On the Incarnation of the Word (chapters 37–57)
On the Incarnation of the Word
continued
Chapter 37
Psalm XXII. 16, &C. Majesty of His Birth and Death. Confusion of Oracles and Demons in Egypt.
1 Who among those commended in Scripture had his hands and feet pierced, or was hung on wood at all and brought to his end on a cross for the salvation of all? Abraham died in bed, breathing his last. Isaac and Jacob also died in bed, drawing up their feet. Moses and Aaron died on the mountain. David died in his house, having suffered no plot from the people. Even when Saul hunted for him, he was kept safe from harm. Isaiah was sawn in two, but he was not hung on wood. Jeremiah was insulted, but he did not die under a sentence of condemnation. Ezekiel suffered, but not for the people. His suffering was a sign of what would happen to the people.[81] [Genesis 49:33] 2 Besides, even when these men suffered, they were only men, like everyone else in their common nature. But the one the Scriptures declare will suffer for all is called not simply a man but the Life of all, even though he is like human beings in nature. For it says, “You will see your Life hanging before your eyes,” and “Who will declare his generation?” For one can trace the family line of all the saints back from the beginning and tell who each one was and where he came from. But the divine words indicate that the generation of the one who is Life cannot be told.[82] [Deuteronomy 28:66; Isaiah 53:8]
3 Who, then, is the one of whom the divine Scriptures say these things? Who is so great that the prophets foretell so much about him? No one else is found in the Scriptures except the common Savior of all, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. For he is the one who came forth from a virgin and appeared on earth as a man, and whose family line according to the flesh cannot be told. No one can name his father according to the flesh, since his body came not from a man but from a virgin alone. [Isaiah 53:8] 4 Someone can trace the family line of David, of Moses, and of all the patriarchs through their fathers. But no one can describe the Savior’s family line according to the flesh as coming from a man. He is the one who also made the star mark the birth of his body. For the Word was coming down from heaven, so he had to have his sign from heaven too. And the King of creation, when he came forth, had to be clearly recognized by the whole world.[83]
5 Indeed, he was born in Judea, and men from Persia came to worship him. He is the one who, even before his appearing in the body, won the victory over the demons who opposed him and raised trophies over idolatry. At any rate, all the people of the nations, from everywhere, are renouncing the custom of their fathers and the godlessness of idols. They now set their hope on Christ and enroll themselves under him, as you can see with your own eyes.[84] [Matthew 2:1-2] 6 At no other time has the godlessness of the Egyptians ceased, except when the Lord of all came down there in the body, riding, as it were, on a cloud. He put an end to the error of idols and brought everyone over to himself, and through himself to the Father.[85] [Isaiah 19:1] 7 He is the one who was crucified with the sun, creation, and those who put him to death as witnesses. Through his death salvation has come to all, and all creation has been ransomed. He is the Life of all. Like a sheep, he handed over his own body to death as a substitute, for the salvation of all, even if the Jews do not believe it.[86]
Chapter 38
Other Clear Prophecies of the Coming of God in the Flesh. Christ’s Miracles Unprecedented.
1 If they do not think these proofs are enough, let them at least be persuaded by other oracles, ones that they themselves possess. Of whom do the prophets speak when they say: “I became visible to those who were not seeking me. I was found by those who were not asking for me. I said, ‘Here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name. I spread out my hands to a disobedient and contradicting people”?[87] [Isaiah 65:1-2; Romans 10:20-21] 2 Who, then, is the one who became visible? One might ask the Jews this. If it is the prophet himself, let them say when he was hidden, so that he could appear later. And what kind of prophet is this, who came into view out of obscurity and also stretched out his hands on a cross? None of the righteous did this. Only the Word of God did, who is bodiless by nature, and who appeared in a body for our sake and suffered on our behalf. [Isaiah 65:1-2]
3 Or if even this is not enough for them, let them at least be shamed by other passages, seeing how clear the proof is. For Scripture says: “Be strong, you slack hands and paralyzed knees. Take courage, you of little faith in your mind. Be strong, do not fear. Look, our God repays with judgment. He himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear. Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers will be clear.”[88] [Isaiah 35:3-6] 4 What can they say about this? How can they dare to look it in the face at all? The prophecy shows that God is coming to dwell among us, and the signs make known the time of his coming. For the blind seeing again, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, and the tongue of the stammerers becoming clear are said to happen when the divine coming takes place. So let them tell us when such signs ever happened in Israel, or where in Judea anything like this took place. [Isaiah 35:5-6]
5 Naaman, a leper, was cleansed, but no deaf man heard and no lame man walked. Elijah and Elisha raised a dead person, but no one blind from birth received sight. To raise a dead person is truly a great thing, but it is not like the wonder worked by the Saviour. Yet if Scripture did not stay silent about the leper and the widow’s dead son, then surely, if a lame man had walked or a blind man had received sight, the account would not have failed to report these things too. Since Scripture is silent about them, it is clear that they had not happened before.[89] 6 When, then, did these things happen, if not when the Word of God himself came in a body? And when did he come, if not when the lame walked, the stammerers spoke clearly, the deaf heard, and those blind from birth received sight? The Jews who saw it at that time said this very thing, since they had never heard of such things happening at any other time: “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”[90] [John 9:32-33]
Chapter 39
Do You Look for Another? But Daniel Foretells the Exact Time. Objections to This Removed.
1 But perhaps they too, being unable to keep fighting against plain facts, will not deny what is written. Instead they will insist that they are still waiting for these things, and that the Word of God has not yet come. They keep repeating this over and over, and they do not blush as they shamelessly defy what is plain to see. 2 But on this point above all they will be refuted, and not by us. The refutation comes from the very wise Daniel, who marks both the present time and the divine coming of the Saviour. He says: “Seventy weeks have been cut short for your people and for the holy city, for sin to be brought to an end, and for sins to be sealed up, and for iniquities to be wiped out, and for atonement to be made for iniquities, and for everlasting righteousness to be brought in, and for vision and prophet to be sealed, and for a Holy of Holies to be anointed. You shall know and understand, from the going out of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem, until Christ the leader.”[91] [Daniel 9:24-25]
3 Perhaps with the other prophecies they can at least find excuses and put off what is written to some future time. But what can they say to this, or how can they even face it? For here the Christ is pointed out. The one to be anointed is announced as no mere man but a Holy of Holies. Jerusalem is to stand until his coming, and after that prophet and vision cease in Israel. [Daniel 9:24] 4 David was anointed long ago, and Solomon, and Hezekiah. Yet in their time Jerusalem and the temple site still stood, and prophets were prophesying: Gad, Asaph and Nathan, and after them Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and others. Besides, these anointed men were themselves called holy, not Holy of Holies. But suppose they bring up the captivity and say that Jerusalem did not exist because of it. What could they say about the prophets? For long ago, when the people went down to Babylon, Daniel and Jeremiah were there, and Ezekiel, Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying.[92]
Chapter 40
Argument (I)from the Withdrawal of Prophecy and Destruction of Jerusalem, (2) from the Conversion of the Gentiles, and that to the God of Moses. What More Remains for the Messiah to Do, that Christ Has Not Done?
1 So the Jews are talking nonsense, and they are putting off a time that has already come. For when did prophet and vision cease from Israel, if not now, when Christ, the Holy of Holies, has come? It is a sign, and a great mark, of the coming of the Word of God that Jerusalem no longer stands, that no prophet is raised up, and that no vision is revealed to them. And this is very reasonable. [Daniel 9:24] 2 Once the one who was signified has come, what further need is there of those who signified him? Once the truth is present, what further need is there of the shadow? This is why they prophesied until the one who is Righteousness itself should come, the one who redeems the sins of all. This is also why Jerusalem stood for so long: so that there they might practise beforehand the types of the truth.
3 So when the Holy of Holies had come, it was natural that vision and prophecy were sealed and that the kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end. For kings were anointed among them only until the Holy of Holies was anointed. And Moses prophesies that the kingdom of the Jews would stand until him, saying: “A ruler will not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the things reserved for him come, and he is the expectation of the nations.”[93] [Genesis 49:10; Daniel 9:24] 4 So the Saviour himself cried out: “The law and the prophets prophesied until John.” If the Jews now have a king, or a prophet, or a vision, they are right to deny that the Christ has come. But if there is no king and no vision, if all prophecy is now sealed, and the city and the temple have been taken, why do they go so far in ungodliness and transgression that they see what has happened and yet deny the Christ who has done these things? Why, when they see people from the nations abandoning their idols and placing their hope, through Christ, in the God of Israel, do they deny the Christ who was born in the flesh from the root of Jesse and who now reigns? For if the nations were worshipping some other god, and did not confess the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, then once more the Jews would be right to make the excuse that God had not come.[94] [Matthew 11:13; Daniel 9:24; Isaiah 11:10]
5 But the nations worship the very God who gave the law to Moses and made the promise to Abraham, the God whose word the Jews dishonoured. Why then do the Jews not recognise, or rather why do they willingly overlook, that the Lord foretold by the Scriptures has shone upon the world and appeared to it in bodily form? As the Scripture said: “The Lord God has appeared to us.” And again: “He sent out his Word and healed them.” And again: “Not an envoy, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved them.”[95] [Isaiah 63:9] 6 Their condition is like that of a man whose mind is deranged. He sees the earth lit up by the sun, yet he denies the sun that lights it. For what more could the one they are waiting for do when he comes? Call the nations? They have already been called. Bring an end to prophet, king and vision? That too has already happened. Expose the godlessness of idols? It has already been exposed and condemned. Abolish death? It has already been abolished.
7 What, then, that the Christ was to do has not happened? What remains unfulfilled, that the Jews should now rejoice and go on in unbelief? For as we can see, they have no king, no prophet, no Jerusalem, no sacrifice and no vision. The whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and people from the nations are leaving their godlessness and now taking refuge, through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the God of Abraham. So it must be clear, even to the utterly shameless, that Christ has come. He has shone on absolutely everyone with his own light and given them the true and divine teaching about his Father.[96] [Isaiah 11:9] 8 From these arguments, and from many more in the divine Scriptures, one could fairly refute the Jews.
Chapter 41
Answer to the Greeks. Do They Recognise the Logos? If He Manifests Himself in the Organism of the Universe, Why Not in One Body? for a Human Body is a Part of the Same Whole.
1 But one might well be astonished at the Greeks. They laugh at what deserves no mockery, yet they are blind to their own shame, which they have set up in stones and wood and do not see.[97] 2 Still, our account is not short of proofs. So let us also bring these people to shame by sound reasoning, drawing chiefly on what we ourselves can see. For what is absurd in what we say, or worthy of mockery? Is it simply that we say the Word has appeared in a body? Yet even they will agree that this was not absurd, provided they become friends of the truth. 3 If they deny altogether that there is a Word of God, they act pointlessly, since they mock what they do not know. 4 But suppose they admit that there is a Word of God. Suppose they admit that he is the ruler of the universe, that the Father made the creation in him, that everything receives light, life and existence through his providence, and that he reigns over all, so that he is known from the works of his providence, and the Father is known through him. Then consider, I beg you, whether they are not unknowingly turning the mockery against themselves.
5 The philosophers of the Greeks say that the world is a great body, and they speak truly. For we see it, and its parts, with our senses. So if the Word of God is in the world, which is a body, and has entered into the whole of it and into every one of its parts, what is surprising or absurd if we say that he has entered into a human being too?[98] 6 For if it were absurd for him to be in a body at all, it would also be absurd for him to be present in the universe, giving light and movement to all things by his providence. For the whole universe is a body too. 7 But if it is fitting for him to enter the world and be made known in the whole, then it is also fitting for him to appear in a human body, and for that body to be lit up by him and to act through him. For the human race is a part of the whole. And if it is unfitting for a part to become his instrument for the knowledge of his divinity, then it would be far more absurd for him to be made known through the whole world.
Chapter 42
His Union with the Body is Based Upon His Relation to Creation as a Whole. He Used a Human Body, Since to Man It Was that He Wished to Reveal Himself.
1 Think of a human being whose whole body is moved and lit up by him. If someone said it was absurd for the man’s power to be in the toe as well, he would be thought foolish. For he grants that the man pervades and works in the whole body, yet he denies that he is in a part. In the same way, whoever grants and believes that the Word of God is in the whole universe, and that the whole is lit up and moved by Him, should not think it absurd that a single human body is also moved and lit up by Him. 2 Perhaps they think our talk of the Saviour’s appearing in a human being is unfitting because the human race is a created thing, made out of nothing. Then it is time for them to throw Him out of creation too, for creation also came from non-being into being through the Word.
3 But if it is not absurd for the Word to be in creation, even though creation is something made, then it is not absurd for Him to be in man either. Whatever they conceive about the whole, they must also think about the part. For man, as I said before, is a part of the whole. 4 So it is not at all unfitting for the Word to be in man, since all things are lit, moved and given life by Him and in Him, just as their own writers say: “In him we live and move and have our being.”[99] [Acts 17:28] 5 What, then, do we say that deserves mockery, if the Word has used that in which He is as an instrument to reveal Himself? For if He were not in it, He could not even have used it. But we have already shown that He is in the whole and in each of its parts. What is hard to believe, then, if He also shows Himself in the things in which He is?
6 By His own powers He enters wholly into each thing and into all things, and He orders everything without stint. If He had wished to use a voice through the sun, the moon, the heaven, the earth, the waters or fire, and so make Himself and His Father known, no one could fairly have called it out of place. For He holds all things together at once, is present with all of them and in that very part as well, and shows Himself there invisibly. In the same way, it cannot be out of place that He, who orders all things and gives life to the whole, and who chose to make Himself known through men, has used a human body as His instrument to reveal the truth and to give knowledge of the Father. For humanity too is a part of the whole.[100] 7 The mind is present throughout the whole person, yet it is made known through one part of the body, the tongue. No one says on that account that the being of the mind is made smaller. In the same way, the Word is present through all things, and if He has used a human instrument, this should not seem unfitting. For, as I said before, if it is unfitting to use a body as an instrument, it is also unfitting for Him to be in the whole.
Chapter 43
He Came in Human Rather Than in Any Nobler Forth, Because (I) He Came to Save, Not to Impress ; (2) Man Alone of Creatures Had Sinned. As Men Would Not Recognise His Works in the Universe, He Came and Worked Among Them as Man ; In the Sphere to Which They Had Limited Themselves.
1 “Why then,” they may ask, “did He not appear through other, finer parts of creation? Why did He not use a finer instrument, such as the sun, the moon, the stars, fire or the upper air, instead of man alone?” Let them know that the Lord did not come to put on a display, but to heal and teach those who were suffering.[101] 2 Someone who wants to put on a display only appears and stuns those who see him. But someone who wants to heal and teach does not merely visit. He gives himself to help those in need, and appears in a way that those who need him can bear. He must not overwhelm the very people in need by going beyond what the sufferers require, or God’s appearing would be of no use to them. 3 Nothing in creation had gone astray in its thoughts about God except man alone. The sun, the moon, the heaven, the stars, the water and the upper air did not depart from their order. They know the Word as their Maker and King, and they remain as they were made. Only men turned away from what is good. They then invented things that do not exist in place of the truth. The honor due to God, and the knowledge of Him, they gave to demons and to men represented in stones.[102]
4 So it was fitting that He act as He did. It would not have been worthy of God’s goodness to overlook so grave a matter. Men could not recognize Him even as He governed and ruled the whole creation. So He took a part of the whole, a human body, as His instrument, and entered into it. Since they could not know Him in the whole, they might at least not fail to know Him in the part. And since they could not look up to His invisible power, they might at least be able to reason about Him and see Him from what was like themselves. 5 Being men, they will be able to know His Father more quickly and more directly through a body suited to them and through the divine works done by means of it. They will judge by comparison that what He does is not the work of men but the work of God.
6 If, as they say, it is absurd for the Word to be known through the works of a body, then it would also be absurd for Him to be known through the works of the universe. He is in creation, yet He takes no share in anything of creation. Rather, all things share in His power. In the same way, when He used the body as His instrument, He took no share in anything that belongs to the body. Rather, He Himself made the body holy.[103] 7 Even Plato, whom the Greeks so admire, says that the one who begot the world saw it storm-tossed and in danger of sinking into the place of unlikeness. So he took his seat at the helm of the soul, came to its help, and set right all its failures. Then what is hard to believe in what we say? Humanity had gone astray, and the Word took His seat upon it. He appeared as a man so that, by His steering and His goodness, He might bring it safely through the storm.[104]
Chapter 44
As God Made Man by a Word, Why Not Restore Him by a Word? But (1) Creation Out of Nothing is Different from Reparation of What Already Exists. (2) Man Was There with a Definite Need, Calling for a Definite Remedy. Death Was Ingrained in Man’s Nature : Hethen Must Wind Life Closely to Human Nature. Therefore the Word Became Incarnate that He Might Meet and Conquer Death in His Usurped Territory. (Simile of Straw and Asbestos.)
1 But perhaps they will agree with this out of shame, and then want to say this: if God wished to instruct and save human beings, He should have done it by a mere nod, and His Word should not have touched a body. After all, that is how He acted long ago, when He brought all things into being out of nothing. 2 A fitting reply to this objection would be as follows. In the beginning nothing existed anywhere, so all that was needed to create the universe was a nod and His will alone. But once man had been made, what was needed was a cure, not for things that did not exist, but for things that had come into being. It followed that the Physician and Saviour should come among those who had already been made, in order to heal what existed. For this reason He became man and used the body as a human instrument.
3 If this were not the right way, how else was the Word to come, wishing to use an instrument? Where was He to get it, except from those who had already come to be and who needed His divinity, through someone like themselves? For it was not things that did not exist that needed saving, in which case a bare command would have been enough. It was man, already made, who was decaying and perishing. So it was right and fitting that the Word used a human instrument, and spread Himself out into all things.[105] 4 Next, you must also understand this: the corruption that had come was not outside the body but had become attached to it. So it was necessary for life to be woven into the body in place of corruption, so that, just as death had come to be in the body, life too might come to be in it.
5 If death were outside the body, life too would have had to come to it from outside. But death was woven into the body and ruled over it as something bound up with it. So life too had to be woven into the body, so that the body, putting on life in exchange, would throw off corruption. Besides, if the Word had come outside the body and not in it, death would certainly have been defeated by Him, quite naturally, since death has no strength against life. Yet the corruption that had attached itself to the body would have remained in it all the same. 6 For this reason the Saviour fittingly put on a body. The body would be woven together with life, so that it would no longer stay in death as something mortal. Having put on immortality, it would rise and from then on remain immortal. Once the body had put on corruption, it could not have risen unless it had put on life. And death, for its part, cannot show itself on its own, but only in a body. So He put on a body in order to find death in the body and wipe it out. For how could the Lord ever have been shown to be life, if He had not made the mortal alive?[106] [1 Corinthians 15:53-54]
7 Take stubble, which fire naturally destroys. If someone keeps the fire away from the stubble, it is not burned, but it still remains stubble, uneasy at the fire’s threat, for fire by nature consumes it. But if someone clothes the stubble with plenty of asbestos, which is said to resist fire, the stubble no longer fears the fire, since it has safety in a covering that cannot burn.[107] 8 In the same way one could say of the body and death: if death had been held back from it by His command alone, the body would still have been mortal and corruptible, as the nature of bodies requires. To prevent this, the body put on the bodiless Word of God. So it no longer fears death or corruption, since it has life as its clothing and corruption is made to vanish in it.
Chapter 45
Thus Once Again Every Part of Creation Manifests the Glory of God. Nature, the Witness to Her Creator, Yields (by Miracles) a Second Testimony to God Inncarnate. The Witness of Nature, Perverted by Man’s Sin, Was Thus Forced Back to Truth. If These Reasons Suffice Not, Let the Greeks Look at Facts.
1 So it follows that the Word of God took a body and used a human instrument. He did this in order to give life to the body as well, and so that, just as he is known in creation through his works, he might also work in man and show himself everywhere, leaving nothing empty of his own divinity and of the knowledge of him. 2 I say again what I said before: the Saviour did this so that, just as he is present and fills everything everywhere, so he might also fill everything with the knowledge of himself. This is what the divine Scripture says too: “The whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord.”[108] [Isaiah 11:9] 3 Suppose someone wants to look up at heaven: he sees its ordered arrangement. Suppose he cannot look up to heaven but lifts his eyes only to human beings: through the Word’s works he sees his power, which is beyond comparison with that of men, and he recognizes him alone among men as God the Word. Suppose someone has turned aside among demons and is terrified of them: he sees the Word driving them out, and judges him to be their master. Suppose someone has sunk himself into the nature of water and thinks it is God, as the Egyptians worship water: he sees that nature changed by the Word, and knows that the Lord is the creator of the waters.[109]
4 Suppose someone has even gone down to Hades and stands in awe of the heroes who went down there, as if they were gods. He sees that Christ’s resurrection has taken place, and his victory over death, and he reasons that among them too Christ alone is the true Lord and God. 5 For the Lord touched every part of creation. He set them all free from every deception and exposed it, as Paul says: “He stripped off the rulers and the authorities and triumphed on the cross.” He did this so that no one could be deceived any longer, but would find the true Word of God everywhere.[110] [Colossians 2:15] 6 In this way man is hemmed in on every side. Everywhere he looks, in heaven, in Hades, among men, on earth, he sees the divinity of the Word spread out. So he is no longer deceived about God. He worships the Word alone, and through him knows the Father rightly.
7 By these reasonable arguments, then, we shall fittingly put the Greeks to shame too. But if they think the arguments are not enough to shame them, let them at least be convinced of what we say by things that appear before everyone’s eyes.[111]
Chapter 46
Discredit, from the Date of the Incarnation, of Idol-Cultus, Oracles, Mythologies, Demoniacal Energy, Magic, and Gentile Philosophy. And Whereas the Old Cults Were Strictly Local and Independent, the Warship of Christ is Catholic and Uniform.
1 When did people begin to abandon the worship of idols, if not from the time the true Word of God came among men? When did the oracles among the Greeks and everywhere else cease and become empty, if not when the Saviour revealed himself here on earth? 2 When did the so-called gods and heroes of the poets begin to be condemned as mere mortal men, if not from the time the Lord set up his trophy of victory over death? He kept incorrupt the body he had taken, raising it from the dead. 3 When were the deceit and frenzy of the demons despised, if not when the Word, the Power of God, who is master of all things and of them too, stooped down for the sake of human weakness and appeared on earth? When did the art of magic and its schools begin to be trampled underfoot, if not when the Word’s appearing as God took place among men?[112]
4 In short, when did the wisdom of the Greeks become foolish, if not when the true Wisdom of God revealed itself on earth? In the past the whole world and every place was led astray by idol worship, and people regarded nothing but idols as gods. Now, all over the world, people are abandoning the superstition of idols and fleeing to Christ. Worshipping him as God, they come through him to know the Father, whom they did not know.[113] [1 Corinthians 1:20] 5 And here is the wonder of it. The objects of worship were countless and varied, and each place had its own idol. The so-called god of one place could not cross over into the next district, so as to persuade the neighbours to worship him; he was scarcely worshipped even among his own people. No one worshipped his neighbour’s god. Each kept his own idol, thinking it lord of all. Christ alone is worshipped by all as one and the same everywhere. What the weakness of the idols could not do, to persuade even those living nearby, Christ has done. He has persuaded not only those nearby but quite simply the whole world to worship one and the same Lord, and through him God, his Father.
Chapter 47
The Numerous Oracles,—Fancied of Apparitions in Sacred Places, &C., Dispelied by the Sign of the Cross. The Old Gods Prove to Have Been Mere Men. Magic is Exposed. And Whereas Philosophy Could Only Persuade Select and Local Cliques of Immortality, and Goodness,—Men of Little Intellect Have Infused into the Multitudes of the Churches the Principle of a Supernatural Life.
1 In the old days every place was full of the deceit of the oracles. The oracles at Delphi, at Dodona, in Boeotia, in Lycia, in Libya, in Egypt, and among the Cabiri, and the Pythian priestess, were admired by people who were taken in by illusion. But now that Christ is preached everywhere, their madness has ended too, and there is no one left among them to give oracles.[114] 2 In the old days demons used to play tricks on people’s imaginations. They took possession of springs, rivers, trees, or stones, and by these sorceries they astonished foolish people. But now that the Word has appeared in his divine manifestation, these illusions have stopped. For anyone who simply uses the sign of the cross drives away their deceptions. 3 In the old days people took the so-called gods of the poets, Zeus, Cronos, Apollo, and the heroes, to be gods, and they went astray by worshipping them. But now that the Saviour has appeared among men, those others have been exposed as mortal men. Christ alone has been recognized among men as the true God, God the Word of God.
4 And what could anyone say about the magic they so admire? Before the Word came to live among us, magic was strong and active among the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Indians, and it astonished those who saw it. But at the coming of the Truth and the appearing of the Word, magic too was exposed and completely put out of action. 5 As for Greek wisdom and the loud boasting of the philosophers, I think no one needs an argument from us, because the wonder of it is plain to everyone. The wise men of the Greeks wrote so much, and yet they could not persuade even a few people in their own neighborhoods about immortality and a life of virtue. Christ alone has done it, using plain words and working through men who were not clever with the tongue. All over the world he has persuaded whole churches full of people to despise death and set their minds on immortal things. He has persuaded them to look past what is temporary and fix their eyes on what is eternal, to count earthly glory as nothing, and to strive only for immortality. [2 Corinthians 4:18]
Chapter 48
Further Facts. Christian Continence of Virgins and Ascetics. Martyrs. The Power of the Cross Against Demons and Magic. Christ by His Power Shews Himself More Than a Man, More Than a Magician, More Than a Spirit. For All These are Totally Subject to Him. Therefore He is the Word of God.
1 What we are saying here is not just words. Actual experience bears witness that it is true. 2 Let anyone who wishes come and see the mark of virtue in the virgins of Christ and in the young men who keep themselves pure in self-control. Let him see the assurance of immortality in so great a company of martyrs.[115] 3 Let anyone who wants to test what has been said by experience come, even into the very presence of the demons’ illusions, the deceit of the oracles, and the wonders of magic. Let him use the sign of the cross, which they laugh at, and simply name Christ. He will see how by this demons flee, oracles stop, and all magic and sorcery is put out of action. 4 Who, then, and how great is this Christ, who by his name and presence has overshadowed and made powerless everything on every side, who alone is strong against all, and who has filled the whole world with his teaching? Let the Greeks answer, those who laugh so freely and are not ashamed.
5 If he is a man, how did one man surpass the power of all the gods they have, and by his own power prove that those gods are nothing? If they call him a magician, how can it be that all magic is destroyed by a magician, rather than strengthened? If he had defeated human magicians, or had power over only one, they might fairly suppose that he excelled the others by a better art. 6 But if his cross has won the victory over magic altogether, and over the very name of it, then it is plain that the Saviour is not a magician. Even the demons that other magicians call on flee from him as their master. 7 So who is he? Let the Greeks tell us, whose only zeal is for mocking. Perhaps they will say that he too was a demon, and that this is why he is strong. But if they say this, they will make themselves a laughingstock, for our earlier proofs can put them to shame again. How can it be that one who drives out demons is himself a demon?
8 If he had driven out only some demons, people might fairly have thought he prevailed over the lesser ones by the ruler of the demons. That is just what the Jews said when they wanted to insult him. But every demonic frenzy gives way and is driven off at the naming of his name. So it is clear that they are wrong here too, and that our Lord and Saviour Christ is not, as they suppose, some demonic power.[116] [Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:15] 9 So the Savior is not a mere man, nor a magician, nor some demon. By his own divinity he has abolished and overshadowed the notions found among the poets, the illusions of the demons, and the wisdom of the Greeks. It must therefore be plain, and everyone will admit, that he is truly the Son of God, the Word, Wisdom and Power of the Father. This is why his works are not human works but beyond man. They are recognized as truly God’s, both from the facts themselves and from comparing them with what men do.[117] [1 Corinthians 1:24]
Chapter 49
His Birth and Miracles. You Call Asclepius, Heracles, and Dionysus Gods for Their Works. Contrast Their Works With His, And the Wonders at His Death, &C.
1 Who among all the men who ever lived made a body for himself from a virgin alone? Or what man ever healed diseases such as the common Lord of all healed? Who has supplied what was lacking at birth, and made a man blind from birth see?[118] [John 9:1] 2 Among them Asclepius was made a god because he practiced medicine and found herbs for sick bodies. He did not make these herbs himself out of the earth. He discovered them by knowledge drawn from nature. But how does that compare with what the Savior did? He did not merely heal a wound. He formed what birth had left lacking, and restored the creature he had made.[119] 3 The Greeks worship Heracles as a god because he fought against men who were his equals and killed wild beasts by trickery. How does that compare with what the Word did, driving diseases, demons and death itself away from men? They worship Dionysus because he became a teacher of drunkenness to men. But the Savior, who really is Lord of the universe, taught self-control, and they mock him for it.
4 But let that pass. What can they say about the other wonders of his divinity? At what man’s death was the sun darkened and the earth shaken? Look: men are dying even now, and they have died in every age. When did any such wonder happen at their deaths?[120] [Matthew 27:45; Matthew 27:51; Luke 23:45] 5 Or, to set aside what he did through his body and recall what happened after his resurrection: whose teaching, of all the men who have ever lived, has prevailed, one and the same everywhere, from one end of the earth to the other, so that reverence for him has flown across every land? 6 And why, if Christ is only a man, as they say, and not God the Word, do their own gods not stop his worship from crossing into the very land where those gods are? Instead, the Word himself comes to stay among them, and by his teaching puts an end to their religion and shames their illusion.
Chapter 50
Impotence and Rivalries of the Sophists Put to Shame by the Death of Christ. His Resurrection Unparalleled Even in Greek Legend.
1 Before him there were many kings and tyrants of the earth. Many wise men and magicians are recorded among the Chaldeans, Egyptians and Indians. Which of them, I do not say after death but even while still alive, was ever strong enough to fill the whole earth with his teaching? Which of them taught so great a multitude to turn from the superstition of idols, as many as our Savior has brought over from the idols to himself? 2 The philosophers of the Greeks wrote a great deal, with persuasiveness and skill in words. But what have they shown that equals the cross of Christ? Their clever arguments were convincing only until they died. And even the influence they seemed to have while alive, they spent in rivalry with one another, practicing their speeches against each other and quarreling. 3 But the Word of God, most surprising of all, taught in plainer words. He overshadowed the very clever sophists and did away with their teachings, drawing everyone to himself, and he has filled his own churches. And the wonder is this: by going down to death as a man, he abolished the grand talk of the wise about idols. [John 12:32]
4 Whose death has ever driven away demons? Whose death did demons ever fear as they fear Christ’s? Wherever the name of the Savior is named, every demon is driven out from there. And who has ever so removed the passions of the soul from men that the sexually immoral become self-controlled, murderers no longer take up the sword, and those gripped by cowardice become brave? 5 And in short, who has persuaded the barbarians, and the people of the various nations, to put away their madness and think of peace? Nothing but faith in Christ and the sign of the cross. And who else has given people such assurance about immortality as the cross of Christ and the resurrection of his body? 6 For although the Greeks invented every kind of falsehood, they could not even invent a resurrection for their idols. It never occurred to them at all to ask whether the body could exist again after death. And for this one might give them special credit. By reasoning this way they exposed the weakness of their own idol worship, and they left the power to Christ, so that from this too he might be recognized by all as the Son of God.[121]
Chapter 51
The New, Virtue of Continence. Revolution of Society, Purified and Pacified by Christianity.
1 Now what man, whether after his death or even while living, has taught about virginity and did not think this virtue impossible for human beings? But Christ, our Saviour and King of all, was so powerful in his teaching about it that even children who have not yet reached the lawful age vow a virginity that goes beyond the law. 2 What man has ever been able to travel so far as to reach the Scythians, the Ethiopians, the Persians, the Armenians, the Goths, those said to live beyond the Ocean, those beyond Hyrcania, or even to come among the Egyptians and Chaldeans? These are people who practice magic, who are superstitious beyond all natural measure, and who are savage in their ways. Who has ever preached to them at all about virtue and self-control, and against the worship of idols, as the Lord of all has done, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ?[122]
3 He did not only preach through his disciples. He also persuaded these peoples in their minds to change their savage ways, no longer to worship the gods of their fathers, but to come to know him and to worship the Father through him. 4 For in earlier times, when they worshiped idols, Greeks and barbarians fought against each other, and they were cruel even to their own relatives. Because of their relentless fighting with one another, no one could cross land or sea at all without arming his hand with swords. 5 Indeed, their whole way of life was carried on with weapons. The sword was their walking stick, and the support they leaned on in every need. Yet, as I said before, they were serving idols and offering sacrifices to demons. Even so, nothing in their superstitious worship of idols could re-educate people of that mind. 6 But when they have come over to the teaching of Christ, then, wonderfully, they are truly pierced to the heart. They have put away the cruelty of murder and no longer have war on their minds. Everything with them is now peaceful, and from now on what they desire is whatever leads to friendship.
Chapter 52
Wars, &C., Roused by Demons, Lulled by Christianity.
1 Who, then, has done this? Who has joined in peace those who hated one another, if not the beloved Son of the Father, the common Saviour of all, Jesus Christ? In his love he endured everything for our salvation. Long ago, too, the Scripture prophesied the peace that he would bring, saying: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles, and nation will not take up sword against nation, and they will never again learn to make war.”[123] [Isaiah 2:4] 2 Nor is this hard to believe, since even now the barbarians who have savagery born in their nature, while they still sacrifice to their own idols, rage against one another and cannot bear to be without a sword for a single hour. 3 But when they hear the teaching of Christ, immediately they turn from wars to farming. Instead of arming their hands with swords, they stretch them out in prayer. In short, instead of fighting among themselves, from then on they arm themselves against the devil and against demons, and they defeat them with self-control and virtue of soul.
4 This is a mark of the Saviour’s divinity: what people could not learn among idols, they have learned from him. It is also no small proof of the weakness and nothingness of demons and idols. For the demons knew their own weakness. That is why they used to set people at war against one another, so that, if people stopped quarreling among themselves, they would not turn to fight against the demons. 5 Indeed, those who are taught by Christ no longer make war on one another. Instead they take their stand against the demons, with their way of life and their virtuous deeds. They drive the demons off and make a mockery of their leader, the devil. So in youth they are self-controlled, in temptations they endure, in labors they persevere. When they are insulted they are patient, and when they are robbed they take it lightly. And, what is most astonishing, they even despise death and become martyrs of Christ.[124]
Chapter 53
The Whole Fabric of Gentilism Levelled at a Blow by Christ Secretly Addressing the Conscience of Man.
1 To name one more proof of the Saviour’s divinity, and a truly astonishing one: what mere man ever managed this, whether magician, tyrant or king? Who has ever been able, on his own, to take on idolatry, the whole host of demons, all magic and all the wisdom of the Greeks, and to stand against all of them with a single decisive stroke? These were powerful, still at their height, and they amazed everyone. Yet our Lord, the true Word of God, did it. Invisibly exposing the error of each person, he alone carries off all people from all of these. So those who used to worship idols now trample them underfoot. Those who were admired for their magic burn their books. And the wise prefer the interpretation of the Gospels above every other study.[125] [Acts 19:19] 2 For the gods they used to worship they now abandon, and the one they used to mock as crucified they now worship as Christ, confessing Him to be God. The so-called gods among them are driven away by the sign of the cross. The crucified Savior, meanwhile, is proclaimed throughout the whole world as God and Son of God. The gods worshiped among the Greeks are denounced by these same people as shameful. And those who receive the teaching of Christ live a more chaste life than those gods did.[126]
3 If, then, these things and others like them are merely human, let anyone who wishes show that men of earlier times did the like, and so persuade us. But if these are clearly not the works of men but of God, as they are, why are the unbelievers so impious, refusing to recognize the Master who did them? 4 Their condition is like that of a man who looks at the works of creation and fails to recognize God as their Maker. For if they knew His divinity from His power over the whole universe, they would have known that the works Christ did through the body are not human either, but belong to the Savior of all, the Word of God. And had they known this, then, as Paul said, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”[127] [1 Corinthians 2:8]
Chapter 54
The Word Incarnate, as is the Case with the Invisible God, is Known to Us by His Works. By Them We Recognise His Deifying Mission. Let Us Be Content to Enumerate a Few of Them, Leaving Their Dazzling Plentitude to Him Who Will Behold.
1 Suppose someone wants to see God, who is invisible by nature and cannot be seen at all. He grasps and knows Him from His works. In the same way, let the person who cannot see Christ with his mind at least learn of Him from the works of His body. Let him test whether they are human works or God’s. [Romans 1:20] 2 If they are human, let him scoff. But if they are known to be not human but God’s, let him not laugh at what deserves no mockery. Let him rather marvel that through so humble a thing the divine has been shown to us. Through death immortality has reached all people. Through the Word becoming man, God’s providence over all things has become known, and with it the one who supplies and creates it, the very Word of God. 3 For He became man so that we might be made divine. He showed Himself through a body so that we might gain an idea of the unseen Father. And He endured the insults of men so that we might inherit incorruption. He Himself was not harmed in any way, since He is impassible and incorruptible, the Word Himself and God. But the human beings who were suffering, and for whose sake He endured these things, He guarded and preserved in His own impassibility.[128]
4 In short, the Savior’s achievements, accomplished through His becoming man, are so many and so great that to recount them would be like looking out over the open sea and trying to count its waves. The eyes cannot take in all the waves, because the ones coming on escape the notice of the person trying. In the same way, anyone who wants to take in all of Christ’s achievements in the body cannot grasp the whole, even in his mind. More of them slip past his thought than he supposes he has gathered. 5 So it is better not to try to speak of the whole, since no one can describe even a part of it. Let me mention just one more thing and leave you to marvel at the rest. For all of it is equally wonderful, and wherever a person looks, he sees the divinity of the Word there and is overwhelmed with amazement.
Chapter 55
Summary of Foregoing. Cessation of Pagan Oracles, &C.: Propagation of the Faith. The True King Has Come Forth and Silenced All Usurpers.
1 After what has been said, it is worth your while to consider this next point, to take it as the starting place for what remains unsaid, and to marvel at it greatly. Since the Savior came to live among us, idolatry has not only stopped growing; what remains of it is shrinking and gradually ceasing. The wisdom of the Greeks no longer advances either; what is left of it is now disappearing. Demons no longer deceive with apparitions, oracles and magic. If they so much as dare to try, they are put to shame by the sign of the cross.[129] 2 To sum it up, see how the Savior’s teaching is growing everywhere, while all idolatry and everything that stands against the faith of Christ is shrinking daily, growing weaker and falling. As you see this, worship the Savior who is over all, God the Word, who is mighty. And condemn those things that are being diminished and wiped out by Him.[130]
3 When the sun is present, darkness no longer has strength, and if any is left anywhere, it is driven away. In the same way, now that the divine appearing of the Word of God has come, the darkness of the idols no longer has strength, and every part of the world in every direction is lit up by His teaching. 4 Suppose a king reigns over some country but does not show himself, staying inside his own house. Often some lawless men take advantage of his withdrawal and proclaim themselves king. Each one puts on the appearance of a king and deceives the simple, and so people are led astray by the name. They hear that there is a king but do not see him, chiefly because they cannot get inside the house. But when the true king comes out and appears, then the lawless deceivers are exposed by his presence, and the people, seeing the true king, leave those who had long led them astray.
5 In the same way, demons and men used to deceive in former times, clothing themselves with the honour due to God. But when the Word of God appeared in a body and made his own Father known to us, then the deceit of the demons is wiped out and comes to an end. People now look to the true God, the Word of the Father, and abandon the idols, and at last they come to know the true God. 6 This is a mark that Christ is God the Word and the Power of God. Human things come to an end, while the word of Christ remains. So it is plain to everyone that the things that come to an end are only temporary, but the one who remains is God, the true Son of God, the only-begotten Word.[131] [1 Corinthians 1:24]
Chapter 56
Search Then, the Scriptures, If You Can, and So Fill Up This Sketch. Learn to Look for the Second Advent and Judgment.
1 Let this, then, be our short contribution to you, lover of Christ, as a first outline and sketch of the faith in Christ and of his divine appearing to us. But take your starting point from this. If you read the writings of the Scriptures and give them your sincere attention, you will learn from them, more fully and clearly, the exact details of what has been said. 2 For those writings were spoken and written by God through men who spoke of God. We, for our part, have learned from inspired teachers who studied those Scriptures, and who also became witnesses (martyrs) to the deity of Christ, and we pass on what we learned to your eagerness to learn.[132] 3 You will also learn of his second appearing to us, which is glorious and truly divine. Then he will no longer come in lowliness but in his own glory, no longer in humble condition but in his own majesty. He will no longer come to suffer, but from then on to give everyone the fruit of his cross. I mean the resurrection and incorruption. He will no longer be judged, but will judge everyone, according to what each did through the body, whether good or bad. For the good, the kingdom of heaven is stored up; for those who did wicked things, eternal fire and the outer darkness. [2 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:30]
4 For the Lord himself says it this way: “I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father.”[133] [Matthew 26:64] 5 For this reason, too, there is a saving word that prepares us for that day: “Be ready and watch, for he comes at an hour you do not know.” For as the blessed Paul says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due for what he did through the body, whether good or bad.[134] [Matthew 24:42; Matthew 24:44; 2 Corinthians 5:10]
Chapter 57
Above All, So Live that You May Have the Right to Eat of This Tree of Knowledge and Life, and So Come to Eternal Joys. Doxology.
1 But to search the Scriptures and know them truly, one needs a good life, a pure soul, and the virtue that follows Christ. Then the mind, travelling along that path, can reach what it longs for and grasp it, as far as human nature can learn about the Word of God. 2 Without a pure mind, and without imitating the lives of the saints, no one could possibly grasp the words of the saints. 3 Suppose someone wants to see the light of the sun. He will certainly wipe his eye clean and make it bright, purifying himself until he is almost like the thing he longs for, so that the eye, having become light, may see the light of the sun. Or suppose someone wants to see a city or a country. He will certainly travel to that place to see it. In the same way, anyone who wants to understand the mind of those who spoke about God must first wash and cleanse his soul by the way he lives. He must come to the saints themselves by becoming like them in his actions. Then, sharing with them the way of life they lead, he will understand what God revealed to them. From then on, joined to them, he will escape the danger of sinners and the fire that awaits them on the day of judgment. And he will receive what is laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven: “what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man.” These things are prepared for those who live in virtue and love God the Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Through him and with him, to the Father himself, together with the Son himself, in the Holy Spirit, be honor and power and glory forever and ever. Amen.[135] [1 Corinthians 2:9]
Notes
[81] That Isaiah was sawn in two comes from Jewish tradition, not from the Old Testament itself. Hebrews 11:37 (“they were sawn in two”) is usually taken as alluding to it.
[82] The two quotations are given as Athanasius wrote them. The first follows the Greek Old Testament of Deuteronomy 28:66, which in its original setting describes Israel’s anxious life under the curse; Athanasius reads it as a prophecy of the cross. The second is Isaiah 53:8.
[83] The Greek says literally “by the whole inhabited world” (oikoumenē).
[84] “Trophies” were monuments set up on the battlefield after a military victory.
[85] The cloud image echoes Isaiah 19:1, where the Lord rides on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt tremble. Athanasius probably has in mind the holy family’s flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15). He was himself an Egyptian, from Alexandria.
[86] “As a substitute” translates antipsychon, literally something given “in place of a life” (psyche).
[87] The quotation is Isaiah 65:1–2 in the Greek Old Testament. Paul quotes the same verses in Romans 10:20–21.
[88] The quotation is Isaiah 35:3–6. Where this Greek text of Athanasius has “of little faith,” the Greek Old Testament has oligopsychoi, “faint-hearted.”
[89] Naaman: see 2 Kings 5. Elijah raised the widow’s son (1 Kings 17), and in a similar story Elisha raised the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4).
[90] The quotation is John 9:32-33, given almost word for word. In John these words are spoken to the Pharisees by the man who had been born blind.
[91] “Holy of Holies” renders the Hebrew phrase “most holy,” which many modern Bibles take to mean a most holy place. Athanasius reads it as a person, and his argument in the next sections depends on that reading.
[92] Athanasius places Jeremiah in Babylon here, but the Bible records him in Jerusalem and then in Egypt (Jeremiah 43), though he wrote to the exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29); Ezekiel prophesied among the exiles, and Haggai and Zechariah prophesied in Jerusalem after the return (Ezra 5:1).
[93] The quotation is Genesis 49:10 from the Greek Old Testament, where the words are Jacob’s blessing on Judah; Athanasius credits them to Moses, traditionally regarded as the author of Genesis.
[94] The quotation is from Matthew 11:13 (compare Luke 16:16). “Prophecy is sealed” echoes Daniel 9:24 (“to seal up vision and prophet”), which Athanasius discusses in the preceding chapters. “The root of Jesse” is from Isaiah 11:1, 10.
[95] The quotations are from Psalm 118:27 (117:27 in the Greek Old Testament), Psalm 107:20 (106:20 in the Greek) and Isaiah 63:9. Athanasius quotes Isaiah 63:9 from the Greek Septuagint. Most English Bibles translate the Hebrew, which reads differently (for example, “the angel of his presence saved them”).
[96] “The whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God” echoes Isaiah 11:9 (compare Habakkuk 2:14).
[97] “Greeks” here means pagans, the Gentile idol-worshippers (the older translation says “Gentiles”).
[98] The idea of the cosmos as one great living body appears in Plato’s Timaeus and was common among the Stoics.
[99] The Greek as printed has “and was” (kai ēn) after “lit and moved”, which makes little sense; it is probably a corruption of “and live” (kai zēn), matching the quotation that follows, and is translated that way here.
[100] The Greek in the middle of this sentence is difficult and the text appears damaged in places; the translation gives the probable sense.
[101] “Upper air” translates the Greek aithēr, the bright, pure air of the heavens, which ancient writers distinguished from the ordinary air near the ground.
[102] Literally “to demons and men in stones”. This probably means stone images, both of demons and of men who were worshiped as gods. Athanasius discusses such idol worship at length in Against the Greeks.
[103] “Takes no share in” translates a Greek verb for partaking. Athanasius means that the Word is not changed or affected by being in creation or in the body. It is the other way round: creation and the body receive from Him.
[104] Athanasius is loosely recalling Plato’s dialogue the Statesman (around 273d–e). There the god takes the helm of the world to keep it from sinking into the boundless realm of “unlikeness.” The older English has “the place of chaos,” which is a paraphrase; the Greek says “the place of unlikeness.”
[105] “Spread Himself out into all things” follows the Greek (heauton hēplōsen, “unfolded” or “extended Himself”).
[106] The language of the body “putting on” immortality echoes 1 Corinthians 15:53–54.
[107] “Asbestos” translates amiantos, literally “undefiled.” This was a mineral fibre believed to be proof against fire.
[108] Isaiah 11:9, quoted almost word for word from the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). That version says simply “the whole”, and “earth” is understood. Compare Habakkuk 2:14.
[109] The water “changed” by the Word most naturally recalls the turning of water into wine (John 2:1–11), though Athanasius does not name a specific miracle.
[110] Colossians 2:15, in shortened form. Athanasius leaves out Paul’s “made a public display of them”, and where Paul has “in it” (or “in him”) he says plainly “on the cross”.
[111] “Greeks” here means pagans in general, not only people from Greece. After answering the Jews (chapters 33–40), Athanasius has been answering the pagans since chapter 41 and here begins to round off that argument.
[112] “The Power of God” echoes 1 Corinthians 1:24, where Paul calls Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God”.
[113] Compare 1 Corinthians 1:20–24, where God makes foolish the wisdom of the world and Christ is “the wisdom of God”.
[114] The “Pythia” or Pythoness was the priestess who delivered the oracles at Delphi. The Cabiri were gods honored in a mystery cult, with a well-known center at Samothrace. Athanasius lists their oracles without saying where they were.
[115] “Martyrs” here means those who bore witness to Christ by suffering death. The Greek word for “company” (choros) can also mean a choir.
[116] Athanasius is referring to the charge in the Gospels that Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons (Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15).
[117] “Wisdom and Power” of God echoes Paul’s description of Christ in 1 Corinthians 1:24.
[118] The man born blind is the healing in John 9:1–7.
[119] The Greek says he “formed a birth (genesis),” meaning he supplied what the man born blind had lacked from birth, and “restored the thing formed” (the creature).
[120] See the darkness and the earthquake at the crucifixion in Matthew 27:45, 51 and Luke 23:44–45.
[121] The Greek verb (apodechomai) here means to approve of someone or give them credit, so the sense is that one would especially commend them for this.
[122] Hyrcania was a region on the southeastern shore of the Caspian Sea. “The Power of God” echoes 1 Corinthians 1:24.
[123] Athanasius is quoting Isaiah 2:4 in the Greek Septuagint wording (compare Micah 4:3); the word translated “spears” (zibyne) means a hunting spear or javelin.
[124] “Martyr” means “witness.” Here it refers to those who die for their testimony to Christ.
[125] The burning of magic books recalls Acts 19:19, where former practitioners of magic in Ephesus burned their books publicly.
[126] The Greek says only “than those.” It most naturally points back to the gods just named. The older translation’s “than they” leaves this open.
[127] Athanasius is quoting 1 Corinthians 2:8.
[128] “Impassible” translates “apathes,” meaning not subject to suffering.
[129] The Greek printed here says literally to take this point as “a beginning of the things not said,” not as “the sum of what we have already stated” (the older translation’s wording).
[130] “Who is over all” may echo Romans 9:5, which speaks of Christ as “over all, God blessed forever.”
[131] “The Power of God” echoes Paul’s description of Christ in 1 Corinthians 1:24.
[132] “Martyrs” translates the Greek word for “witnesses”; in Athanasius’s day it already commonly meant those who died for the faith, and probably carries both senses here.
[133] The words follow Matthew 26:64. Athanasius adds “in the glory of the Father,” a phrase from another saying about the Son of Man’s coming (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38).
[134] The saying combines Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:42, 24:44 and 25:13. The Paul quotation is 2 Corinthians 5:10.
[135] The quotation is from 1 Corinthians 2:9, in slightly varied wording. Where Paul ends with “for those who love him,” Athanasius adds “those who live in virtue.”