For God in his goodness always looks toward this end; and although that man more than once becomes such that “as though he had dead ears he receives no advantage from admonition,” as Dionysius of Alexandria writes1, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ μὴ δύναται, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ μὴ βούλεται, “not because he cannot, but because he does not will,” Christ nevertheless, as appeared in Judas, although he foreknew all these things,
οὐ διέλιπεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς μέχρι τέλους τὰ παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ πάντα ἐπιδεικνύμενος, “did not omit from beginning to end to exhibit all things which were from himself.”
For, says Athanasius2,
God is good, μᾶλλον δὲ πηγὴ τῆς ἀγαθότητος ὑπάρχει· ἀγαθῷ δὲ περὶ οὐδενὸς ἂν γένοιτο φθόνος, or rather he is the very fountain of goodness; but one who is good envies no one. Wherefore, begrudging nothing its existence, he made all things from nothing through his proper Word… And among these, since he had pity on the human race above all the other things which exist upon earth and perceived that from the condition of their own nature they were not sufficient unto themselves to remain forever, he gave them something more. Nor did he create men simply, as he did the other living things, but made them according to his image and rendered them participants in the power of his proper Word, ἵνα ὥσπερ σκιάς τινας ἔχοντες τοῦ λόγου, καὶ γενόμενοι λογικοί, διαμένειν ἐν μακαριότητι δυνηθῶσι, ζῶντες τὸν ἀληθινὸν καὶ ὄντως τῶν ἁγίων ἐν παραδείσῳ βίον, so that, having as it were certain shadows of the Word and having been made rational, they might be able to persevere in beatitude and to live in paradise the true life, truly the life of the saints.
After commemorating the other benefits with which the outpoured goodness of God heaped up our first parents and indicating their transgression, he proceeds3:
Because our discourse concerns the advent of our Savior unto us, it was necessary also to speak concerning the beginnings of men, ἵνα γινώσκῃς ὅτι ἡ ἡμῶν αἰτία ἐκείνῳ γέγονε πρόφασις τῆς καθόδου, καὶ ἡ ἡμῶν παράβασις τοῦ λόγου τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐξεκαλέσατο, ὥστε καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς φθάσαι καὶ φανῆναι τὸν κύριον ἐν ἀνθρώποις, so that thou mayest know that our cause was the occasion of his descent, and that by our sin the benignity of the Word was called forth, so that he came unto us and the Lord appeared among men. For we are the cause why he assumed a body, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν ἐφιλανθρωπεύσατο καὶ ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ γενέσθαι καὶ φανῆναι σώματι, and for our salvation he most benignly willed to be born and to appear in a human body.
Struck by this singular and altogether divine charity, he exclaims4:
Θαύμαζε τὴν τοῦ λόγου φιλανθρωπίαν, ὅτι δι᾽ ἡμᾶς ἀτιμάζεται, ἵνα ἡμεῖς ἔντιμοι γενώμεθα. Admire the love of the Word toward men: he is afflicted with ignominy for our sake, that he might procure glory for us.