"On the Incarnation" by St. Athanasius, in Plain English

In the previous book, we talked about people who worship idols by error.

And we explained how these idols came to be invented: That, out of badness and disobedience, mankind devised the worship of idols for themselves.

By God’s grace, in the previous treatise we were also able to somewhat explain the divinity of the Word of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And we explained that through His Word, the Good Father creates all order in the world. Indeed, the Word moves and enlivens all things — unlike idols, which move or give life to no one.

Now, let’s continue in faith! We’ll now explain everything about the Word being incarnated and becoming Man. We’ll learn the importance of His divine appearing in the world, which others slander and scorn, but we worship.

My hope is that you’ll feel more faithful toward the Word, even though He’s been seemingly humiliated.

But take heart. The more He is mocked, the more proof He gives of His own Godhead and power. What men say is impossible, the Word by His own Goodness demonstrates as possible. What men laugh at as merely human, the Word by His own power demonstrates to be divine. 

The Word also destroys the falsehood of idols through His supposed humiliation — the Cross. Through the same means, He invisibly wins over those who mock and disbelieve, causing them to recognize His divinity and power. 

To properly cover the coming subject, we must first remember what we’ve previously said. That way, you’ll better understand the cause of the incarnation of the Word of the Father. You also won’t assume by error that the Savior has worn a body because he’s human by nature.

Rather, I want you to understand that from the beginning, the Word was and is incorporeal by nature.

It’s only because of the loving-kindness and goodness of His own Father that the Word is manifested to us in a human body for our salvation. 

Let’s begin, then, by first covering the creation of the universe and of God its Artificer. That way, you’ll understand that the renewal of creation is the work of the very same Word that made creation possible in the first place. 

It’d be contradictory for the Father to use another means to save us. Indeed, it’s perfectly fitting that the Father would use the very means He first used to create the world, to then save the world.

When it comes to the making of the universe and the creation of all things, many have taken different views, and each man has laid down a theory as it pleases him. 

Some say that all things came into being of themselves and by chance. For instance, the followers of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who are all religious skeptics and hedonists, claim that God as Creator doesn’t exist, despite the obvious evidence of His providence. 

This is where they go wrong.

If, as they claim, everything began in and by itself and without apparent purpose, then surely everything would come to exist as one indistinct being.

For the sake of unity and order, then everything would be sun or moon. In the case of mankind, the whole of us would be one hand, eye, or foot. 

But it’s not so! Your hand is not your foot, nor my eye my hand. Instead of everything being one indistinct creation, we see a distinction between the sun, the moon, and the earth. And in the case of our bodies, we see a clear difference between foot, hand, and head. 

This separate and careful arrangement tells us that we didn’t come into being of ourselves, nor did the celestial bodies do the same.

Rather, the arrangement shows that a logical cause preceded them. And from this logical cause, we can easily see a God who is the Maker and Orderer of all. 

But what of Plato, who’s enjoying such popularity among the Greeks right now? He argues that God made this world with matter that had already existed. According to him, God could have made nothing without pre-existing material, just as a carpenter can’t make anything without pre-existing wood. 

This is where he goes wrong. By saying that, he and his followers are unknowingly calling God weak. If God Himself is not the cause of the material, but rather uses material that had already existed, He is proven weak, because He’s unable to make anything without the material. In the same way, a carpenter’s weakness is that he’s unable to make anything without his timber. 

But God is no mere carpenter. He is Creator. By Plato’s argument, if the material had not existed, then God would not have made anything. Except He has created the entire universe, and thus must have created the material Himself. 

For how would he be called Maker and Artificer, if He owes His ability to make to something other than Him? How could he be Creator, if He can only create when the material already exists? 

If God Himself is not the cause of the material, then He would be better called a Mechanic, and not a Creator out of nothing. For He could not be called Creator unless He is also the Creator of the very material he used to create all things. 

Now, in some cases, these blinded heretics don’t deny a Maker, but rather fantasize about a Maker other than the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Except the Lord says to the Jews: “Have you not read that from the beginning He which created them made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall become one flesh?” Referring to the Creator, He also says, “What, therefore, God has joined together let not man put asunder.” 

How could these men claim that creation is independent of the Father?  And if, as John says, “All things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made,” how could the Maker be another entity distinct from the Father of Christ? 

And so they speculate in vain.

But in the face of Christ’s godly teachings, their foolish language is revealed as pure godlessness.

The faith according to Christ shows that creation is not spontaneous, because there’s clear evidence of logical forethought. It shows that creation didn’t come from existing matter, because God is not weak. 

Rather, God, through His Word, made the universe out of nothing and without any pre-existing matter.

He says this first through Moses: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth”; and then in a book written by one of my contemporaries:  “First of all believe that God is one, which created and framed all things, and made them to exist out of nothing.”

Even Paul also tells us in Hebrews: “By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the Word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which do appear.”

For God is good, or rather, He is the source of goodness. And in His goodness, He is not stingy or meager. Wanting to share the very state of existence and being with all creation, He made all things out of nothing by His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Among all things created, He took special pity upon the race of men. Having perceived their inability to subsist due to their lowly condition, He gave mankind a further gift. He did not barely create man, as He did all the irrational creatures on earth.

Rather, He made them after His own image, giving them a portion of the power of His own Word. That way, being a reflection of the Word and being rational, they might be able to abide in blessedness, living the true life which belongs to the saints in paradise.

Knowing how the will of man could bend to evil, God secured grace for them in anticipation, doing so through a law. 

The law was created to make mankind aware of their elevated, blessed state, so that they knew what they had to lose. Thus God brought them into His own garden and gave them a law to follow:  

If they kept the grace and remained good, they would keep the life in paradise without sorrow or pain and with the promise of incorruption in heaven.

But if they transgressed and became evil, they’d incur corruption in a death that was theirs by nature. They’d no longer live in paradise but be cast out to die. In fact, they would not just to pass away in their mortal bodies and die, but abide forever in the corruption of death.

Now, as to this last point, the Holy Book gives us warning, saying in the Person of God: “Of every tree that is in the garden, eating you shall eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, but on the day that you eat, dying you shall die.”

By “dying you shall die,” what else could be meant than not just passing away and dying, but also abiding forever in the corruption of death? 

The transgressed law, and our resulting eternal corruption in death, is why the Word hastened to come down and save us. 

Now, you might be wondering why we’re talking about the origin of mankind, when this book is about the Incarnation of the Word. 

But discussing mankind’s origin is essential for this book. Why? Because the reason of His coming down was precisely our transgression.

Our transgression in the Garden called forth the loving-kindness of the Word, resulting in the Lord hastening to help us and appear among men. 

So as you can see, we were the object and the cause of His becoming Incarnate. For our salvation, He acted so lovingly as to appear and be born in a human body.

Now, God first made man and willed that he should abide in incorruption. But men despised and rejected the contemplation of God, and devised and contrived evil for themselves, as we said in the previous treatise.

They therefore received the condemnation of death. From then onwards, they no longer remained as God made them, but were corrupted according to their devices. Death therefore became king and master over them. 

Transgressing the commandment was turning them back to their natural state. As they obtained their being out of nothingness, they would, as a result of looking for corruption, dissolve back into nothingness as time passed.

If, out of a normal state of non-existence, they were called into being by the Presence and loving-kindness of the Word, then it naturally follows that, if they reject the Word, they would revert to their former state of non-being. 

Let me explain further, since this can be a bit complicated. Mankind derives their being from God. If they’re bereft of the knowledge of God, mankind would therefore be bereft of being, since God is the source of all being and existence. 

And when it comes to good and evil, good is (that is, it exists), and evil is not (that is, it does not exist, but is rather the absence of good). So when mankind turns evil, they turn into something which does not exist.

Let me put it this way: Since human beings derive their being from God who is (that is, He exists and is good), then as a result of turning away from Him and becoming evil, they will be disintegrated into what is not and abide in death and corruption.

Man is by nature mortal, due to being made out of what is not. But since we’re made in the likeness of Him who is, human beings are elevated above their natural corruption and remain incorrupt.

The only condition is that they preserve their likeness to God by keeping him in their knowledge. 

As Wisdom 6:18 says: “The taking heed to His laws is the assurance of immortality.” Being incorrupt, a man who keeps his knowledge of God also lives as God.

I suppose that Scripture refers to this idea when it says: “I have said you are gods, and you are all sons of the most Highest; but you die like men, and fall as one of the princes.”