Fiona Lynch
TRS 201
Professor Marentette
14 December 2018
Athanasius on the Incarnation
In the Incarnation, as traditionally defined by the churches and doctrines that follow the Council of Chalcedon, the divine nature of the Son was united with Human nature.The mystical Incarnation is one in which we come to understand the purpose of why God sent his only son to come down from Heaven and become one with man. What Jesus was by nature, we become by grace, because we are united with Him in one body. First, in our first sacrament of Baptism, as we receive the spirit and, most excellently, in the Eucharist, when we receive his body. The significance of the Incarnation has been extensively discussed throughout our Christian faith, and is the subject of countless inquiries and reflection. For this reason, we can say that the Incarnation is a mystery that continues to ponder us as Catholics. The Incarnation was necessary to save man from death, through the power of Jesus to become one with man, and take on the burdens of the human race by sacrificing himself so that mankind may be saved and have eternal life with Him in Heaven.
In practical terms, the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus was both a climax and a new beginning. Of itself, the Incarnation of Christ was an event promising, unique and never again to be repeated. The Incarnation is more than just an event, it is based upon a principle evident long before the birth of our Lord because from the beginning a son would be born that was born to save. We can understand Incarnation in this way, as John presents it in his gospel:
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life– and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.”
God sent his only son so that he became manifested into one God, but now with two natures. The nature of full divinity and the nature of mankind. He, Himself in the human flesh is the person of Jesus Christ. This principle of Incarnation is more general: God has chosen to manifest Himself through humanity. The Incarnation implies these three ideas. The idea that Jesus has a divine nature as God, a human nature as Man and a full union of mankind with the Divine Nature after the Incarnation.
Contrary to the beliefs held by Epicureans, Gnosticists and Platonists, the Incarnation is necessary because we need God, both a Creator and Redeemer, to save us from sin. Gnosticists, Epicureans and Platonists have this idea that there is this “separation” among the Creator. There arguments, separating the Creator from the divine order and intellect, and presenting God as a “manifester of existing matter,” they deny the divine reality of what it means to save. Similar to that of Platonic ideology, where it is believed that creation is from forms and pre-existing matter and Epicurean ideology, where it is believed that creation is separate from order and intellect, these ideas or beliefs put a limitation on God’s power. It is Athanasius’ Christian understanding of God through the Word that enables him to prove these points false. Athanasius responds to this by saying, if God was called a maker and an artificer, then that is saying that God has worked on existing matter to create the universe, when God truly created everything out of nothing. Gnosticists fall short of this understanding because redemption is our own rebirth, this rebirth of water and spirit. This connects the Creator to the Redeemer, in which they must be the same; since the one who creates us, must also be the one who saves us. Athanasius understands that there is this full divinity in Christ, revealing him as both the creator and the redeemer.
Athanasius argues that the Incarnation was necessary because death and corruption were gaining greater and greater hold on the human race, and the human race was in danger of destruction. The “Man” that God created was growing farther and farther away from God, towards sin and death, and from this, there was no escape. Thus, the Incarnation is necessary because it is fitting for God to instill action so that man is responsible for living out the Word Incarnate through Christ. However, there is only one way to accomplish this. He states that man having transgressed God’s law should die but “it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption.” Ultimately, this is not fitting for God because things brought up by God should not fall to corruption to the devil and perish forever, for God’s creation is good, and corruption was not going to get away with the fall of man. Moreover, repentance is simply not enough either. All repentance does is make man stop from sinning, but it does not solve that man has fallen corruption to death regardless. Athanasius supports this by stating, “…but when Once Transgression had Begun, man came under the power of corruption proper to their nature…no repentance could meet this grace.” This reveals how powerful God’s will is and how necessary it is in order to save mankind. This invocation of death is a desirous problem. Athanasius argues that it is not just an ordinary, venial sin that can be forgiven simply by repenting and going to Confession. This sin is the biggest sin of all of mankind, and needs God’s intercession so that mankind will not perish.
The purpose or goal of the Incarnation is solve this ultimate dilemma. This dilemma is that the human race, who is made in the image and likeness of God has fallen to corruption and death. From Chapter 2 of Athanasius’s argument, he writes “Thus, taking a body like our own, because all bodies were liable to the corruption of death, he surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father.” In becoming man, Jesus’ redemption becomes our resurrection and rebirth. Jesus accomplishes saving us from death through the trinitarian mission. Each person in one God has their own, unique mission. Within this one divine nature, the father sends the son who saves, while the spirit comes down and baptizes to restore grace and new life among man. St. Augustine draws on this point by stating, “At its most basic level, honoring the Incarnation is honoring the Blessed Trinity’s loving plan for redeeming mankind and for overshooting the mark in that respect by giving us “so great a redeemer..” Thus, the Incarnation is solved not by avoiding death but through Jesus. As through His resurrection, we can be restored.
Conclusively, St. Athanasius said it most powerfully that the as the Son of God became man, we hope to become more like God. Without the Redeemer taking on the sins of man, all of mankind would perish. The doctrine of the Incarnation touches and affects every single area of Christian theology, and helps us understand our faith in this way. The doctrine of the Incarnation implies that a full and undiminished divine nature as well as a full and perfect human nature were united in the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth, and it was in this humanity that Jesus would save us from death.