Macarius, continuing from where I left off in my last book, Against the Gentiles, I will talk about the incarnation. The first thing to note is that the Word who renewed Creation was the same Word who created it. There are many ideas about how the world came into being. The Epicureans think that it all happened by chance, but if that were the case we would expect everything to be uniform, so that everything is a sun, or a moon, or a finger, whereas we see the opposite, that there is wide variety, with each part having its own purpose. Those following Plato agree with him that God made the world from pre-existing matter, but that makes God less than the world, and it reduces him to a craftsman, rather than a creator. In fact, God created the world from nothing, and like the animals, he created us from non-existence. Like the animals we are impermanent, but God stamped his image on us, and as long as we were connected to him, we were incorrupt in the garden of paradise. When we chose to follow Satan, we became disconnected from God, and thus returned to our impermanence and death. I talk about this because the Word came down because of our sorry state. Through love the Word called us into being, and through love rescued us, since we had lost the knowledge of God. Although we are mortal, when we contemplate God continuously, we share in his incorruptibility and his nature.

God had given humanity three ways of knowing him, apart from the fact that they were made in his image: knowing God by observing the orderliness of the heavens, knowing God through the prophets and other holy men, and knowing God through the Law, which was for all men, not just Jews. But, as Paul describes in Romans, we lost the knowledge of God, worshiping demons and created things. The more we did so, the more we died, so that humanity was in danger of dying out. Leaving us in this state would be worse than not having created us, and also, we are made in God’s image, which reflects on himself. Furthermore, if God left us worshiping something else as our creator it would be tantamount to God making us for someone else. So God had a problem: he had decreed that death would be the result of the transgression, so repentance on our part was not sufficient to solve the problem, since while that would stop the sin, it would not stop the death, but God also needed to restore us. This is why the Word took a mortal body, because he needed to die. But he did not just immediately offer himself as sacrifice, but interacted with us so that we, who had sunk down to the level of only the senses, could perceive the ineffable Word. Not that he ceased to maintain the universe and all the other things he did as Word when he had no body; having a body does not preclude being more than a body. It is, after all, the function of the spirit to behold things outside of itself (but in our case we cannot affect anything with out spirit, but the divine nature obviously can). But with a body that can be perceived by the senses, it showed men the of God. If they worshiped dead heroes, they could perceive Christ’s superiority through his resurrection; if they worshiped demons they could see his superiority because he drove them out with a word.

When the Word took a human body, it did not merely gain him a body, but it united the Word with humanity. United with us, his incorruptibility can now restore us, much like a painter restores a painting that has been stained not by throwing it out and starting over by repainting the stained areas.

We have seen that it is only the incorruptible Lord who can change the corruptible to incorruptible, and only the maker of the Image who can restore it. However, there is a second reason that the Word had to die, namely to pay the debt of death owed to the transgression. The Word offered his body in the place of our bodies as a sacrifice, and thus “the death of all was consummated in the Lord’s body”, but because it was the body of the Lord of Life, death was swallowed up and the body restored, incorruptible.

Now some will ask why, if he had to die for all, why not do it privately instead of as a public spectacle? But when we die of sickness, it is because of our weakness, which is hardly appropriate for the Lord of Life who healed the sicknesses of everyone else; who would believe he was God if he died like the rest of us? Furthermore, why would anyone believe that he died and resurrected if no one saw it. The crucifixion made his death undeniable, and he waited long enough (three days) that the whole scandal was still in the public mind when he resurrected. Well, why not avoid letting the Jews kill him in the first place? Because his whole purpose was to accomplish the death of humanity, and its resurrection in his resurrection; you cannot resurrect unless you die first. Well, but why not die more honorably? But then we might think that his power over death was limited to certain kinds of death. Those are all objections from outside the Church, but the Christian might ask why he had to suffer the cross instead of some other way. The answer here is that he came to bear our curse, thus he had to die a cursed death (“cursed is anyone hung on a tree”), but also that he came to destroy the barrier between Jew and Gentile, his hands stretched out one to the Jews and the other to the Gentiles, and finally that he came to destroy the powers of the air, that is, the devil and his angels, which he did since he was lifted up into the air, re-opening the road to heaven.

We can see that the Word did, indeed, destroy death. First, demons flee at his name, and Christ would not be expelling demons if he were dead, nor would they would flee for anyone who was dead. Second, dead men can do nothing, but Christ has caused countless people to abandon idols and senseless pleasure, as well as confounded sorcery, as they looked to heaven. Third, because his followers despise death and even welcome it rather than deny the Lord, unlike all other men, who are afraid of death. In fact, those who were formerly afraid of death, when they accept the faith, they too despise the death they were once afraid of, because they know that they will be made imperishable. In fact, it is testable. If there truly is a substance resistant to the burning of fire such as Indian asbestos is reputed to be, one can wrap oneself in it and touch the fire. So, too, once can become a follower of Christ and see. If little boys are jeering a lion, you know that the lion is either dead or incapacitated; thus when you see even little children and women welcoming death for the sake of Christ, then you know death is defeated.

The Jews insist that Jesus is not the Christ, or that the Christ has not come, but their own Scriptures prove them wrong. They foretell a Man who would appear (Isa 7:14, Num 24:17, Num 24:5-7, Isa 8:4), that he would be the Lord (Isa 9:1), and that he would be called out of Egypt (Hos 9:1). They talk about his death to bring salvation and immortality to all as well as the plot against him (Isa 53:3-10). They hint that his death would be on the cross, beginning with Moses, “You shall see your Life hanging before your eyes and shall not believe” (Deut 28:66, Septuagint), but also Jer 11:19, Ps 22:16-18, Isa 11:10. No Jewish holy man was born of a virgin, nor was any Jewish holy man’s birth announced in the heavens by a star; quite the contrary, most were completely unknown at their birth. Scripture also describes no one as pierced in the hands and feet, or even hung on a tree, and certainly none that worked the salvation of all. And yet the prophecies that all nations would come to God are being fulfilled, as the Gentiles turn from idols and embrace the God of Israel through Jesus. Isaiah tells us how we would know the signs of the Messiah’s arrival: the blind are healed, the lame walk, the dumb can talk (Isa 65:1,2, Isa 35:3-6). No one in the Scriptures healed a blind or lame person, yet Jesus did. But the Jews disbelieve these things and say that the Messiah is still coming. How can they say that when Daniel gives the time of the Messiah’s coming, 490 years after the command to restore, then the Holy One of holies will come (Dan 9:24, 25). Certainly the Holy One of holies is no other than God, and Jesus came about 490 years after the command. Not only that, but Moses prophesied that a ruler would not fail Israel until the “Expectation of nations Himself” arrives (Gen 49:10, Septuagint). So we see nations worshiping the God of Israel, and we see that Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews scattered after the coming of Jesus. Thus it is plain from their own Scripture that Jesus corresponded to the timing of the Messiah.

The Greeks object and ask why the Savior needed to come in a physical body, thinking this unfit and ridiculous, but not seeing how appropriate that description is of their idols. Well, if they deny there is a Word of God, that is silly, because they are speaking of what they do not know. But if they do admit a Word of God [referencing the Greek “Logos”?], well, their own philosophers say that the universe is a body (which is correct, since it can be perceived with the senses), and if the Word is in the universe, then he is already in a body, so what is unfit about him taking a human body? It would be like saying that it is unfit for a man’s presence to be in his toe. Now if they think that it is unfit for God to have a human body because humans were created out of nothing, well, God created the universe out of nothing, too, yet he is in it. It was, after all, to men that the Word wanted to reveal himself, so it is natural that he made himself a human body. Furthermore, it was not “nobler” bodies such as the sun and moon that gave God’s glory to created things, but men. Coming as a man, it is easy for men to see that the Word’s actions are far higher than their own actions, and recognize his divinity. Similarly, it was men who were subject to corruption, so he came to men. Some would say that he could have been a will, just as in the beginning, but unlike in the beginning when there was nothing, but now there are already things in existence that need to be healed. Had Life come outside the body, he would have defeated death, since that is the nature of Life, but that would not have fixed the corruption. Additionally, how would people know that the Word is Life, if he did not suffer death himself? Stubble naturally fears fire, and even if fire is prevented from coming, it still fears the fire. But if it is soaked with asbestos, which is said to be immune to fire, then stubble will no longer fear fire. Thus it is that we are made incorruptible. Finally, coming with a body is consistent with his revelation of himself. Man can look to the heavens and see God in its orderliness. If he cannot look up, he can see God through the works and power of Jesus. If he cannot even do that, but is enslaved to demons, he can see that Jesus defeats the demons. If he worships water, like the Egyptians, he can see God through his changing of the water [through baptism? changing it into wine?]. If he worships heroes that are now in the grave, he can see God through his resurrection of the dead. So the Word triumphed through the cross, that all men might see God’s glory (Col 2:15).

If they find themselves unpersuaded by argument, we can demonstrate by facts. Before the Word appeared, men worshiped local gods, magicians, and demons. It is only after his appearing that this has begun disappearing. Although the gods people worshiped were local and had no power to convince anyone outside their area, now everywhere people are turning to God. Some claim that Jesus was just another magician, but then how is it that magicians are abandoning their magic and burning their books and following Jesus. The madness of demons disappears at the sign of the cross and the mention of his name. The oracles are being abandoned and many of the famous ones no longer have anyone to give oracles. Similarly, the Greek gods are being abandoned, because young Christians are demonstrating better character than they did. When have young men held chastity as a virtue, and kept it, except among Christians? When have people gladly accepted death, as do the Christian martyrs? Christ drives out murder and fornication, since when these people become Christians, they stop doing these things. The barbarians are constantly at war with each other (because the demons need to distract them or they much attack the demons), until they become Christian, and then they exchange the sword for friendship. All these indisputable facts show that the Word has, indeed, come and done many things. “He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God” (ch. 54); he took a body that we could see the invisible Mind; he endured shame so that we would gain immortality; he suffered corruptibility but remained incorruptible, and indeed, he made the corruptible incorruptible. Thus, Macarius, I have written to you a primer, and you can learn the rest by studying the Scriptures.

This volume of On the Incarnation (from Popular Patristics) also comes with C.S. Lewis’ introduction, where he lauds this book as a masterpiece because it is so clearly written. (This is also where he advises ordinary people to read the original source text, not volumes explaining it, since the source is not hard. It is also where he advises people to read two or three old books for every new one, because the new ones all come from more or less the same perspective, and more or less the same perspective as the reader, whereas the old ones are from different times and present the reader with very different perspectives from his own.) I confess that it is hard for me to see what Lewis saw, although perhaps since the translation is only “good” and the original, which Lewis presumably could read in the original Latin was “very good”, that might account for it. Perhaps I need more sleep, but I found I had to really focus to read this and not fall asleep. This is a book that is aided by taking notes, because the logic tends to slip out of my mind, but he does say interesting things.

Athanasius has a helpful view on how Christ solves the problem of sin and death. Maximus the Confessor, who, writing three hundred years later, has this brilliant framework whereby Christ takes on humanity and thus our logos is joined with his logos and we and everything else is all united into Christ. Athanasius has a much simpler explanation: when Life unites with humanity, Life obviously destroys the death that has become woven in with humanity since we abandoned Life so long ago. (And in any case, evil is merely the absence of good, so is death the absence of life.)

There are also potent tidbits sprinkled throughout. I read this book because this is where he says “God became man that man might become God”, which I actually missed in reading and had to go find, because it is just tossed off as the first in the list of things the Jesus did. This could be the organizing principle for the whole book (which, to be fair, it sort of is), but it is only explicitly said casually, tucked away in a list. It makes me wonder what else I might be missing. Certainly it is a book that rewards re-reading, and the fact that it is very short really helps.

Athanasius probably wrote this when he was around 20, since he assumes persecution is a normal part of the Christian life, and this ceased in 313. It is a simple statement and argument for the faith, not a brilliant framework like Maximus, but its simplicity makes the rich depth contained accessible. I would recommend a different translation than the St. Vladimir’s one that I read, which seems to require a lot of energy to read because of its word choice. I rarely find myself sleepy reading a book, so I think there must be cognitive overload somehow. But even so, I found this book to be well worth the read because it gives a simple but deep perspective on what God did through the Incarnation. The book is only 75 small pages, and given its size and perspective, I recommend everyone read this book.