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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 127
53. 'He created' then and 'He formed' and 'He set,' having the same meaning, do not denote the beginning of His being, or of His essence as created, but His beneficent renovation which came to pass for us. Accordingly, though He thus speaks, yet He taught also that He Himself existed before this, when He said, 'Before Abraham came to be, I am [2549] ;' and 'when He prepared the heavens, I was present with Him;' and 'I was with Him disposing things [2550] .' And as He Himself was before Abraham came to be, and Israel had come into being after Abraham, and plainly He exists first and is formed afterwards, and His forming signifies not His beginning of being but His taking manhood, wherein also He collects together the tribes of Israel; so, as 'being always with the Father,' He Himself is Framer of the creation, and His works are evidently later than Himself, and 'He created' signifies, not His beginning of being, but the Economy which took place for the works, which He effected in the flesh. For it became Him, being other than the works, nay rather their Framer, to take upon Himself their renovation [2551] , that, whereas He is created for us, all things may be now created in Him. For when He said 'He created,' He forthwith added the reason, naming 'the works,' that His creation for the works might signify His becoming man for their renovation. And this is usual with divine Scripture [2552] ; for when it signifies the fleshly origination of the Son, it adds also the cause [2553] for which He became man; but when he speaks or His servants declare anything of His Godhead, all is said in simple diction, and with an absolute sense, and without reason being added. For He is the Father's Radiance; and as the Father is, but not for any reason, neither must we seek the reason of that Radiance. Thus it is written, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [2554] ;' and the wherefore it assigns not [2555] ; but when 'the Word was made flesh [2556] ,' then it adds the reason why, saying, 'And dwelt among us.' And again the Apostle saying, 'Who being in the form of God,' has not introduced the reason, till 'He took on Him the form of a servant;' for then he continues, 'He humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross [2557] ;' for it was for this that He both became flesh and took the form of a servant.
[2549] John viii. 58.
[2550] Prov. viii. 27, 30, LXX.
[2551] p. 335, note 1.
[2552] ethos esti te thei& 139; graphe: and so Orat. iii. 18, b. And tes graphes ethos echouses, ibid. 30, d.
[2553] Vid. Naz. Orat. 30. 2.
[2554] John i. 1.
[2555] Naz. ibid.
[2556] John i. 14.
[2557] Phil. ii. 6-8.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/discourses-against-arians.asp?pg=127
