Thoughts on St. Athanasius’ “On the Incarnation of The Word of God”

As previously mentioned, it is at this time of year that I do my regular annual re-reading of the brilliant tome,
“On the Incarnation of The Word of God” In looking over the first chapter and a half, the following three sections struck me as particularly poignant. They speak for themselves it seems to me, however I will offer my observations on each:

The presence and love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good. By nature, of course, man is mortal, since he was made from nothing; but he bears also the Likeness of Him Who is, and if he preserves that Likeness through constant contemplation, then his nature is deprived of its power and he remains incorrupt.

In my many years of attempting to live the Christian life prior to entering Holy Orthodoxy, I had never before encountered nor considered such a uniquely wonderful and yet frightening concept.. Through The Word, God had called everything from non-existence into being. And, by our choosing of evil over good, we choose literally to move back towards non-existence, non-being if you will. It is only through God’s image, innate in our beings that we can remain incorrupt as we choose to follow after good, or as the choice is put in that ancient Christian document “The Didache”,“There are two ways, one of life and one of death, but a great difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this: First, you shall love God who made you; …”. You see, the way of life, the way of existence requires us to respond positively to God’s grace towards us.The way of death occurs as we respond in a negative manner. This ability and power of choice is God’s gift ti us, and we must exercise it.

In that case, what was the use of having made them in the beginning? Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very eyes would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more than if He had never created men at all. It was impossible, therefore, that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself.

Any of these quotes can obviously speak for themselves as this one certainly does, yet this quote touches on an age old question that has been a stumbling block for many with regards to God’s sovereignty, as well as matters of free will.. This topic could be explored at great length, and I will perhaps do so at a later time. For the present however, let it suffice to be said that God was compelled by His great love towards mankind and all of creation to intervene in the person of the incarnate Word to restore mankind to it’s natural state. The following aptly demonstrates just that:

Who, save the Word of God Himself, Who also in the beginning had made all things out of nothing? His part it was, and His alone, both to bring again the corruptible to incorruption and to maintain for the Father His consistency of character with all. For He alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father.

A great mystery to be sure, this mysterious love of God.. To borrow from a favorite rock power trio of mine, King’s X (read “the signature of the King”) from their song , “It’s Love”
“It’s love
That holds it all together
I just had to let you know
That it’s love
That’s holding back the weather
And the same will let it go”

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~ by rdreusebios1 on December 24, 2007.