13 December 2006
Patristic Quote for the Day
In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need. - St. Athanasius, *On the Incarnation* par. 13
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4 comments:
I'm a little confused by the last sentence. Is Athanasius saying that Jesus' humanity was necessary to destroy death, but that the Image of the Father, aside from Jesus' humanity, could have accomplished renewal in us?
In other words, Jesus had to become human to destroy death, and now that *that's* out of the way, the Image of the Father renews us? (That's surely a bad way of putting it, but I don't mean to argue the point. Just looking for some clarification of what he means.)
Is he not saying that the "Image of the Father" IS Christ incarnate? The Image of the Father (i.e. Jesus in the flesh) only was sufficient.
My humble .02
Your humble $.02 is bang on. St. Athanaisus refers to our Lord as both the Word and Image of the Father - both terms from Scripture (John and Hebrews).
Aha! Sometimes you can look at a sentence and read it completely the wrong way. It's like one of those optical illusions where you don't see the face, then you see it, and you wonder how you ever missed it in the first place. Thanks!
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