On the Incarnation of the Word (chapters 1–36)

On the Incarnation of the Word

Athanasius of Alexandria

c. AD 318–337

A short book by Athanasius, later bishop of Alexandria, on why the eternal Word of God became man: to renew the image of God in humanity, to defeat death and corruption, and to bring us back to the knowledge of the Father. It is the second half of a pair with his Against the Greeks. The date is debated, between about AD 318 and the 330s.

Chapter 1

The Subject of This Treatise: the Humiliation and Incarnation of the Word. Presupposes the Doctrine of Creation, and that by the Word. The Father Has Saved the World by Him Through Whom He First Made It.

1 In the earlier treatise we gave an adequate account, choosing a few points out of many, of the error of the pagans about idols and their superstitious worship, and of how these things were first invented: out of wickedness, men devised for themselves the worship of idols. By God’s grace we also said a little about the divinity of the Father’s Word, about his providence and power over all things, and about how the good Father orders everything through him, so that all things are moved by him and receive life in him. Now, blessed Macarius, true lover of Christ, let us follow on in order, in keeping with the faith of true religion. Let us tell about the Word’s becoming man and make known his divine appearing among us. The Jews slander it, the Greeks mock it, but we worship it. Then, because of the Word’s apparent lowliness, your reverence toward him will be all the greater and fuller.^[1]

2 For the more he is mocked by unbelievers, the greater the witness he gives to his Godhead. What men cannot grasp and call impossible, he shows to be possible. What men mock as unfitting, he in his goodness makes fitting. What men in their clever reasoning laugh at as merely human, he by his power shows to be divine. By his supposed lowliness, through the cross, he overthrows the illusion of the idols. And those who mock and disbelieve he wins over in an unseen way, so that they come to recognize his divinity and power. 3 To give this account we need to remember what was said before. Then you will be able to know why the Father’s Word, so great and so exalted, appeared in a body. And you will not suppose that the Saviour wore a body because his nature required it. Rather, he is bodiless by nature and is the Word, yet out of the love for mankind and the goodness of his own Father, he appeared to us in a human body for our salvation.

4 As we give this account, it is fitting first to speak about the creation of the universe and about God, its Creator. In this way it can rightly be seen that its renewal was brought about by the same Word who created it in the beginning. For it will not appear contradictory if the Father worked its salvation in the very one through whom he made it.

Chapter 2

Erroneous Views of Creation Rejected. (1) Epicurean (Fortuitous Generation). But Diversity of Bodies and Parts Argues a Creating Intellect. (2.) Platonists (Pre-Existent Matter.) But This Subjects God to Human Limitations, Making Him Not a Creator But a Mechanic. (3) Gnostics (an Alien Demiurge). Rejected from Scripture.

1 Many people have understood the making of the world and the creation of all things in different ways, and each has defined it as he pleased. Some say that everything came into being on its own, by chance, as the Epicureans do. They tell the myth, to their own refutation, that there is no providence over the universe, and in saying so they flatly contradict what is plain and visible.^[2] 2 For if, as they say, everything came into being on its own without providence, then everything would have been made simply and been all alike, with no differences. Everything would have to be sun, or moon, as if it were all one body. Among human beings the whole body would have to be a hand, or an eye, or a foot. But this is not how it is. We see one thing as the sun, another as the moon, another as the earth. Likewise in human bodies we see one part as a foot, another as a hand, another as a head. Such an arrangement shows that these things did not come into being on their own. It shows that a cause came before them. From that cause we can come to know God, who arranged and made all things.

3 Others, among them Plato, who is highly regarded among the Greeks, say that God made the universe out of matter that already existed and had never come into being. They hold that God could not have made anything unless matter lay ready beforehand, just as a carpenter must have the wood at hand in order to do his work. 4 Those who say this do not realize that they are ascribing weakness to God. If he is not himself the cause of matter, but makes the things that exist only out of matter already lying there, then he turns out to be weak. He would be unable to make anything that has been made without the matter. In the same way, it is certainly a weakness in the carpenter that he cannot make any of the things he needs without timber. On their view, if the matter had not existed, God would have made nothing. And how could he still be called maker and craftsman, if his ability to make comes from something else, that is, from the matter? If that is how things are, then on their account God is only a skilled workman and not a creator who brings things into being, since he works on matter that lies ready and is not himself the cause of that matter. He could not be called a creator at all if he does not create the matter from which the created things have come.^[3]

5 The heretics, for their part, invent for themselves another creator of all things, other than the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are utterly blind, even about the very words they speak.^[4] 6 The Lord says to the Jews, “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” And he said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” Then, pointing to the Creator, he says, “So what God has joined together, let no man separate.” How then can these people bring in a creation that is foreign to the Father? And if, as John says, including everything, “All things came to be through him, and without him not one thing came to be,” how could the creator be anyone other than the Father of Christ?^[5] [Matthew 19:4-6; John 1:3]

Chapter 3

The True Doctrine. Creation Out of Nothing, of God’s Lavish Bounty of Being. Man Created Above the Rest, But Incapable of Independent Perseverance. Hence the Exceptional and Supra-Natural Gift of Being in God’s Image, with the Promise of Bliss Conditionally Upon His Perseverance in Grace.

1 This is the kind of fable these people tell. But the God-inspired teaching and the faith that follows Christ condemn their empty talk as godlessness. This teaching knows that things did not come about by chance, because they are not without providence. Nor were they made from pre-existing matter, because God is not weak. Instead, God made the whole universe, which had no existence of any kind, out of nothing, and brought it into being through the Word. So he says through Moses, “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.” And in that most useful book, the Shepherd, he says, “First of all, believe that God is one, who created and put together all things, and made them to exist out of what was not.”^[6] [Genesis 1:1] 2 Paul points to the same thing when he says, “By faith we understand that the ages were put in order by the word of God, so that what is seen has not come from things that appear.”^[7] [Hebrews 11:3]

3 For God is good, or rather he is the very source of goodness, and one who is good could never be jealous of anything. So, begrudging existence to no one, he made all things out of nothing through his own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. Among them, above all the things on earth, he had mercy on the human race. He saw that, by the terms of its own origin, it could not remain forever. So he gave human beings something more. He did not simply create them, as he did all the animals on earth that lack reason. He made them according to his own image, and gave them a share in the power of his own Word. In this way, having in themselves, as it were, shadows of the Word, and being made rational, they would be able to remain in blessedness and live the true life, the real life of the saints in paradise.^[8] [Genesis 1:27]

4 But God also knew that human choice could turn either way. So he acted ahead of time and made the grace given to them secure by a law and by a place. He brought them into his own paradise and gave them a law. If they kept the grace and stayed good, they would have the life of paradise, free from grief, pain and worry, and they would also have the promise of incorruption in heaven. But if they broke the law, turned away and became wicked, they were to know that they would undergo the natural corruption of death. They would no longer live in paradise, but from then on, outside it, they would die and remain in death and corruption. 5 The divine Scripture also gives warning of this. It says in the person of God: “From every tree in the garden you shall eat for food; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. But on the day you eat from it, you shall die by death.” What else could “you shall die by death” mean than this: not merely to die, but also to remain in the corruption of death?^[9] [Genesis 2:16-17]

Chapter 4

Our Creation and God’s Incarnation Most Intimately Connected. As by the Ward Man Was Called from Non-Existence into Being, and Further Received the Grace of a Divine Life, So by the One Fault Which Forfeited that Life They Again Incurred Corruption and Untold Sin and Misery Filled the World.

1 Perhaps you are wondering why, when we set out to speak about the Word becoming man, we are now describing the origin of human beings. But this is not foreign to the purpose of our account. 2 When we speak of the Savior’s appearing among us, we must also speak of the origin of human beings. In this way you will know that our plight was the reason for his coming down, and that our transgression called out the Word’s love for mankind. So the Lord came all the way to us and appeared among men. 3 We were the occasion of his taking a body. For our salvation he showed such love for mankind that he was born and appeared in a human body. 4 This, then, is how God made man, and he wanted him to remain in incorruption. But people neglected and turned away from the contemplation of God. They reasoned out and devised evil for themselves, as was said earlier. So they incurred the sentence of death with which they had been threatened. From then on they no longer stayed as they had been made, but were being corrupted according to their own reasonings, and death ruled over them as king. For the transgression of the commandment was turning them back to their natural condition. Just as they had come into being out of nothing, so they were bound, as one would expect, to undergo in time corruption into non-being.^[10]

5 Human beings by nature once did not exist, and they were called into existence by the presence and the love for humanity of the Word. So it followed that when they were emptied of the knowledge of God and turned back to things that are not, they would also be emptied of existence forever. (Evil things are not, but good things are, since they come from God who is.) And this means being dissolved and remaining in death and corruption. 6 Man is by nature mortal, since he was made out of nothing. But he was made like Him who is. Because of that likeness, if he had kept it by keeping God in his thoughts, he would have blunted his natural corruption and remained incorrupt. As Wisdom says: “Attention to the laws is the confirmation of incorruption.” Being incorrupt, he would from then on have lived as God. Holy Scripture points to this somewhere when it says: “I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High; but you die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”^[11]

Chapter 5

For God has not only made us out of nothing; but He gave us freely, by the Grace of the Word, a life in correspondence with God. But men, having rejected things eternal, and, by counsel of the devil, turned to the things of corruption, became the cause of their own corruption in death, being, as I said before, by nature corruptible, but destined, by the grace following from partaking of the Word, to have escaped their natural state, had they remained good. 2. For because of the Word dwelling with them, even their natural corruption did not come near them, as Wisdom also says : “God made man for incorruption, and as an image of His own eternity; but by envy of the devil death came into the world.” But when this was come to pass, men began to die, while corruption thence-forward prevailed against them, gaining even more than its natural power over the whole race, inasmuch as it had, owing to the transgression of the commandment, the threat of the Deity as a further advantage against them.

1 God did not only make us out of nothing. He also freely gave us a life according to God, by the grace of the Word. But men turned away from eternal things and, on the devil’s advice, turned to the things of corruption. So they became the cause of their own corruption in death. As I said before, they were by nature corruptible, but by the grace of sharing in the Word they would have escaped what is natural to them, if they had remained good. 2 Because the Word was with them, even their natural corruption did not come near them. Wisdom says the same: “God created man for incorruption, and as an image of His own eternity; but through the devil’s envy death entered into the world.” When this happened, men began to die. From then on corruption flourished against them and had more than its natural power over the whole race. This was because it also had on its side against them the threat God had made over the transgression of the commandment.

3 Even in their wrongdoing, men did not stay within fixed limits. Little by little they pushed further, and at last went beyond all measure. At the beginning they were the inventors of wickedness and brought death and corruption on themselves. Later they turned to injustice and went beyond every kind of lawlessness. They did not stop at one evil, but devised one new evil after another, and became insatiable in sinning. 4 There were adulteries and thefts everywhere, and the whole earth was full of murders and robberies. No one cared about the law when it came to corruption and injustice. Every kind of evil was practiced, by individuals and by whole groups together. City made war on city, and nation rose against nation. The entire inhabited world was torn apart by factions and battles, each one striving to outdo the others in lawlessness. [Matthew 24:7] 5 Even sins against nature were not far from them. As the Apostle, Christ’s witness, said: “Their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature. In the same way the men also, leaving the natural use of the woman, were inflamed in their desire for one another, men committing shameless acts with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.” [Romans 1:26-27]

Chapter 6

The Human Race Then Was Wasting, God’s Image Was Being Effaced, and His Work Ruined. Either, Then, God Must Forego His Spoken Word by Which Man Had Incurred Ruin; Or that Which Had Shared in the Being of the Word Must Sink Back Again into Destruction, in Which Case God’s Design Would Be Defeated. What Then? Was God’s Goodness to Suitor This? But If So, Why Had Man Been Made? It Could Have Been Weakness, Not Goodness on God’s Part.

1 For these reasons death had gained still more power, and corruption remained upon human beings. So the human race was being destroyed. Man, who was rational and made in the image, was disappearing, and the work that God had made was being lost. 2 For death, as I said before, now had power over us by law. It was impossible to escape that law, because God had laid it down on account of the transgression. And what was happening was truly both absurd and unfitting. 3 First, it was absurd that God, having spoken, should prove false. He had given the law that man would die the death if he broke the commandment. So it would be absurd if, after the transgression, man did not die and God’s word were broken. God would not be truthful if, after he had said that we would die, man did not die. [Genesis 2:17] 4 It was also unfitting that creatures who had once been made rational and had shared in his Word should be lost, and should turn back again into non-existence through corruption.

5 For it was not worthy of God’s goodness that the things he had made should be destroyed because of the deception the devil practiced on human beings. 6 Above all, it was most unfitting that God’s craftsmanship in human beings should be wiped out, whether through their own carelessness or through the deception of demons. 7 So, with rational creatures being corrupted and such works being lost, what ought God to do, being good? Should he let corruption have power over them and death rule them? Then what was the point of their being made in the first place? It would have been better for them not to have been made than, once made, to be neglected and destroyed. 8 For such neglect shows weakness rather than goodness in God, if after making his own work he looks on while it is destroyed. It would show weakness more than if he had never made man at the beginning.

9 If he had not made them, there would have been no one to accuse him of weakness. But since he had made them and brought them into being, it would be most absurd for his works to be destroyed, and especially before the eyes of their Maker. 10 So it was necessary not to let human beings be swept away by corruption, because that would be unfitting and unworthy of God’s goodness.

Chapter 7

On the Other Hand There Was the Consistency of God’s Nature, Not to Be Sacrificed for Our Profit. Were Men, Then, to Be Called Upon to Repent? But Repentance Cannot Avert the Execution of a Law; Still Less Can It Remedy a Fallen Nature. We Have Incurred Corruption and Need to Be Restored to the Grace of God’s Image. None Could Renew But He Who Had Created. He Alone Could (1) Recreate All, (2) Suffer for All, (3) Respect All to the Father.

1 But just as this had to happen, so on the other side what is right for God stands against it: God must be seen to be truthful in the law he gave about death. For it would have been absurd for God, the Father of truth, to appear a liar for the sake of our benefit and survival. 2 So what ought to happen, or what ought God to do about this? Should he demand repentance from human beings for the transgression? One might say that this would be worthy of God, arguing that just as they fell into corruption through the transgression, so through repentance they might return to incorruption. 3 But repentance would not preserve what is right for God. He would still be untruthful if death did not keep its hold on human beings. Nor does repentance call people back from what is natural to them; it only makes them stop sinning.

4 If there had been only a misdeed and no corruption following it, repentance would have been fine. But once the transgression had come first, human beings were held fast in natural corruption, and they were deprived of the grace of being in the image. What else needed to happen? What was needed for such grace and such a recall, other than the Word of God, who in the beginning had made everything out of nothing? 5 For it belonged to him once more to bring the corruptible into incorruption, and to uphold, on behalf of all, what was due to the Father. For he is the Word of the Father and above all things. So he alone was able to create all things anew, and he alone was fit to suffer on behalf of all and to act as ambassador for all before the Father.

Chapter 8

The Word, Then, Visited that Earth in Which He Was Yet Always Present ; And Saw All These Evils. He Takes a Body of Our Nature, and that of a Spotless Virgin, in Whose Womb He Makes It His Own, Wherein to Reveal Himself, Conquer Death, and Restore Life.

1 For this reason the incorporeal, incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes into our land, though he was not far away before. For no part of creation was ever left empty of him; he fills all things in every place, while remaining with his own Father. But now he comes, stooping down in his love for humanity and showing himself to us. 2 He saw the rational race perishing, and death reigning over them through corruption. He saw that the threat attached to the transgression kept corruption in force against us, and that it would be out of place for the law to be set aside before it was fulfilled. He saw how unseemly it was that the very things he had made were disappearing. He saw the surpassing wickedness of men, how little by little they had increased it against themselves until it was unbearable. And he saw that all men were liable to death. So he had mercy on our race and pity on our weakness; he stooped down to our corruption and could not bear death’s rule over us. He would not let what had been made perish, nor let the Father’s work among men come to nothing. So he takes for himself a body, and that body is not different from ours.

3 For he did not simply want to be in a body, nor did he want merely to appear. If he had wanted only to appear, he could have made his divine appearing by some other, better means. But he takes what is ours, and not just in any way: he takes it from a pure and undefiled virgin who had not known a man, a body clean and truly untouched by union with men. For he himself is mighty and the Maker of all things. In the Virgin he prepares the body as a temple for himself and makes it his own, as an instrument, making himself known in it and living in it. 4 In this way he took from us a body like ours. Because all were liable to the corruption of death, he handed it over to death in place of all and offered it to the Father. He did this out of love for humanity. He did it, first, so that, since all had died in him, the law that brought corruption on human beings might be dissolved. For its power was fully spent in the Lord’s body, and it no longer had any ground against people like him. Second, he did it so that he might turn back to incorruption those who had turned back to corruption, and give them life out of death. He did this by making the body his own and by the grace of the resurrection, wiping out death from them as fire burns up straw. [2 Corinthians 5:14]

Chapter 9

The Word, Since Death Alone Could Stay the Plague, Took a Mortal Body Which, United with Him, Should Avail for All, and by Partaking of His Immortality Stay the Corruption of the Race. By Being Above All, He Made His Flesh an Offering for Our Souls; By Being One with Us All, He Clothed Us with Immortality. Simile to Illustrate This.

1 The Word saw that the corruption of human beings could not be undone in any other way than by death itself. But it was not possible for the Word to die, since he is immortal and the Son of the Father. For this reason he takes for himself a body that can die. This body would share in the Word who is over all, and so be enough to die in place of all. Because the Word dwelt in it, it would stay incorruptible, and from then on corruption would cease for everyone through the grace of the resurrection. So he offered to death the body he had taken for himself, as an offering and sacrifice free from every blemish. By offering this equivalent, he at once removed death from all who are like him. 2 For the Word of God is above all. So it was fitting that he offer his own temple and bodily instrument as a life given in exchange for all, and so pay in his death what was owed. In this way the incorruptible Son of God, united with all through a body like theirs, fittingly clothed all with incorruption by the promise of the resurrection. For the corruption that comes through death no longer has any ground against men, because the Word dwells among them through his one body. [1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Corinthians 15:53]

3 Think of a great king who enters a great city and lives in one of its houses. Such a city is counted worthy of great honor. No enemy or bandit attacks and destroys it any more; instead it is thought worthy of every care, because the king lives in one of its houses. So it has been with the King of all. 4 When he came to our country and made his home in one body among others like it, every plot the enemies had against humanity came to an end. The corruption of death, which had long been strong against people, was wiped out. The human race would have been destroyed if the Son of God, the Master and Savior of all, had not come to put an end to death.^[12]

Chapter 10

By a Like Simile, the Reasonableness of the Work of Redemption is Shewn. How Christ Wiped Away Our Ruin, and Provided Its Antidote by His Own Teaching. Scripture Proofs of the Incarnation of the Word, and of the Sacrifice He Wrought.

0 Truly, this great work is especially fitting to the goodness of God. 1 Suppose a king builds a house or a city, and the inhabitants neglect it, so that bandits attack it. The king does not overlook it at all. He defends it as his own work and rescues it. He is looking not at the neglect of the people living there but at what is fitting for himself. Much more, then, did God the Word, the Word of the all-good Father, refuse to overlook the human race. That race was made through him and was sliding into corruption. He wiped out the death that had come upon them by offering his own body. He corrected their neglect by his own teaching. He set right everything that concerned human beings by his own power. 2 Anyone who reads the writings of the Savior’s own men, who spoke about God, can be assured of this. They say: “For the love of Christ constrains us, since we have judged this: that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all, so that we would no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died for us and rose from the dead,” our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”^[13] [2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Hebrews 2:9]

3 Then the writer also shows why no one other than God the Word himself had to become man. He says: “For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the founder of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” By this he means that no one else could bring human beings back from the corruption that had come upon them except the Word of God, who had also made them in the beginning.^[14] [Hebrews 2:10] 4 The writers also show that the Word took a body for himself in order to offer a sacrifice on behalf of bodies like his own. They say: “Since, then, the children share in blood and flesh, he himself likewise took part in the same, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and set free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”^[15] [Hebrews 2:14-15]

5 By the sacrifice of his own body he put an end to the law that stood against us. He also made a fresh beginning of life for us by giving us the hope of resurrection. Since death came to rule over human beings through human beings, the reverse has now come about through the Word of God becoming man: the abolishing of death and the resurrection of life. As the Christ-bearing man says: “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive,” and what follows. So we no longer die as people under condemnation. Instead, as people who are being raised, we wait for the resurrection of all together. God, who brought it about and gave it freely, will show it in its own times.^[16] [1 Corinthians 15:21-22; 1 Timothy 6:15] 6 This, then, is the first reason for the Savior becoming man. But from the following points as well, one can see that it was fitting for him to make his gracious coming to us.

Chapter 11

Second Reason for the Incarnation. God Knowing that Man Was Not by Nature Sufficient to Know Him, Gave Him, in Order that He Might Have Some Profit in Being, a Knowledge of Himself. He Made Them in the Image of the Word, that Thus They Might Know the Word, and Through Him the Father. Yet Man, Despising This, Fell into Idolatry, Leaving the Unseen God for Magic and Astrology; And All This in Spite of God’s Manifold Revelation of Himself.

1 God has power over all things. When he made the human race through his own Word, he also saw the weakness of their nature. It was not able, on its own, to know the Maker or to form any idea of God at all. He is uncreated, while they had been made out of nothing. He is without a body, while human beings had been formed here below, in a body. In every way, created things fall far short of grasping and knowing the one who made them. So God took pity on the human race, since he is good. He did not leave them without knowledge of himself, so that even their very existence would not be useless to them. 2 For what good is it to created beings if they do not know their own Maker? And how could they be rational if they did not know the Word of the Father, in whom they came into being? They would be no different from the animals without reason if they knew nothing beyond earthly things. And why would God have made them at all, if he did not want to be known by them?^[17]

3 So that this would not happen, God, being good, gives them a share in his own image, our Lord Jesus Christ. He makes them according to his own image and likeness. He did this so that by such grace they might grasp the image, that is, the Word of the Father, and through him be able to form an idea of the Father himself. Then, knowing their Maker, they might live the happy and truly blessed life.^[18] [Genesis 1:26] 4 But human beings, in their folly, once again made light even of the grace given them. They turned away from God so far, and so clouded their own souls, that they not only forgot their idea of God but also invented one thing after another in its place. They shaped idols for themselves instead of the truth. They honored things that do not exist above the God who does exist, serving the creation instead of the Creator. Worst of all, they transferred the honor due to God to wood and stones, to every kind of material, and to human beings. And they did even more than this, as we said earlier.^[19] [Romans 1:25]

5 Their impiety went so far that they came to worship demons and proclaimed them gods, fulfilling their desires. As was said before, they offered sacrifices of irrational animals and slaughtered human beings as offerings due to the demons. In this way they bound themselves all the more tightly by the demons’ frenzies.^[20] 6 For this reason magic was taught among them, oracles in one place after another led people astray, and everyone attributed the causes of their birth and existence to the stars and to everything in the sky. They gave no thought to anything beyond what could be seen. 7 In short, everything was full of ungodliness and lawlessness, and God alone, and his Word, went unknown. Yet God had not hidden himself out of sight from human beings, nor given them knowledge of himself in only one way. He had spread that knowledge out for them in many different ways and through many means.

Chapter 12

For Though Man Was Created in Grace, God, Foreseeing His Forgetfulness, Provided Also the Works of Creation to Remind Man of Him. Yet Further, He Ordained a Law and Prophets, Whose Ministry Was Meant for All the World. Yet Men Heeded Only Their Own Lusts.

1 The grace of being made in the image was by itself enough to let people know God the Word, and through him the Father. But God knew human weakness and made provision even for their carelessness. If they would not take the trouble to know God by themselves, they could still, through the works of creation, avoid being ignorant of their Maker. 2 But human carelessness gradually slid down to worse things. So once again God made provision for this weakness of theirs. He sent a law and prophets, men they knew, so that even if they were unwilling to look up to heaven and know the Maker, they could be taught by those close at hand. For people can learn about higher things more directly from other people. 3 So they could have looked up at the vastness of heaven, considered the harmony of creation, and known its Ruler, the Word of the Father. By his providence over all things he makes the Father known to all, and he moves all things for this purpose, that through him everyone may know God.

4 Or if that was too much trouble for them, they could at least have met with the holy men, and through them learned about God, the Maker of all things and the Father of Christ. They could have learned that the worship of idols is godlessness and full of every kind of impiety. 5 Or, by coming to know the law, they could have stopped all lawlessness and lived a virtuous life. For the law was not for the Jews alone, and the prophets were not sent for them alone. They were sent to the Jews and persecuted by the Jews, but for the whole world they were a holy school of the knowledge of God and of the conduct of the soul. 6 God’s goodness and love for humanity were that great. Even so, people were overcome by the pleasures of the moment and by the illusions and deceptions of demons, and they did not lift up their heads toward the truth. Instead they loaded themselves with still more evils and sins, until they no longer seemed rational but, judging by their behavior, were thought to be without reason.

Chapter 13

Here Again, Was God to Keep Silence? to Allow to False Gods the Worship He Made Us to Render to Himseif? a King Whose Subjects Had Revolted Would, After Sending Letters and Messages, Go to Them in Person. How Much More Shall God Restore in Us the Grace of His Image. This Men, Themselves But Copies, Could Not Do. Hence the Word Himself Must Come (I) to Recreate, (2) to Destroy Death in the Body.

1 Human beings had thus become irrational, and demonic deception was casting its shadow everywhere and hiding the knowledge of the true God. What, then, was God to do? Was he to stay silent about so great a matter, let people be led astray by demons, and let them not know him? 2 And what was the point of man being made in God’s image from the beginning? It would have been better for him simply to be made without reason, like the animals, than to be made rational and then live the life of the animals.^[21] [Genesis 1:27] 3 And what need was there at all for him to receive any notion of God from the beginning? If he is not worthy to receive it even now, it should not have been given to him at the beginning either. 4 What benefit is it to God who made them, or what glory would it be to him, if the people he made do not worship him, but think that others made them? For then God would be found to have made them for others and not for himself.

5 Think again of a human king. He does not let the lands he has founded be handed over to serve others, or go over to other rulers. He reminds them by letters, and often sends messages to them through friends. If need be, he finally comes himself and puts them to shame by his presence. He does all this only so that they will not serve others and his work will not be wasted. 6 Will God not much more spare his own creatures, so that they are not led away from him to serve things that do not exist? This is especially so because such error becomes for them a cause of ruin and destruction, and it was not right that those who had once shared in God’s image should perish. 7 What then was God to do? What had to happen, if not to renew once more what was made after the image, so that through it people might again be able to know him? But how could this have happened, unless the very Image of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, came among us? It could not be done through human beings, since they themselves were only made after the image. Nor could it be done through angels, since they are not images either. So the Word of God came in his own person, so that, being the Image of the Father, he could re-create the man made after the image.^[22]

8 But again, this could not have happened unless death and corruption were done away with. 9 So it was fitting that he took a mortal body, so that death might be completely destroyed in it, and people made after the image might be renewed again. There was no one else for this need but the Image of the Father.

Chapter 14

A Portrait Once Effaced Must Be Restored from the Original. Thus the Son Ofthe Father Came to Seek, Save, and Regenerate. No Other Way Was Possible. Blinded Himself, Man Could Not See to Heal. The Witness of Creation Had Failed to Preserve Him, and Could Not Bring Him Back. The Word Alone Could Do So. But How? Only by Revealing Himself as Man.

1 Consider a likeness painted on a wooden panel, which has been blotted out by dirt from outside. The person whose likeness it is must come again, so that the portrait can be renewed on the same material. For the sake of his portrait, the panel it was painted on is not thrown away, but the likeness is re-drawn on it.^[23] 2 In the same way the all-holy Son of the Father, who is the Image of the Father, came to our region to renew the man made after himself, and to find him, as one who was lost, through the forgiveness of sins. As he himself says in the Gospels: “I came to find and to save the lost.” So he also said to his own people, “Unless someone is born again.” He did not mean birth from a woman, as they supposed. He meant the soul being born again and re-created according to the image.^[24] [Luke 19:10; John 3:3-4]

3 But idol-madness and godlessness held the world, and the knowledge of God was hidden. Whose task was it to teach the world about the Father? Someone might say, a human being’s. But it was not possible for human beings to go through the whole world under the sun. They were not strong enough by nature to run so far. They could not make themselves believable on this matter. And they were not able by themselves to stand against the deceit and illusions of the demons. 4 All people were struck and troubled in soul by demonic deceit and the emptiness of idols. How then could human beings win over the soul and mind of others, when they cannot even see another person’s soul and mind? And how can anyone re-educate what he cannot see? 5 But perhaps someone will say that creation was enough. If creation had been enough, such great evils would not have happened. Creation was there, and yet people were still wallowing in the same error about God.

6 So who was needed again but the Word of God, who sees both soul and mind, who moves everything in creation, and who makes the Father known through it? He taught about the Father through his own providence and ordering of the universe, so it was for him to renew that same teaching.^[25] 7 How, then, could this be done? Perhaps someone will say that it was possible to use the same means as before, so that he might again show the truth about him through the works of creation. But that was no longer safe. No, indeed. People had overlooked it before, and now their eyes were no longer turned upward but downward.^[26] 8 So, wanting to help people, he fittingly came to stay among them as a man. He took for himself a body like theirs and taught them from below, that is, through the works of the body. He did this so that those who had refused to know him from his care and rule over all things might at least come to know, from the works of his own body, the Word of God who is in the body, and through him the Father.^[27]

Chapter 15

Thus the Word Condescended to Man’s Engrossment in Corporeal Things, by Even Taking a Body. All Man’s Superstitions He Met Halfway; Whether Men Were Inclined to Worship Nature, Man, Demons, or the Dead, He Shewed Himself Lord of All These.

1 A good teacher cares for his own students. When some of them cannot learn from higher matters, he comes down to their level and teaches them by simpler means. So it was with the Word of God. Paul says the same: “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through its wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.”^[28] [1 Corinthians 1:21] 2 People had turned away from looking to God. Their eyes were turned downward, as if they were sunk in the depths. They searched for God in created things and in what the senses can perceive, and they invented gods for themselves out of mortal men and demons. For this reason the Word of God, the Savior of all, who loves mankind, took a body for himself. He lived as a man among men and reached out to the senses of all people. He did this so that those who imagined that God is in bodily things might learn the truth from what the Lord does through the works of his body, and through him might reason their way to the Father.^[29]

3 They were human, and all their thinking was human. So wherever they turned their senses, they found themselves reached there and taught the truth from every side. 4 If they were struck with awe at creation, they saw it confessing Christ as Lord. If their minds were already inclined to men, so that they thought them gods, then, when they compared them with the works of the Savior, the Savior alone appeared among men as the Son of God. For nothing like the works of the Word of God had been done by those others. [Philippians 2:11] 5 If they were already inclined to demons, they saw the demons driven out by the Lord. So they came to know that this one alone is the Word of God, and that the demons are not gods.^[30] 6 If their minds were already held fast by the dead, so that they worshiped heroes and the gods the poets speak of, then, seeing the Savior’s resurrection, they would admit that those were false. They would admit that the Lord alone is true, the Word of the Father, who is lord even of death.

7 For this reason He was born, appeared as a man, died and rose again. By His own works He dulled and overshadowed the works of all the men who had ever lived. He did this so that, wherever people had been carried away, He could lead them back up from there and teach them about His own true Father. As He Himself says, “I came to save and to find what was lost.”^[31] [Luke 19:10]

Chapter 16

He Came Then to Attract Man’s Sense Bound Attention to Himself as Man, and So to Lead Him on to Know Him as God.

1 For once human minds had fallen to things perceived by the senses, the Word submitted to appearing through a body. He did this to bring people over to Himself as a man, and to turn their senses toward Himself. Then, as they saw Him as a man, He would persuade them by the works He did that He is not only a man but also God, and the Word and Wisdom of the true God.^[32] 2 Paul wanted to point to this when he said, “rooted and grounded in love, so that you may have strength to grasp, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.”^[33] [Ephesians 3:17-19] 3 For the Word spread Himself out everywhere, above and below, in depth and in breadth: above, in creation; below, in becoming man; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, in the world. So everything has been filled with the knowledge of God.^[34] [Isaiah 11:9]

4 For this reason, when He came, He did not immediately complete the sacrifice on behalf of all by giving His body over to death and raising it again, for by doing that He would have made Himself invisible. Instead, He made Himself plainly visible through the body by remaining in it, doing such works and giving such signs as made Him known no longer as a man, but as God the Word.^[35] 5 For the Saviour showed His love for mankind in two ways through becoming man. He removed death from us and made us new. And though He was unseen and invisible, He made Himself plain by His works and made Himself known as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the universe.

Chapter 17

How the Incarnation Did Not Limit the Ubiquity of the Word, Nor Diminish His Purity. (Simile of the Sun.)

1 For He was not shut up inside the body. Nor was He present in the body while absent everywhere else. Nor did He move the body while the rest of the universe was left empty of His activity and care. Rather, and this is most astonishing, being the Word, He was not contained by anything; instead, He Himself contained all things. Just as, being in all creation, He is outside the whole in His being, yet is in all things by His powers, ordering everything, extending His care over all things and in all things, giving life to each thing and to all together, enclosing the whole without being enclosed, but being wholly and in every respect in His Father alone— 2 so also, while in the human body and Himself giving it life, He was fittingly giving life to the whole universe as well. He was within all things, and yet He was outside the whole. And though He was known from the body through His works, He was not hidden from the working of the universe either.

3 Now it is the work of the soul to contemplate in its thoughts even things outside its own body, but not to act outside its own body or to move, by its presence, things that are far from it. A man who thinks about distant things never thereby moves or transports them. If someone sits in his own house and reasons about the heavens, he does not thereby move the sun or turn the sky around. He sees them moving and existing, but he has no power to act on them. 4 The Word of God in the man was not like that. He was not bound to the body; rather He Himself held it in control. So He was in the body, and He was in all things, and He was outside all things that exist, and He rested in the Father alone. 5 And this was the wonder: He lived as a man, He gave life to all things as the Word, and He was with the Father as the Son. So when the Virgin gave birth, He Himself suffered nothing, and by being in a body He was not defiled. On the contrary, He made the body holy as well.^[36]

6 For He does not share in the nature of all things by being in them; instead, all things are given life and fed by Him. 7 Consider the sun, which He made and which we see travelling across the sky. It is not defiled when it touches bodies on earth, and the darkness does not make it disappear. Instead it lights them and cleans them. How much less, then, was the all-holy Word of God, the Maker and Lord of the sun, defiled when He was made known in a body! Instead, being incorruptible, He gave life to the body, which was mortal, and made it clean. For it says, “He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.”^[37] [1 Peter 2:22; Isaiah 53:9]

Chapter 18

How the Word and Power of God Works in His Human Actions : by Casting Out Devils, by Miracles, by His Birth of the Virgin.

1 So when the sacred writers speak of Him eating, drinking and being born, understand this: the body, as a body, was born and was fed with food suited to it. But God the Word Himself, who was united with the body while ordering all things, made Himself known by the works He did in the body, not as a man but as God the Word. These things are said about Him because the body that ate, was born and suffered belonged to no one else but the Lord. And since He had become man, it was fitting that these things be said of Him as of a man, so that He would be shown to have a body in truth and not in appearance only.^[38] 2 But just as He was recognized as bodily present from these things, so by the works He did through the body He made Himself known as the Son of God. For this reason He cried out to the unbelieving Jews: “If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe my works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”^[39] [John 10:37-38]

3 For though He is invisible, He is known by the works of creation. In the same way, now that He has become man and is not seen as God in the body, it can be known from His works that the one doing them is not a man, but the Power and Word of God. [Romans 1:20] 4 For He gave orders to the demons and they were driven out. That is not a human work, but a divine one. Or who could watch Him healing the diseases to which the human race is subject, and still think Him a man and not God? He cleansed lepers, made the lame walk, opened the ears of the deaf, and gave sight to the blind. In short, He drove every disease and every sickness away from people. From these works even the most casual observer could see His divinity. Who could see Him give back what was missing to those whose birth had left them lacking, and open the eyes of the man born blind, and not realize that the birth of human beings was under His control, and that He was its Maker and Creator? The one who gives back what a man did not receive at birth must clearly be Lord of human birth as well.^[40] [Matthew 11:5; Matthew 4:23; John 9:1]

5 For this reason, when He first came down to us, He formed His body for Himself from a virgin. In this way He gave everyone no small sign of His divinity: the One who formed this body is also the Maker of all the others. For who could see a body come from a virgin alone, without a man, and not conclude that the One who appears in it is the Maker and Lord of other bodies too? 6 Or who could see the nature of water changed and turned into wine, and not understand that the one who did this is Lord and Creator of the nature of all water? For this reason also He stepped onto the sea as its master and walked on it as on dry land, giving those who saw it a sign of His lordship over all things. And when He fed so great a crowd from so little, supplying abundance Himself where there was nothing, so that five thousand were filled from five loaves and as much again was left over, what else did He make known but that He is the Lord whose providence governs all things?^[41] [John 2:9; Matthew 14:25; Matthew 14:20-21]

Chapter 19

Man, Unmoved by Nature, Was to Be Taught to Know God by that Sacred Manhood, Whose Deity All Nature Confessed, Especially in His Death.

1 The Saviour thought it good to do all these things for this reason. Men had not known His providence in all things, and had not perceived His divinity through creation. So at least from the works of His body they might look up again and, through Him, gain an idea of the knowledge of the Father. From particular acts they would reason out, as I said before, His providence over the whole. 2 For who could see His authority over demons, or see the demons confess that He is their Lord, and still be doubtful in his mind whether this is the Son of God, and His Wisdom and His Power? [1 Corinthians 1:24] 3 He even made creation itself break its silence. The marvel is that at His death, or rather at the very trophy of victory over death, the cross, all creation confessed that the One who was known in the body and suffered there was not merely a man, but the Son of God and Saviour of all. The sun turned away, the earth shook, the mountains were split, and all were struck with fear. These things showed that Christ on the cross was God, and that all creation was His servant, bearing witness by its fear to the presence of its Master.^[42] [Matthew 27:45; Matthew 27:51]

4 In this way, then, God the Word showed himself to people through his works. It is fitting next to tell of the end of his life and sojourn in the body, and to describe what the death of his body was like. This is especially so because it is the main point of our faith, and everyone without exception talks about it constantly. You will then see that from this also, no less than from the rest, Christ is known to be God and the Son of God.

Chapter 20

None, Then, Could Bestow Incorruption, But He Who Had Made, None Restore the Likeness of God, Save His Own Image, None Quicken, But the Life, None Teach, But the Word. And He, to Pay Our Debt of Death, Must Also Die for Us, and Rise Again as Our First-Fruits from the Grave. Mortal Therefore His Body Must Be; Corruptible, His Body Could Not Be.

1 We have now said in part, as far as we were able and as far as we could understand it, why he appeared in a body. No one else could change the corruptible into incorruption except the Savior himself, who in the beginning also made all things out of nothing. No one else could re-create in human beings what is made according to the image, except the Image of the Father. No one else could make the mortal immortal, except our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Life itself. And no one else could teach about the Father and tear down the worship of idols, except the Word who orders all things and who alone is the true, only-begotten Son of the Father.^[43] 2 But the debt owed by all still had to be paid. As I said before, all owed it to die, and that was the main reason he came among us. So, after the proofs of his deity from his works, he went on to offer the sacrifice on behalf of all. He handed over his own temple to death in place of all. By this he would set everyone free from guilt for the old transgression, and also show himself stronger than death, displaying his own body incorruptible as the firstfruits of the resurrection of all.^[44] [1 Corinthians 15:20]

3 Do not be surprised that we often say the same things about the same subjects. We are speaking of God’s good pleasure, so we explain the same thought in several ways. We do not want to seem to leave something out and be blamed for speaking inadequately. It is better to be criticized for repeating ourselves than to omit something that ought to be written down. 4 Now the body shared the common nature of all, for it was a human body. It was formed by a new kind of miracle, from a virgin alone. Even so, it was mortal, and therefore it died, as bodies like it do. But because the Word had come upon it, it no longer decayed according to its own nature. Because the Word of God dwelt in it, it was beyond the reach of corruption. 5 So two astonishing things happened at once. The death of all was fulfilled in the Lord’s body, and death and corruption were wiped out because of the Word who was with that body. Death was needed, and death had to be suffered on behalf of all, so that the debt owed by all might be paid.

6 So, as I said before, the Word could not die, because he was immortal. He therefore took for himself a body that could die. He did this to offer it as his own in place of all. Because he had come into that body, its suffering on behalf of all was his own suffering. In this way he would put an end to the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by fear of death.^[45] [Hebrews 2:14-15]

Chapter 21

Death Brought to Nought by the Death of Christ. Why Then Did Not Christ Die Privately, or in a More Honourable Way? He Was Not Subject to Natural Death, But Had to Die at the Hands of Others. Why Then Did He Die? Nay But for that Purpose He Came, and But for That, He Could Not Have Risen.

1 Indeed, now that the common Savior of all has died for us, we who believe in Christ no longer die the death that the law threatened, as people did before. That sentence has ended. Corruption has been stopped and wiped out by the grace of the resurrection. So now we are dissolved only because our bodies are mortal, at the time God has set for each of us, so that we may gain a better resurrection.^[46] [Hebrews 11:35] 2 We are like seeds thrown into the ground. We do not perish when we are dissolved, but as if sown, we will rise again, since death has been brought to nothing by the grace of the Savior. This is why the blessed Paul, who became a guarantor of the resurrection for all, says: “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal puts on immortality, then the word that is written will come to pass: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your sting?’”^[47] [1 Corinthians 15:53-55]

3 Someone might say: “If it was necessary for him to give his body to death in place of all, why did he not lay it down privately, as a man might? Why did he go as far as being crucified? It would have been more fitting to lay his body aside with honor than to endure a death like this, with such shame.” 4 But see whether this objection is not merely human. What the Savior did is truly divine, and for many reasons worthy of his deity. First, the death that comes to human beings comes because of the weakness of their nature. They cannot last for long, so they break down in time. That is why illnesses come upon them, and they grow weak and die. But the Lord is not weak. He is the Power of God, the Word of God, and Life itself. 5 If he had laid aside his body somewhere in private, on a bed, as people usually do, he too would have been thought to suffer this because of the weakness of his nature, and to have nothing more than other men. But he was Life and the Word of God, and the death on behalf of all had to take place. So, because he was life and power, the body was kept strong in him.

6 But since death had to take place, he did not take the occasion for it from himself. He received it from others, so that he could complete the sacrifice. For it was not right that the Lord, who healed the diseases of others, should fall sick himself. Nor was it right for that body to lose its strength, when in it he strengthened the weaknesses of others. 7 Why then did he not prevent death, as he prevented sickness? Because he had the body for this very purpose. It was unfitting for him to prevent death, so that the resurrection would not be hindered. But it was again unfitting for sickness to come before his death, so that it would not be thought a weakness of the One who was in the body. Did he not hunger, then? Yes, he hungered, because hunger belongs to the body. But he did not perish from hunger, because of the Lord who wore that body. So even though he died as the ransom for all, he did not see corruption. For his body rose again whole, since it belonged to no one else but to Life itself.^[48] [1 Timothy 2:6; Acts 2:31]

Chapter 22

But Why Did He Not Withdraw His Body from the Jews, and So Guard Its Immortality? (1) It Became Him Not to Inflict Death on Himself, and Yet Not to Shun It. (2) He Came to Receive Death as the Due of Others, Therefore It Should Come to Him from Without. (3) His Death Must Be Certain, to Guarantee the Truth of His Resurrection. Also, He Could Not Die from Infirmity, Lest He Should Be Mocked in His Healing of Others.

1 “But,” someone might say, “he should have hidden from the plot of the Jews, so as to keep his body immortal altogether.” Let such a person hear that this too was unfitting for the Lord. The Word of God, being Life, could not properly give death to his own body from himself. In the same way it was not suitable for him to run away from the death that others gave. Rather, he should pursue it until he had destroyed it. So it was reasonable that he neither laid his body aside by himself, nor fled from the Jews when they plotted against him. 2 This did not show weakness in the Word. On the contrary, it made him known as Savior and Life. He waited for death in order to destroy it, and he hurried to complete the death offered to him for the salvation of all. 3 And besides, the Savior came to complete not his own death but the death of men. So he did not lay aside his body by a death of his own, for being Life he had none. He received the death that came from men, so that he might completely abolish it when it came against him in his own body.

4 Then there is this too, from which one can reasonably see why the Lord’s body met such an end. The Lord was especially concerned about the resurrection of the body, which he was going to bring about. This was to be the trophy of victory over death. He would show it to all and convince all that he had removed corruption, and that from then on their bodies would be incorruptible. As a pledge and a sign of the resurrection that will come to all, he kept his own body incorrupt. 5 Again, suppose the body had been sick, and the Word had been separated from it in the sight of all. It would have been unfitting for the one who healed the diseases of others to overlook his own instrument wasting away in sickness. How would people have believed that he drove out the weaknesses of others, if his own temple was weak in him? Either he would have been laughed at as unable to drive out sickness, or, if he was able but did not do it, he would have been thought unloving toward others too.

Chapter 23

Necessity of a Public Death for the Doctrine of the Resurrection.

1 Suppose instead that he had hidden his body away, without any sickness or pain, in private and by himself, in a corner, or in a desert place, or in a house, or anywhere at all. Then suppose he had suddenly appeared again and said that he had been raised from the dead. Everyone would have thought he was telling tales. His words about the resurrection would have been believed much less, since there would have been no one at all to bear witness to his death. But death must come before resurrection, for there can be no resurrection unless death comes first. So if the death of his body had taken place somewhere in secret, with the death not seen and not before witnesses, his resurrection too would have been unseen and without witnesses.^[49] 2 Or why, when He had risen, did He proclaim the resurrection, yet cause His death to happen out of sight? Or why did He drive out demons in the sight of all, make the man blind from birth see, and change the water into wine, so that through these things He would be believed to be the Word of God? Why, then, would He not show His mortal body to be incorruptible in the sight of all, so that He would be believed to be Himself the Life?^[50] [John 9:1; John 2:9]

3 How could His disciples have spoken boldly about the resurrection if they could not say that He had first died? And how could they have been believed, when they said that death came first and then the resurrection, unless the people before whom they spoke so boldly could themselves witness to His death? Even as it was, His death and resurrection took place in the sight of everyone, and still the Pharisees of that time would not believe. They even forced those who had seen the resurrection to deny it. If these things had happened in secret, surely they would have thought up many more excuses for unbelief. [Matthew 28:12-15] 4 And how could the end of death, and the victory over it, have been shown, unless He had called death out before the eyes of all and proved it dead, now emptied of its power by the incorruption of His body?

Chapter 24

Further Objections Anticipated. He Did Not Choose His Manner of Death; For He Was to Prove Conqueror of Death in All or Any of Its Forms: (Simple of a Good Wrestler). The Death Chosen to Disgrace Him Proved the Trophy Against Death: Moreover a Preserved His Body Undivided.

1 We must also answer in advance what others might say. Someone may perhaps object: “If His death had to take place in the sight of all, and with witnesses, so that the account of His resurrection would be believed, then He should at least have devised some glorious death for Himself, if only to avoid the shame of the cross.” 2 But if He had done this, He would have given grounds for suspecting that He had power only over the death He had devised for Himself, and not over every death. There would still have been just as much of an excuse for disbelieving the resurrection. So death came upon His body not by His own choosing but by the plotting of others, so that whatever death they brought against the Saviour, He might completely destroy it. 3 Think of a noble wrestler, great in skill and courage. He does not choose his opponents himself, lest he give the impression that he is afraid of some of them. He leaves the choice to the spectators, especially if they happen to be his enemies, so that whoever they match him against, he may throw him and be believed stronger than them all. In the same way, Christ, who is the Life of all, our Lord and Saviour, did not devise a death for His own body, so that He would not appear to be afraid of some other death. Instead He accepted and endured on the cross the death that others inflicted, above all His enemies. They thought it terrible, shameful and something to be avoided. He did this so that, once this death was destroyed, He Himself might be believed to be the Life, and the power of death might be completely brought to nothing. [Hebrews 2:14]

4 So something amazing and unexpected has happened. The death they thought would bring Him disgrace became a trophy of victory over death itself. For this reason He did not undergo the death of John, whose head was cut off, nor was He sawn in two as Isaiah was. In this way He kept His body undivided and whole even in death, so that those who want to divide the Church would have no pretext.^[51] [Matthew 14:10; Hebrews 11:37]

Chapter 25

Why the Cross, of All Deaths? (1) He Had to Bear the Curse for Us. (2) on It He Held Out His Hands to Unite All, Jews and Gentiles, in Himself. (3) He Defeated the “Prince of the Powers of the Air” In His Own Region, Clearing the Way to Heaven and Opening for Us the Everlasting Doors.

1 That is our answer to those outside the Church who pile up arguments for themselves. But suppose someone from among us asks, not out of love of arguing but out of eagerness to learn, why He endured the cross and not some other kind of death. Let him also hear that no other way than this was good for us, and that the Lord rightly suffered this for our sake. 2 He came to bear the curse that lay upon us. How else could He have become a curse, unless He accepted the death that is marked out as a curse? That death is the cross. For so it is written: “Cursed is he who hangs on a tree.”^[52] [Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23] 3 Again, the Lord’s death is the ransom for all. By His death the dividing wall that separated us is broken down, and the calling of the nations comes about. How could He have called us to Himself if He had not been crucified? For only on the cross does a person die with his arms stretched out. So it was fitting for the Lord to endure this too, and to stretch out His hands, so that with one hand He might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the nations, and join both together in Himself.^[53] [Ephesians 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:6]

4 This is what He Himself said, showing by what kind of death He would ransom all: “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to Myself.”^[54] [John 12:32-33] 5 Again, the devil is the enemy of our race. He fell from heaven and now roams about in the air down here. There he rules over the demons who are with him, since they are like him in disobedience. Through them he produces illusions in people who are deceived, and he tries to block those who are going up. The apostle speaks of this: “according to the ruler of the power of the air, of the one now working in the sons of disobedience.” But the Lord came to throw the devil down, to clear the air, and to build for us a road up into heaven. As the apostle said, this road is “through the veil, that is, his flesh.” This had to happen through death. What other death could accomplish it than one that takes place in the air, that is, the cross? Only a man who is put to death on a cross dies in the air. So it was fitting that the Lord endured this death.^[55] [Ephesians 2:2; Hebrews 10:20]

6 Lifted up in this way, he cleared the air of the devil’s plotting and of every plot of the demons. He said, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning.” And he made a new road up into heaven, as he says again: “Lift up your gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates.” The Word himself did not need the gates opened, since he is Lord of all. Nothing he had made was shut against its Maker. We were the ones who needed it, and he carried us up through his own body. Just as he offered that body to death on behalf of all, so through it he again made a road up into the heavens.^[56] [Luke 10:18; Psalm 24:7; Hebrews 10:20]

Chapter 26

Reasons for His Rising on the Third Day. (1) Not Sooner for Else His Real Death Would Be Denied, Nor (2) Later; To (A) Guard the Identity of His Body, (B) Not to Keep His Disciples Too Long in Suspense, Nor (C) to Wait Till the Witnesses of His Death Were Dispersed, or Its Memory Faded.

1 So the death on the cross for our sake was fitting and suitable. The reason for it has been shown to be reasonable in every way, and the arguments for it are sound: the salvation of all had to come through the cross and in no other way. Even on the cross he did not leave himself hidden. On the contrary, he made creation bear witness to the presence of its Maker. But he did not allow the temple of his body to remain dead for long. He only showed it dead, by letting death come into contact with it, and then raised it straight away on the third day. He carried away, as trophies and victories over death, the incorruption and freedom from suffering that came to his body.^[57] [John 2:21] 2 He could have raised his body at the very moment of death and shown it alive. But the Saviour, with good foresight, did not do this. Someone could have said that he had not died at all, or that death had not fully touched him, if he had shown the resurrection immediately.

3 Perhaps, too, if the interval between his death and resurrection had been only two days, the fame of his incorruption would have been unclear. So that his body might be shown to be dead, the Word waited through one day in between, and on the third day showed it incorruptible to everyone.^[58] 4 So, to prove that death had really taken place in the body, he raised it on the third day. 5 But he also did not want to raise it after a long time, when it had completely decayed, and so be disbelieved, as though he had brought back some other body and not the same one. Over time a person might come to distrust what he saw, and forget what had happened. For this reason he did not wait longer than three days, and he did not keep in suspense for long those who had heard him speak about the resurrection.

6 Instead, the word was still ringing in their ears, their eyes were still watching for it, and their minds were still hanging on it. Those who had put him to death were still alive on earth and on the spot, and they were witnesses of the death of the Lord’s body. Then, after an interval of three days, the Son of God himself showed that the body that had been dead was immortal and incorruptible. It was made plain to everyone that the body had not died because of any weakness in the nature of the Word who lived in it. It died so that death might be wiped out in it by the power of the Saviour.

Chapter 27

The Change Wrought by the Cross in the Relation of Death to Man.

1 That death has been destroyed, that the cross has become the victory over it, and that it has no more strength but is truly dead: there is no small sign and a clear proof of this. All the disciples of Christ despise death. They all go on the attack against it and no longer fear it. By the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ they trample it down as something dead. 2 Long ago, before the Saviour’s divine coming among us, death was terrible even to the saints, and everyone mourned the dead as if they were perishing. But now that the Saviour has raised his body, death is no longer terrible. All who believe in Christ trample it underfoot as if it were nothing, and they would rather die than deny their faith in Christ. For they truly know that when they die they are not destroyed. They live, and through the resurrection they become incorruptible.

3 But the devil, who once wickedly exulted in death, was left as the only one truly dead once death’s pains were loosed. Here is the proof. Before people believe in Christ, they see death as terrible and are afraid of it. But when they pass over to faith in him and to his teaching, they despise death so much that they eagerly rush toward it and become witnesses of the resurrection that the Saviour accomplished against it. Even those still young in years hurry to die, and not only men but women train themselves against death by their disciplines. So weak has death become that even the women who were once deceived by it now make sport of it as something dead and powerless.^[59] [Acts 2:24] 4 When a tyrant has been defeated by a true king and bound hand and foot, everyone who passes by makes fun of him, striking him and jeering at him. They no longer fear his madness and savagery, because of the king who conquered him. So too death has been conquered and publicly shamed by the Saviour on the cross, and bound hand and foot. All who are in Christ, as they pass by, trample on it. As witnesses to Christ they mock death, taunting it with what was written against it long ago: “Where is your victory, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades?”^[60] [1 Corinthians 15:55; Hosea 13:14]

Chapter 28

This Exceptional Fact Must Be Tested by Experience. Let Those Who Doubt It Become Christians.

1 Is this, then, a small proof of death’s weakness? Is it a small demonstration of the Saviour’s victory over it, when boys and young girls in Christ look down on this present life and train themselves to die? 2 By nature a human being is afraid of death and of the dissolution of the body. But here is the most astonishing thing: the person who has put on faith in the cross despises even what is natural, and for Christ’s sake is not afraid of death. 3 Fire by nature burns. Suppose someone said there was a material that does not fear its burning but even shows the fire to be weak. The asbestos of the Indians is said to be like this. Then suppose a person who did not believe the report wanted to test it. He would put on the unburnable material and touch it to the fire, and he would then be convinced that the fire was weak.^[61]

4 Or suppose someone wanted to see a tyrant in chains. He would go into the land and realm of those who had defeated him, and there he would see the man who terrified others reduced to weakness. In the same way, someone may still be unbelieving after all this: after so many martyrs in Christ, and after the daily mockery of death by those who shine in Christ. Even so, if he still has doubts in his mind about whether death has been abolished and brought to an end, he does well to wonder at so great a matter. But let him not be hard in unbelief, or shameless in the face of what is so plain. 5 As the man who takes the fireproof material knows that fire cannot touch it, and as the man who wants to see the tyrant bound goes into the realm of the conqueror, so let the one who doubts the victory over death take up the faith of Christ and come fully into his teaching. Then he will see death’s weakness and the victory over it. For many who once disbelieved and mocked later believed, and then despised death so much that they became martyrs of Christ.

Chapter 29

Here Then are Wonderful Effects, and a Sufficient Cause, the Cross, to Account for Them, as Sunrise Accounts for Daylight.

1 Now if death is trampled down by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ, then it is clear, with truth as judge, that no one else but Christ himself has displayed trophies and victories over death and made it weak. 2 Death was strong before, and that is why it was terrifying. But now, since the Saviour’s coming among us and the death and resurrection of his body, death is despised. So it is plain that death has been abolished and defeated by the very Christ who went up on the cross. 3 Suppose the sun rises after the night and the whole earth is lit up by it. No one doubts that the sun which spread its light everywhere is the same sun that drove out the darkness and lit up everything. In the same way, death is now despised and trampled underfoot. This has been so ever since the Saviour’s saving appearance in the body and the end he met on the cross. So it is perfectly clear that he is the Saviour who appeared in the body, who abolished death, and who displays trophies of victory over it every day in his own disciples. [2 Timothy 1:10]

4 Look at what happens. People who are weak by nature rush forward to meet death. They are not afraid of its corruption, and they do not dread going down to Hades. With eager hearts they challenge death, and they do not shrink from torture. For Christ’s sake they would rather rush into death than go on living here. Or suppose someone watches men, women and young children charging and leaping into death out of devotion to Christ. Who would be so foolish, so unbelieving, or so crippled in mind as to fail to understand and reason this out? Christ is the one these people bear witness to, and he himself gives each of them the victory over death. He weakens death in each one who holds his faith and wears the sign of the cross. 5 Think of someone who sees a serpent trampled underfoot, especially if he knows how savage it used to be. He no longer doubts that it is dead and has lost all its strength. Only a man whose mind is twisted, or whose bodily senses are unsound, would think otherwise. And who, seeing a lion being played with by children, does not know that it is either dead or has lost all its power?

6 These things can be seen with our own eyes, and we know they are true. In the same way, death is now mocked and despised by those who believe in Christ. So let no one doubt any longer, and let no one be unbelieving, that death has been abolished by Christ, and that its corruption has been dissolved and brought to an end.

Chapter 30

The Reality of the Resurrection Prayed by Facts: (1) the Victory Over Death Described Above: (2) the Wonders of Grace are the Work of One Living, of One Who is God: (3) If the Gods Be (as Alleged) Real and Living, a Fortiori He Who Shatters Their Power is Alive.

1 What has been said so far is no small proof that death has been abolished, and that the Lord’s cross is a trophy of victory over it. Then there is the resurrection of the body to immortality that followed, accomplished by Christ, the common Saviour and true Life of all. For those whose mind’s eye is healthy, the proof of it from what we can see is clearer than any argument. 2 As our argument has shown, death has been abolished, and because of the Lord everyone tramples it underfoot. Much more, then, did he himself first trample it in his own body and abolish it. Now that death had been put to death by him, what had to happen but that his body rise, and that this be shown as a trophy against death? How could death have been shown to be abolished unless the Lord’s body had risen? But if anyone finds this proof of his resurrection insufficient, let him be convinced of what we say by what happens before his eyes.

3 When a man has died, he can accomplish nothing. His influence reaches only as far as the grave, and then it stops. Actions, and effective work among people, belong only to the living. So let anyone who wishes look, and let him be the judge, confessing the truth from what he sees. 4 The Saviour is doing so many things among people. Every day, from every direction, he is invisibly persuading so great a multitude, both of those who live in Greece and of those in foreign lands, to come over to his faith, and all to obey his teaching. Will anyone still be in doubt whether a resurrection was accomplished by the Saviour, and whether Christ is alive, or rather whether he is himself the Life? [John 11:25] 5 Is it the work of a dead man to pierce people’s minds, so that they renounce their ancestral laws and bow in worship to the teaching of Christ? Or, if he is not active (for inactivity is the mark of a dead man), how does he stop active, living people from their activity, so that the adulterer no longer commits adultery, the murderer no longer murders, the wrongdoer no longer grasps for more, and the ungodly person begins to live in godliness? And if he has not risen but is dead, how does he himself drive out, pursue and overthrow the false gods that unbelievers say are alive, and the demons they worship?

6 Wherever Christ and faith in him are named, from that place all idolatry is torn down, every deception of demons is exposed, and no demon can bear even the name. The moment it hears it, it flees and is gone. This is not the work of a dead man but of one who lives, and above all of God. 7 Besides, it would be ridiculous to say that the demons he pursues and the idols he brings to nothing are alive, while the one who drives them away, who by his own power keeps them from even appearing, and who is acknowledged by all to be the Son of God, is dead.^[62]

Chapter 31

If Power is the Sign of Life, What Do We Learn from the Impotence of Idols, for Good or Evil, and the Constraining Power of Christ and of the Sign of the Cross? Death and the Demons are by This Proved to Have Lost Their Sovereignty. Coincidence of the Above Argument from Facts with that from the Personality of Christ.

1 Those who disbelieve the resurrection provide strong proof against themselves. They call Christ dead, yet all the demons and all the gods they worship do not drive him out. On the contrary, Christ shows all of them to be dead. 2 If it is true that a dead man does nothing, yet the Saviour does so many things every day, then consider what he does. He draws people to godliness, persuades them to virtue, teaches them about immortality, lifts them to a longing for heaven, reveals the knowledge of the Father, breathes into them power against death, shows himself to each one, and tears down the godlessness of idols. The gods and demons of the unbelievers can do none of this. On the contrary, in the presence of Christ they become dead, and their display is idle and empty. By the sign of the cross all magic stops and all sorcery is made powerless. All idols are abandoned and left desolate, every irrational pleasure is checked, and faith looks up from earth to heaven. Whom, then, could anyone call dead? Christ, who does all these things? But working is not the mark of a dead man. Or is it the one who does nothing at all but lies there as if lifeless? That is the mark of the demons and idols, since they are dead.

3 The Son of God is living and active, and every day he works and brings about the salvation of all. Death, meanwhile, is shown every day to have lost its strength, and the idols and demons are shown to be the ones who are dead. As a result, no one can doubt any longer the resurrection of his body.^[63] [Hebrews 4:12] 4 Anyone who doubts the resurrection of the Lord’s body seems to be ignorant of the power of the Word and Wisdom of God. For if he took a body at all, and made it his own in the reasonable sequence our argument has shown, what was the Lord to do with it? What end should the body have, once the Word had come upon it? It could not fail to die, since it was mortal and was being offered to death on behalf of all. That is why the Saviour prepared it for himself. But it could not remain dead, because it had become the temple of Life. So it died as mortal, but it rose again because of the Life that was in it. And the works are the sign of the resurrection. [1 Corinthians 1:24]

Chapter 32

But Who is to See Him Risen, So as to Believe? Nay, God is Ever Invisible and Known by His Works Only: and Here the Works Cry Out in Proof. If You Do Not Believe, Look at Those Who Do, and Perceive the Godhead of Christ. The Demons See This, Though Men Be Blind. Summary of the Argument So Far.

1 But if people do not believe he has risen because he is not seen, it is time for them to deny the course of nature as well. For it is the very nature of God not to be seen, yet to be known from his works, as was said above. [Romans 1:20] 2 If there were no works, they would be right to disbelieve what does not appear. But if the works cry out and show it plainly, why do they willingly deny the life of the resurrection when it is so clearly seen? Even if their minds have been crippled, they can still see with their outward senses the undeniable power and divinity of Christ. 3 A blind man may not see the sun, but when he feels the warmth it gives, he knows there is a sun above the earth. In the same way, those who argue against us may not yet believe, since they are still blind to the truth. Yet at least they know his power through others who believe. So let them not deny the divinity of Christ and the resurrection that he accomplished.

4 It is plain that if Christ were dead, he would not be driving out demons and plundering idols. The demons would not obey a dead man. But if they are openly driven out by the naming of his name, it is clear that he is not dead. This is all the more so because the demons see even what people cannot see. If Christ were dead, they could tell, and they would not obey him at all. 5 But as it is, the demons see what the ungodly do not believe: that he is God. That is why they flee and fall down before him. They say what they also said when he was in the body: “We know who you are: you are the Holy One of God,” and “Ah, what have we to do with you, Son of God? I beg you, do not torment me.”^[64] [Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; Luke 8:28] 6 So the demons confess him, and his works bear witness to him every day. Let no one then shamelessly resist the truth. It is evident that the Saviour raised his own body, and that he is the true Son of God. He is the Father’s own Word, Wisdom and Power, coming from him. In later times he took a body for the salvation of all. He taught the world about the Father and abolished death. He gave incorruption to all through the promise of the resurrection, raising his own body as the first-fruits of it. By the sign of the cross he displayed that body as a trophy of victory over death and its corruption.^[65] [1 Corinthians 1:24; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:20]

Chapter 33

Unbelief of Jews and Scoffing of Greeks. The Former Confounded by Their Own Scriptures. Prophecies of His Coming as God and as Man.

1 Since this is so, and the proof of the resurrection of the body and of the Saviour’s victory over death is plain, come, let us now refute the unbelief of the Jews and the mockery of the Greeks.^[66] 2 For perhaps it is over these matters that the Jews disbelieve and the Greeks laugh, ridiculing the unseemliness of the cross and the Word of God becoming man. But our argument will not hesitate to take on both, especially since the proofs against them are so clear. [1 Corinthians 1:23] 3 The Jews in their unbelief can be refuted from the Scriptures they themselves read. Throughout, in short, every God-inspired book teaches about these things, as their very words make plain. For the prophets long ago announced beforehand the wonder of the Virgin and the birth that came from her. They said: “Behold, the Virgin will be with child and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which, translated, means ‘God with us.’”^[67] [Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23]

4 Moses too, who was truly great and whom they believe to speak the truth, judged the saying about the Saviour’s becoming man to be of great weight. Knowing it to be true, he set it down in these words: “A star will rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel, and he will crush the leaders of Moab.” And again: “How beautiful are your houses, Jacob, and your tents, Israel: like shady valleys, like gardens by rivers, like tents which the Lord pitched, like cedars beside the waters. A man will come out of his seed and will rule over many nations.” And again Isaiah says: “Before the child knows how to call ‘father’ or ‘mother,’ he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.”^[68] [Numbers 24:17; Numbers 24:5-7; Isaiah 8:4] 5 These words announce beforehand that he will appear as a man. That the one who is coming is Lord of all, they again foretell: “Behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud, and will come into Egypt, and the handmade idols of Egypt will be shaken.” For it is from there too that the Father calls him back, saying: “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”^[69] [Isaiah 19:1; Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15]

Chapter 34

Prophecies of His Passion and Death in All Its Circumstances.

1 His death is not passed over in silence either. It is indicated very clearly in the divine Scriptures. The prophets did not fear to speak of the reason for his death: that he endures it not for his own sake but for the immortality and salvation of all. They also spoke of the plotting of the Jews and the insults they heaped on him. They did this so that no one would be ignorant of these events and so be led astray. 2 So they say: “A man in affliction, who knows how to bear weakness, for his face is turned away. He was dishonored and held in no account. He bears our sins and suffers pain for us. And we considered him to be in toil, in affliction, and in ill-treatment. But he was wounded because of our sins and made weak because of our lawless deeds. The discipline that brings our peace was upon him, and by his bruise we were healed.” Marvel at the loving-kindness of the Word: for our sake he is dishonored, so that we might be made honorable. “For all of us,” it says, “like sheep have gone astray; man has gone astray in his own way. And the Lord handed him over for our sins, and because he was ill-treated he does not open his mouth. Like a sheep he was led to slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.”^[70] [Isaiah 53:3-8]

3 Then, so that no one would take him for an ordinary man because of his suffering, Scripture anticipates people’s suspicions. It also tells of the power at work on his behalf and of how his nature is unlike ours, saying: “Who will declare his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. Because of the lawless deeds of the people he was led to death. And I will give the wicked in return for his burial, and the rich in return for his death, because he did no lawlessness, nor was deceit found in his mouth. And the Lord wills to cleanse him from the affliction.”^[71] [Isaiah 53:8-10]

Chapter 35

Prophecies of the Cross. How These Prophecies are Satisfied in Christ Alone.

1 But perhaps, having heard the prophecy about his death, you want to learn also what is indicated about the cross. This too is not passed over in silence. The holy men have made it clear, and very plainly. 2 Moses is the first to announce it in advance, with a loud voice, saying: “You will see your life hanging before your eyes, and you will not believe.”^[72] [Deuteronomy 28:66] 3 And the prophets after him also bear witness to this, saying: “But I, like a harmless lamb led away to be sacrificed, did not know it. They devised evil against me, saying, ‘Come, let us put wood into his bread and wipe him out from the land of the living.’”^[73] [Jeremiah 11:19] 4 And again: “They dug through my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones; they divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”^[74] 5 Now a death that is lifted up on high and takes place on wood could be none other than the cross. Again, in no other kind of death are the hands and feet pierced through except on the cross alone.

6 And since, through the Savior’s coming among us, all the nations everywhere began to know God, the prophets did not leave this unmarked either. Mention of it is also found in the holy writings. For, it says, “There shall be the root of Jesse, even he who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope.” These are a few proofs of what has happened.^[75] [Isaiah 11:10; Romans 15:12] 7 But the whole of Scripture is full of proofs against the unbelief of the Jews. For which of the righteous men, holy prophets and patriarchs recorded in the divine Scriptures ever had the origin of his body from a virgin alone? Or what woman, without a man, has been able by herself to bring a human being into existence? Was not Abel born of Adam, Enoch of Jared, Noah of Lamech, Abraham of Terah, Isaac of Abraham, and Jacob of Isaac? Was not Judah born of Jacob, and Moses and Aaron of Amram? Was not Samuel born of Elkanah, David of Jesse, Solomon of David, Hezekiah of Ahaz, Josiah of Amon, Isaiah of Amoz, Jeremiah of Hilkiah, and Ezekiel of Buzi? Did not each one have a father as the source of his birth? Who, then, is the one born of a virgin alone? For the prophet took great care to point to this sign.^[76] [Isaiah 7:14]

8 Whose birth was preceded by a star in the heavens, pointing out to the whole world the one who was born? Moses, when he was born, was hidden by his parents. David was not even heard of by his neighbors, since even the great Samuel did not know him, but asked whether Jesse had yet another son. Abraham became known to those nearby only later, after he had become great. But the witness to Christ’s birth was not a man. It was a star appearing in heaven, the very place from which he was coming down.^[77] [Matthew 2:2; Exodus 2:2]

Chapter 36

Prophecies of Christ’s Sovereignty, Flight into Egypt, &C.

1 What king has there ever been who reigned, and won victories over his enemies, before he was strong enough to call out “father” or “mother”? Did not David begin to reign at thirty, and Solomon as a young man? Did not Joash come to the throne at seven years old, and Josiah, who was later still, take up the rule at about seven? Yet even at that age these kings were strong enough to call out “father” or “mother.”^[78] [Isaiah 8:4] 2 Who, then, is the one who reigns and plunders his enemies almost before he is born? And what king like that has there ever been in Israel or in Judah? Let the Jews search and tell us. In what king have all the nations set their hope and found peace? Were the nations not rather opposed to them on every side? [Isaiah 8:4] 3 As long as Jerusalem stood, there was unending war against them, and everyone fought against Israel. The Assyrians oppressed them, the Egyptians pursued them, and the Babylonians invaded them. Strangest of all, they even had the Syrians, their neighbors, fighting against them. Did not David make war on the people of Moab and cut down the Syrians? Did not Josiah have to guard against his neighbors, and Hezekiah cower before the arrogance of Sennacherib? Did not Amalek take the field against Moses, and the Amorites oppose him, and the people who lived in Jericho line up in battle against Joshua son of Nun? In short, the nations had no friendly treaties with Israel at all. So it is worth finding out who it is in whom the nations place their hope. There must be such a one, since the prophet cannot have spoken falsely.^[79]

4 Which of the holy prophets, or of the patriarchs of old, died on a cross for the salvation of all? Who was wounded and killed for the healing of all? Which of the righteous men or kings went down into Egypt so that, by his going down, the idols of the Egyptians came to an end? Abraham went down, and idolatry still prevailed over everyone. Moses was born there, and the worship of those who were led astray went on there just the same.^[80] [Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 19:1]

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Notes

[1] The Greek word of address, Makarie, means “blessed one.” The older translation takes it as a man’s name, Macarius, and adds “worthy of that name” to bring out the pun. Nothing else is known of such a person, and some readers take the word simply as a warm form of address (“blessed friend”).

[2] The Greek phrase kath’ heautōn means “against themselves.” It probably means that the Epicureans’ claim tells against them, since it contradicts what anyone can see. The older translation’s “in their self-contempt” is a loose interpretation.

[3] The older translation adds “out of nothing” in “Creator out of nothing.” The Greek says only that God would be a craftsman (technitēs) and not a creator “unto being” (ktistēs eis to einai), that is, one who brings things into existence.

[4] Athanasius probably has in mind groups such as the Marcionites and some Gnostic teachers, who distinguished the creator of the world from the Father of Jesus Christ.

[5] The Gospel passages are Matthew 19:4–6 (compare Mark 10:6–9) and John 1:3. Athanasius’ wording of Matthew differs slightly from the standard Greek text, and I have translated his Greek as he gave it.

[6] “The Shepherd” is the Shepherd of Hermas, an early Christian writing that is not in the Bible. Here Athanasius calls it a “most useful book” rather than Scripture. Later, in his Festal Letter 39 (AD 367), he listed it among books to be read by new believers, though it was not part of the canon. The quotation is from its Mandate 1.

[7] Hebrews 11:3. Like the church of Alexandria generally, Athanasius counted Hebrews among Paul’s letters.

[8] “Rational” translates logikoi, which is related to Logos (Word): humans are “word-endowed” or reasoning beings because they share in the Word.

[9] Genesis 2:16–17 (Greek Old Testament). “You shall die by death” (thanatō apothaneisthe) is the Greek translators’ rendering of a Hebrew idiom that repeats the verb for emphasis (“dying you shall die”). Athanasius reads it as a death that lasts on in corruption, not a single event.

[10] The word “not” (mē) before “being” in the last clause is supplied by editors; it gives the sense “corruption into non-being.”

[11] The Wisdom quotation is Wisdom of Solomon 6:18. The second quotation is Psalm 82:6–7 (Psalm 81 in the Greek Old Testament), in its Greek wording.

[12] The Greek “τέλος” can mean “end” or “goal.” The older English “to meet the end of death” is unclear. The sense here is that he came to bring death to its end.

[13] The quotations are from 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 and Hebrews 2:9. In the first, Athanasius’s wording differs slightly from the standard text of 2 Corinthians: he has “we” and “us” where Paul has “those who live” and “them,” and “rose from the dead” where Paul has “was raised.” The words “our Lord Jesus Christ” are Athanasius’s own, added after the quotation to name the one meant.

[14] The quotation is from Hebrews 2:10. The Greek word “ἀρχηγός” can mean “founder,” “leader” or “pioneer.”

[15] The quotation is from Hebrews 2:14–15.

[16] “Will show it in its own times” borrows the wording of 1 Timothy 6:15, where it refers to Christ’s appearing.

[17] In Greek, “rational” (logikoi) comes from the same root as “Word” (Logos). For Athanasius, to be rational is to share in the Word, which is why the older English adds “(and Reason).”

[18] “According to his own image and likeness” echoes Genesis 1:26.

[19] “Serving the creation instead of the Creator” echoes Romans 1:25.

[20] “Their desires” could mean either the people’s own desires or the demons’ desires. The Greek does not make clear which.

[21] The Greek word for “without reason” (alogos) is the opposite of “rational” (logikos), and both are built on logos, “reason” or “word.” Earlier in the book (section 3), Athanasius says humans were made rational by being given a share in the Word (Logos). So to become “without reason” is, for him, to lose that share.

[22] The Greek here reads “tisai,” which is probably a copying error. Standard editions read “anaktisai” (“re-create”), which the older translation follows (“create afresh”).

[23] The Greek text given here breaks off in the middle of a word (ana-ty-). Standard editions complete it as “anatypoutai,” “is traced out again,” which is how the last clause is translated.

[24] “According to the image” echoes Genesis 1:26–27, where man is made “according to the image” of God.

[25] The Greek as given here breaks off at “didas-.” The word is almost certainly didaskontos, “teaching,” as the older English has it.

[26] “About him” in the Greek could mean the Father, as the older translation takes it, or the Word himself.

[27] The Greek has no verb in “from below, that is, through the works of the body.” “Taught” is supplied, as in the older translation.

[28] The quotation is 1 Corinthians 1:21.

[29] The verb rendered “reached out to” (proslambanei) can mean “take to oneself,” “lay hold of,” or “receive”; the older translation renders it “meets ... half-way.”

[30] The older translation says the demons were cast out “by the Word” and adds that he “was God.” The Greek says “by the Lord” and “that this one alone is the Word of God.”

[31] Compare Luke 19:10, “to seek and to save what was lost.” Athanasius quotes loosely, giving “to save and to find.”

[32] The older translation says the Word “disguised Himself.” That is an interpretation. The Greek says more simply that He “submitted himself to appear through a body.”

[33] Ephesians 3:17–19.

[34] Where the older translation says the Word was “revealing Himself” everywhere, the Greek says He “spread Himself out” or “unfolded Himself.” This picks up the four dimensions in the Ephesians passage just quoted.

[35] The older translation’s “visible enough” adds the word “enough.” The Greek says simply that He made Himself visible through the body by remaining in it.

[36] The older translation adds “any change” and “[His glory] dulled.” The Greek says only that He Himself did not suffer when the Virgin gave birth, nor was He defiled by being in a body.

[37] The closing words echo 1 Peter 2:22 (and Isaiah 53:9). Athanasius says only “it says,” without naming a source.

[38] The Greek word here, theologoi (“those who speak of God”), refers to the writers of Scripture, not to theologians in the modern sense.

[39] John 10:37–38.

[40] Compare Matthew 11:5 and 4:23 for the list of healings. The man born blind is in John 9.

[41] Compare John 2:1–11 (water into wine), Matthew 14:13–21 (the feeding of the five thousand) and Matthew 14:22–33 (walking on the sea).

[42] Compare Matthew 27:45, 51–54 and Luke 23:44–45, which speak of darkness, an earthquake and rocks being split; Athanasius says “mountains” where Matthew has “rocks.”

[43] The Greek says “what is according to the image” (to kat’ eikona), and the sentence is rendered that way here.

[44] “His own temple” means his body. Athanasius uses this image for Christ’s body several times in the book. Compare John 2:21, where Jesus “was speaking about the temple of his body.”

[45] The last part is taken almost word for word from Hebrews 2:14–15 and worked into Athanasius’s own sentence. Only the words “through death” are missing.

[46] “A better resurrection” echoes Hebrews 11:35.

[47] This is 1 Corinthians 15:53–55 as it stands in Athanasius’s text, which lacks Paul’s “when this corruptible puts on incorruption” and his question “Where, O death, is your victory?”

[48] “Did not see corruption” echoes the wording of Psalm 16:10 as it is used in Acts 2:27, 2:31 and 13:35–37.

[49] “In a corner” is the Greek phrase also used in Acts 26:26, there meaning something done in secret.

[50] The Greek text printed here reads “you drove out” (second person). This seems to be a slip for “he drove out,” and the translation follows the sense.

[51] Athanasius refers to a tradition about Isaiah being sawn in two; it is not told in the Old Testament itself, though Hebrews 11:37 may allude to such a tradition.

[52] “Become a curse” echoes Galatians 3:13, which quotes Deuteronomy 21:23. Athanasius’s wording of the quotation lacks the “everyone” found in Galatians.

[53] “The dividing wall” uses the wording of Ephesians 2:14, and “join both together in Himself” echoes the same passage (Ephesians 2:14-16).

[54] John 12:32. “Draw” is the same verb Athanasius used just above for the outstretched hands drawing both peoples.

[55] The veil quotation is from Hebrews 10:20.

[56] The second quotation is Psalm 24:7 (Psalm 23:7 in the Greek Old Testament). It follows the Greek version, which addresses “rulers.” The Hebrew reads “Lift up your heads, O gates.”

[57] Creation bearing witness probably refers to the signs at the crucifixion: the darkness and the earthquake (Matthew 27:45, 51). Athanasius mentions these earlier in the book (chapter 19).

[58] The Greek of the opening clause is obscure. This version takes it to mean an interval of only “two days,” but other readings of the phrase are possible.

[59] The women “once deceived” may allude to Eve (Genesis 3:13; compare 1 Timothy 2:14).

[60] The quotation is 1 Corinthians 15:55, which draws on Hosea 13:14. Athanasius has “Hades” in the second line, as many manuscripts of 1 Corinthians do. Most modern Bibles read “death” in both lines.

[61] “Asbestos” translates the Greek amianton, which means “undefiled.” It was an ancient name for asbestos, which could be woven into fireproof cloth. Here it is said to come from India.

[62] The Greek says only “acknowledged by all.” This could mean all people, or it could refer back to the demons, who in the Gospels confess Jesus as Son of God (Mark 3:11; Luke 4:41).

[63] “Living and active” echoes Hebrews 4:12, where “the word of God is living and active.” Athanasius applies the phrase to the Son, the Word.

[64] The first saying is from Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34. The second appears to combine several Gospel passages, probably quoted from memory: “Ah” (Luke 4:34), “what have we to do with you, Son of God?” (Matthew 8:29), and “I beg you, do not torment me” (Luke 8:28).

[65] “Wisdom and Power” of God recalls 1 Corinthians 1:24 (“Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”). “First-fruits” recalls 1 Corinthians 15:20, where Christ is “the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

[66] “Greeks” here, as often in early Christian writers, means pagans in general, that is, non-Jewish, non-Christian people, not an ethnic group.

[67] The quotation is Isaiah 7:14 in its Greek (Septuagint) form. The words “they will call” and “which, translated, means ‘God with us’” come from Matthew 1:23, which Athanasius follows here.

[68] The quotations are Numbers 24:17, Numbers 24:5-7 and Isaiah 8:4. Athanasius uses the Greek (Septuagint) form, so some wording differs from English Old Testaments, which follow the Hebrew.

[69] The quotations are Isaiah 19:1 (Septuagint) and Hosea 11:1. The Greek word for “handmade things” (χειροποίητα) is a common biblical term for idols, and the Hebrew of Isaiah 19:1 has “idols.” The Septuagint of Hosea 11:1 reads “I called his children out of Egypt.” Athanasius’s wording, “my Son,” matches Matthew 2:15 and the Hebrew.

[70] The quotation is Isaiah 53:3-8 in the Greek (Septuagint) form, which differs in places from the Hebrew-based English Bibles; the Greek plēgē means “blow” or “wound,” and mōlōps a “welt” or “bruise” left by a blow.

[71] The quotation is Isaiah 53:8-10 (Septuagint). “Generation” can mean his birth, his descent, or his contemporaries. Athanasius reads it as pointing to his unlike nature.

[72] Compare Deuteronomy 28:66, which Athanasius quotes freely. There the words describe a person’s life “hanging” in doubt under the curse. Athanasius, like other early Christian writers, takes “your life” as a title for Christ hanging on the cross.

[73] Compare Jeremiah 11:19 (Septuagint). The Greek word for “wood” (xylon) is also used of the cross, which is why Christian writers saw a reference to it here.

[74] Psalm 21:17-19 in the Greek numbering (Psalm 22:16-18 in English Bibles); the Greek verb literally means “dug,” which many English Bibles render “pierced.”

[75] Isaiah 11:10 in the Greek Old Testament. Paul quotes the verse in the same form in Romans 15:12.

[76] “The prophet” is probably Isaiah, whose sign of the virgin (Isaiah 7:14) Athanasius cited earlier in the work.

[77] Compare Matthew 2:2, 9 (the star); Exodus 2:2 (Moses hidden); 1 Samuel 16:11 (Samuel asks Jesse about his sons).

[78] Compare 2 Samuel 5:4 (David at thirty) and 2 Kings 11:21 (Joash at seven). Athanasius gives Josiah’s age as “about seven,” but 2 Kings 22:1 and 2 Chronicles 34:1 say he was eight.

[79] Joshua son of Nun: the Greek reads “Jesus son of Naue,” because “Joshua” and “Jesus” are the same name in Greek.

[80] “Wounded ... for the healing of all” echoes Isaiah 53:5. The idols of Egypt failing at the Lord’s coming echoes Isaiah 19:1, which Athanasius links with the child Jesus being taken into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15). Abraham’s journey to Egypt is in Genesis 12:10.