutation Of The Gentiles--Continued

Chapter IX Conclusion

End Notes (End Notes are now the footnotes)

Scripture Index


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CHAPTER I

Creation And The Fall

(1) In our former book 1 we dealt fully enoughwith a few of the chief points about the heathenworship of idols, and how those false fearsoriginally arose. We also, by God's grace, brieflyindicated that the Word of the Father is Himselfdivine, that all things that are owe their being toHis will and power, and that it is through Himthat the Father gives order to creation, by Himthat all things are moved, and through Him thatthey receive their being. Now, Macarius, truelover of Christ, we must take a step further in thefaith of our holy religion, and consider also theWord's becoming Man and His divine Appearingin our midst. That mystery the Jews traduce, theGreeks deride, but we adore; and your own loveand devotion to the Word also will be thegreater, because in His Manhood He seems solittle worth. For it is a fact that the moreunbelievers pour scorn on Him, so much themore does He make His Godhead evident. Thethings which they, as men, rule out asimpossible, He plainly shows to be possible; thatwhich they deride as unfitting, His goodnessmakes most fit; and things which these wiseacreslaugh at as "human" He by His inherent mightdeclares divine. Thus by what seems His utterpoverty and weakness on the cross He overturnsthe pomp and parade of idols, and quietly andhiddenly wins over the mockers and unbelieversto recognize Him as God.

Now in dealing with these matters it is necessaryfirst to recall what has already been said. Youmust understand why it is that the Word of theFather, so great and so high, has been mademanifest in bodily form. He has not assumed abody as proper to His own nature, far from it, foras the Word He is without body. He has been

1 i.e. the Contra Gentes.

manifested in a human body for this reason only,out of the love and goodness of His Father, forthe salvation of us men. We will begin, then,with the creation of the world and with God itsMaker, for the first fact that you must grasp isthis: the renewal of creation has been wroughtby the Self-same Word Who made it in thebeginning. There' is thus no inconsistencybetween creation and salvation for the OneFather has employed the same Agent for bothworks, effecting the salvation of the worldthrough the same Word Who made it in thebeginning.

(2) In regard to the making of the universe andthe creation of all things there have been variousopinions, and each person has propounded thetheory that suited his own taste. For instance,some say that all things are self-originated and,so to speak, haphazard. The Epicureans areamong these; they deny that there is any Mindbehind the universe at all. This view is contraryto all the facts of experience, their own existenceincluded. For if all things had come into being inthis automatic fashion, instead of being theoutcome of Mind, though they existed, theywould all be uniform and without distinction. Inthe universe everything would be sun or moon orwhatever it was, and in the human body thewhole would be hand or eye or foot. But in pointof fact the sun and the moon and the earth are alldifferent things, and even within the human bodythere are different members, such as foot andhand and head. This distinctness of things arguesnot a spontaneous generation but a prevenientCause; and from that Cause we can apprehendGod, the Designer and Maker of all.

Others take the view expressed by Plato, thatgiant among the Greeks. He said that God hadmade all things out of pre-existent and uncreatedmatter, just as the carpenter makes things onlyout of wood that already exists. But those whohold this view do not realize that to deny thatGod is Himself the Cause of matter is to imputelimitation to Him, just as it is undoubtedly a


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limitation on the part of the carpenter that he canmake nothing unless he has the wood. Howcould God be called Maker and Artificer if Hisability to make depended on some other cause,namely on matter itself? If He only worked upexisting matter and did not Himself bring matterinto being, He would be not the Creator but onlya craftsman.

Then, again, there is the theory of the Gnostics,who have invented for themselves an Artificer ofall things other than the Father of our Lord JesusChrist. These simply shut their eyes to theobvious meaning of Scripture. For instance, theLord, having reminded the Jews of the statementin Genesis,

"He Who created them in thebeginning made them male andfemale . . . ," and having shown thatfor that reason a man should leave hisparents and cleave to his wife, goeson to say with reference to theCreator, "What therefore God hasjoined together, let no man putasunder." 2

How can they get a creation independentof the Father out of that? And, again, St.John, speaking all inclusively, says,

"All things became by Him andwithout Him came nothing intobeing." 3

How then could the Artificer be someonedifferent, other than the Father of Christ?

(3) Such are the notions which men putforward. But the impiety of their foolishtalk is plainly declared by the divineteaching of the Christian faith. From itwe know that, because there is Mindbehind the universe, it did not originateitself; because God is infinite, not finite,it was not made from pre-existent matter,but out of nothing and out of non-existence absolute and utter God brought

2 Matt. 19. 4-63 John 1. 3

it into being through the Word. He saysas much in Genesis:

"In the beginning God created theheavens and the earth; 4

and again through that most helpful bookThe Shepherd,

"Believe thou first and foremost thatthere is One God Who created andarranged all things and brought themout of non-existence into being." 5

Paul also indicates the same thing whenhe says,

"By faith we understand that theworlds were framed by the Word ofGod, so that the things which we seenow did not come into being out ofthings which had previouslyappeared." 6

For God is good--or rather, of allgoodness He is Fountainhead, and it isimpossible for one who is good to bemean or grudging about anything.Grudging existence to none therefore, Hemade all things out of nothing throughHis own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ andof all these His earthly creatures Hereserved especial mercy for the race ofmen. Upon them, therefore, upon menwho, as animals, were essentiallyimpermanent, He bestowed a grace whichother creatures lacked--namely theimpress of His own Image, a share in thereasonable being of the very WordHimself, so that, reflecting Him andthemselves becoming reasonable andexpressing the Mind of God even as Hedoes, though in limited degree they mightcontinue for ever in the blessed and onlytrue life of the saints in paradise. Butsince the will of man could turn eitherway, God secured this grace that He hadgiven by making it conditional from thefirst upon two things--namely, a law anda place. He set them in His own paradise,

4 Gen. 1. 15 The Shepherd of Hermas, Book II. I6 Heb. 11. 3


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and laid upon them a single prohibition.If they guarded the grace and retained theloveliness of their original innocence,then the life of paradise should be theirs,without sorrow, pain or care, and after itthe assurance of immortality in heaven.But if they went astray and became vile,throwing away their birthright of beauty,then they would come under the naturallaw of death and live no longer inparadise, but, dying outside of it,continue in death and in corruption. Thisis what Holy Scripture tells us,proclaiming the command of God,

"Of every tree that is in the gardenthou shalt surely eat, but of the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil yeshall not eat, but in the day that ye doeat, ye shall surely die." 7

"Ye shall surely die"--not just die only,but remain in the state of death and ofcorruption.

(4) You may be wondering why we arediscussing the origin of men when we setout to talk about the Word's becomingMan. The former subject is relevant tothe latter for this reason: it was our sorrycase that caused the Word to come down,our transgression that called out His lovefor us, so that He made haste to help usand to appear among us. It is we whowere the cause of His taking human form,and for our salvation that in His greatlove He was both born and manifested ina human body. For God had made manthus (that is, as an embodied spirit), andhad willed that he should remain inincorruption. But men, having turnedfrom the contemplation of God to evil oftheir own devising, had come inevitablyunder the law of death. Instead ofremaining in the state in which God hadcreated them, they were in process ofbecoming corrupted entirely, and deathhad them completely under its dominion.

7 Gen. 2. 16 f.

For the transgression of thecommandment was making them turnback again according to their nature; andas they had at the beginning come intobeing out of non-existence, so were theynow on the way to returning, throughcorruption, to non-existence again. Thepresence and love of the Word had calledthem into being; inevitably, thereforewhen they lost the knowledge of God,they lost existence with it; for it is Godalone Who exists, evil is non-being, thenegation and antithesis of good. Bynature, of course, man is mortal, since hewas made from nothing; but he bears alsothe Likeness of Him Who is, and if hepreserves that Likeness through constantcontemplation, then his nature is deprivedof its power and he remains incorrupt. Sois it affirmed in Wisdom:

"The keeping of His laws is theassurance of incorruption." 8

And being incorrupt, he would behenceforth as God, as Holy Scripturesays,

"I have said, Ye are gods and sons ofthe Highest all of you: but ye die asmen and fall as one of the princes." 9

(5) This, then, was the plight of men.God had not only made them out ofnothing, but had also graciouslybestowed on them His own life by thegrace of the Word. Then, turning frometernal things to things corruptible, bycounsel of the devil, they had become thecause of their own corruption in death;for, as I said before, though they were bynature subject to corruption, the grace oftheir union with the Word made themcapable of escaping from the natural law,provided that they retained the beauty ofinnocence with which they were created.That is to say, the presence of the Word

8 Wisdom 6. 189 Psalm 82. 6 f.


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with them shielded them even fromnatural corruption, as also Wisdom says:

"God created man for incorruptionand as an image of His own eternity;but by envy of the devil death enteredinto the world." 10

When this happened, men began to die,and corruption ran riot among them andheld sway over them to an even morethan natural degree, because it was thepenalty of which God had forewarnedthem for transgressing thecommandment. Indeed, they had in theirsinning surpassed all limits; for, havinginvented wickedness in the beginning andso involved themselves in death andcorruption, they had gone on graduallyfrom bad to worse, not stopping at anyone kind of evil, but continually, as withinsatiable appetite, devising new kinds ofsins. Adulteries and thefts wereeverywhere, murder and rapine filled theearth, law was disregarded in corruptionand injustice, all kinds of iniquities wereperpetrated by all, both singly and incommon. Cities were warring with cities,nations were rising against nations, andthe whole earth was rent with factionsand battles, while each strove to outdothe other in wickedness. Even crimescontrary to nature were not unknown, butas the martyr-apostle of Christ says:

"Their women changed the naturaluse into that which is against nature;and the men also, leaving the naturaluse of the woman, flamed out in lusttowards each other, perpetratingshameless acts with their own sex,and receiving in their own persons thedue recompense of theirpervertedness." 11

10 Wisdom 2. 23 f.11 Rom. 1. 26 f.


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CHAPTER II

The Divine Dilemma And ItsSolution In The Incarnation

(6) We saw in the last chapter that, because deathand corruption were gaining ever firmer hold onthem, the human race was in process ofdestruction. Man, who was created in God'simage and in his possession of reason reflectedthe very Word Himself, was disappearing, andthe work of God was being undone. The law ofdeath, which followed from the Transgression,prevailed upon us, and from it there was noescape. The thing that was happening was intruth both monstrous and unfitting. It would, ofcourse, have been unthinkable that God shouldgo back upon His word and that man, havingtransgressed, should not die; but it was equallymonstrous that beings which once had shared thenature of the Word should perish and turn backagain into non-existence through corruption. Itwas unworthy of the goodness of God thatcreatures made by Him should be brought tonothing through the deceit wrought upon man bythe devil; and it was supremely unfitting that thework of God in mankind should is appear, eitherthrough their own negligence or through thedeceit of evil spirits. As, then, the creatureswhom He had created reasonable, like the Word,were in fact perishing, and such noble workswere on the road to ruin, what then was God,being Good, to do? Was He to let corruption anddeath have their way with them? In that case,what was the use of having made them in thebeginning? Surely it would have been betternever to have been created at all than, havingbeen created, to be neglected and perish; and,besides that, such indifference to the ruin of Hisown work before His very eyes would argue notgoodness in God but limitation, and that far morethan if He had never created men at all. It wasimpossible, therefore, that God should leave man

to be carried off by corruption, because it wouldbe unfitting and unworthy of Himself.

(7) Yet, true though this is, it is not the wholematter. As we have already noted, it wasunthinkable that God, the Father of Truth, shouldgo back upon His word regarding death in orderto ensure our continued existence. He could notfalsify Himself; what, then, was God to do? WasHe to demand repentance from men for theirtransgression? You might say that that wasworthy of God, and argue further that, as throughthe Transgression they became subject tocorruption, so through repentance they mightreturn to incorruption again. But repentancewould not guard the Divine consistency, for, ifdeath did not hold dominion over men, Godwould still remain untrue. Nor does repentancerecall men from what is according to theirnature; all that it does is to make them ceasefrom sinning. Had it been a case of a trespassonly, and not of a subsequent corruption,repentance would have been well enough; butwhen once transgression had begun men cameunder the power of the corruption proper to theirnature and were bereft of the grace whichbelonged to them as creatures in the Image ofGod. No, repentance could not meet the case.What--or rather Who was it that was needed forsuch grace and such recall as we required? Who,save the Word of God Himself, Who also in thebeginning had made all things out of nothing?His part it was, and His alone, both to bringagain the corruptible to incorruption and tomaintain for the Father His consistency ofcharacter with all. For He alone, being Word ofthe Father and above all, was in consequenceboth able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer onbehalf of all and to be an ambassador for all withthe Father.

(8) For this purpose, then, the incorporeal andincorruptible and immaterial Word of Godentered our world. In one sense, indeed, He wasnot far from it before, for no part of creation hadever been without Him Who, while ever abidingin union with the Father, yet fills all things thatare. But now He entered the world in a new way,


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stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us. He saw the reasonable race, therace of men that, like Himself, expressed theFather's Mind, wasting out of existence, anddeath reigning over all in corruption. He saw thatcorruption held us all the closer, because it wasthe penalty for the Transgression; He saw, too,how unthinkable it would be for the law to berepealed before it was fulfilled. He saw howunseemly it was that the very things of which HeHimself was the Artificer should bedisappearing. He saw how the surpassingwickedness of men was mounting up againstthem; He saw also their universal liability todeath. All this He saw and, pitying our race,moved with compassion for our limitation,unable to endure that death should have themastery, rather than that His creatures shouldperish and the work of His Father for us mencome to nought, He took to Himself a body, ahuman body even as our own. Nor did He willmerely to become embodied or merely to appear;had that been so, He could have revealed Hisdivine majesty in some other and better way. No,He took our body, and not only so, but He took itdirectly from a spotless, stainless virgin, withoutthe agency of human father--a pure body,untainted by intercourse with man. He, theMighty One, the Artificer of all, Himselfprepared this body in the virgin as a temple forHimself, and took it for His very own, as theinstrument through which He was known and inwhich He dwelt. Thus, taking a body like ourown, because all our bodies were liable to thecorruption of death, He surrendered His body todeath instead of all, and offered it to the Father.This He did out of sheer love for us, so that inHis death all might die, and the law of deaththereby be abolished because, having fulfilled inHis body that for which it was appointed, it wasthereafter voided of its power for men. This Hedid that He might turn again to incorruption menwho had turned back to corruption, and makethem alive through death by the appropriation ofHis body and by the grace of His resurrection.Thus He would make death to disappear fromthem as utterly as straw from fire.

(9) The Word perceived that corruption could notbe got rid of otherwise than through death; yetHe Himself, as the Word, being immortal and theFather's Son, was such as could not die. For thisreason, therefore, He assumed a body capable ofdeath, in order that it, through belonging to theWord Who is above all, might become in dying asufficient exchange for all, and, itself remainingincorruptible through His indwelling, mightthereafter put an end to corruption for all othersas well, by the grace of the resurrection. It wasby surrendering to death the body which He hadtaken, as an offering and sacrifice free fromevery stain, that He forthwith abolished death forHis human brethren by the offering of theequivalent. For naturally, since the Word of Godwas above all, when He offered His own templeand bodily instrument as a substitute for the lifeof all, He fulfilled in death all that was required.Naturally also, through this union of theimmortal Son of God with our human nature, allmen were clothed with incorruption in thepromise of the resurrection. For the solidarity ofmankind is such that, by virtue of the Word'sindwelling in a single human body, thecorruption which goes with death has lost itspower over all. You know how it is when somegreat king enters a large city and dwells in one ofits houses; because of his dwelling in that singlehouse, the whole city is honored, and enemiesand robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it withthe King of all; He has come into our countryand dwelt in one body amidst the many, and inconsequence the designs of the enemy againstmankind have been foiled and the corruption ofdeath, which formerly held them in its power,has simply ceased to be. For the human racewould have perished utterly had not the Lord andSavior of all the Son of God, come among us toput an end to death.

(10) This great work was, indeed, supremelyworthy of the goodness of God. A king who hasfounded a city, so far from neglecting it whenthrough the carelessness of the inhabitants it isattacked by robbers, avenges it and saves it fromdestruction, having regard rather to his ownhonor than to the people's neglect. Much more,


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then, the Word of the All-good Father was notunmindful of the human race that He had calledto be; but rather, by the offering of His own bodyHe abolished the death which they had incurred,and corrected their neglect by His own teaching.Thus by His own power He restored the wholenature of man. The Savior's own inspireddisciples assure us of this. We read in one place:

" For the love of Christ constrainethus, because we thus judge that, if Onedied on behalf of all, then all died,and He died for all that we should nolonger live unto ourselves, but untoHim who died and rose again fromthe dead, even our Lord Jesus Christ."1

And again another says:"But we behold Him Who hath beenmade a little lower than the angels,even Jesus, because of the sufferingof death crowned with glory andhonor, that by the grace of God Heshould taste of death on behalf ofevery man."

The same writer goes on to point Ourwhy it was necessary for God the Wordand none other to become Man:

"For it became Him, for Whom are allthings and through Whom are allthings, in bringing many sons untoglory, to make the Author of theirsalvation perfect through suffering. 2

He means that the rescue of mankindfrom corruption was the proper part onlyof Him Who made them in the beginning.He points out also that the Word assumeda human body, expressly in order that Hemight offer it in sacrifice for other likebodies:

"Since then the children are sharers inflesh and blood, He also Himselfassumed the same, in order thatthrough death He might bring tonought Him that hath the power ofdeath, that is to say, the Devil, and

1 2 Cor. 5. 14 f.2 Heb. 2. 9 ff.

might rescue those who all their liveswere enslaved by the fear of death." 3

For by the sacrifice of His own body Hedid two things: He put an end to the lawof death which barred our way; and Hemade a new beginning of life for us, bygiving us the hope of resurrection. Byman death has gained its power overmen; by the Word made Man death hasbeen destroyed and life raised up anew.That is what Paul says, that true servantof Christ:

"For since by man came death, byman came also the resurrection of thedead. Just as in Adam all die, even soin Christ shall all be made alive," 4

and so forth. Now, therefore, when wedie we no longer do so as mencondemned to death, but as those who areeven now in process of rising we awaitthe general resurrection of all, "which inits own times He shall show," 5 even GodWho wrought it and bestowed it on us.

This, then, is the first cause of theSavior's becoming Man. There are,however, other things which show howwholly fitting is His blessed presence inour midst; and these we must now go onto consider.

3 Heb. 2. 14 f.4 1 Cor. 15. 21 f.5 1 Tim. 6. 15


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CHAPTER III

The Divine Dilemma And ItsSolution

In The Incarnation-- Continued

(11) When God the Almighty was makingmankind through His own Word, He perceivedthat they, owing to the limitation of their nature,could not of themselves have any knowledge oftheir Artificer, the Incorporeal and Uncreated.He took pity on them, therefore, and did notleave them destitute of the knowledge ofHimself, lest their very existence should provepurposeless. For of what use is existence to thecreature if it cannot know its Maker? How couldmen be reasonable beings if they had noknowledge of the Word and Reason of theFather, through Whom they had received theirbeing? They would be no better than the beasts,had they no knowledge save of earthly things;and why should God have made them at all, ifHe had not intended them to know Him? But, infact, the good God has given them a share in Hisown Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, andhas made even themselves after the same Imageand Likeness. Why? Simply in order that throughthis gift of Godlikeness in themselves they maybe able to perceive the Image Absolute, that isthe Word Himself, and through Him toapprehend the Father; which knowledge of theirMaker is for men the only really happy andblessed life.

But, as we have already seen, men, foolish asthey are, thought little of the grace they hadreceived, and turned away from God. Theydefiled their own soul so completely that theynot only lost their apprehension of God, butinvented for themselves other gods of variouskinds. They fashioned idols for themselves inplace of the truth and reverenced things that arenot, rather than God Who is, as St. Paul says,

"worshipping the creature rather than theCreator." 1 Moreover, and much worse, theytransferred the honor which is due to God tomaterial objects such as wood and stone, andalso to man; and further even than that theywent, as we said in our former book. Indeed, soimpious were they that they worshipped evilspirits as gods in satisfaction of their lusts. Theysacrificed brute beasts and immolated men, asthe just due of these deities, thereby bringingthemselves more and more under their insanecontrol. Magic arts also were taught amongthem, oracles in sundry places led men astray,and the cause of everything in human life wastraced to the stars as though nothing existed butthat which could be seen. In a word, impiety andlawlessness were everywhere, and neither Godnor His Word was known. Yet He had nothidden Himself from the sight of men nor giventhe knowledge of Himself in one way only; butrather He had unfolded it in many forms and bymany ways.

(12) God knew the limitation of mankind, yousee; and though the grace of being made in HisImage was sufficient to give them knowledge ofthe Word and through Him of the Father, as asafeguard against their neglect of this grace, Heprovided the works of creation also as means bywhich the Maker might be known. Nor was thisall. Man's neglect of the indwelling grace tendsever to increase; and against this further frailtyalso God made provision by giving them a law,and by sending prophets, men whom they knew.Thus, if they were tardy in looking up to heaven,they might still gain knowledge of their Makerfrom those close at hand; for men can learndirectly about higher things from other men.Three ways thus lay open to them, by which theymight obtain the knowledge of God. They couldlook up into the immensity of heaven, and bypondering the harmony of creation come to knowits Ruler, the Word of the Father, Whose all-ruling providence makes known the Father to all.Or, if this was beyond them, they could conversewith holy men, and through them learn to know

1 Rom. 1. 25


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God, the Artificer of all things, the Father ofChrist, and to recognize the worship of idols asthe negation of the truth and full of all impiety.Or else, in the third place, they could cease fromlukewarmness and lead a good life merely byknowing the law. For the law was not given onlyfor the Jews, nor was it solely for their sake thatGod sent the prophets, though it was to the Jewsthat they were sent and by the Jews that theywere persecuted. The law and the prophets werea sacred school of the knowledge of God and theconduct of the spiritual life for the whole world.

So great, indeed, were the goodness and the loveof God. Yet men, bowed down by the pleasuresof the moment and by the frauds and illusions ofthe evil spirits, did not lift up their heads towardsthe truth. So burdened were they with theirwickednesses that they seemed rather to be brutebeasts than reasonable men, reflecting the veryLikeness of the Word.

(13) What was God to do in face of thisdehumanising of mankind, this universal hidingof the knowledge of Himself by the wiles of evilspirits? Was He to keep silence before so great awrong and let men go on being thus deceivedand kept in ignorance of Himself? If so, whatwas the use of having made them in His ownImage originally? It would surely have beenbetter for them always to have been brutes, ratherthan to revert to that condition when once theyhad shared the nature of the Word. Again, thingsbeing as they were, what was the use of theirever having had the knowledge of God? Surely itwould have been better for God never to havebestowed it, than that men should subsequentlybe found unworthy to receive it. Similarly, whatpossible profit could it be to God Himself, Whomade men, if when made they did not worshipHim, but regarded others as their makers? Thiswould be tantamount to His having made themfor others and not for Himself. Even an earthlyking, though he is only a man, does not allowlands that he has colonized to pass into otherhands or to desert to other rulers, but sendsletters and friends and even visits them himselfto recall them to their allegiance, rather than

allow His work to be undone. How much more,then, will God be patient and painstaking withHis creatures, that they be not led astray fromHim to the service of those that are not, and thatall the more because such error means for themsheer ruin, and because it is not right that thosewho had once shared His Image should bedestroyed.

What, then, was God to do? What else could Hepossibly do, being God, but renew His Image inmankind, so that through it men might oncemore come to know Him? And how could this bedone save by the coming of the very ImageHimself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could nothave done it, for they are only made after theImage; nor could angels have done it, for theyare not the images of God. The Word of Godcame in His own Person, because it was Healone, the Image of the Father Who couldrecreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, Hehad first to do away with death and corruption.Therefore He assumed a human body, in orderthat in it death might once for all be destroyed,and that men might be renewed according to theImage. The Image of the Father only wassufficient for this need. Here is an illustration toprove it.

(14) You know what happens when a portraitthat has been painted on a panel becomesobliterated through external stains. ,The artistdoes not throw away the panel, but the subject ofthe portrait has to come and sit for it again, andthen the likeness is re-drawn on the samematerial. Even so was it with the All-holy Son ofGod. He, the Image of the Father, came anddwelt in our midst, in order that He might renewmankind made after Himself, and seek out Hislost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel:

"I came to seek and to save thatwhich was lost. 2

This also explains His saying to the Jews:"Except a man be born anew . . ." 3 a

2 Luke 19. 10


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He was not referring to a man's naturalbirth from his mother, as they thought,but to the re-birth and re-creation of thesoul in the Image of God.

Nor was this the only thing which onlythe Word could do. When the madness ofidolatry and irreligion filled the worldand the knowledge of God was hidden,whose part was it to teach the worldabout the Father? Man's, would you say?But men cannot run everywhere over theworld, nor would their words carrysufficient weight if they did, nor wouldthey be, unaided, a match for the evilspirits. Moreover, since even the best ofmen were confused and blinded by evil,how could they convert the souls andminds of others? You cannot put straightin others what is warped in yourself.Perhaps you will say, then, that creationwas enough to teach men about theFather. But if that had been so, such greatevils would never have occurred.Creation was there all the time, but it didnot prevent men from wallowing in error.Once more, then, it was the Word ofGod, Who sees all that is in man andmoves all things in creation, Who alonecould meet the needs of the situation. Itwas His part and His alone, Whoseordering of the universe reveals theFather, to renew the same teaching. Buthow was He to do it? By the same meansas before, perhaps you will say, that is,through the works of creation. But thiswas proven insufficient. Men hadneglected to consider the heavens before,and now they were looking in theopposite direction. Wherefore, in allnaturalness and fitness. desiring to dogood to men, as Man He dwells, taking toHimself a body like the rest; and throughHis actions done in that body, as it wereon their own level, He teaches those whowould not learn by other means to know

3 John 3. 3

Himself, the Word of God, and throughHim the Father.

(15) He deals with them as a goodteacher with his pupils, coming down totheir level and using simple means. St.Paul says as much:

"Because in the wisdom of God theworld in its wisdom knew not God,God thought fit through the simplicityof the News proclaimed to save thosewho believe." 4

Men had turned from the contemplationof God above, and were looking for Himin the opposite direction, down amongcreated things and things of sense. TheSavior of us all, the Word of God, in Hisgreat love took to Himself a body andmoved as Man among men, meeting theirsenses, so to speak, half way. He becameHimself an object for the senses, so thatthose who were seeking God in sensiblethings might apprehend the Fatherthrough the works which He, the Word ofGod, did in the body. Human and humanminded as men were, therefore, towhichever side they looked in thesensible world they found themselvestaught the truth. Were they awe-strickenby creation? They beheld it confessingChrist as Lord. Did their minds tend toregard men as Gods? The uniqueness ofthe Savior's works marked Him, alone ofmen, as Son of God. Were they drawn toevil spirits? They saw them driven out bythe Lord and learned that the Word ofGod alone was God and that the evilspirits were not gods at all. Were theyinclined to hero-worship and the cult ofthe dead? Then the fact that the Saviorhad risen from the dead showed themhow false these other deities were, andthat the Word of the Father is the one trueLord, the Lord even of death. For thisreason was He both born and manifestedas Man, for this He died and rose, in

4 1 Cor. 1. 21


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order that, eclipsing by His works allother human deeds, He might recall menfrom all the paths of error to know theFather. As He says Himself,

"I came to seek and to save thatwhich was lost." 5

(16) When, then, the minds of men hadfallen finally to the level of sensiblethings, the Word submitted to appear in abody, in order that He, as Man, mightcenter their senses on Himself, andconvince them through His human actsthat He Himself is not man only but alsoGod, the Word and Wisdom of the trueGod. This is what Paul wants to tell uswhen he says:

"That ye, being rooted and groundedin love, may be strong to apprehendwith all the saints what is the lengthand breadth and height and depth, andto know the love of God thatsurpasses knowledge, so that ye maybe filled unto all the fullness of God."6

The Self-revealing of the Word is inevery dimension--above, in creation;below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, inHades; in the breadth, throughout theworld. All things have been filled withthe knowledge of God.

For this reason He did not offer thesacrifice on behalf of all immediately Hecame, for if He had surrendered His bodyto death and then raised it again at onceHe would have ceased to be an object ofour senses. Instead of that, He stayed inHis body and let Himself be seen in it,doing acts and giving signs whichshowed Him to be not only man, but alsoGod the Word. There were thus twothings which the Savior did for us bybecoming Man. He banished death fromus and made us anew; and, invisible and

5 Luke 19. 106 Eph. 3. 17 ff.

imperceptible as in Himself He is, Hebecame visible through His works andrevealed Himself as the Word of theFather, the Ruler and King of the wholecreation.

(17) There is a paradox in this laststatement which we must now examine.The Word was not hedged in by Hisbody, nor did His presence in the bodyprevent His being present elsewhere aswell. When He moved His body He didnot cease also to direct the universe byHis Mind and might. No. The marveloustruth is, that being the Word, so far frombeing Himself contained by anything, Heactually contained all things Himself. Increation He is present everywhere, yet isdistinct in being from it; ordering,directing, giving life to all, containing all,yet is He Himself the Uncontained,existing solely in His Father. As with thewhole, so also is it with the part. Existingin a human body, to which He Himselfgives life, He is still Source of life to allthe universe, present in every part of it,yet outside the whole; and He is revealedboth through the works of His body andthrough His activity in the world. It is,indeed, the function of soul to beholdthings that are outside the body, but itcannot energize or move them. A mancannot transport things from one place toanother, for instance, merely by thinkingabout them; nor can you or I move thesun and the stars just by sitting at homeand looking at them. With the Word ofGod in His human nature, however, itwas otherwise. His body was for Him nota limitation, but an instrument, so that Hewas both in it and in all things, andoutside all things, resting in the Fatheralone. At one and the same time--this isthe wonder--as Man He was living ahuman life, and as Word He wassustaining the life of the universe, and asSon He was in constant union with theFather. Not even His birth from a virgin,


12

therefore, changed Him in any way, norwas He defiled by being in the body.Rather, He sanctified the body by beingin it. For His being in everything does notmean that He shares the nature ofeverything, only that He gives all thingstheir being and sustains them in it. Just asthe sun is not defiled by the contact of itsrays with earthly objects, but ratherenlightens and purifies them, so He Whomade the sun is not defiled by beingmade known in a body, but rather thebody is cleansed and quickened by Hisindwelling,

"Who did no sin, neither was guilefound in His mouth." 7

(18) You must understand, therefore, thatwhen writers on this sacred theme speakof Him as eating and drinking and beingborn, they mean that the body, as a body,was born and sustained with the foodproper to its nature; while God the Word,Who was united with it, was at the sametime ordering the universe and revealingHimself through His bodily acts as notman only but God. Those acts are rightlysaid to be His acts, because the bodywhich did them did indeed belong to Himand none other; moreover, it was rightthat they should be thus attributed to Himas Man, in order to show that His bodywas a real one and not merely anappearance. From such ordinary acts asbeing born and taking food, He wasrecognized as being actually present inthe body; but by the extraordinary actswhich He did through the body Heproved Himself to be the Son of God.That is the meaning of His words to theunbelieving Jews:

"If I do not the works of My Father,believe Me not; but if I do, even if yebelieve not Me, believe My works,

7 1 Peter 2. 22

that ye may know that the Father is inMe and I in the Father." 8

Invisible in Himself, He is known fromthe works of creation; so also, when HisGodhead is veiled in human nature, Hisbodily acts still declare Him to be notman only, but the Power and Word ofGod. To speak authoritatively to evilspirits, for instance, and to drive themout, is not human but divine; and whocould see-Him curing all the diseases towhich mankind is prone, and still deemHim mere man and not also God? Hecleansed lepers, He made the lame towalk, He opened the ears of the deaf andthe eyes of the blind, there was nosickness or weakness that-He did notdrive away. Even the most casualobserver can see that these were acts ofGod. The healing of the man born blind,for instance, who but the Father andArtificer of man, the Controller of hiswhole being, could thus have restored thefaculty denied at birth? He Who did thusmust surely be Himself the Lord of birth.This is proved also at the outset of Hisbecoming Man. He formed His own bodyfrom the virgin; and that is no small proofof His Godhead, since He Who made thatwas the Maker of all else. And would notanyone infer from the fact of that bodybeing begotten of a virgin only, withouthuman father, that He Who appeared in itwas also the Maker and Lord of allbeside?

Again, consider the miracle at Cana.Would not anyone who saw the substanceof water transmuted into wine understandthat He Who did it was the Lord andMaker of the water that He changed? Itwas for the same reason that He walkedon the sea as on dry land--to prove to theonlookers that He had mastery over all.And the feeding of the multitude, when

8 John 10. 37-38


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He made little into much, so that fromfive loaves five thousand mouths werefilled--did not that prove Him none otherthan the very Lord Whose Mind is overall?


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CHAPTER IV

The Death Of Christ

(19) All these things the Savior thought fit to do,so that, recognizing His bodily acts as works ofGod, men who were blind to His presence increation might regain knowledge of the Father.For, as I said before, who that saw His authorityover evil spirits and their response to it coulddoubt that He was, indeed, the Son, the Wisdomand the Power of God? Even the very creationbroke silence at His behest and, marvelous torelate, confessed with one voice before the cross,that monument of victory, that He Who sufferedthereon in the body was not man only, but Son ofGod and Savior of all. The sun veiled his face,the earth quaked, the mountains were rentasunder, all men were stricken with awe. Thesethings showed that Christ on the cross was God,and that all creation was His slave and wasbearing witness by its fear to the presence of itsMaster.

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

(20) We have dealt as far as circumstances andour own understanding permit with the reasonfor His bodily manifestation. We have seen thatto change the corruptible to incorruption wasproper to none other than the Savior Himself,Who in the beginning made all things out ofnothing; that only the Image of the Father couldre-create the likeness of the Image in men, thatnone save our Lord Jesus Christ could give tomortals immortality, and that only the WordWho orders all things and is alone the Father'strue and sole-begotten Son could teach menabout Him and abolish the worship of idols But

beyond all this, there was a debt owing whichmust needs be paid; for, as I said before, all menwere due to die. Here, then, is the second reasonwhy the Word dwelt among us, namely thathaving proved His Godhead by His works, Hemight offer the sacrifice on behalf of all,surrendering His own temple to death in place ofall, to settle man's account with death and freehim from the primal transgression. In the sameact also He showed Himself mightier than death,displaying His own body incorruptible as thefirst-fruits of the resurrection.

You must not be surprised if we repeat ourselvesin dealing with this subject. We are speaking ofthe good pleasure of God and of the things whichHe in His loving wisdom thought fit to do, and itis better to put the same thing in several waysthan to run the risk of leaving something out.The body of the Word, then, being a real humanbody, in spite of its having been uniquely formedfrom a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like otherbodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of theWord loosed it from this natural liability, so thatcorruption could not touch it. Thus it happenedthat two opposite marvels took place at once: thedeath of all was consummated in the Lord'sbody; yet, because the Word was in it, death andcorruption were in the same act utterly abolished.Death there had to be, and death for all, so thatthe due of all might be paid. Wherefore, theWord, as I said, being Himself incapable ofdeath, assumed a mortal body, that He mightoffer it as His own in place of all, and sufferingfor the sake of all through His union with it,

" might bring to nought Him that hadthe power of death, that is, the devil,and might deliver them who all theirlifetime were enslaved by the fear ofdeath." 1

(21) Have no fears then. Now that thecommon Savior of all has died on ourbehalf, we who believe in Christ nolonger die, as men died aforetime, infulfillment of the threat of the law. That

1 Heb. 2. 14 f.


15

condemnation has come to an end; andnow that, by the grace of the resurrection,corruption has been banished and doneaway, we are loosed from our mortalbodies in God's good time for each, sothat we may obtain thereby a betterresurrection. Like seeds cast into theearth, we do not perish in our dissolution,but like them shall rise again, deathhaving been brought to nought by thegrace of the Savior. That is why blessedPaul, through whom we all have surety ofthe resurrection, says:

"This corruptible must put onincorruption and this mortal must puton immortality; but when thiscorruptible shall have put onincorruption and this mortal shallhave put on immortality, then shall bebrought to pass the saying that iswritten, 'Death is swallowed up invictory. O Death, where is thy sting?O Grave, where is thy victory?" 2

"Well then," some people may say, "ifthe essential thing was that He shouldsurrender His body to death in place ofall, why did He not do so as Manprivately, without going to the length ofpublic crucifixion? Surely it would havebeen more suitable for Him to have laidaside His body with honor than to endureso shameful a death." But look at thisargument closely, and see how merelyhuman it is, whereas what the Savior didwas truly divine and worthy of HisGodhead for several reasons. The first isthis. The death of men under ordinarycircumstances is the result of their naturalweakness. They are essentiallyimpermanent, so after a time they fall illand when worn out they die. But the Lordis not like that. He is not weak, He is thePower of God and Word of God andVery Life Itself. If He had died quietly inHis bed like other men it would havelooked as if He did so in accordance with

2 1 Cor. 15. 53 ff.

His nature, and as though He was indeedno more than other men. But because Hewas Himself Word and Life and PowerHis body was made strong, and becausethe death had to be accomplished, Hetook the occasion of perfecting Hissacrifice not from Himself, but fromothers. How could He fall sick, Who hadhealed others? Or how could that bodyweaken and fail by means of whichothers are made strong? Here, again, youmay say, "Why did He not prevent death,as He did sickness?" Because it wasprecisely in order to be able to die that Hehad taken a body, and to prevent thedeath would have been to impede theresurrection. And as to the unsuitabilityof sickness for His body, as arguingweakness, you may say, "Did He thennot hunger?" Yes, He hungered, becausethat was the property of His body, but Hedid not die of hunger because He Whosebody hungered was the Lord. Similarly,though He died to ransom all, He did notsee corruption. His body rose in perfectsoundness, for it was the body of noneother than the Life Himself.

(22) Someone else might say, perhaps,that it would have been better for theLord to have avoided the designs of theJews against Him, and so to have guardedHis body from death altogether. But seehow unfitting this also would have beenfor Him. Just as it would not have beenfitting for Him to give His body to deathby His own hand, being Word and beingLife, so also it was not consonant withHimself that He should avoid the deathinflicted by others. Rather, He pursued itto the uttermost, and in pursuance of Hisnature neither laid aside His body of Hisown accord nor escaped the plottingJews. And this action showed nolimitation or weakness in the Word; forHe both waited for death in order to makean end of it, and hastened to accomplishit as an offering on behalf of all.


16

Moreover, as it was the death of allmankind that the Savior came toaccomplish, not His own, He did not layaside His body by an individual act ofdying, for to Him, as Life, this simply didnot belong; but He accepted death at thehands of men, thereby completely todestroy it in His own body.

There are some further considerationswhich enable one to understand why theLord's body had such an end. Thesupreme object of His coming was tobring about the resurrection of the body.This was to be the monument to Hisvictory over death, the assurance to allthat He had Himself conqueredcorruption and that their own bodies alsowould eventually be incorrupt; and it wasin token of that and as a pledge of thefuture resurrection that He kept His bodyincorrupt. But there again, if His bodyhad fallen sick and the Word had left it inthat condition, how unfitting it wouldhave been! Should He Who healed thebodies of others neglect to keep His ownin health? How would His miracles ofhealing be believed, if this were so?Surely people would either laugh at Himas unable to dispel disease or elseconsider Him lacking in proper humanfeeling because He could do so, but didnot.

(23) Then, again, suppose without anyillness He had just concealed His bodysomewhere, and then suddenlyreappeared and said that He had risenfrom the dead. He would have beenregarded merely as a teller of tales, andbecause there was no witness of Hisdeath, nobody would believe Hisresurrection. Death had to precederesurrection, for there could be noresurrection without it. A secret andunwitnessed death would have left theresurrection without any proof orevidence to support it. Again, why should

He die a secret death, when Heproclaimed the fact of His rising openly?Why should He drive out evil spirits andheal the man blind from birth and changewater into wine, all publicly, in order toconvince men that He was the Word, andnot also declare publicly thatincorruptibility of His mortal body, sothat He might Himself be believed to bethe Life? And how could His discipleshave had boldness in speaking of theresurrection unless they could state it as afact that He had first died? Or how couldtheir hearers be expected to believe theirassertion, unless they themselves also hadwitnessed His death? For if the Phariseesat the time refused to believe and forcedothers to deny also, though the things hadhappened before their very eyes, howmany excuses for unbelief would theyhave contrived, if it had taken placesecretly? Or how could the end of deathand the victory over it have beendeclared, had not the Lord thuschallenged it before the sight of all, andby the incorruption of His body provedthat henceforward it was annulled andvoid?

(24) There are some other possibleobjections that must be answered. Somemight urge that, even granting thenecessity of a public death for subsequentbelief in the resurrection, it would surelyhave been better for Him to havearranged an honorable death for Himself,and so to have avoided the ignominy ofthe cross. But even this would have givenground for suspicion that His power overdeath was limited to the particular kind ofdeath which He chose for Himself; andthat again would furnish excuse fordisbelieving the resurrection. Death cameto His body, therefore, not from Himselfbut from enemy action, in order that theSavior might utterly abolish death inwhatever form they offered it to Him. Agenerous wrestler, virile and strong, does


17

not himself choose his antagonists, lest itshould be thought that of some of themhe is afraid. Rather, he lets the spectatorschoose them, and that all the more ifthese are hostile, so that he mayoverthrow whomsoever they matchagainst him and thus vindicate hissuperior strength. Even so was it withChrist. He, the Life of all, our Lord andSavior, did not arrange the manner of hisown death lest He should seem to beafraid of some other kind. No. Heaccepted and bore upon the cross a deathinflicted by others, and those others Hisspecial enemies, a death which to themwas supremely terrible and by no meansto be faced; and He did this in order that,by destroying even this death, He mightHimself be believed to be the Life, andthe power of death be recognized asfinally annulled. A marvelous and mightyparadox has thus occurred, for the deathwhich they thought to inflict on Him asdishonor and disgrace has become theglorious monument to death's defeat.Therefore it is also, that He neitherendured the death of John, who wasbeheaded, nor was He sawn asunder, likeIsaiah: even in death He preserved Hisbody whole and undivided, so that thereshould be no excuse hereafter for thosewho would divide the Church.

(25) So much for the objections of thoseoutside the Church. But if any honestChristian wants to know why He suffereddeath on the cross and not in some otherway, we answer thus: in no other waywas it expedient for us, indeed the Lordoffered for our sakes the one death thatwas supremely good. He had come tobear the curse that lay on us; and howcould He "become a curse" 3 otherwisethan by accepting the accursed death?And that death is the cross, for it iswritten "Cursed is every one that

3 Gal. 3. 13

hangeth on tree." 4 Again, the death ofthe Lord is the ransom of all, and by it"the middle wall of partition" 5 isbroken down and the call of the Gentilescomes about. How could He have calledus if He had not been crucified, for it isonly on the cross that a man dies witharms outstretched? Here, again, we seethe fitness of His death and of thoseoutstretched arms: it was that He mightdraw His ancient people with the one andthe Gentiles with the other, and join bothtogether in Himself. Even so, He foretoldthe manner of His redeeming death,

"I, if I be lifted up, will draw all menunto Myself." 6

Again, the air is the sphere of the devil,the enemy of our race who, having fallenfrom heaven, endeavors with the otherevil spirits who shared in hisdisobedience both to keep souls from thetruth and to hinder the progress of thosewho are trying to follow it. The apostlerefers to this when he says,

"According to the prince of the powerof the air, of the spirit that nowworketh in the sons of disobedience."7

But the Lord came to overthrow the deviland to purify the air and to make "a way"for us up to heaven, as the apostle says,"through the veil, that is to say, Hisflesh." 8 This had to be done throughdeath, and by what other kind of deathcould it be done, save by a death in theair, that is, on the cross? Here, again, yousee how right and natural it was that theLord should suffer thus; for being thus"lifted up," He cleansed the air from allthe evil influences of the enemy. "Ibeheld Satan as lightning falling," 9 He

4 Gal. 3. 135 Eph. 2. 146 John 7. 327 Eph. 2. 28 Heb. 10. 209 Luke 10. 18


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says; and thus He re-opened the roadto heaven, saying again,

"Lift up your gates, O ye princes, andbe ye lift up, ye everlasting doors." 10

For it was not the Word Himself Whoneeded an opening of the gates, He beingLord of all, nor was any of His worksclosed to their Maker. No, it was we whoneeded it, we whom He Himself upborein His own body--that body which Hefirst offered to death on behalf of all, andthen made through it a path to heaven.

10 Psalm 24. 7


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CHAPTER V

THE RESURRECTION

(26) Fitting indeed, then, and wholly consonantwas the death on the cross for us; and we can seehow reasonable it was, and why it is that thesalvation of the world could be accomplished inno other way. Even on the cross He did not hideHimself from sight; rather, He made all creationwitness to the presence of its Maker. Then,having once let it be seen that it was truly dead,He did not allow that temple of His body tolinger long, but forthwith on the third day raisedit up, impassable and incorruptible, the pledgeand token of His victory.

It was, of course, within His power thus to haveraised His body and displayed it as alive directlyafter death. But the all-wise Savior did not dothis, lest some should deny that it had really orcompletely died. Besides this, had the intervalbetween His death and resurrection been but twodays, the glory of His incorruption might nothave appeared. He waited one whole day to showthat His body was really dead, and then on thethird day showed it incorruptible to all. Theinterval was no longer, lest people should haveforgotten about it and grown doubtful whether itwere in truth the same body. No, while the affairwas still ringing in their ears and their eyes werestill straining and their minds in turmoil, andwhile those who had put Him to death were stillon the spot and themselves witnessing to the factof it, the Son of God after three days showed Hisonce dead body immortal and incorruptible; andit was evident to all that it was from no naturalweakness that the body which the Word indwelthad died, but in order that in it by the Savior'spower death might be done away.

(27) A very strong proof of this destruction ofdeath and its conquest by the cross is supplied bya present fact, namely this. All the disciples ofChrist despise death; they take the offensiveagainst it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of

the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it ason something dead. Before the divine sojourn ofthe Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid ofdeath, and mourned the dead as those whoperish. But now that the Savior has raised Hisbody, death is no longer terrible, but all thosewho believe in Christ tread it underfoot asnothing, and prefer to die rather than to denytheir faith in Christ, knowing full well that whenthey die they do not perish, but live indeed, andbecome incorruptible through the resurrection.But that devil who of old wickedly exulted indeath, now that the pains of death are loosed, healone it is who remains truly dead. There is proofof this too; for men who, before they believe inChrist, think death horrible and are afraid of it,once they are converted despise it so completelythat they go eagerly to meet it, and themselvesbecome witnesses of the Savior's resurrectionfrom it. Even children hasten thus to die, and notmen only, but women train themselves by bodilydiscipline to meet it. So weak has death becomethat even women, who used to be taken in by it,mock at it now as a dead thing robbed of all itsstrength. Death has become like a tyrant who hasbeen completely conquered by the legitimatemonarch; bound hand and foot the passers-bysneer at him, hitting him and abusing him, nolonger afraid of his cruelty and rage, because ofthe king who has conquered him. So has deathbeen conquered and branded for what it is by theSavior on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, allwho are in Christ trample it as they pass and aswitnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying,"O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave,where is thy sting ?" 1

(28) Is this a slender proof of the impotence ofdeath, do you think? Or is it a slight indication ofthe Savior's victory over it, when boys andyoung girls who are in Christ look beyond thispresent life and train themselves to die? Everyone is by nature afraid of death and of bodilydissolution; the marvel of marvels is that he whois enfolded in the faith of the cross despises thisnatural fear and for the sake of the cross is no

1 1 Cor. 15. 55


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longer cowardly in face of it. The naturalproperty of fire is to burn. Suppose, then, thatthere was a substance such as the Indian asbestosis said to be, which had no fear of being burnt,but rather displayed the impotence of the fire byproving itself unburnable. If anyone doubted thetruth of this, all he need do would be to wraphimself up in the substance in question and thentouch the fire. Or, again, to revert to our formerfigure, if anyone wanted to see the tyrant boundand helpless, who used to be such a terror toothers, he could do so simply by going into thecountry of the tyrant's conqueror. Even so, ifanyone still doubts the conquest of death, afterso many proofs and so many martyrdoms inChrist and such daily scorn of death by His truestservants, he certainly does well to marvel at sogreat a thing, but he must not be obstinate inunbelief and disregard of plain facts. No, he mustbe like the man who wants to prove the propertyof the asbestos, and like him who enters theconqueror's dominions to see the tyrant bound.He must embrace the faith of Christ, thisdisbeliever in the conquest of death, and come toHis teaching. Then he will see how impotentdeath is and how completely conquered. Indeed,there have been many former unbelievers andderiders who, after they became believers, soscorned death as even themselves to becomemartyrs for Christ's sake.

(29) If, then, it is by the sign of the cross and byfaith in Christ that death is trampled underfoot, itis clear that it is Christ Himself and none otherWho is the Archvictor over death and has robbedit of its power. Death used to be strong andterrible, but now, since the sojourn of the Saviorand the death and resurrection of His body, it isdespised; and obviously it is by the very ChristWho mounted on the cross that it has beendestroyed and vanquished finally. When the sunrises after the night and the whole world is lit upby it, nobody doubts that it is the sun which hasthus shed its light everywhere and driven awaythe dark. Equally clear is it, since this utterscorning and trampling down of death hasensued upon the Savior's manifestation in thebody and His death on the cross, that it is He

Himself Who brought death to nought and dailyraises monuments to His victory in His owndisciples. How can you think otherwise, whenyou see men naturally weak hastening to death,unafraid at the prospect of corruption, fearless ofthe descent into Hades, even indeed with eagersoul provoking it, not shrinking from tortures,but preferring thus to rush on death for Christ'ssake, rather than to remain in this present life? Ifyou see with your own eyes men and women andchildren, even, thus welcoming death for thesake of Christ's religion, how can you be soutterly silly and incredulous and maimed in yourmind as not to realize that Christ, to Whom theseall bear witness, Himself gives the victory toeach, making death completely powerless forthose who hold His faith and bear the sign of thecross? No one in his senses doubts that a snake isdead when he sees it trampled underfoot,especially when he knows how savage it used tobe; nor, if he sees boys making fun of a lion,does he doubt that the brute is either dead orcompletely bereft of strength. These things canbe seen with our own eyes, and it is the samewith the conquest of death. Doubt no longer,then, when you see death mocked and scorned bythose who believe in Christ, that by Christ deathwas destroyed, and the corruption that goes withit resolved and brought to end.

(30) What we have said is, indeed, no smallproof of the destruction of death and of the factthat the cross of the Lord is the monument to Hisvictory. But the resurrection of the body toimmortality, which results henceforward fromthe work of Christ, the common Savior and trueLife of all, is more effectively proved by factsthan by words to those whose mental vision issound. For, if, as we have shown, death wasdestroyed and everybody tramples on it becauseof Christ, how much more did He Himself firsttrample and destroy it in His own body! Deathhaving been slain by Him, then, what other issuecould there be than the resurrection of His bodyand its open demonstration as the monument ofHis victory? How could the destruction of deathhave been manifested at all, had not the Lord'sbody been raised? But if anyone finds even this


21

insufficient, let him find proof of what has beensaid in present facts. Dead men cannot takeeffective action; their power of influence onothers lasts only till the grave. Deeds and actionsthat energize others belong only to the living.Well, then, look at the facts in this case. TheSavior is working mightily among men, everyday He is invisibly persuading numbers ofpeople all over the world, both within andbeyond the Greek-speaking world, to accept Hisfaith and be obedient to His teaching. Cananyone, in face of this, still doubt that He hasrisen and lives, or rather that He is Himself theLife? Does a dead man prick the consciences ofmen, so that they throw all the traditions of theirfathers to the winds and bow down before theteaching of Christ? If He is no longer active inthe world, as He must needs be if He is dead,how is it that He makes the living to cease fromtheir activities, the adulterer from his adultery,the murderer from murdering, the unjust fromavarice, while the profane and godless manbecomes religious? If He did not rise, but is stilldead, how is it that He routs and persecutes andoverthrows the false gods, whom unbelieversthink to be alive, and the evil spirits whom theyworship? For where Christ is named, idolatry isdestroyed and the fraud of evil spirits is exposed;indeed, no such spirit can endure that Name, buttakes to flight on sound of it. This is the work ofOne Who lives, not of one dead; and, more thanthat, it is the work of God. It would be absurd tosay that the evil spirits whom He drives out andthe idols which He destroys are alive, but that HeWho drives out and destroys, and Whom theythemselves acknowledge to be Son of God, isdead.

(31) In a word, then, those who disbelieve in theresurrection have no support in facts, if theirgods and evil spirits do not drive away thesupposedly dead Christ. Rather, it is He Whoconvicts them of being dead. We are agreed thata dead person can do nothing: yet the Saviorworks mightily every day, drawing men toreligion, persuading them to virtue, teachingthem about immortality, quickening their thirstfor heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of

the Father, inspiring strength in face of death,manifesting Himself to each, and displacing theirreligion of idols; while the gods and evil spiritsof the unbelievers can do none of these things,but rather become dead at Christ's presence, alltheir ostentation barren and void. By the sign ofthe cross, on the contrary, all magic is stayed, allsorcery confounded, all the idols are abandonedand deserted, and all senseless pleasure ceases,as the eye of faith looks up from earth to heaven.Whom, then, are we to call dead? Shall we callChrist dead, Who effects all this? But the deadhave not the faculty to effect anything. Or shallwe call death dead, which effects nothingwhatever, but lies as lifeless and ineffective asare the evil spirits and the idols? The Son ofGod, "living and effective," 2 is active every dayand effects the salvation of all; but death is dailyproved to be stripped of all its strength, and it isthe idols and the evil spirits who are dead, notHe. No room for doubt remains, therefore,concerning the resurrection of His body.

Indeed, it would seem that he who disbelievesthis bodily rising of the Lord is ignorant of thepower of the Word and Wisdom of God. If Hetook a body to Himself at all, and made it Hisown in pursuance of His purpose, as we haveshown that He did, what was the Lord to do withit, and what was ultimately to become of thatbody upon which the Word had descended?Mortal and offered to death on behalf of all as itwas, it could not but die; indeed, it was for thatvery purpose that the Savior had prepared it forHimself. But on the other hand it could notremain dead, because it had become the verytemple of Life. It therefore died, as mortal, butlived again because of the Life within it; and itsresurrection is made known through its works.

(32) It is, indeed, in accordance with the natureof the invisible God that He should be thusknown through His works; and those who doubtthe Lord's resurrection because they do not nowbehold Him with their eyes, might as well denythe very laws of nature. They have ground for

2 Heb.4. 12


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disbelief when works are lacking; but when theworks cry out and prove the fact so clearly, whydo they deliberately deny the risen life somanifestly shown? Even if their mental facultiesare defective, surely their eyes can give themirrefragable proof of the power and Godhead ofChrist. A blind man cannot see the sun, but heknows that it is above the earth from the warmthwhich it affords; similarly, let those who are stillin the blindness of unbelief recognize theGodhead of Christ and the resurrection which Hehas brought about through His manifested powerin others. Obviously He would not be expellingevil spirits and despoiling idols, if He were dead,for the evil spirits would not obey one who wasdead. If, on the other hand, the very naming ofHim drives them forth, He clearly is not dead;and the more so that the spirits, who perceivethings unseen by men, would know if He were soand would refuse to obey Him. But, as a matterof fact, what profane persons doubt, the evilspirits know--namely that He is God; and for thatreason they flee from Him and fall at His feet,crying out even as they cried when He was in thebody, "We know Thee Who Thou art, the HolyOne of God," and, "Ah, what have I incommon with Thee, Thou Son of God? Iimplore Thee, torment me not." 3

Both from the confession of the evil spirits andfrom the daily witness of His works, it ismanifest, then, and let none presume to doubt it,that the Savior has raised His own body, and thatHe is very Son of God, having His being fromGod as from a Father, Whose Word and Wisdomand Whose Power He is. He it is Who in theselatter days assumed a body for the salvation of usall, and taught the world concerning the Father.He it is Who has destroyed death and freelygraced us all with incorruption through thepromise of the resurrection, having raised Hisown body as its first- fruits, and displayed it bythe sign of the cross as the monument to Hisvictory over death and its corruption.

3 Cf. Luke 4. 34 and Mark 5. 7


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CHAPTER VI

Refutation Of The Jews

(33) We have dealt thus far with the Incarnationof our Savior, and have found clear proof of theresurrection of His Body and His victory overdeath. Let us now go further and investigate theunbelief and the ridicule with which Jews andGentiles respectively regard these same facts. Itseems that in both cases the points at issue arethe same, namely the unfittingness orincongruity (as it seems to them) alike of thecross and of the Word's becoming man at all. Butwe have no hesitation in taking up the argumentagainst these objectors, for the proofs on our sideare extremely clear.

First, then, we will consider the Jews. Theirunbelief has its refutation in the Scriptures whicheven themselves read; for from cover to coverthe inspired Book clearly teaches these thingsboth in its entirety and in its actual words.Prophets foretold the marvel of the Virgin and ofthe Birth from her, saying,

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive andbear a son, and they shall call hisname 'Emmanuel,' which means 'Godis with us.'" 1

And Moses, that truly great one in whoseword the Jews trust so implicitly, he alsorecognized the importance and truth ofthe matter. He puts it thus:

"There shall arise a star from Jacoband a man from Israel, and he shallbreak in pieces the rulers of Moab. 2

And, again,"How lovely are thy dwellings, OJacob, thy tents, O Israel! Likewoodland valleys they give shade,and like parks by rivers, like tentswhich the Lord has pitched, likecedar-trees by streams. There shall

1 Isaiah 7. 142 Numbers 24. 17

come forth a Man from among hisseed, and he shall rule over manypeoples." 3

And, again, Isaiah says,"Before the Babe shall be old enoughto call father or mother, he shall takethe power of Damascus and the spoilsof Samaria from under the eyes of theking of Assyria." 4

These words, then, foretell that a Manshall appear. And Scripture proclaimsfurther that He that is to come is Lord ofall. These are the words,

"Behold, the Lord sitteth on an airycloud and shall come into Egypt, andthe man-made images of Egypt shallbe shaken." 5

And it is from Egypt also that the Fathercalls him back, saying,

"Out of Egypt have I called My Son."6

(34) Moreover, the Scriptures are notsilent even about His death. On thecontrary, they refer to it with the utmostclearness. They have not feared to speakalso of the cause of it. He endures it, theysay, not for His own sake, but for thesake of bringing immortality andsalvation to all, and they record also theplotting of the Jews against Him and allthe indignities which He suffered at theirhands. Certainly nobody who reads theScriptures can plead ignorance of thefacts as an excuse for error! There is thispassage, for instance:

"A man that is afflicted and knowshow to bear weakness, for His face isturned away. He was dishonored andnot considered, He bears our sins andsuffers for our sakes. And we for ourpart thought Him distressed andafflicted and ill-used; but it was for

3 Numbers 24. 5-74 Isaiah 8. 45 Isaiah 19. 16 Hosea 11. 1


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our sins that He was wounded and forour lawlessness that He was madeweak. Chastisement for our peacewas upon Him, and by His bruisingwe are healed." 7

O marvel at the love of the Word formen, for it is on our account that Heis dishonored, so that we may bebrought to honor. "For all we," itgoes on, "have strayed like sheep,man has strayed from his path, andthe Lord has given Him up for oursins; and He Himself did not openHis mouth at the ill-treatment. Like asheep He was led to slaughter, and asa lamb is dumb before its shearer, soHe opened not His mouth; in Hishumiliation His judgment was takenaway." 8

And then Scripture anticipates thesurmises of any who might think fromHis suffering thus that He was just anordinary man, and shows what powerworked in His behalf.

"Who shall declare of what lineageHe comes?" it says, "for His life isexalted from the earth. By thelawlessnesses of the people was Hebrought to death, and I will give thewicked in return for His burial andthe rich in return for His death. ForHe did no lawlessness, neither wasdeceit found in His mouth. And theLord wills to heal Him of Hisaffliction." 9

(35) You have heard the prophecy of Hisdeath, and now, perhaps, you want toknow what indications there are about thecross. Even this is not passed over insilence: on the contrary, the sacredwriters proclaim it with the utmostplainness. Moses foretells it first, and thatright loudly, when he says,

7 Isaiah 53. 3-58 Isaiah 53. 6-89 Isaiah 53. 8-10

"You shall see your Life hangingbefore your eyes, and shall notbelieve." 10

After him the prophets also give theirwitness, saying,

"But I as an innocent lamb brought tobe offered was yet ignorant of it.They plotted evil against Me, saying,'Come, let us cast wood into Hisbread, and wipe Him out from theland of the living." 11

And, again,"They pierced My hands and My feet,they counted all My bones, theydivided My garments for themselvesand cast lots for My clothing." 12

Now a death lifted up and that takes placeon wood can be none other than the deathof the cross; moreover, it is only in thatdeath that the hands and feet are pierced.Besides this, since the Savior dweltamong men, all nations everywhere havebegun to know God; and this too HolyWrit expressly mentions. "There shall bethe Root of Jesse," it says, "and he whorises up to rule the nations, on Himnations shall set their hope." 13

These are just a few things in proof ofwhat has taken place; but indeed allScripture teems with disproof of Jewishunbelief. For example, which of therighteous men and holy prophets andpatriarchs of whom the Divine Scripturestell ever had his bodily birth from avirgin only? Was not Abel born of Adam,Enoch of Jared, Noah of Lamech,Abraham of Terah, Isaac of Abraham,and Jacob of Isaac? Was not Judahbegotten by Jacob and Moses and Aaronby Ameram? Was not Samuel the son ofElkanah, David of Jesse, Solomon ofDavid, Hezekiah of Ahaz, Josiah of

10 Deut. 28. 6611 Jer. 11. 1912 Psalm 22. 16-1813 Isaiah 11. 10


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Amon, Isaiah of Amos, Jeremiah ofHilkiah and Ezekiel of Buzi? Had noteach of these a father as author of hisbeing? So who is He that is born of avirgin only, that sign of which theprophet makes so much? Again, which ofall those people had his birth announcedto the world by a star in the heavens?When Moses was born his parents hidhim. David was unknown even in hisown neighborhood, so that mightySamuel himself was ignorant of hisexistence and asked whether Jesse hadyet another son. Abraham again becameknown to his neighbors as a great manonly after his birth. But with Christ it wasotherwise. The witness to His birth wasnot man, but a star shining in the heavenswhence He was coming down.

(36) Then, again, what king that ever wasreigned and took trophies from hisenemies before he had strength to callfather or mother? Was not David thirtyyears old when he came to the throne andSolomon a grown young man? Did notJoash enter on his reign at the age ofseven, and Josiah, some time after him, atabout the same age, both of them fullyable by that time to call father or mother?Who is there, then, that was reigning anddespoiling his enemies almost before hewas born? Let the Jews, who haveinvestigated the matter, tell us if therewas ever such a king in Israel or Judah--aking upon whom all the nations set theirhopes and had peace, instead of being atenmity with him on every side! As longas Jerusalem stood there was constantwar between them, and they all foughtagainst Israel. The Assyrians oppressedIsrael, the Egyptians persecuted them, theBabylonians fell upon them, and, strangeto relate, even the Syrians their neighborswere at war with them. And did notDavid fight with Moab and smite theSyrians, and Hezekiah quail at theboasting of Sennacherib? Did not

Amalek make war on Moses and theAmorites oppose him, and did not theinhabitantsof Jericho array themselvesagainst Joshua the son of Nun? Did notthe nations always regard Israel withimplacable hostility? Then it is worthinquiring who it is, on whom the nationsare to set their hopes. Obviously theremust be someone, for the prophet couldnot have told a lie. But did any of theholy prophets or of the early patriarchsdie on the cross for the salvation of all?Was any of them wounded and killed forthe healing of all? Did the idols of Egyptfall down before any righteous man orking that came there? Abraham camethere certainly, but idolatry prevailed justthe same; and Moses was born there, butthe mistaken worship was unchanged.

(37) Again, does Scripture tell of anyonewho was pierced in hands and feet orhung upon a tree at all, and by means of across perfected his sacrifice for thesalvation of all? It was not Abraham, forhe died in his bed, as did also Isaac andJacob. Moses and Aaron died in themountain, and David ended his days inhis house, without anybody havingplotted against him. Certainly he hadbeen sought by Saul, but he waspreserved unharmed. Again Isaiah wassawn asunder, but he was not hung on atree. Jeremiah was shamefully used, buthe did not die under condemnation.Ezekiel suffered, but he did so, not onbehalf of the people, but only to signifyto themwhat was going to happen.Moreover, all these even when theysuffered were but men, like other men;but He Whom the Scriptures declare tosuffer on behalf of all is called not merelyman but Life of all, although in point offact He did share our human nature. "Youshall see your Life hanging before youreyes," they say, and "Who shall declareof what lineage He comes?" With all thesaints we can trace their descent from the


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beginning, and see exactly how eachcame to be; but the Divine Wordmaintains that we cannot declare thelineage of Him Who is the Life. Who isit, then, of Whom Holy Writ thus speaks?Who is there so great that even theprophets foretell of Him such mightythings? There is indeed no one in theScriptures at all, save the common Saviorof all, the Word of God, our Lord JesusChrist. He it is that proceeded from avirgin, and appeared as man on earth, Heit is Whose earthly lineage cannot bedeclared, because He alone derives Hisbody from no human father, but from avirgin alone. We can trace the paternaldescent of David and Moses and of allthe patriarchs. But with the Savior wecannot do so, for it was He Himself Whocaused the star to announce His bodilybirth, and it was fitting that the Word,when He came down from heaven,should have His sign in heaven too, andfitting that the King of creation on Hiscoming forth should be visiblyrecognized by all the world. He wasactually born in Judea, yet men fromPersia came to worship Him. He it isWho won victory from His demon foesand trophies from the idolaters evenbefore His bodily appearing--namely, allthe heathen who from every region haveabjured the tradition of their fathers andthe false worship of idols and are nowplacing their hope in Christ andtransferring their allegiance to Him. Thething is happening before our very eyes,here in Egypt; and thereby anotherprophecy is fulfilled, for at no other timehave the Egyptians ceased from theirfalse worship save when the Lord of all,riding as on a cloud, came down here inthe body and brought the error of idols tonothing and won over everybody toHimself and through Himself to theFather. He it is Who was crucified withthe sun and moon as witnesses; and byHis death salvation has come to all men,

and all creation has been redeemed. He isthe Life of all, and He it is Who like asheep gave up His own body to death,His life for ours and our salvation.

(38)Yet the Jews disbelieve this. Thisargument does not satisfy them. Well,then, let them be persuaded by otherthings in their own oracles. Ofwhom, forinstance, do the prophets say

"I was made manifest to those whodid not seek Me, I was found by thosewho had not asked for Me? I said,'See, here am I,' to the nation that hadnot called upon My Name. I stretchedout My hands to a disobedient andgainsaying people." 14

Who is this person that was mademanifest, one might ask the Jews? If theprophet is speaking of himself, then theymust tell us how he was first hidden, inorder to be manifested afterwards. And,again, what kind of man is this prophet,who was not only revealed after beinghidden, but also stretched out his handsupon the cross? Those things happened tonone of those righteous men: theyhappened only to the Word of God Who,being by nature without body, on ouraccount appeared in a body and sufferedfor us all. And if even this is not enoughfor them, there is other overwhelmingevidence by which they may be silenced.The Scripture says,

"Be strong, hands that hang down andfeeble knees, take courage, you oflittle faith, be strong and do not fear.See, our God will recompensejudgment, He Himself will come andsave us. Then the eyes of blind menshall be opened and the ears of deafmen shall hear, and stammerers shallspeak distinctly." 15

What can they say to this, or how canthey look it in the face at all? For the

14 Isaiah 65. 1, 215 Isaiah 35. 3-6


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prophecy does not only declare that Godwill dwell here, it also makes known thesigns and the time of His coming. WhenGod comes, it says, the blind will see, thelame will walk, the deaf will hear and thestammerers will speak distinctly. Can theJews tell us when such signs occurred inIsrael, or when anything of the kind tookplace at all in Jewry? The leper Naamanwas cleansed, it is true, but no deaf manheard nor did any lame man walk. Elijahraised a dead person and so did Elisha;but no one blind from birth received hissight. To raise a dead person is a greatthing indeed, but it is not such as theSavior did. And surely, since theScriptures have not kept silence about theleper and the dead son of the widow, if alame man had walked and a blind manhad received his sight, they would havementioned these as well. Their silence onthese points proves that the events nevertook place. When therefore did thesethings happen, unless when the Word ofGod Himself came in the body? Was itnot when He came that lame men walkedand stammerers spoke clearly and menblind from birth were given sight? Andthe Jews who saw it themselves testifiedto the fact that such things had neverbefore occurred. "Since the worldbegan," they said,

"it has never been heard of thatanyone should open the eyes of a manborn blind. If this Man were not fromGod, He could do nothing." 16

(39) But surely they cannot fight againstplain facts. So it may be that, withoutdenying what is written, they willmaintain that they are still waiting forthese things to happen, and that the Wordof God is yet to come, for that is a themeon which they are always harping mostbrazenly, in spite of all the evidenceagainst them. But they shall be refuted on

16 John 9. 32, 33

this supreme point more clearly than onany, and that not by ourselves but by themost wise Daniel, for he signifies theactual date of the Savior's coming as wellas His Divine sojourn in our midst."Seventy weeks," he says,

"are cut short upon thy people andupon the holy city, to make acomplete end of sin and for sins to besealed up and iniquities blotted out,and to make reconciliation foriniquity and to seal vision andprophet, and to anoint a Holy One ofholies. And thou shalt know andunderstand from the going forth ofthe Word to answer, 17 and to buildJerusalem, until Christ the Prince." 18

In regard to the other prophecies, theymay possibly be able to find excuses fordeferring their reference to a future time,but what can they say to this one? Howcan they face it at all? Not only does itexpressly mention the Anointed One, thatis the Christ, it even declares that HeWho is to be anointed is not man only,but the Holy One of holies! And it saysthat Jerusalem is to stand till His coming,and that after it prophet and vision shallcease in Israel! David was anointed ofold, and Solomon, and Hezekiah; butthen Jerusalem and the place stood, andprophets were prophesying, Gad andAsaph and Nathan, and later Isaiah andHosea and Amos and others. Moreover,those men who were anointed were calledholy certainly, but none of them wascalled the Holy of holies. Nor is it anyuse for the Jews to take refuge in theCaptivity, and say that Jerusalem did notexist then, for what about the prophets? Itis a fact that at the outset of the ExileDaniel and Jeremiah were there, andEzekiel and Haggai and Zechariah alsoprophesied.

17 "Answer" is 70 misreading for Hebrew "restore."18 Daniel 9. 24, 25


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(40) So the Jews are indulging in fiction,and transferring present time to future.When did prophet and vision cease fromIsrael? Was it not when Christ came, theHoly One of holies? It is, in fact, a signand notable proof of the coming of theWord that Jerusalem no longer stands,neither is prophet raised up nor visionrevealed among them. And it is naturalthat it should be so, for when He that wassignified had come, what need was thereany longer of any to signify Him? Andwhen the Truth had come, what furtherneed was there of the shadow? On Hisaccount only they prophesied continually,until such time as EssentialRighteousness has come, Who was madethe Ransom for the sins of all. For thesame reason Jerusalem stood until thesame time, in order that there men mightpremeditate the types before the Truthwas known. So, of course, once the HolyOne of holies had come, both vision andprophecy were sealed. And the kingdomof Jerusalem ceased at the same time,because kings were to be anointed amongthem only until the Holy of holies hadbeen anointed. Moses also prophesiesthat the kingdom of the Jews shall standuntil His time, saying,

"A ruler shall not fail from Judah nora prince from his loins, until thethings laid up for him shall come andthe Expectation of the nationsHimself." 19

And that is why the Savior Himself wasalways proclaiming

"The law and the prophets prophesieduntil John." 20

So if there is still king or prophet orvision among the Jews, they do well todeny that Christ is come; but if there isneither king nor vision, and since thattime all prophecy has been sealed andcity and temple taken, how can they be so

19 Gen. 49. 1020 Matt. 11. 13

irreligious, how can they so flaunt thefacts, as to deny Christ Who has broughtit all about? Again, they see the heathenforsaking idols and setting their hopesthrough Christ on the God of Israel; whydo they yet deny Christ Who after theflesh was born of the root of Jesse andreigns henceforward? Of course, if theheathen were worshipping some othergod, and not confessing the God ofAbraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses,then they would do well to argue thatGod had not come. But if the heathen arehonoring the same God Who gave thelaw to Moses and the promises toAbraham--the God Whose word too theJews dishonored, why do they notrecognize or rather why do theydeliberately refuse to see that the Lord ofWhom the Scriptures prophesied hasshone forth to the world and appeared toit in a bodily form? Scripture declares itrepeatedly. "The Lord God hasappeared to us," 21 and again, "He sentforth His Word and healed them." 22

And again, "It was no ambassador, noangel who saved us, but the LordHimself." 23 The Jews are afflicted likesome demented person who sees the earthlit up by the sun, but denies the sun thatlights it up! What more is there for theirExpected One to do when he comes? Tocall the heathen? But they are calledalready. To put an end to prophet andking and vision? But this too has alreadyhappened. To expose theGoddenyingness of idols? It is alreadyexposed and condemned. Or to destroydeath? It is already destroyed. What thenhas not come to pass that the Christ mustdo? What is there left out or unfulfilledthat the Jews should disbelieve so light-heartedly? The plain fact is, as I say, thatthere is no longer any king or prophet nor

21 Psalm 118. 2722 Psalm 57. 2023 Isaiah 63. 9


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Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision amongthem; yet the whole earth is filled withthe knowledge of God, and the Gentiles,forsaking atheism, are now taking refugewith the God of Abraham through theWord, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Surely, then, it must be plain even to themost shameless that the Christ has come,and that He has enlightened all meneverywhere, and given them the true anddivine teaching about His Father.

Thus the Jews may be refuted by theseand other arguments from the Divineteaching.


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CHAPTER VII

Refutation Of The Gentiles

(41) We come now to the unbelief of theGentiles; and this is indeed a matter for completeastonishment, for they laugh at that which is nofit subject for mockery, yet fail to see the shameand ridiculousness of their own idols. But thearguments on our side do not lack weight, so wewill confute them too on reasonable grounds,chiefly from what we ourselves also see.

First of all, what is there in our belief that isunfitting or ridiculous? Is it only that we say thatthe Word has been manifested in a body? Well,if they themselves really love the truth, they willagree with us that this involved no unfittingnessat all. If they deny that there is a Word of God atall, that will be extraordinary, for then they willbe ridiculing what they do not know. Butsuppose they confess that there is a Word ofGod, that He is the Governor of all things, that inElim the Father wrought the creation, that by Hisprovidence the whole receives light and life andbeing, and that He is King over all, so that He isknown by means of the works of His providence,and through Him the Father. Suppose theyconfess all this, what then? Are they notunknowingly turning the ridicule againstthemselves? The Greek philosophers say that theuniverse is a great body, and they say truly, forwe perceive the universe and its parts with oursenses. But if the Word of God is in the universe,which is a body, and has entered into it in itsevery part, what is there surprising or unfitting inour saying that He has entered also into humannature? If it were unfitting for Him to haveembodied Himself at all, then it would beunfitting for Him to have entered into theuniverse, and to be giving light and movementby His providence to all things in it, because theuniverse, as we have seen, is itself a body. But ifit is right and fitting for Him to enter into theuniverse and to reveal Himself through it, then,because humanity is part of the universe along

with the rest, it is no less fitting for Him toappear in a human body, and to enlighten and towork through that. And surely if it were wrongfor a part of the universe to have been used toreveal His Divinity to men, it would be muchmore wrong that He should be so revealed by thewhole!

(42) Take a parallel case. A man's personalityactuates and quickens his whole body. If anyonesaid it was unsuitable for the man's power to bein the toe, he would be thought silly, because,while granting that a man penetrates and actuatesthe whole of his body, he denied his presence inthe part. Similarly, no one who admits thepresence of the Word of God in the universe as awhole should think it unsuitable for a singlehuman body to be by Him actuated andenlightened.

But is it, perhaps, because humanity is a thingcreated and brought into being out of non-existence that they regard as unfitting themanifestation of the Savior in our nature? If so, itis high time that they spurned Him from creationtoo; for it, too, has been brought out of non-being into being by the Word. But if, on theother hand, although creation is a thing that hasbeen made, it is not unsuitable for the Word tobe present in it, then neither is it unsuitable forHim to be in man. Man is a part of the creation,as I said before; and the reasoning which appliesto one applies to the other. All things derive fromthe Word their light and movement and life, asthe Gentile authors themselves say, "In Him welive and move and have our being." 1 Very wellthen. That being so, it is by no meansunbecoming that the Word should dwell in man.So if, as we say, the Word has used that in whichHe is as the means of His self-manifestation,what is there ridiculous in that? He could nothave used it had He not been present in it; but wehave already admitted that He is present both inthe whole and in the parts. What, then, is thereincredible in His manifesting Himself throughthat in which He is? By His own power He

1 See Acts 17. 28


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enters completely into each and all, and ordersthem throughout ungrudgingly; and, had He sowilled, He could have revealed Himself and HisFather by means of sun or moon or sky or earthor fire or water. Had He done so, no one couldrightly have accused Him of actingunbecomingly, for He sustains in one whole allthings at once, being present and invisiblyrevealed not only in the whole, but also in eachparticular part. This being so, and since,moreover, He has willed to reveal Himselfthrough men, who are part of the whole, therecan be nothing ridiculous in His using a humanbody to manifest the truth and knowledge of theFather. Does not the mind of man pervade hisentire being, and yet find expression through onepart only, namely the tongue? Does anybody sayon that account that Mind has degraded itself? Ofcourse not. Very well, then, no more is itdegrading for the Word, Who pervades allthings, to have appeared in a human body. For,as I said before, if it were unfitting for Him thusto indwell the part, it would be equally so forHim to exist within the whole.

(43) Some may then ask, why did He notmanifest Himself by means of other and noblerparts of creation, and use some noblerinstrument, such as sun or moon or stars or fireor air, instead of mere man? The answer is this.The Lord did not come to make a display. Hecame to heal and to teach suffering men. For onewho wanted to make a display the thing wouldhave been just to appear and dazzle thebeholders. But for Him Who came to heal and toteach the way was not merely to dwell here, butto put Himself at the disposal of those whoneeded Him, and to be manifested according asthey could bear it, not vitiating the value of theDivine appearing by exceeding their capacity toreceive it.

Moreover, nothing in creation had erred from thepath of God's purpose for it, save only man. Sun,moon, heaven, stars, water, air, none of these hadswerved from their order, but, knowing the Wordas their Maker and their King, remained as theywere made. Men alone having rejected what is

good, have invented nothings instead of thetruth, and have ascribed the honor due to Godand the knowledge concerning Him to demonsand men in the form of stones. Obviously theDivine goodness could not overlook so grave amatter as this. But men could not recognize Himas ordering and ruling creation as a whole. Sowhat does He do? He takes to Himself forinstrument a part of the whole, namely a humanbody, and enters into that. Thus He ensured thatmen should recognize Him in the part who couldnot do so in the whole, and that those who couldnot lift their eyes to His unseen power mightrecognize and behold Him in the likeness ofthemselves. For, being men, they wouldnaturally learn to know His Father more quicklyand directly by means of a body thatcorresponded to their own and by the Divineworks done through it; for by comparing Hisworks with their own they would judge His to benot human but Divine. And if, as they say, itwere unsuitable for the Word to reveal Himselfthrough bodily acts, it would be equally so forHim to do so through the works of the universe.His being in creation does not mean that Heshares its nature; on the contrary, all createdthings partake of His power. Similarly, thoughHe used the body as His instrument, He sharednothing of its defect, 2 but rather sanctified it byHis indwelling. Does not even Plato, of whomthe Greeks think so much, say that the Author ofthe Universe, seeing it storm-tossed and indanger of sinking into the state of dissolution,takes his seat at the helm of the Life-force of theuniverse, and comes to the rescue andputseverything right? What, then, is thereincredible in our saying that, mankind havinggone astray, the Word descended upon it and wasmanifest as man, so that by His intrinsicgoodness and His steersmanship He might saveit from the storm?

(44) It may be, however, that, though shamedinto agreeing that this objection is void, theGreeks will want to raise another. They will saythat, if God wanted to instruct and save mankind,

2 Literally, "He shared nothing of the things of the body."


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He might have done so, not by His Word'sassumption of a body, but, even as He at firstcreated them, by the mere signification of Hiswill. The reasonable reply to that is that thecircumstances in the two cases are quitedifferent. In the beginning, nothing as yet existedat all; all that was needed, therefore, in order tobring all things into being, was that His will todo so should be signified. But once man was inexistence, and things that were, not things thatwere not, demanded to be healed, it followed as amatter of course that the Healer and Saviorshould align Himself with those things thatexisted already, in order to heal the existing evil.For that reason, therefore, He was made man,and used the body as His human instrument. Ifthis were not the fitting way, and He willed touse an instrument at all, how otherwise was theWord to come? And whence could He take Hisinstrument, save from among those already inexistence and needing His Godhead through Onelike themselves? It was not things non-existentthat needed salvation, for which a bare creativeword might have sufficed, but man--man alreadyin existence and already in process of corruptionand ruin. It was natural and right, therefore, forthe Word to use a human instrument and by thatmeans unfold Himself to all.

You must know, moreover, that the corruptionwhich had set in was not external to the body butestablished within it. The need, therefore, wasthat life should cleave to it in corruption's place,so that, just as death was brought into being inthe body, life also might be engendered in it. Ifdeath had been exterior to the body, life mightfittingly have been the same. But if death waswithin the body, woven into its very substanceand dominating it as though completely one withit, the need was for Life to be woven into itinstead, so that the body by thus enduing itselfwith life might cast corruption off. Suppose theWord had come outside the body instead of in it,He would, of course, have defeated death,because death is powerless against the Life. Butthe corruption inherent in the body would haveremained in it none the less. Naturally, therefore,the Savior assumed a body for Himself, in order

that the body, being interwoven as it were withlife, should no longer remain a mortal thing, inthrall to death, but as endued with immortalityand risen from death, should thenceforth remainimmortal. For once having put op corruption, itcould not rise, unless it put on life instead; andbesides this, death of its very nature could notappear otherwise than in a body. Therefore Heput on a body, so that in the body He might finddeath and blot it out. And, indeed, how could theLord have been proved to be the Life at all, hadHe not endued with life that which was subjectto death? Take an illustration. Stubble is asubstance naturally destructible by fire; and itstill remains stubble, fearing the menace of firewhich has the natural property of consuming it,even if fire is kept away from it, so that it is notactually burnt. But suppose that, instead ofmerely keeping the fire from it somebody soaksthe stubble with a quantity of asbestos, thesubstance which is said to be the antidote to fire.Then the stubble no longer fears the fire, becauseit has put on that which fire cannot touch, andtherefore it is safe. It is just the same with regardto the body and death. Had death been kept fromit by a mere command, it would still haveremained mortal and corruptible, according to itsnature. To prevent this, it put on the incorporealWord of God, and therefore fears neither deathnor corruption any more, for it is clad with Lifeas with a garment and in it corruption is cleandone away.

(45) The Word of God thus acted consistently inassuming a body and using a human instrumentto vitalize the body. He was consistent inworking through man to reveal Himselfeverywhere, as well as through the other parts ofHis creation, so that nothing was left void of HisDivinity and knowledge. For I take up now thepoint I made before, namely that the Savior didthis in order that He might fill all thingseverywhere with the knowledge of Himself, justas they are already filled with His presence, evenas the Divine Scripture says,


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"The whole universe was filled withthe knowledge of the Lord." 3

If a man looks up to heaven he sees thereHis ordering; but if he cannot look sohigh as heaven, but only so far as men,through His works he sees His power,incomparable with human might, andlearns from them that He alone amongmen is God the Word. Or, if a man hasgone astray among demons and is in fearof them, he may see this Man drive themout and judge therefrom that He is indeedtheir Master. Again, if a man has beenimmersed in the element of water andthinks that it is God--as indeed theEgyptians do worship water--he may seeits very nature changed by Him and learnthat the Lord is Creator of all. And if aman has gone down even to Hades, andstands awestruck before the heroes whohave descended thither, regarding themas gods, still he may see the fact ofChrist's resurrection and His victory overdeath, and reason from it that, of allthese, He alone is very Lord and God.

For the Lord touched all parts of creation,and freed and undeceived them all fromevery deceit. As St. Paul says,

"Having put off from Himself theprincipalities and the powers, Hetriumphed on the cross," 4

so that no one could possibly be anylonger deceived, but everywhere mightfind the very Word of God. For thus man,enclosed on every side by the works ofcreation and everywhere--in heaven, inHades, in men and on the earth,beholding the unfolded Godhead of theWord, is no longer deceived concerningGod, but worships Christ alone, andthrough Him rightly knows the Father.

On these grounds, then, of reason and ofprinciple, we will fairly silence the

3 Isaiah 11. 94 Col. 2. 15

Gentiles in their turn. But if they thinkthese arguments insufficient to confutethem, we will go on in the next chapter toprove our point from facts.


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CHAPTER VIII

Refutation Of The Gentiles--Continued

(46) When did people begin to abandon theworship of idols, unless it were since the veryWord of God came among men? When haveoracles ceased and become void of meaning,among the Greeks and everywhere, except sincethe Savior has revealed Himself on earth? Whendid those whom the poets call gods and heroesbegin to be adjudged as mere mortals, exceptwhen the Lord took the spoils of death andpreserved incorruptible the body He had taken,raising it from among the dead ? Or when did thedeceitfulness and madness of demons fall undercontempt, save when the Word, the Power ofGod, the Master of all these as well,condescended on account of the weakness ofmankind and appeared on earth? When did thepractice and theory of magic begin to be spurnedunder foot, if not at the manifestation of theDivine Word to men? In a word, when did thewisdom of the Greeks become foolish, savewhen the true Wisdom of God revealed Himselfon earth? In old times the whole world and everyplace in it was led astray by the worship of idols,and men thought the idols were the only godsthat were. But now all over the world men areforsaking the fear of idols and taking refuge withChrist; and by worshipping Him as God theycome through Him to know the Father also,Whom formerly they did not know. The amazingthing, moreover, is this. The objects of worshipformerly were varied and countless; each placehad its own idol and the so-called god of oneplace could not pass over to another in order topersuade the people there to worship him, butwas barely reverenced even by his own. Indeedno! Nobody worshipped his neighbor's god, butevery man had his own idol and thought that itwas lord of all. But now Christ alone isworshipped, as One and the Same among allpeoples everywhere; and what the feebleness of

idols could not do, namely, convince even thosedwelling close at hand, He has effected. He haspersuaded not only those close at hand, butliterally the entire world to worship one and thesame Lord and through Him the Father.

(47) Again, in former times every place was fullof the fraud of the oracles, and the utterances ofthose at Delphi and Dordona and in Boeotia andLycia and Libya and Egypt and those of theKabiri and the Pythoness were consideredmarvelous by the minds of men. But now, sinceChrist has been proclaimed everywhere, theirmadness too has ceased, and there is no one leftamong them to give oracles at all. Then, too,demons used to deceive men's minds by takingup their abode in springs or rivers or trees orstones and imposing upon simple people by theirfrauds. But now, since the Divine appearing ofthe Word, all this fantasy has ceased, for by thesign of the cross, if a man will but use it, hedrives out their deceits. Again, people used toregard as gods those who are mentioned in thepoets-- Zeus and Kronos and Apollo and theheroes, and in worshipping them they wentastray. But now that the Savior has appearedamong men, those others have been exposed asmortal men, and Christ alone is recognized astrue God, Word of God, God Himself. And whatis one to say about the magic that they think somarvelous? Before the sojourn of the Word, itwas strong and active among Egyptians andChaldeans and Indians and filled all who saw itwith terror and astonishment. But by the comingof the Truth and the manifestation of the Word ittoo has been confuted and entirely destroyed. Asto Greek wisdom, however, and the philosophers'noisy talk, I really think no one requiresargument from us; for the amazing fact is patentto all that, for all that they had written so much,the Greeks failed to convince even a few fromtheir own neighborhood in regard to immortalityand the virtuous ordering of life. Christ alone,using common speech and through the agency ofmen not clever with their tongues, has convincedwhole assemblies of people all the world over todespise death, and to take heed to the things thatdo not die, to look past the things of time and


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gaze on things eternal, to think nothing of earthlyglory and to aspire only to immortality.

(48) These things which we have said are nomere words:

They are attested by actualexperience. Anyone who likes maysee the proof of glory in the virgins ofChrist, and in the young men whopractice chastity as part of theirreligion, and in the assurance ofimmortality in so great and glad acompany. 1

of martyrs. Anyone, too, may put whatwe have said to the proof of experience inanother way. In the very presence of thefraud of demons and the imposture of theoracles and the wonders of magic, let himuse the sign of the cross which they allmock at, and but speak the Name ofChrist, and he shall see how through Himdemons are routed, oracles cease, and allmagic and witchcraft is confounded.

Who, then, is this Christ and how great isHe, Who by His Name and presenceovershadows and confounds all things onevery side, Who alone is strong againstall and has filled the whole world withHis teaching? Let the Greeks tell us, whomock at Him without stint or shame. IfHe is a man, how is it that one man hasproved stronger than all those whom theythemselves regard as gods, and by Hisown power has shown them to benothing? If they call Him a magician,how is it that by a magician all magic isdestroyed, instead of being renderedstrong? Had He conquered certainmagicians or proved Himself superior toone of them only, they might reasonablythink that He excelled the rest only byHis greater skill. But the fact is that Hiscross has vanquished all magic entirelyand has conquered the very name of it.

1 Literally, "so great a chorus . . .". "choros" being properlya band of dancers and singers.

Obviously, therefore, the Savior is nomagician, for the very demons whom themagicians invoke flee from Him as fromtheir Master. Who is He, then? Let theGreeks tell us, whose only serious pursuitis mockery! Perhaps they will say thatHe, too, is a demon, and that is why Heprevailed. But even so the laugh is stillon our side. for we can confute them bythe same proofs as before. How could Hebe a demon, Who drives demons out? Ifit were only certain ones that He droveout, then they might reasonably think thatHe prevailed against them through thepower of their Chief, as the Jews,wishing to insult Him, actually said. Butsince the fact is, here again, that at themere naming of His Name all madness ofthe demons is rooted out and put to flight,obviously the Greeks are wrong here, too,and our Lord and Savior Christ is not, asthey maintain, some demonic power.

If, then, the Savior is neither a mere mannor a magician, nor one of the demons,but has by His Godhead confounded andovershadowed the opinions of the poetsand the delusion of the demons and thewisdom of the Greeks, it must bemanifest and will be owned by all that Heis in truth Son of God, Existent Word andWisdom and Power of the Father. This isthe reason why His works are no merehuman works, but, both intrinsically andby comparison with those of men, arerecognized as being superhuman andtruly the works of God.

(49) What man that ever was, forinstance, formed a body for himself froma virgin only? Or what man ever healedso many diseases as the common Lord ofall? Who restored that which was lackingin man's nature or made one blind frombirth to see? Aesculapius was deified bythe Greeks because he practiced the art ofhealing and discovered herbs as remediesfor bodily diseases, not, of course,


36

forming them himself out of the earth,but finding them out by the study ofnature. But what is that in comparisonwith what the Savior did when, instead ofjust healing a wound, He both fashionedessential being and restored to health thething that He had formed? Hercules, too,is worshipped as a god by the Greeksbecause he fought against other men anddestroyed wild animals by craft. But whatis that to what the Word did, in drivingaway from men diseases and demons andeven death itself? Dionysus isworshipped among them, because hetaught men drunkenness; yet they ridiculethe true Savior and Lord of all, Whotaught men temperance.

That, however, is enough on this point.What will they say to the other marvelsof His Godhead? At what man's deathwas the sun darkened and the earthshaken? Why, even to this day men aredying, and they did so also before thattime. When did any such marvels happenin their case? Now shall we pass over thedeeds done in His earthly body andmention those after His resurrection? Hasany man's teaching, in any place or at anytime, ever prevailed everywhere as oneand the same, from one end of the earthto the other, so that his worship has fairlyflown through every land? Again, if, asthey say, Christ is man only and not Godthe Word, why do not the gods of theGreeks prevent His entering theirdomains? Or why, on the other hand,does the Word Himself dwelling in ourmidst make an end of their worship byHis teaching and put their fraud toshame?

(50) Many before Him have been kingsand tyrants of the earth, history tells alsoof many among the Chaldeans andEgyptians and Indians who were wisemen and magicians. But which of those, Ido not say after his death, but while yet in

this life, was ever able so far to prevail asto fill the whole world with his teachingand retrieve so great a multitude from thecraven fear of idols, as our Savior haswon over from idols to Himself? TheGreek philosophers have compiled manyworks with persuasiveness and muchskill in words; but what fruit have they toshow for this such as has the cross ofChrist? Their wise thoughts werepersuasive enough until they died; yeteven in their life-time their seeminginfluence was counterbalanced by theirrivalry with one another, for they were ajealous company and declaimed againsteach other. But the Word of God, bystrangest paradox, teaching in meanerlanguage, has put the choicest sophists inthe shade, and by confounding theirteachings and drawing all men to HimselfHe has filled His own assemblies.Moreover, and this is the marvelous thingby going down as Man to death He hasconfounded ail the sounding utterances ofthe wise men about the idols. For whosedeath ever drove out demons, or whosedeath did ever demons fear, save that ofChrist? For where the Savior is named,there every demon is driven out. Again,who has ever so rid men of their naturalpassions that fornicators become chasteand murderers no longer wield the swordand those who formerly were cravencowards boldly play the man? In a word,what persuaded the barbarians andheathen folk in every place to drop theirmadness and give heed to peace, save thefaith of Christ and the sign of the cross?What other things have given men suchcertain faith in immortality as have thecross of Christ and the resurrection of Hisbody? The Greeks told all sorts of falsetales, but they could never pretend thattheir idols rose again from death: indeedit never entered their heads that a bodycould exist again after death at all. Andone would be particularly ready to listento them on this point, because by these


37

opinions they have exposed the weaknessof their own idolatry, at the same timeyielding to Christ the possibility of bodilyresurrection, so that by that means Hemight be recognized by all as Son ofGod.

(51) Again, who among men, either afterhis death or while yet living, taught aboutvirginity and did not account this virtueimpossible for human beings? But Christour Savior and King of all has soprevailed with His teaching on thissubject that even children not yet oflawful age promise that virginity whichtranscends the law. And who among menhas ever been able to penetrate even toScythians and Ethiopians, or Parthians orArmenians or those who are said to livebeyond Hyrcania, or even the Egyptiansand Chaldeans, people who give heed tomagic and are more than naturallyenslaved by the fear of demons andsavage in their habits, and to preach at allabout virtue and self-control and againstthe worshipping of idols, as has the Lordof all, the Power of God, our Lord JesusChrist? Yet He not only preached throughHis own disciples, but also wrought sopersuasively on men's understanding that,laying aside their savage habits andforsaking the worship of their ancestralgods, they learnt to know Him andthrough Him to worship the Father.While they were yet idolaters, the Greeksand Barbarians were always at war witheach other, and were even cruel to theirown kith and kin. Nobody could travel byland or sea at all unless he was armedwith swords, because of theirirreconcilable quarrels with each other.Indeed, the whole course of their life wascarried on with the weapons, and thesword with them replaced the staff andwas the mainstay of all aid. All this time,as I said before, they were serving idolsand offering sacrifices to demons, and forall the superstitious awe that

accompanied this idol worship, nothingcould wean them from that warlike spirit.But, strange to relate, since they cameover to the school of Christ, as menmoved with real compunction they havelaid aside their murderous cruelty and arewar-minded no more. On the contrary, allis peace among them and nothingremains save desire for friendship.

(52) Who, then, is He Who has donethese things and has united in peace thosewho hated each other, save the belovedSon of the Father, the common Savior ofall, Jesus Christ, Who by His own loveunderwent all things for our salvation?Even from the beginning, moreover, thispeace that He was to administer wasforetold, for Scripture says,

"They shall beat their swords intoploughshares and their spears intosickles, and nation shall not takesword against nation, neither shallthey learn any more to wage war." 2

Nor is this by any means incredible.

The barbarians of the present day arenaturally savage in their habits, and aslong as they sacrifice to their idols theyrage furiously against each other andcannot bear to be a single hour withoutweapons. But when they hear theteaching of Christ, forthwith they turnfrom fighting to farming, and instead ofarming themselves with swords extendtheir hands in prayer. In a word, insteadof fighting each other, they take up armsagainst thedevil and the demons, andovercome them by their selfcommandand integrity of soul. These facts areproof of the Godhead of the Savior, forHe has taught men what they could neverlearn among the idols. It is also no smallexposure of the weakness andnothingness of demons and idols, for itwas because they knew their own

2 Isaiah 2. 4


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weakness that the demons were alwayssetting men to fight each other, fearinglest, if they ceased from mutual strife,they would turn to attack the demonsthemselves. For in truth the disciples ofChrist, instead of fighting each other,stand arrayed against demons by theirhabits and virtuous actions, and chasethem away and mock at their captain thedevil. Even in youth they are chaste, theyendure in times of testing and perseverein toils. When they are insulted, they arepatient, when robbed they make light ofit, and, marvelous to relate, they makelight even of death itself, and becomemartyrs of Christ.

(53) And here is another proof of theGodhead of the Savior, which is indeedutterly amazing. What mere man ormagician or tyrant or king was ever ableby himself to do so much? Did anyoneever fight against the whole system ofidol-worship and the whole host ofdemons and all magic and all the wisdomof the Greeks, at a time when all of thesewere strong and flourishing and takingeverybody in, as did our Lord, the veryWord of God? Yet He is even nowinvisibly exposing every man's error, andsingle-handed is carrying off all menfrom them all, so that those who used toworship idols now tread them under foot,reputed magicians burn their books andthe wise prefer to all studies theinterpretation of the gospels. They aredeserting those whom formerly theyworshipped, they worship and confess asChrist and God Him Whom they used toridicule as crucified. Their so-called godsare routed by the sign of the cross, andthe crucified Savior is proclaimed in allthe world as God and Son of God.Moreover, the gods worshipped amongthe Greeks are now falling into disreputeamong them on account of thedisgraceful things they did, for those whoreceive the teaching of Christ are more

chaste in life than they. If these, and thelike of them, are human works, letanyone who will show us similar onesdone by men in former time, and soconvince us. But if they are shown to be,and are the works not of men but of God,why are the unbelievers so irreligious asnot to recognize the Master Who didthem? They are afflicted as a man wouldbe who failed to recognize God theArtificer through the works of creation.For surely if they had recognized HisGodhead through His power over theuniverse, they would recognize also thatthe bodily works of Christ are not human,but are those of the Savior of all, theWord of God. And had they recognizedthis, as Paul says, "They would not havecrucified the Lord of glory." 3

(54) As, then, he who desires to see GodWho by nature is invisible and not to bebeheld, may yet perceive and know Himthrough His works, so too let him whodoes not see Christ with hisunderstanding at least consider Him inHis bodily works and test whether theybe of man or God. If they be of man, thenlet him scoff; but if they be of God, lethim not mock at things which are no fitsubject for scorn, but rather let himrecognize the fact and marvel that thingsdivine have been revealed to us by suchhumble means, that through deathdeathlessness has been made known tous, and through the Incarnation of theWord the Mind whence all thingsproceed has been declared, and its Agentand Ordainer, the Word of God Himself.He, indeed, assumed humanity that wemight become God. He manifestedHimself by means of a body in order thatwe might perceive the Mind of theunseen Father. He endured shame frommen that we might inherit immortality.He Himself was unhurt by this, for He is

3 Cor. 2. 8


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impassable and incorruptible; but by Hisown impassability He kept and healed thesuffering men on whose account He thusendured. In short, such and so many arethe Savior's achievements that followfrom His Incarnation, that to try tonumber them is like gazing at the opensea and trying to count the waves. Onecannot see all the waves with one's eyes,for when one tries to do so those that arefollowing on baffle one's senses. Even so,when one wants to take in all theachievements of Christ in the body, onecannot do so, even by reckoning them up,for the things that transcend one's thoughtare always more than those one thinksthat one has grasped.

As we cannot speak adequately abouteven a part of His work, therefore, it willbe better for us not to speak about it as awhole. So we will mention but one thingmore, and then leave the whole for you tomarvel at. For, indeed, everything aboutit is marvelous, and wherever a man turnshis gaze he sees the Godhead of the Wordand is smitten with awe.

(55) The substance of what we have saidso far may be summarized as follows.Since the Savior came to dwell among us,not only does idolatry no longer increase,but it is getting less and gradually ceasingto be. Similarly, not only does thewisdom of the Greeks no longer makeany progress, but that which used to be isdisappearing. And demons, so far fromcontinuing to impose on people by theirdeceits and oracle-givings and sorceries,are routed by the sign of the cross if theyso much as try. On the other hand, whileidolatry and everything else that opposesthe faith of Christ is daily dwindling andweakening and falling, see, the Savior'steaching is increasing everywhere!Worship, then, the Savior "Who is aboveall" and mighty, even God the Word, andcondemn those who are being defeated

and made to disappear by Him. When thesun has come, darkness prevails nolonger; any of it that may be leftanywhere is driven away. So also, nowthat the Divine epiphany of the Word ofGod has taken place, the darkness ofidols prevails no more, and all parts ofthe world in every direction areenlightened by His teaching. Similarly, ifa king be reigning somewhere, but staysin his own house and does not let himselfbe seen, it often happens that someinsubordinate fellows, taking advantageof his retirement, will have themselvesproclaimed in his stead; and each ofthem, being invested with the semblanceof kingship, misleads the simple who,because they cannot enter the palace andsee the real king, are led astray by justhearing a king named. When the real kingemerges, however, and appears to view,things stand differently. Theinsubordinate impostors areshown up byhis presence, and men, seeing the realking, forsake those who previouslymisled them. In the same way the demonsused formerly to impose on men,investing themselves with the honor dueto God. But since the Word of God hasbeen manifested in a body, and has madeknown to us His own Father, the fraud ofthe demons is stopped and made todisappear; and men, turning their eyes tothe true God, Word of the Father, forsakethe idols and come to know the true God.

Now this is proof that Christ is God, theWord and Power of God. For whereashuman things cease and the fact of Christremains, it is clear to all that the thingswhich cease are temporary, but that HeWho remains is God and very Son ofGod, the sole-begotten Word.


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CHAPTER IX

Conclusion

(56) Here, then, Macarius, is our offering to youwho love Christ, a brief statement of the faith ofChrist and of the manifestation of His Godheadto us. This will give you a beginning, and youmust go on to prove its truth by the study of theScriptures. They were written and inspired byGod; and we, who have learned from inspiredteachers who read the Scriptures and becamemartyrs for the Godhead of Christ, make furthercontribution to your eagerness to learn. From theScriptures you will learn also of His secondmanifestation to us, glorious and divine indeed,when He shall come not in lowliness but in Hisproper glory, no longer in humiliation but inmajesty, no longer to suffer but to bestow on usall the fruit of His cross-- the resurrection andincorruptibility. No longer will He then bejudged, but rather will Himself be Judge, judgingeach and all according to their deeds done in thebody, whether good or ill. Then for the good islaid up the heavenly kingdom, but for those thatpractice evil outer darkness and the eternal fire.So also the Lord Himself says,

"I say unto you, hereafter ye shall seethe Son of Man seated on the righthand of power, coming on the cloudsof heaven in the glory of the Father."1

For that Day we have one of His ownsayings to prepare us,

"Get ready and watch, for ye knownot the hour in which He cometh" 2

And blessed Paul says,"We must all stand before thejudgment seat of Christ, that each onemay receive according as he practicedin the body, whether good or ill." 3

1 Matt. 26. 642 Matt. 24. 423 2 Cor. 5. 10

(57) But for the searching and rightunderstanding of the Scriptures there isneed of a good life and a pure soul, andfor Christian virtue to guide the mind tograsp, so far as human nature can, thetruth concerning God the Word. Onecannot possibly understand the teachingof the saints unless one has a pure mindand is trying to imitate their life. Anyonewho wants to look at sunlight naturallywipes his eye clear first, in order to make,at any rate, some approximation to thepurity of that on which he looks; and aperson wishing to see a city or countrygoes to the place in order to do so.Similarly, anyone who wishes tounderstand the mind of the sacred writersmust first cleanse his own life, andapproach the saints by copying theirdeeds. Thus united to them in thefellowship of life, he will bothunderstand the things revealed to them byGod and, thenceforth escaping the perilthat threatens sinners in the judgment,will receive that which is laid up for thesaints in the kingdom of heaven. Of thatreward it is written:

"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,neither hath entered into the heart ofman the things that God hasprepared" 4

for them that live a godly life and lovethe God and Father in Christ Jesus ourLord, through Whom and with Whom beto the Father Himself, with the SonHimself, in the Holy Spirit, honor andmight and glory to ages of ages. Amen.

4 1 Cor. 2. 9


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End Notes(editor’s note: The end notes are the footnoteswithin the text. The roman numerals have beenchanged to numbers.)

Scripture IndexOf Athanasius' On the Incarnation

Old Testament

Genesis

Gen. i.1 ch1 n4Gen. ii. 16 f. ch1 n7Gen. xlix. 10 ch6 n19

Numbers

Numbers xxiv. 17 ch6 n2Numbers xxiv. 5-7 ch6 n3

Deuteronomy

Deut. xxviii. 66 ch6 n10

Psalms

Psalm xxii. 16-18 ch6 n12Psalm xxiv. 7. ch4 n10Psalm lxxxii. 6 f. ch1 n9Psalm cxviii. 27 ch6 n21Psalm cvii. 20 ch6 n22

Isaiah

Isaiah ii. 4 ch8 n2Isaiah vii. 14 ch6 n1Isaiah viii. 4 ch6 n4Isaiah xi. 9 ch7 n3Isaiah xi. 10 ch6 n13Isaiah xix. 1 ch6 n5

Isaiah xxxv. 3-6 ch6 n15Isaiah liii. 3-5 ch6 n7Isaiah liii. 6-8 ch6 n8Isaiah liii. 8-10 ch6 n9Isaiah lxiii. 9 ch6 n23Isaiah lxv. 1, 2 ch6 n14

Jeremiah

Jer. xi. 19 ch6 n11

Daniel

Daniel ix. 24, ch8 n18

Hosea

Hosea xi. 1 ch6 n6

New Testament

Matthew

Matt. xi. 13 ch6 n20Matt. xix. 4-6 ch1 n2Matt. xxiv. 42 ch9 n2Matt. xxvi. 64 ch9 n1

Mark

Mark v. 7 ch5 n3

Luke

Luke iv. 34 ch5 n3Luke x. 18 ch4 n9Luke xix. 10 ch3 n2; ch3 n5

John

John i. 3 ch1 n3John iii. 3 ch3 n3John ix. 32, 33 ch6 n16John x. 37-38 ch3 n8John xii. 32 ch4 n6


42

Romans

Rom. i. 25 ch3 n1Rom. i. 26 f. ch1 n11

1 Corinthians

1 Cor. i. 21 ch3 n41 Cor. ii. 8 ch8 n31 Cor. ii. 9. ch9 n41 Cor. xv. 21 f. ch2 n41 Cor. xv. 53 ff. ch4 n21 Cor. xv. 55 ch5 n1

2 Corinthians

2 Cor. v. 10 ch9 n32 Cor. v. 14 f. ch2 n1

Galatians

Gal. iii. 13 ch4 n3Gal. iii. 13 ch4 n4

Ephesians

Eph. ii. 2 ch4 n7Eph. ii. 14 ch4 n5Eph. iii. 17 ff. ch3 n6

Colosians

Col. ii. 15 ch7 n4

1 Timothy

1 Tim. vi. 15 ch2 n5

Hebrews

Heb. ii. 9 ff. ch2 n2Heb. ii. 14 f. ch2 n3; ch4 n1Heb. iv. 12 ch5 n2Heb. x. 20 ch4 n8Heb. xi. 3 ch1 n6

1 Peter

1 Peter ii. 22 ch3 n7

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Documents

On the Incarnation (PDF)