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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 9
63. Not then because He was from the Father was He called 'First-born,' but because in Him the creation came to be; and as before the creation He was the Son, through whom was the creation, so also before He was called the First-born of the whole creation, not the less was the Word Himself with God and the Word was God. But this also not understanding, these irreligious men go about saying, 'If He is First-born of all creation, it is plain that He too is one of the creation.' Senseless men! if He is simply 'First-born [2634] of the whole creation,' then He is other than the whole creation; for he says not, 'He is First-born above the rest of the creatures,' lest He be reckoned to be as one of the creatures, but it is written, 'of the whole creation,' that He may appear other than the creation [2635] . Reuben, for instance, is not said to be first-born of all the children of Jacob [2636] , but of Jacob himself and his brethren; lest he should be thought to be some other beside the children of Jacob. Nay, even concerning the Lord Himself the Apostle says not, 'that He may become First-born of all,' lest He be thought to bear a body other than ours, but 'among many brethren [2637] ,' because of the likeness of the flesh. If then the Word also were one of the creatures, Scripture would have said of Him also that He was First-born of other creatures; but in fact, the saints saying that He is 'First-born of the whole creation [2638] ,' the Son of God is plainly shewn to be other than the whole creation and not a creature. For if He is a creature, He will be First-born of Himself. How then is it possible, O Arians, for Him to be before and after Himself? next, if He is a creature, and the whole creation through Him came to be, and in Him consists, how can He both create the creation and be one of the things which consist in Him? Since then such a notion is in itself unseemly, it is proved against them by the truth, that He is called 'First-born among many brethren' because of the relationship of the flesh, and 'First-born from the dead,' because the resurrection of the dead is from Him and after Him; and 'First-born of the whole creation,' because of the Father's love to man, which brought it to pass that in His Word not only 'all things consist [2639] ,' but the creation itself, of which the Apostle speaks, 'waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, shall be delivered' one time 'from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God [2640] .' Of this creation thus delivered, the Lord will be First-born, both of it and of all those who are made children, that by His being called first, those that come after Him may abide [2641] , as depending on the Word as a beginning [2642] .
[2634] It would be perhaps better to translate 'first-born to the creature,' to give Athan.'s idea; tes ktiseos not being a partitive genitive, or prototokos a superlative (though he presently so considers it), but a simple appellative and tes kt. a common genitive of relation, as 'the king of a country,' 'the owner of a house.' 'First-born of creation' is like 'author, type, life of creation.' Hence S. Paul goes on at once to say, 'for in Him all things were made,' not simply 'by and for,' as at the end of the verse; or as Athan. says here, 'because in Him the creation came to be.' On the distinction of dia and en, referring respectively to the first and second creations, vid. In illud Omn. 2. (Supr. p. 88.)
[2635] To understand this passage, the Greek idiom must be kept in view. Cf. Milton's imitation 'the fairest of her daughters Eve.' Vid. as regards the very word protos, John i. 15; and supr. S:30, note 3, also pleisten e emprosthen 3 Maccab. 7, 21. Accordingly as in the comparative to obviate this exclusion, we put in the word 'other' (ante 'alios immanior omnes), so too in the Greek superlative, 'Socrates is wisest of "other" heathen.' Athanasius then says in this passage, that 'first-born of creatures' implies that our Lord was not a creature; whereas it is not said of Him 'first-born of brethren,' lest He should he excluded from men, but first-born "among" brethren,' where 'among' is equivalent to 'other.'
[2636] Gen. xlix. 3, LXX. Vid. also contr. Gent. 41 sq. where the text Col. i. 15 is quoted.
[2637] Rom. viii. 29.
[2638] Col. i. 15.
[2639] Ib. i. 17.
[2640] Rom. viii. 19, 21. Thus there are two senses in which our Lord is 'first-born to the creation;' viz. in its first origin, and in its restoration after man's fall; as he says more clearly in the next section.
[2641] De Decr. 19, n. 3.
[2642] i. 48, n. 7.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/discourses-against-arians-2.asp?pg=9
