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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 130 Pages
Page 10
64. And I think that the irreligious men themselves will be shamed from such a thought; for if the case stands not as we have said, but they will rule it that He is 'First-born of the whole creation' as in essence--a creature among creatures, let them reflect that they will be conceiving Him as brother and fellow of the things without reason and life. For of the whole creation these also are parts; and the 'First-born' must be first indeed in point of time but only thus, and in kind and similitude [2643] must be the same with all. How then can they say this without exceeding all measures of irreligion? or who will endure them, if this is their language? or who can but hate them even imagining such things? For it is evident to all, that neither for Himself, as being a creature, nor as having any connection according to essence with the whole creation, has He been called 'First-born' of it: but because the Word, when at the beginning He framed the creatures, condescended to things originate, that it might be possible for them to come to be. For they could not have endured His nature, which was untempered splendour, even that of the Father, unless condescending by the Father's love for man He had supported them and taken hold of them and brought them into existence [2644] ; and next, because, by this condescension of the Word, the creation too is made a son [2645] through Him, that He might be in all respects 'First-born' of it, as has been said, both in creating, and also in being brought for the sake of all into this very world. For so it is written, 'When He bringeth the First-born into the world, He saith, Let all the Angels of God worship Him [2646] .' Let Christ's enemies hear and tear themselves to pieces, because His coming into the world is what makes Him called 'First-born' of all; and thus the Son is the Father's 'Only-begotten,' because He alone is from Him, and He is the 'First-born of creation,' because of this adoption of all as sons [2647] . And as He is First-born among brethren and rose from the dead 'the first fruits of them that slept [2648] ;' so, since it became Him 'in all things to have the preeminence [2649] ,' therefore He is created 'a beginning of ways,' that we, walking along it and entering through Him who says, 'I am the Way' and 'the Door,' and partaking of the knowledge of the Father, may also hear the words, 'Blessed are the undefiled in the Way,' and 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God [2650] .'
[2643] S:20.
[2644] He does not here say with Asterius that God could not create man immediately, for the Word is God, but that He did not create him without at the same time infusing a grace or presence from Himself into his created nature to enable it to endure His external plastic hand; in other words, that he was created in Him, not as something external to Him (in spite of the dia supr.63, n. 1. vid. supr. de Decr. 19. 3. and Gent. 47. where the sunkatabasis is spoken of.
[2645] As God created Him, in that He created human nature in Him, so is He first-born, in that human nature is adopted in Him. Leo Serm. 63. 3.
[2646] Heb. i. 6.
[2647] Thus he considers that 'first-born' is mainly a title, connected with the Incarnation, and also connected with our Lord's office at the creation (vid. parallel of Priesthood, S:8, n. 4). In each economy it has the same meaning; it belongs to Him as the type, idea, or rule on which the creature was made or new-made, and the life by which it is sustained. Both economies are mentioned Incarn. 13, 14. Orat. i. 51. iii. 20. infr. 76. init. He came ten tou archetupou plasin anastesasthai heauto contr.Apoll. ii. 5. And so again, he idea hoper logon eirekasi. Clem. Strom. v. 3. idean ideon kai archen lekteon ton prototokon pases ktiseos Origen. contr. Cels. vi. 64. fin. 'Whatever God was about to make in the creature, was already in the Word, nor would be in the things, were it not in the Word.' August. in Psalm xliv. 5. He elsewhere calls the Son, 'ars quaedam omnipotentis atque sapientis Dei, plena omnium rationum viventium incommutabilium.' de Trin. vi. 11. And so Athan. infr. iii. 9. fin. Eusebius, in commenting on the very passage which Athan. is discussing (Prov. viii. 22), presents a remarkable contrast to these passages, as making the Son, not the idea, but the external minister of the Father's idea. de Eccl. Theol. pp. 164, 5. vid. supr. S:31, n. 7.
[2648] 1 Cor. xv. 20.
[2649] Col. i. 18.
[2650] Ps. cxix. 1; Matt. v. 8.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/discourses-against-arians-2.asp?pg=10
