De Incarnatione (9)

Examen of Chapters 41-44

“It is not absurd for the Word to be in it”

Many of the Greeks in Athanasius’ time argued that it was improper for the Word of God, which they believed in, to exist locally in a part of the universe that he fully indwelled and orchestrated. But we see an interesting rebuttal: if we can speak of the strength of a man as fully indwelling a man, then it is not absurd to say that that strength can manifest in that man’s toe. He continues developing this argument by saying that the Word can simultaneously exist both omnipresent in the whole universe and in the flesh of a man without being limited. Just as the sun is not limited by or defiled by what its rays touch, the Son is not defiled or limited by the body He chooses to inhabit, but rather He sanctifies it and makes it holy.

Next, we see objection to the form in which the Word had incarnated. In Greek pagan thought, a body such as the planets, sun, or stars were seemingly more noble a thing to manifest into personally, but Athanasius rightly points out that even according to Plato, whom the Greeks revered, that the problem with creation was uniquely human, so to manifest as a celestial body would only serve to dazzle the eyes of men and would keep healing and salvation far from reach, not being able to reveal anything about the Father to mankind. In the incarnation the Word of God is able to make visible the invisible and show not the works of men but the works of the Father. Making God relatable and accessible through these divine acts in human flesh. The Greeks continue their objection. Stating that God could have just nodded and immediately restored creation. but interestingly Athanasius says that because death and non-being has become interwoven into creation, it was more fitting that life itself come down and interweave itself into creation. Not to say that God could not instantly heal, but rather His goodness is shown in extending healing to creation through the incarnation.

If Christ had not assumed a corruptible body, He would not have been able to destroy the corruption from within, which ultimately culminated in the cross, where at the very epicenter of history, Christ faces this corruptibility head on and is ultimately victorious. If this had been a planet or a star that had done this, how would one have faith in such a distant and un

relatable object. The whole point is that the remedy had to reach where the wound actually was. Death had taken hold of human flesh, so it was human flesh that had to be the place where death was undone. A distant cosmic display would have been impressive, but it would not have touched the actual problem.

When you look at all these chapters together, we see that the Incarnation fits what it was meant to do. The Word took a body because the problem was in the body, He took on a human body because the problem was human, and He took on a mortal body because problem was death. And He died publicly because the solution to these problems needed to be seen so that men could believe and partake of the healing. What the Greeks had thought below the dignity of God, turned out to be exactly the remedy for creation.

Athanasius furthers his rebuttal against the Greeks. They had believed that for God to maintain His dignity He should have stayed distant. But he argues just as a king maintains his dignity entering a humble household, so too does God retain His glory when entering into creation, and that rather than the sullying himself, he honors the household with his presence. Only a lesser god would not have been able to enter into his own creation, so for God to incarnate, it shows that He is capable of anything while still maintaining His divinity. Rather than the incarnation being contrary to the nature of God, rather it more fully shows the goodness and glory of God’s nature, to personally come down and be the doctor to heal all of creation. and to lift it back out of corruption back into the good graces of the Father, who is praised and glorified forever and ever, amen.