Section XCVI

By these words both the manifold effects of reparation through Christ and its origin and amplitude are excellently explained. For among the effects are enumerated: to render incorrupt that which had been corrupted; to restore the likeness of the image according to which men had been formed; to endow the mortal with immortality; and finally, to imbue men with the knowledge of the Father.

But to disclosing its origin pertains what occurs most frequently in Athanasius: that God, moved by his goodness, applied his hand to the work of reformation. That this reformation must be believed universal, the Alexandrian prelate affirms as often as he writes either that the Only-begotten offered τὴν θυσίαν ὑπὲρ πάντων, a sacrifice for all; or paid for all that which was owed by all; or rendered all free and immune from the primitive transgression; or that¹ the death of all was fulfilled in the Lord’s body, so that death and corruption might be destroyed on account of the union of the Word; or that death had to be undergone for all, so that what all owed might be paid; or that the Word assumed for himself a body which could die, ἵνα ὡς ἴδιον ἀντὶ πάντων αὐτὸ προσενέγκῃ, that he might offer it as his own on behalf of all; or that he must be believed² σωτῆρα πάντων, the Savior of all.

Hence, after describing the calamity which followed the original fault, from which it must be repeated that “all things were disturbed, death prevailed from Adam³ even unto Moses, the earth was cursed, hell was opened, paradise was closed, the heavens became hostile to us, and finally⁴ man was corrupted and made like the beasts,” he immediately adds⁵:

Τότε δὴ ὁ θεὸς φιλάνθρωπος ὢν καὶ μὴ θέλων ἀπολέσθαι τὸν κατ᾽ εἰκόνα ἄνθρωπον, ἔλεγε· τίνα ἀποστείλω, καὶ τίς πορεύσεται; Then God, being benign and not willing that man created according to his image should perish, said: “Whom⁶ shall I send, and who shall go?” But when all were silent, the Son said⁷: “Behold, I; send me.” Then the Father, saying, “Go,” gave man over to the Son, ἵνα γένηται αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος σάρξ, καὶ παραλαβὼν τὴν σάρκα κατὰ πάντα διορθώσηται, that the Word himself might become flesh and, having assumed the flesh, might renew it wholly. For man was delivered to him as to a physician, that he might heal the bite inflicted upon him by the serpent; as to life, that he might raise the dead; as to light, that he might illuminate his darkness; as to Reason, that he might restore his reason. Ὡς γοῦν παρεδόθη αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, καὶ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, εὐθὺς διωρθώθη καὶ ἐτελειώθη τὰ ὅλα. Therefore, as soon as all things were delivered to him and he himself became man, all things were immediately amended and perfected.

Certainly, the Savior himself, explaining in what manner all things were delivered to him, immediately added, as is read in Matthew⁸: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you”; for you have been delivered to me that I may refresh those exhausted by labor and recall the dead to life. With this also accords what John has⁹: “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.” For he gave them so that, just as all things were made through him, οὕτως ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἀνακαινισθῆναι δυνηθῇ, so all things might be restored in him. Indeed, all things were not delivered to him so that he might become rich from being poor; nor did he receive all things in order to obtain a power which he did not have—far be it!—ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα μᾶλλον, ὡς σωτήρ, τὰ πάντα διορθώσηται, but rather that, as Savior, he might restore all things.

For it was fitting that the beginning of creation should indeed be made¹⁰ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ, through him, that things might exist; but that their restoration should be made¹¹ ἐν αὐτῷ, in him. These words assuredly differ from one another. For in the beginning all things were made through him that they might exist; but afterward, when all things had failed, the Word was made flesh and put on flesh, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ ὅλα κατορθωθῇ, that in him all things might be restored… For the Word therefore united himself to man so that the curse might no longer have any power against man. Hence those who in the seventy-first Psalm supplicate God for the human race say these things: “O God, give thy judgment to the king,” so that the judgment of death pronounced against us might also be given to the Son and, dying for us, he might destroy it in himself. Signifying this, he himself says in the eighty-seventh Psalm: “Thy wrath is confirmed upon me,” τὸν γὰρ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν θυμὸν αὐτὸς ἐβάσταζεν, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ τριακοστῷ ἑβδόμῳ φησί, Κύριος ἀνταποδώσει ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ, for he himself bore the wrath owed to us, as he also says in the one-hundred-and-thirty-seventh Psalm: “The Lord will repay for me.”