Section XCVII

What sort, therefore, is the state in which we men find ourselves after the original fall? Is it one of condemnation, or, on the contrary, one of renovation and restoration? Athanasius teaches and repeatedly declares that it is one of renovation and restoration.

But what was the fountain, what the origin, of the merciful counsel by which God decreed to renew the human race in Christ? The very φιλανθρωπία of God and the will flourishing from his innate goodness, if we believe Athanasius.

But what have been and continue to be the effects and fruits of this renovation? Entirely excellent ones, Athanasius adds. For to it must be credited: a) the medicine by which the bite inflicted upon men by the serpent is healed; b) the life by which the debt of everlasting destruction is canceled; c) the light by which the darkness poured around them is dispelled; and finally d) the participation in divine reason by which men are recalled to the image of God.

But are these things common to all men, or proper only to some? Is the renovation general or particular? Athanasius testifies in more than one way that the benefit of renovation is general. He testifies a) when he denies that God’s φιλανθρωπία permitted him to leave in the destruction which he had created for himself the man whom he had fashioned according to his own image; he testifies b) when he says that all those whom the serpent killed, ignorance occupied, and death subdued are comprehended by the benefit of renovation; he testifies c) when he teaches that renovation in Christ extends as widely as creation through Christ; finally, he testifies d) when he teaches that the grace of restoration is poured back into all those whose nature the Word assumed and who are consubstantial with the Word according to the flesh.

But these are altogether all men, and for this reason he everywhere¹ calls Christ σωτῆρα καὶ βασιλέα τοῦ παντός, the Savior and King of the universe. Moreover, inquiring into the cause for which Christ endured so many and such great things, he first denies that there is any reason for us to blush on this account, and then affirms that there is rather reason² for us τὴν ἀγαθότητα καὶ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν αὐτοῦ θαυμάζωμεν, to admire his goodness and humanity.

For the sin of men was very great, and an evil of this kind occupied the whole world, since the kingdom of sin prevailed in all and against all. But our Lord is immortal and incorruptible, and, as immortal and incorruptible, οὕτως ἀγαθὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, so also good and humane. For he is the good Word of the good Father: δι᾽ οὐ παρεῖδεν ἀπολέσθαι³ τὸ γενόμενον, οὐδ᾽ ὑπέμεινε τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων ἄλλον γενέσθαι κύριον· ἀλλ᾽ ὁρῶν τὸ μὲν τῆς κακίας ἀφόρητον, καὶ τὸ θνητὸν γένος οὐχ ἱκανὸν ἀντιστῆναι πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, οὐδὲ τὴν τιμωρίαν τῶν κακῶν δυνατὸν ἀποδοῦναι… ὁρῶν δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀγαθότητα, ὁρῶν καὶ—

—τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἱκανότητα καὶ δύναμιν· Χριστὸς γὰρ θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία· κεκίνηται τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, καὶ οἰκτείρας τὴν ἀσθένειαν ἡμῶν, ἐνεδύσατο ταύτην, wherefore he did not permit his workmanship to perish, nor did he endure that another should be lord of his works; but, seeing the intolerable malice and that the mortal race did not have the strength to resist death or the power to pay the punishment for its evils; seeing likewise the goodness of his Father and his own power and strength—for Christ⁴ is the power of God and the wisdom of God—he was moved by his love toward men and, having pitied our weakness, put it on. For he, as the prophet says⁵, took our infirmities and bore our diseases. Likewise, having pitied our mortality, he was clothed with it. For Paul says⁶: “He humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross.” And when he saw likewise that we were unequal to the payment of the penalty, he undertook it; for Christ⁷ was made a curse for us. And thus, wrapped about and clothed in human things, through himself he offered to the Father those things which were ours, that, as though he himself suffered, he might render unharmed the man who was suffering and exchange small things for great.

For he descended that he might prepare an ascent for us; he experienced birth so that through him we might τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ φιλιασώμεν, be joined in friendship with the Unbegotten; he was made weak for us that we might be raised up in strength and say with Paul⁸: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me, Jesus Christ.” He assumed a corruptible body so that the corruptible might put on incorruption; he put on the mortal so that the mortal might put on immortality. Finally, he was made man and died so that we, who as men were dying, θεοποιησώμεν, might be deified and no longer sustain the kingdom of death. For when he suffered, he was in no way harmed; rather, he bestowed gifts. And dying, he did not remain dead, but rather gave life to the dead; καὶ σφαγιαζόμενος δὲ οὐκ ἀπώλλυτο, ἀλλὰ τῷ αἵματι τῆς σφαγῆς πάντας ἁπλῶς ἐλυτροῦτο, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔμενεν ἀπαθής—

—nor did he perish when immolated, but by the blood of his immolation he redeemed all without exception, while he himself remained impassible.

And he redeemed all without exception, since⁹

he assumed for himself a body which could die, ἵνα τοῦτο τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου μεταλαβόν, ἀντὶ πάντων ἱκανὸν γένηται τῷ θανάτῳ, καὶ διὰ τὸν ἐνοικήσαντα λόγον ἄφθαρτον διαμείνῃ, that this body, having participated in God the Word, might be capable of undergoing death for all and, on account of the indwelling Word, might remain incorrupt.

Expounding these things more fully¹⁰, he adds:

For the Word of God, being above all, προσαγαγὼν ἀντίψυχον ὑπὲρ πάντων, offering his temple and bodily instrument as a redemption in exchange for all, fulfilled the debt which was situated in death; καὶ ὡς συνὼν δὲ διὰ τοῦ ὁμοίου τοῖς πᾶσιν, ὁ ἄφθαρτος τοῦ θεοῦ υἱός, εἰκότως τοὺς πάντας ἐνέδυσεν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐν τῇ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐπαγγελίᾳ, and the incorruptible Son of God, as one present in all through a like body, fittingly clothed all with immortality in the promise of the resurrection; and the corruption which, according to men, follows death no longer has any place, διὰ τὸν ἐνοικήσαντα λόγον ἐν τούτοις διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς σώματος, on account of the Word dwelling in them, because they are one body with him.

To add splendor to these things, he employs a similitude¹¹, saying:

Just as when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses, the whole city is affected with great honor, nor does any enemy thereafter dare to assail it; indeed, because of the king dwelling in one of the houses, it is guarded with the greatest solicitude and distinction. The same has happened with regard to our Savior. Ἐλθόντος γὰρ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν χώραν, καὶ οἰκήσαντος εἰς ἓν τῶν ὁμοίων σωμάτων, λοιπὸν πᾶσα κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπιβολὴ πέπαυται. For when he had come into our region—

—and taken up his dwelling in a body like ours, thereafter every assault against man ceased.