By Jonathan SteppNashville, Tennessee, pastor
By Jonathan Stepp
Nashville, Tennessee, pastor
NASHVILLE, Tennessee— Christmas is a great time to buy and give books, and every Christian bookstore is full of gift books about Jesus’ birth. Some are quite good, and some are quite terrible.
One that is good, and ought to be on more gift lists at Christmas, is On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius of Alexandria. It’s so good that it’s been reprinted and reread for more than 16 centuries.
Athanasius was the fourth-century bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. The biggest debate of his day was whether Jesus is God or a creature made by God. Athanasius stood up against popular opinion for the truth of the Bible: that Jesus is God. (For more information on him you can read Justo Gonzalez’s Story of Christianity, vol. 1.)
In On the Incarnation Athanasius explains why Jesus is God and why God became flesh (incarnate) in order to save us. Here are a few highlights of his thought.
l When God created humanity, he created us in his image, by and through his Word. That means that our likeness to God’s image comes to us through his Word.
l When humanity sinned through Adam and Eve, that image of God within us became corrupted. Since we, like all creation, were made from nothing by the mere will of God, our sin meant that we were now destined to die. Athanasius calls these consequences of sin the “dehumanizing of humanity.”
l In order for God to put an end to our corruption and death, he took on a human body and fulfilled in the flesh the death sentence that had come to us because of our sin. Once God had done this, all humanity was safe from death.
Athanasius wrote, “For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word’s indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all.” He compares it to a powerful king coming to a city endangered by attackers. The king stays in only one house, not all houses, but by his presence in the city in that one house he makes the city safe for everyone.
In a similar way, in order to restore his image in us, God had to place his image in humanity once again. The Word, through whom God’s image had originally been placed in us, recreated us in his likeness by coming in the flesh in our likeness. Athanasius compares this to a man who has had his portrait made but the portrait has been damaged. The artist doesn’t have to destroy the painting. He can have the subject come and sit for him again and he can restore the correct image in the painting.
There is more, but these ideas give you a feel for Athanasius’ perspective. In addition to explaining the incarnation, he also answers many of the objections that people in his time offered to the story of Jesus’ birth. The objections in his day were basically the same that people offer today.
Finally, a word on the reading of old books such as this one. Our culture is prejudiced to think that new is better. In the preface to On the Incarnation, C.S. Lewis offered three good reasons to read older Christian books:
1. Truly valuable books stand the test of time. Old ones that are still around have done that. New books can’t be fully judged because we don’t know how they will stand up over time.
2. Every age of humanity makes its own mistakes, but no two ages make exactly the same mistake. Old books help us see from a fresh perspective without the prejudices of our time.
3. Hearing from Christians through the ages reminds us of how unified Christ’s body is and how our disagreements are insignificant compared to what we have in common.
In reading Athanasius’ thoughts on Jesus’ birth I am reminded that the individualism of our culture is not of the Bible. Scripture shows that all humanity was in the same sinking boat together until Jesus came and saved us.
Athanasius’ perspective also reminds me that Jesus’ birth is not just a cute story to start the Gospels. Jesus’ birth, in and of itself, is an act of grace and salvation by God. It is as integral to God’s plan of salvation as the cross and the resurrection.
Finally, I enjoyed picking up new thoughts on presenting the truth of the gospel story. You can tell Athanasius had spent a fair amount of time debating the skeptics and winning the lost. His pointers will sharpen your skills for telling the story of Jesus.
If you’re interested in reading On the Incarnation, it is still in print and your local bookstore can order it if they don’t have it on the shelves. It is also available at Amazon.com and Christianbook.com. You can even read it online for free, complete with C.S. Lewis’s brilliant introduction at http://www.gty.org/ ~phil/history/ath-inc.htm.
Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2003