The Word Became Man.
The Word became man, similar to us in all respects. Athanasius
employs the term "incarnation" and by this he means that in assuming flesh the
Word became a full man, taking on an animate body with all the senses and
sufferings that are proper to it. By virtue of its union with the Word, "because
of the Word, which was in a body," the body was freed from its weakness and
subjection to decay. The life-giving strength of the Word freed the body of the
Savior from natural weaknesses: "Christ thirsted, since that is an attribute of
a body, but He did not perish from hunger."
The body was subject to suffering but the impassible Word was
within it. The body experienced weakness by the permission and will of the Word
and not by necessity or against His will. The Lord tolerated everything proper
to the body: He thirsted, wept, and even accepted death. But the death of the
Lord took place because of His humility and love and not from necessity. He had
the power to separate Himself from the body, and His body was able to die.
However, it could not remain dead, for "it had become the temple of life."
Therefore it immediately revived and arose from the dead "by virtue of the life
that dwelled within it."
The Word was not bound by the body but freed the body from its
limitedness and its inclination to sin. By the strength of the changing Word,
the mutable human nature in Christ became immutably good, and all delusions were
powerless over it. "Wisdom caused humanity to flourish, and humanity gradually
rose above human nature, became deified, and acted as the agent of Wisdom in the
service of the Divinity and its radiance." "The works proper to the Word were
achieved through the body." The flesh was deified by serving the works of God,
and the humanity Christ was without sin.
The human nature in Christ was fully anointed by the Spirit
even before His baptism in the Jordan. Through Him we also were anointed by the
Spirit and received Its imprint and presence within ourselves. Flesh was
sanctified for the first time in the Spirit. The radiance of the human nature in
Christ is the radiance of all human nature in its Source. In this way the Word
through the Incarnation again stands ("is created") "at the beginning of his
works," and is therefore called the First-born. The Lord "be came our brother
through the likeness of the body," and His flesh "was saved and liberated before
the others." Since we "share in His body," we also are saved and our life is
renewed "because our flesh is no longer earthly but has been made identical with
the Word by the Divine Word Himself, Who became flesh for our sakes."
Destroying Death and Renewing Nature.
Redemption and salvation were achieved not only at the Moment
of the Incarnation but were accomplished throughout the earthly life of the
Lord. The Lord revealed His love for humanity in two ways, by destroying death
and renewing nature, and by "revealing Himself in His works" to show that He is
the tend of the Father, the Leader and Emperor of the universe. By visible
appearance the Lord showed His invisible Father to kind, which had abandoned
intellectual contemplation. By fulfilling the law He removed from us its curse
and condemnation. But decay could not be halted in men other than by death," and
More the "ultimate goal" of the saving Incarnation must be seen as death itself.
"He had a body in order to accept death, and it was not fitting to prevent
death, lest the resurrection also be prevented." The death on the cross was an
"offering," the fulfillment of a common obligation. But the body of the Lord
"could not be held by death and rose from the dead." "Two things were
marvelously accomplished in this one action: the death of all was carried out in
the Lord's body, and death and decay were destroyed in it because of the Word
which was inherent in it."
The Lord died not by the weakness of nature but by His own
will, for the sake of the resurrection of all. "His body did not cast off its
own death, but accepted death from men in order to completely destroy death."
The body of the Lord did not experience decay but arose whole, for it was the
body of Life itself. The death of the Lord was a true death, but a brief one.
"He did not leave His body in that condition for long, but showed that it was
dead and immediately resurrected it on the third day. Thus He raised the sign of
victory over death by showing that His body did not decay and did not
participate in suffering." All humanity was resurrected and exalted in Christ:
"Through death immortality was given to all." The Lord rose from the grave "in
the flesh, which had been deified and had cast off mortality." The flesh had
been glorified and "this grace belongs to us and this exaltation is ours." We
who share in a body with Him have been admitted to heaven.
Thus, Athanasius' teaching on redemption is primarily concerned
with the Resurrection, the resurrection of man by Christ and in Christ.
thanks to:
http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/fathers_florovsky_1.htm#_Toc3723851
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