On the Incarnation of the Word

Summary

On the Incarnation of the Word is a short treatise in which Athanasius of Alexandria explains why the eternal Word of God became a human being, died and rose again. It forms the second half of a two-part work addressed to a Christian friend named Macarius; the first part, Against the Heathen, argues against idolatry and for the existence of one God known through creation and the Word. The date is disputed: older scholars placed it before the Council of Nicaea in 325, while many now date it to the 330s, during Athanasius's first exile. Athanasius begins with creation. The same Word through whom God made the world out of nothing is the one who renews it. Human beings were made in the image of God and given a share of the Word's life, but by turning from God they began to slide back toward the nothingness from which they came; death and corruption took hold of them. God could neither simply let his creatures perish nor cancel the penalty of death he had warned of. Repentance alone would not cure a nature already corrupted. The solution, Athanasius argues, was for the Word to take a human body, offer it to death on behalf of all, and so destroy death from within, raising the body incorrupt. A second reason is knowledge: people who no longer recognized God in creation could learn him again from the works Christ did in a body. The cross, Athanasius says, was a public death so that the resurrection would be beyond doubt. The later chapters offer proofs. Christians, even children, now despise death; idols and oracles fall silent where Christ is preached; prophecies in the Jewish Scriptures point to his birth, death and the end of sacrifice in Jerusalem; and Greek philosophers cannot explain the change the gospel has worked. The book closes by urging the reader to study the Scriptures with a pure life. The treatise is admired for its clear, confident argument and was much read in the Eastern and Western churches. In 1944 C. S. Lewis wrote an introduction to a modern translation recommending it as an example of an old book every Christian should read.

Plot or Argument

• Creation and the Fall (1–10)

  The Word who made all things out of nothing is the one who renews them; humanity, having turned from God, is sinking back into corruption and death, which only the Word can reverse.

• Why the Word took a body (11–19)

  People had lost the knowledge of God; the Word showed himself through a body and its works so that they might know the Father again.

• The death and resurrection (20–32)

  Christ died publicly on the cross for all and rose on the third day; Christians' new fearlessness before death is evidence that death has been defeated.

• Answers to the Jews (33–40)

  Prophecies of the virgin birth, the suffering servant and the end of the temple sacrifice are applied to Christ.

• Answers to the Greeks (41–55)

  The incarnation is not unworthy of God; the decline of idols, oracles and magic shows the power of Christ.

• Conclusion (56–57)

  Search the Scriptures with a pure life in order to understand the saints and the Word they proclaim.

Lessons

• Creation and redemption belong together

  Athanasius insists that the Word who saves the world is the same Word who made it, so salvation restores creation rather than escaping it.

  • Why does Athanasius begin a book about Christ with the creation of the world?
  • How would the argument change if the Saviour were a lesser being than the Creator?

• Evidence from changed lives

  He argues from what he can see: ordinary believers facing death without fear.

  • Is changed behaviour good evidence for a religious claim?
  • What other explanations might a critic offer?

• Argument from evidence

  Athanasius points to changed lives and the courage of martyrs as evidence for the resurrection.

  • What kinds of evidence does Athanasius offer for the resurrection?
  • How would a sceptic answer his argument from changed lives?

• For the Christian reader

  Athanasius defended the full divinity of Christ in the decades after the Council of Nicaea and was exiled five times for it. This book explains why it matters: only God himself could restore his image in fallen humanity and defeat death. C. S. Lewis, who wrote an introduction to a 1944 translation, urged Christians to read such old books alongside new ones. Read it with John 1:1–14 and Hebrews 2:14–15.

  • Why does Athanasius insist that the Word who saves must also be the Word who created?
  • How does his argument help you understand the Nicene Creed you may recite?

Context

Alexandria was the intellectual capital of the Greek East and the home of a vigorous Christian school. In the early fourth century, Arius, a priest of the city, taught that the Son of God was a creature with a beginning; the Council of Nicaea (325) rejected this and declared the Son 'of one essence' with the Father.

Composition

The treatise was written in Greek, probably in the 330s, as the second part of a double work with Against the Heathen. It does not mention Arius by name, but its emphasis on the full divinity of the Word fits the Nicene position Athanasius spent his career defending.

Reception

Athanasius was honoured as a Father of the Church in East and West. The treatise became a standard text in the teaching of theology and reached a wide modern readership through a 1944 English translation with an introduction by C. S. Lewis.

Comparisons

• The Early Christian Creeds

  The Nicene Creed states in a sentence what this treatise argues at length: the Son is of one being with the Father and became man for our salvation.

• Against Heresies

  Irenaeus, writing 150 years earlier, already taught that the Word became what we are so that we might become what he is, a theme Athanasius develops.

• An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

  John of Damascus gathers the teaching of Athanasius and later Greek Fathers into a systematic summary four centuries later.

• Confessions

  Augustine, a younger Latin contemporary of the Nicene settlement, approaches the Word made flesh through personal experience rather than argument.

• The History of the Church

  Eusebius of Caesarea, a contemporary who sat at Nicaea, tells the story of the church up to Constantine from a different theological angle.

• Mere Christianity

  C. S. Lewis, who introduced a 1944 translation of this treatise, offers a modern popular defence of the incarnation.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The 'divine dilemma' in sections 6–7.
• The two reasons for the incarnation: undoing death and restoring knowledge of God.
• Why the death on the cross had to be public.
• The appeal to Christians' fearlessness before death as evidence.

Key terms and names

Incarnation

The Word of God becoming flesh, that is, taking a full human nature.

Logos (Word)

The divine Word through whom God creates and reveals himself (John 1:1).

Corruption

Decay and death, the condition into which humanity fell by turning from God.

Theosis

Eastern Christian teaching that humans are called to share in the divine life.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What two problems does the incarnation solve, according to Athanasius?
2. Comprehension Why does Athanasius say repentance alone was not enough?
3. Comprehension What two problems does Athanasius say the incarnation solves for humanity?
4. Interpretation How does Athanasius use the image of a king who visits a city to explain the incarnation?
5. Interpretation Is Athanasius's argument from the decline of pagan oracles persuasive?
6. Big Question If death is the deepest human problem, what would a real solution to it have to look like?

Faith Connections

• John 1:14 (Scripture)

  'The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us': the verse the whole treatise unfolds.

• Hebrews 2:14-15 (Scripture)

  Quoted by Athanasius: through death Christ destroys him who had the power of death.

• C. S. Lewis, introduction (1944) (Great Conversation)

  Lewis's essay on reading old books first appeared as the introduction to a translation of this treatise.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Only the Word who created humanity could save it from death and ignorance; by taking a body, dying for all and rising, he destroyed death and restored the knowledge of God.

Rhetorical device: analogy. Athanasius compares the Word to a king who takes up residence in one house of a city, so that the whole city is protected from robbers.

Debate: Resolved: that Athanasius's argument requires belief in the resurrection to be persuasive.

Memory Work

For He was made man that we might be made God

the renewal of creation has been the work of the self-same Word that made it at the beginning

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain Athanasius's reasons for the incarnation and evaluate whether his argument depends more on Scripture or on reason.

Comparison with Against Heresies: Compare how Irenaeus and Athanasius describe what Christ's becoming human achieves for humanity.

Creative Prompts

• Essay

  Write a one-page explanation of Athanasius's 'dilemma' (God could neither let humanity perish nor ignore his own word) for a younger student, with an everyday analogy and a note on where the analogy breaks down.

• Classroom

  Stage a short debate between Athanasius and a fourth-century Greek philosopher over whether it is fitting for God to take a body.

• Essay

  Write a short essay explaining Athanasius's 'divine dilemma' in your own words for a reader who has never heard of it.

Further Reading

• Against the Heathen, Athanasius

  The first half of the double work.

• The Early Christian Creeds, Various