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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 58
30. The reader then of divine Scripture may acquaint himself with these passages from the ancient books; and from the Gospels on the other hand he will perceive that the Lord became man; for 'the Word,' he says, 'became flesh, and dwelt among us [3012] .' And He became man, and did not come into man; for this it is necessary to know, lest perchance these irreligious men fall into this notion also, and beguile any into thinking, that, as in former times the Word was used to come into each of the Saints, so now He sojourned in a man, hallowing him also, and manifesting [3013] Himself as in the others. For if it were so, and He only appeared in a man, it were nothing strange, nor had those who saw Him been startled, saying, Whence is He? and wherefore dost Thou, being a man, make Thyself God? for they were familiar with the idea, from the words, 'And the Word of the Lord came' to this or that of the Prophets [3014] . But now, since the Word of God, by whom all things came to be, endured to become also Son of man, and humbled Himself, taking a servant's form, therefore to the Jews the Cross of Christ is a scandal, but to us Christ is 'God's power' and 'God's wisdom [3015] ;' for 'the Word,' as John says, 'became flesh' (it being the custom [3016] of Scripture to call man by the name of 'flesh,' as it says by Joel the Prophet, 'I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh;' and as Daniel said to Astyages, 'I do not worship idols made with hands, but the Living God, who hath created the heaven and the earth, and hath sovereignty over all flesh [3017] ;' for both he and Joel call mankind flesh).
[3012] John i. 14.
[3013] touto chromenos organo infr.42. and organon pros ten energeian kai ten eklampsin tes theotetos. 53. This was a word much used afterwards by the Apollinarians, who looked on our Lord's manhood as merely a manifestation of God. vid. Or. ii. 8, n. 3. vid. schema organikon in Apoll. i. 2, 15. vid. a parallel in Euseb. Laud. Const. p. 536. However, it is used freely by Athan. e.g. infr. 35, 53. Incarn. 8, 9, 41, 43, 44. This use of organon must not be confused with its heretical application to our Lord's Divine Nature, vid. Basil de Sp. S. n. 19 fin. of which de Syn. 27 (3). It may be added that phanerosis is a Nestorian as well as Eutychian idea; Facund. Tr. Cap. ix. 2, 3. and the Syrian use of parsopa Asseman. B. O. t. 4. p. 219. Thus both parties really denied the Atonement. vid. supr. Or. i. 60, n. 5; ii. 8, n. 4.
[3014] Ad Epict. 11, ad Max. 2.
[3015] 1 Cor. i. 24.
[3016] Infr. iv. 33 init.
[3017] Joel ii. 28; Bel and Dr. 5.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/discourses-against-arians-2.asp?pg=58
