Athanasius, On the Incarnation, chapter 1 (Advent 2025)

Along with a group of pastors, this Advent 2025, I am reading through "On the Incarnation" by Athanasius. 

Here are some thoughts on chapter 1 of 9, which is entitled, "Creation" 

Athanasius is adamant that God's work of salvation through Christ is grounded in his prior work of creation through Christ.

"We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning."

In Athanasius' understanding, humans have affinity with the mortal animal kingdom, and yet are clothed with the divine image. Thus, turning away from their calling people, as it were, revert to mortality. 

"Upon them, therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked—namely the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise."

This concept is crucial for Athanasius' understanding as to why the incarnation was necessary, and what it achieved:

"though they were by nature subject to corruption, the grace of their union with the Word made them capable of escaping from the natural law, provided that they retained the beauty of innocence with which they were created."

Notice that he is describing here humankind in the state of innocence, prior to the Fall.