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| Sense in which, and end for which all things were delivered to the Incarnate Son.
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§2. Sense in which, and end for which all
things were delivered to the Incarnate Son.
For whereas man sinned, and is fallen, and by his
fall all things are in confusion: death prevailed from Adam to Moses
(cf. Rom. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was
opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and
brutalised (cf. Ps. xlix.
12), while the devil was
exulting against us;—then God, in His loving-kindness, not
willing man made in His own image to perish, said, ‘Whom shall I
send, and who will go?’ (Isa. vi. 8). But while all held their peace, the
Son441
| 441 This
dramatic representation of the Mission of the Son stands alone in the
writings of Athanasius, and, if pressed, lends itself to a conception
of the relation of the Son to the Father which, if not Arian, is at
least contrary to the more explicit and mature conception of Athanasius
as formulated for example in Orat. ii. 31 (and see note 7
there). The same idea appears in Milton’s Paradise Lost (e.g.
Book X.). See Newman, Arians 4, p. 93, note. | said, ‘Here am I, send Me.’ And
then it was that, saying ‘Go Thou,’ He
‘delivered’ to Him man, that the Word Himself might be made
Flesh, and by taking the Flesh, restore it wholly. For to Him, as to a
physician, man ‘was delivered’ to heal the bite of the
serpent; as to life, to raise what was dead; as to light, to illumine
the darkness; and, because He was Word, to renew the rational nature
(τὸ
λογικόν). Since then all
things ‘were delivered’ to Him, and He is made Man,
straightway all things were set right and perfected. Earth receives
blessing instead of a curse,
Paradise was opened to the robber, Hades cowered, the tombs were opened
and the dead raised, the gates of Heaven were lifted up to await Him
that ‘cometh from Edom’ (Ps. xxiv. 7, Isa. lxiii. 1). Why, the Saviour Himself expressly
signifies in what sense ‘all things were delivered’ to Him,
when He continues, as Matthew tells us: ‘Come unto Me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matt. xi. 28). Yes, ye ‘were delivered’
to Me to give rest to those who had laboured, and life to the dead. And
what is written in John’s Gospel harmonises with this: ‘The
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand’
(Joh. iii. 35). Given, in order that, just as all
things were made by Him, so in Him all things might be renewed. For
they were not ‘delivered’ unto Him, that being poor, He
might be made rich, nor did He receive all things that He might receive
power which before He lacked: far be the thought: but in order that as
Saviour He might rather set all things right. For it was fitting that
while ‘through Him’ all things came into being at the
beginning, ‘in Him’ (note the change of phrase) all things
should be set right (cf. Joh.
i. 3; Eph. i. 10). For at the
beginning they came into being ‘through’ Him; but
afterwards, all having fallen, the Word has been made Flesh, and put it
on, in order that ‘in Him’ all should be set right.
Suffering Himself, He gave us rest, hungering Himself, He nourished us,
and going down into Hades He brought us back thence. For example, at
the time of the creation of all things, their creation consisted in a
fiat, such as ‘let [the earth] bring forth,’ ‘let
there be’ (Gen. i. 3;
11), but at the restoration
it was fitting that all things should be ‘delivered’ to
Him, in order that He might be made man, and all things be renewed in
Him. For man, being in Him, was quickened: for this was why the Word
was united to man, namely, that against man the curse might no longer
prevail. This is the reason why they record the request made on behalf
of mankind in the seventy-first Psalm: ‘Give the King Thy
judgment, O God’ (Ps.
lxxii. 1): asking that both
the judgment of death which hung over us may be delivered to the Son,
and that He may then, by dying for us, abolish it for us in Himself.
This was what He signified, saying Himself, in the eighty-seventh
Psalm: ‘Thine indignation lieth hard upon me’ (Ps. lxxxviii. 7). For He bore the indignation which lay
upon us, as also He says in the hundred and thirty-seventh:
‘Lord, Thou shalt do vengeance for me’ (Ps. cxxxviii. 8, LXX.).E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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