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"On the incarnation" by Athanasius of Alexandria (part 2): summary of chapters I-III

 I have been reading the classic work by fourth-century Athanasius of Alexandria, setting forth and defending the incarnation of the Eternal Word in Jesus Christ. 

I would like to offer my precis of the first chapters, tracing Athanasius' line of argument, as I have found each "chapter" (extended paragraph) most eye-opening and uplifting. 

1. Athanasius begins by marking the transition from the previous half of the work, "Against the Heathens", in which he has written against idols (false gods). Addressing his reader, Macarius, he writes, "come now... let us... set forth also what relates to the Word's becoming Man and to his divine appearing among us." 

Athanasius proposes to began by identifying the "cause [i.e. reason why] of the bodily appearance of the Word of the Father". 

He will begin his line of reasoning by considering creation, since the renewal of creation "has been the work of the self-same word who made it in the beginning." 

2. By contrast with those, such as the Epicureans, who held that "all things have come into being of themselves", Athanasius argues that, if that were the case, we would expect all things to be "alike and not distinct." However, in the universe we observe" distinction" and "separate arrangement", such as "foot, hand and head" in the case of the human body. This "tells us not of their having come into being of themselves." 

Moreover, God does not just create using pre-existent material, but creates the material itself (Creatio ex nihilo). In other words, He is no mere "mechanic", but the Creator, contrary to the assertions of the gnostic sects. "All things were made by [the Word]" and "without him was not anything made." 

3. The universe did not come into being "spontaneously", but with forethought, and God created not out of existing matter by "ex nihilo" (from nothing). 

When God created man (people), he did not just create them, but made them after his own image, that is to say, a kind of reflexion of the Word. And God granted them life, decreeing that "if they kept the grace and remained good, they might still keep the life. 

Interesting, Athanasius speaks of "corruption in death" as being something which was "theirs by nature", referring to man's uncreated state as "nature". Having sinned, it is to this state of uncreatedness and unbeing that we revert, "not dying merely, but also abiding ever in the corruption of death".  

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