Understanding “On the Incarnation” – Chapter 9

On the Incarnation – Chapter 9

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1. For the Word had seen that there was no other way that the corruption of men could be undone except by the necessary condition of death. It was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal, and the Son of the Father; and so for this reason He united to Himself a body capable of death. This was so that his body, by partaking of the Word Who is above all, might be made worthy to die in the place of all. It was so that the body might, because of the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and therefore corruption might be driven from all by the Grace of the Resurrection. So, by offering to death the body He Himself had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from any stain, at once He abolished death for all His brethren by the offering of an equivalent to their body.

2. For naturally, since the the Word of God is over all, by offering His own temple and bodily instrument for the life of all He satisfied by His own death what was required. And so He, the incorruptible Son of God, being joined with all mankind by the same human nature, naturally clothed all with incorruption, by the promise of the resurrection. For the actual corruption of death has no longer any hold over men, because of the Word, who by His one body has come to dwell among them.

3. And it is just like when a great king has entered into some large city and made a home in one of the houses there. Such city is considered worthy of a great honour, and no enemy or bandit will dare to attack it and make it subject to them. On the contrary, such a city is thought entitled to every care, because the king has taken up his residence in a single house there. In the same way it has taken place with the King of all.

4. He has come to our land, and has taken up his dwelling in one body among His human brethren. From now on the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind is brought to nothing. The corruption of death which was holding men in its power has been done away. For the race of men would have gone to ruin, if the Lord and Saviour of all, the Son of God, had not come among us to bring death to an end.

Commentary

Now we begin to see more clearly why and for what purpose the incarnation was necessary. As St Athanasius says, there was no other way. There was no other way for God to save man from the state of corruption in which he found himself. The only way to bring corruption to an end was by death. This would fulfill the consequences of Adam’s sin. But how could the Word of God die? He is immortal God himself? It was necessary for him to become human like us, like Adam, by uniting a real human body to himself, so that he could experience and participate in death. More than that, since he is God the Word, his human experience of death becomes one which is effective for all mankind.

He took a human body for himself, and driving all corruption from it by the power of his resurrection and his own incorruption, he brings about a renewal of incorruption for all. Here is the important aspect. He took a body so that he could die, and when he died and rose again, a sinless offering of himself to death, he destroyed death for all of mankind because he had experienced death in the offering of a body like our own.

Because the Word of God is God, the offering to death of his own human life was a satisfaction of that death which was the consequence of Adams sin. It fulfilled the requirement which was due from all of mankind. Having become human, his own incorruption becomes the gift which is given to all mankind by his resurrection, and our own experience of that resurrection. Death no longer has a hold over mankind because God has become man and has defeated the power of death, which is the purpose of the incarnation.

St Athanasius uses an analogy to help us understand what has happened in the incarnation. It is like a powerful King taking up residence in a town or city. The whole city is protected and honoured by his presence. No one will dare to attack it while his presence is there. And it is the same way, St Athanasius says, in which the King of Kings, the Word of God, has become part of our own humanity and has transformed it by being present with us.

4. He has come to our land, and has taken up his dwelling in one body among His human brethren. From now on the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind is brought to nothing. The corruption of death which was holding men in its power has been done away. For the race of men would have gone to ruin, if the Lord and Saviour of all, the Son of God, had not come among us to bring death to an end.

Having become human as we are, his humanity affects all humanity. It is no longer possible for the deceit of the enemy to bring mankind to ruin because God the Word is one of us all who are human. The power of death has been broken for all because it was broken by our Lord, the Son of God, who became man, freely and in love, to bring death and the power of death to an end on our behalf. This is why he died. Not to be punished by the Father, but to defeat death for us all.

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