Athanasius

On the Incarnation of the Word

An Outline Summary
By Ben Rogers

Chapter 1: Creation and the Fall

1. The subject – the Word becoming Man and His divine Appearing in our midst.
a. Why is it that the Word of the Father has been manifest in bodily form?
b. Ans. “Out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us
men.
c. First fact: Renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word who
made it in the beginning.
2. The Making of the Universe
a. Various Opinions
i. Epicureans
ii. Plato
iii. Gnostics
3. The Divine teaching of the Christian Faith (on the making of the universe)
a. Universe did not originate itself
b. Universe was made out of nothing by an infinite God
c. Universe brought into being by the Word
d. God reserved special mercy for the race of men
i. Imago Dei
ii. Immortality
e. Man’s original place was conditional
i. Obey = retain loveliness, live in paradise, and attain immortality in
heaven
ii. Disobey = come under natural law of death, leave paradise, and
continue in death and corruption
4. Our Sorry Case
a. Necessitated the Incarnation
b. We turned from the contemplation of God to evil
c. Evil is non-being
5. The Plight of Men
a. Turned from eternal things to corruptible things
b. Heeded the counsel of the devil
c. They became the cause of their own corruption and death
d. Man grew worse and worse

Chapter 2: The Divine Dilemma and its Solution in the Incarnation

6. The Divine Dilemma
a. It is unthinkable that God would go back on his word (you will surely die)
b. It is unthinkable that creatures made in God’s Image be lost and ruined
7. Repentance: not a solution
a. Not guard divine consistency
c. Does not rescue our nature
d. The Word must save the creature and maintain God’s consistency
i. He alone can recreate
 ii. He alone can suffer on behalf of all
iii. He alone can be an ambassador for all with the Father
8. Incarnation: the solution
a. The Word entered our world in a new way through the Incarnation
b. Must save humanity and uphold God’s Law
c. Took a body like ours to die for us to abolish the law of death
9. Death of the Incarnate One: the solution
a. For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death…
i. Become a sufficient exchange (the death of a human for breaking the
Law)
ii. End corruption by the grace of the resurrection (Incorruptible Word)
10. The Incarnation protects the Goodness of God
a. The King analogy
b. Scripture references
i. 2 Cor. 4:14
ii. Heb. 2:9
iii. Heb. 2:14
iv. 1 Cor. 15:21
v. 1 Tim. 6:15
c. Summary: “For by the sacrifice of His own body He did two things…(37)

Chapter 3: The Divine Dilemma and its Solution in the Incarnation Continued
11. Knowing God
a. The purpose of creation
b. Image of God given to apprehend the Father and live the blessed life
12. Three Ways to Know God
a. Creation
b. Prophets
c. Law
13. Renewing the Image of God
a. What else was God to do?
b. Without this, no possibility of knowing God
c. The Word, the Image of the Father, recreates man in God’s image
14. Illustration – the Portrait
a. Man is like a ruined painting on a panel
b. Panel is not cast away
c. The subject sits again, and his image is redrawn
15. The Mediator
a. Man was made to look up – i.e. contemplate God
b. Man (because of the Fall) looks down – i.e. created things
c. The God-Man meets man half way – i.e. he is the Mediator
i. Apprehend God by looking at the words he performs in the body
16. The Mediator continued
a. The actions of the Word made flesh reveal God
b. The Savior did 2 things for us:
i. Banished death
ii. Made us anew
17. The Paradox
 a. Word not hedged in by his body
b. Despite the Incarnation, the Word still directed the universe
18. The Divine Acts of the Word Made Flesh
a. Reveal his true identity
b. Examples:
i. Driving out demons
ii. Heal diseases
iii. Virgin Birth
iv. John’s signs, etc.

Chapter 4: The Death of Christ

19. The Death of Christ
a. Calls it ‘that moment of victory’
b. It is the very center of our faith
c. Through His death, Christ is revealed as God and the Son of God
20. The Reason for the Incarnation (restated)
a. Re-create the Image of God in men
b. Die to free men from death
c. 2 opposite marvels (49)
d. Necessity of divine and human natures
i. If not human, can’t die as a substitute for humans
ii. If not Divine, can’t destroy death and corruption
21. Objection 1: why not a private death?
a. An ordinary death would obscure his divine identity
22. Objection 2: why not avoid death at the hands of the Jews?
a. He came to die, not avoid death
b. In so doing, he destroyed death and corruption
c. “The supreme object of His coming was to bring about the resurrection of
the body.”
23. Objection 3: why not die alone in isolation and then reappear?
a. No one would believe him
b. Not in keeping with the whole tenor of his public ministry
c. It would create more excuses for unbelief
d. His death needed to be a public event so that his resurrection would be a
public vindication
24. Objection 4: why not avoid the ignominy of the cross?
a. He was not limited to a particular kind of death
b. Wrestler illustration
c. A mighty paradox (24)
d. Body not divided so no one may be excused for dividing the Church
25. To the Honest Christian…
a. Christ died in the manner he did because it was supremely good
b. He removed the curse from us by dying an accursed death
c. The fitness of his death:
i. Outstretched arms
ii. In the air

Chapter 5: The Resurrection

 26. The Resurrection – no other way to prove his victory over death and divinity
a. It was a pledge and token of His victory
b. Raised too early – men would believe he did not die
c. Raised too late – men would forget him and doubt
d. Christ died of no natural weakness, but to show the Savior’s power over
death
27. Strong proof of the destruction of death: Christians trample on death
a. Death not terrible to them
b. Death is a conquered tyrant
28. Strong proof of the destruction of death: Martyrs
a. Young believers train themselves for death
b. Unbelievers must believe, then he will see…
29. Christ – the Archvictor over death
a. Christ has robbed death of its power
b. His disciples are monuments to His victory
30. More Proof: the Work of the Living Christ
a. Facts as well as words prove Christ’s conquest over death
b. The Savior is currently working mightily among men in conversion
c. The Savior is currently working mightily among men by destroying idolatry
and false religion
31. No grounds for Unbelief
a. Have no support of facts!
i. Christ is working in conversion
ii. Christ is working in the destruction of idolatry
b. Good summary (62)
i. The God-man had to die
ii. The God-man could not remain dead
32. The Invisible God made known through His Works
a. Christ’s Resurrection displays his Godhead
b. Christ’s work in other displays his Godhead
c. The confession of evil spirits display the Godhead of Christ

Chapter 6: Refutation of the Jews

33. Unbelief of the Jews
a. General observation: Jews and Gentile have same objections:
i. The Incarnation is unfitting
ii. The Cross is unfitting
b. OT teaches the Incarnation
i. A man shall appear
ii. He that is to come is Lord of all
c. Isaiah 7:14; 8:4; 19:1; , Num 24:5-7; Hosea 11:1
34. OT teaches the death of Christ
a. Isaiah 53 foundational text for Athanasius
35. OT predicts the death of Christ on the Cross
a. Ps 22 foundational for Athanasius
b. “Indeed all Scripture teems with disproof of Jewish unbelief”
c. Also discusses the uniqueness of his birth
36. No King like Jesus in the OT (No one has done what He did)
 a. All nations hope in Jesus, not Kings of Israel
b. Jesus died for the salvation of all – no king in Israel or patriarch did this
c. No King but Jesus destroys idolatry (important concept for Athanasius)
37. More Uniqueness
a. Unique death – died under condemnation, not like Abraham, Moses, David,
Isaiah, etc.
b. Unique lineage – eternal, and not paternal line
c. Uniquely recognized – creation, star, etc
d. Uniquely powerful over idolatry and false worship
38. More Proof from OT
a. Is. 65:1-2
b. Is. 35:3-6
i. Confirmed by NT evidence
39. Jewish Objection: still waiting for the Word of God to come
a. Daniel 9 is decisive for Athanasius
b. Leaves without excuse
40. Final Proofs
a. The heathen are called to God
b. No more prophecies or visions
c. Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed
d. Idols are being deserted
e. Death has been destroyed
f. Sum: Nothing has been left unfulfilled
g. Great ending (p.75)

Chapter 7: Refutation of the Gentiles (the Rational Argument)

41. Objection: the incarnation is unfitting for the Word
a. Greek philosophers believe in the Word who inhabits the body of the
universe
b. Why then is it unfitting for the Word to enter into human nature?
42. A Parallel Case
a. Man and his toe:
b. If it is unfitting for the Word to indwell part, it would be equally unfitting for
him to exist within the whole
c. If the Word cannot be Incarnated (what the Gentiles deny), he cannot exist
within the universe (what the Gentiles affirm)
43. Objection: why not manifest Himself by means of the nobler parts of creation (i.e.
sun, moon, stars, etc.)?
a. He came to heal and teach suffering men, not make a display
b. Nothing in creation erred in the path of God’s purpose for it, save only man
c. By becoming a man the Word ensured that men would recognize his divinity
by his acts
44. Objection: Instead of the Incarnation, why not merely signify his will via a creative
word or a command?
a. Human nature needed healing and a creative word would not heal it
b. The Word healed humanity by interweaving life with it through the
Incarnation
 c. Incarnation = enduing immortality to humanity through the resurrection (i.e.
destroying death)
45. Sum
a. The Word’s actions are consistent with his purpose – the Word became man
to bring life to men
b. Word became man to fill all things with the knowledge of Himself
i. Heavens display his ordering
ii. Works as a man prove his divinity
iii. Water was transformed by him declaring he is Creator of all
iv. Heroes in Hades nothing compared to Christ who had victory over
death
c. “For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and freed and undeceived them
all from deceit.”

Chapter 8: Refutation of the Gentiles (the Factual Argument)

46. Factual assault by Athanasius
a. When the Word of God came among men…
i. Oracles ceased and became void of meaning
ii. Gods and heroes judged to be moral
iii. Demons held in contempt
iv. The theory and practice of magic was spurned under foot
v. Men worshiped the 1, not the many
b. “In a word, when did the wisdom of the Greeks become foolishness, save
when the true Wisdom of God revealed Himself on earth.”
47. Athanasius assaults:
a. Oracles
b. Demons
c. God’s of Greek Myth
d. Magic
e. Greek Wisdom/Philosophy
48. Proofs of Experience
a. Actual experience
i. Virgins
ii. Chaste young men
iii. Chorus of Martyrs
b. The Power and Greatness of Christ (86-87)
i. Christ’s works, intrinsically and in comparison to with men,
demonstrate that he is divine.
49. The Marvels of Christ’s Godhead
a. Virgin birth
b. Healed so many diseases
c. Restorative miracles
d. Christ vs. Aesculapius
e. Christ vs. Hercules
f. Christ vs. Dionysus
g. Marvels surrounding his death
h. Teaching spread abroad
i. Greek gods powerless before Him
 50. The Supremacy of Christ
a. Over kings
b. Over Greek Philosophers
c. Over demons
51. The Power of Christ
a. Taught virginity
b. Penetrated the lands of the
i. Scythians
ii. Ethiopians
iii. Parthians
iv. Armenians
v. Hyrcania
vi. Egyptians
vii. Chaldeans
c. Men forsake their ancestral gods
d. Warlike men desire peace and friendship
52. Christ, the Peacemaker
a. United in peace those who hate each other
b. Tame the savage
c. Disciples stand arrayed against demons
d. Christian youth as an example
53. Christ’s Godhead Proved by his Single-handed Acts
a. Fight the whole system of idol worship
b. Fights demons and magic
c. Exposing men’s errors
54. Christ’s Godhead Proved by his Bodily Works
a. Defeated death through death
b. Declared the Mind of the Father through the Incarnation
c. “Assumed humanity that we might become God” (92)
d. Endured shame so that men might inherit immortality
e. Healed suffering men through his own suffering
f. Regarding Christ’s work… “For, indeed, everything about it is marvelous,
and wherever a man turns his gaze he sees the Godhead of the Word and it
smitten with awe.” (92)
55. Summary
a. Since the Savior’s advent…
i. Idolatry is decreasing
ii. The influence of demons is dwindling
iii. The Savior’s teaching increases everywhere
b. When the real king emerges…things stand differently (94)
c. “Now this is proof that Christ is God, the Word and Power of God.”

Conclusion
56. This has been a brief statement of the faith of Christ and of the manifestation of His
Godhead to us
a. This is just a beginning…must go on to prove it by the study of Scripture
b. Learn of his second manifestation to us as well
57. In order to rightly understand Scripture, you need…
a. A good life
b. A pure soul
c. Christian virtue
d. Imitate the life of the saints