The Work
On the Incarnation (De Incarnatione Verbi Dei) was written by Athanasius of Alexandria around 318 AD, when he was approximately twenty years old -- an extraordinary achievement for so young a theologian. The treatise is a sequel to Against the Heathen (Contra Gentes) and together they form a sustained apologetic argument: the first work demolishes pagan idolatry, the second explains why the Word of God became human. On the Incarnation runs to approximately 60 pages in modern translation. Major English translations include those by T. Herbert Bindley (1887), A Religious of CSMV (1944, revised 1953), and John Behr (SVS Press, 2011). The translation by "A Religious of CSMV" was introduced by C.S. Lewis in a famous preface commending the reading of old books.
Biblical Engagement
Athanasius builds his argument from Scripture throughout, drawing primarily on the Prologue to John's Gospel, the Pauline epistles, Genesis 1, and the Psalms.
John 1:14 ("And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us") is the text that drives the entire treatise. Athanasius asks: why? What compelled the eternal Word, by whom all things were made, to take on human flesh? His answer unfolds through a series of scriptural arguments.
Genesis 1:26 ("Let us make man in our image, after our likeness") provides the starting point. Humanity was created according to the divine Image (the Word/Logos). When humanity fell into sin and corruption, the image became defaced. The logic of Athanasius's argument is: who better to restore a defaced image than the Image himself? This argument draws on Colossians 1:15 ("who is the image of the invisible God") and Hebrews 1:3 ("the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person").
Hebrews 2:14-17 ("Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil") is Athanasius's primary Pauline warrant for the necessity of the Incarnation. The Word took on what humanity had so that humanity could receive what the Word has: immortality, incorruption, divine life. This is the doctrine of theosis (deification) for which Athanasius is famous: "He became human that we might become divine."
1 Corinthians 15:45 ("the last Adam was made a quickening spirit") provides the theological framework for Christ as second Adam. Where the first Adam brought death through disobedience, the second Adam brings life through obedience. Romans 5:12-21 (the Adam-Christ parallel) is the Pauline background for this argument.
The Psalms figure prominently in Athanasius's treatment of the death and resurrection of Christ. Psalm 22 ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me") is read as Christ's voice from the cross. Psalm 110:1 ("The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand") is the exaltation text. Psalm 2:7 ("Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee") is the eternal generation of the Son within the Trinity. Athanasius's attentiveness to the Psalms as Christological prophecy reflects the patristic hermeneutical tradition and anticipates his later work in the Psalms commentary.
Author and Context
Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296-373) was one of the most consequential figures in the history of Christian theology. He served as Bishop of Alexandria for forty-five years (328-373), though his episcopate was interrupted five times by exile at the hands of emperors sympathetic to Arianism -- a total of seventeen years in exile. The phrase "Athanasius contra mundum" (Athanasius against the world) captures his long, often solitary defense of Nicene orthodoxy against the Arian party, which denied the full divinity of the Son.
On the Incarnation was written before the Arian controversy reached its peak at the Council of Nicaea (325). It represents Athanasius's foundational Christology, developed while he was still a young deacon and secretary to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. The treatise does not yet use the vocabulary of Nicaea (homoousios, "of the same substance"), but it develops the theological logic that would make that vocabulary necessary: if the Word is not truly divine, then the Incarnation does not achieve what Athanasius claims for it.
The historical context is significant: Alexandria in the early fourth century was one of the great centers of Hellenistic learning, and Athanasius wrote for a sophisticated audience familiar with Greek philosophy. He engages Platonism and Stoicism throughout the treatise, often turning philosophical arguments against paganism before presenting the Christian alternative.
Critical Reception
The treatise was recognized as foundational within a few generations of its composition. By the fourth century it was already being copied and cited by other theologians. The patristic scholar Charles Kannengiesser's studies have traced the treatise's reception in Cappadocian theology (Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa) and its influence on later Eastern Orthodox theology.
In the modern period, the treatise's reputation was substantially boosted by C.S. Lewis's introduction to the 1944 translation. Lewis wrote that he had been recommended On the Incarnation by his friend George MacDonald and had been struck by how much richer and more substantial it was than modern theological writing. His famous observation -- "It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new book till you have read an old one in between" -- has been cited countless times and has led generations of readers to Athanasius.
Theological Significance
The treatise is the foundational text of the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of theosis (deification) -- the conviction that the goal of salvation is participation in the divine life, not merely forgiveness of sins. This doctrine draws on 2 Peter 1:4 ("partakers of the divine nature") and John 17:21-23 (the prayer that believers may be one with the Father and the Son). The contrast between the Latin West (where salvation is primarily understood in juridical terms, as in Anselm's satisfaction theory) and the Greek East (where salvation is primarily understood in ontological terms, as transformation into the divine nature) is traceable in part to this treatise.
Legacy
On the Incarnation has been in continuous use in Eastern Orthodox theology from the fourth century to the present. Its influence on Western theology, though less direct, has been substantial: C.S. Lewis's endorsement gave it a wide evangelical readership, and the retrieval of the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of theosis in Catholic, Anglican, and evangelical theology during the twentieth century has brought the text new relevance.
Reading Alongside Scripture
Readers should study John 1:1-18 (the Logos and the Incarnation), Genesis 1:26-27 and 3:1-24 (creation in the image of God and the Fall), Colossians 1:15-20 (Christ as the image of the invisible God), Hebrews 2:14-18 (the Incarnation as sharing in human flesh), 1 Corinthians 15:42-57 (resurrection and the defeat of death), and 2 Peter 1:3-4 (participation in the divine nature).
Further Reading
- Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius: The Coherence of His Thought (1998) -- the best modern study of Athanasius's theology as a whole. - John Behr, The Nicene Faith (2 vols., 2004) -- situates Athanasius within the development of Nicene theology. - Peter Leithart, Athanasius (2011) -- an accessible theological biography.