Athanasius: Ancient, yet Fresh!
For my Church History class I got to read a small book written by a man named Athanasius of Alexandria who lived in the fourth century. The book is called On The Incarnation (written about 335), and you can find it free on the Internet or purchase on Amazon if you like real books (like me!). Anyway, Athanasius lived in a time when the church was figuring out what doctrines were 'orthodox' and which ones weren't. This was just after the church council that came up with the Nicene Creed, but things weren't completely settled yet. There was still a huge debate going on between the 'Nicenes' who supported the creed that said Jesus was "of one substance" with God and those (called Arians) that said Jesus actually the first created being and wasn't really God.
All that background is to say that Athanasius was defending the doctrine that Jesus was God and became known as a Champion of the faith. His little book was written nearly 1700 years ago, but I found it quite relevant and helpful even in our modern times. Here are a few of the ideas that really impacted me:
Humankind was not doing well. Athanasius saw us as coming under the law of death and actually "returning, through corruption, to non-existence again",
We needed a fresh start, a DO-OVER!
The only one who could give us a fresh start is the God that created us in the first place
So- Jesus had to be God
In order to overcome death, God had to become something that was actually capable of dying!
So- God became human in Jesus.
God did it. He overcame death and made the corruptible, incorruptible again.
I'll leave it there. The book is pretty short and succinct, but powerful to consider. The bottom line is that God DID give us a fresh start. Jesus overcame death, so that it no longer has any power of us!
By the way, the Nicene Creed was upheld at the Council of Constantinople in 381, thanks, in part, to the work of Athanasius. Still today, nearly all streams of Christianity affirm the Nicene Creed.
Also, the forward to book by C.S. Lewis is also a classic and probably as well known as the book itself! So, as C.S. Lewis might say, "Go read this book!" HA!