I. Creation And The Fall
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Now, Macarius, true lover of Christ, we must take a step further in the faith of our holy religion, and consider also the Word's becoming Man and His divine Appearing in our midst.
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He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men.
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the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning.
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How could God be called Maker and Artificer if His ability to make depended on some other cause, namely on matter itself? If He only worked up existing matter—and did not Himself bring matter into being, He would be not the Creator but only a craftsman.
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it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us.
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The presence and love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore, when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good.
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This, then, was the plight of men. God had not only made them out of nothing,
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the presence of the Word with them shielded them even from natural corruption,
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they had in their sinning surpassed all limits; for, having invented wickedness in the beginning and so involved themselves in death and corruption, they had gone on gradually from bad to worse,
II. The Divine Dilemma And Its Solution In The Incarnation
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Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone.
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what then was God, being Good, to do?
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Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all than, having been created, to be neglected and perish;
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It was impossible, therefore, that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself.
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For He alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father.
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For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world.
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He could have revealed His divine majesty in some other and better way. No, He took our body,
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Thus He would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.
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For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required.
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by the offering of His own body He abolished the death which they had incurred, and corrected their neglect by His own teaching. Thus by His own power He restored the whole nature of man.
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The same writer goes on to point out why it was necessary for God the Word and none other to become Man:
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He means that the rescue of mankind from corruption was the proper part only of Him Who made them in the beginning.
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For by the sacrifice of His own body He did two things: He put an end to the law of death which barred our way; and He made a new beginning of life for us, by giving us the hope of resurrection.
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Now, therefore, when we die we no longer do so as men condemned to death, but as those who are even now in process of rising we await the general resurrection of all,
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This, then, is the first cause of the Saviour's becoming Man.
III. The Divine Dilemma And Its Solution In The Incarnation—continued
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He took pity on them, therefore, and did not leave them destitute of the knowledge of Himself, lest their very existence should prove purposeless.
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For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker?
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But, in fact, the good God has given them a share in His own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness. Why?
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But, as we have already seen, men, foolish as they are, thought little of the grace they had received, and turned away from God.
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They fashioned idols for themselves
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they worshipped evil spirits as gods in satisfaction of their lusts.
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In a word, impiety and lawlessness were everywhere, and neither God nor His Word was known.
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God knew the limitation of mankind, you see; and though the grace of being made in His Image was sufficient to give them knowledge of the Word
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Man's neglect of the indwelling grace tends ever to increase; and against this further frailty also God made provision by giving them a law, and by sending prophets, men whom they knew.
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Three ways thus lay open to them, by which they might obtain the knowledge of God.
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They could look up into the immensity of heaven, and by pondering the harmony of creation come to know its Ruler,
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Or, if this was beyond them, they could converse with holy men, and through them learn to know God,
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Or else, in the third place, they could cease from lukewarmness and lead a good life merely by knowing the law.
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So burdened were they with their wickednesses that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word.
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What was God to do in face of this dehumanising of mankind, this universal hiding of the knowledge of Himself by the wiles of evil spirits?
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What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.
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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. Here is an illustration to prove it.
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He was not referring to a man's natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.
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it was the Word of God, Who sees all that is in man and moves all things in creation, Who alone could meet the needs of the situation.
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He teaches those who would not learn by other means to know Himself, the Word of God, and through Him the Father.
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He deals with them as a good teacher with his pupils, coming down to their level and using simple means.
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The Saviour of us all, the Word of God, in His great love took to Himself a body and moved as Man among men, meeting their senses, so to speak, half way.
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the fact that the Saviour had risen from the dead showed them how false these other deities were, and that the Word of the Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was He both born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that, eclipsing by His works all other human deeds, He might recall men from all the paths of error to know the Father. As He says Himself, "I came to seek and to save that which was lost."
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When, then, the minds of men had fallen finally to the level of sensible things, the Word submitted to appear in a body, in order that He, as Man, might centre their senses on Himself, and convince them through His human acts that He Himself is not man only but also God, the Word and Wisdom of the true God.
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The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension—above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.
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There were thus two things which the Saviour did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation.
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His body was for Him not a limitation, but an instrument, so that He was both in it and in all things, and outside all things, resting in the Father alone.
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so He Who made the sun is not defiled by being made known in a body, but rather the body is cleansed and quickened by His indwelling, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth."
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Invisible in Himself, He is known from the works of creation; so also, when His Godhead is veiled in human nature, His bodily acts still declare Him to be not man only, but the Power and Word of God.
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He formed His own body from the virgin;
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Would not anyone who saw the substance of water transmuted into wine understand that He Who did it was the Lord and Maker of the water that He changed?
IV. The Death Of Christ
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All these things the Saviour thought fit to do, so that, recognising His bodily acts as works of God, men who were blind to His presence in creation might regain knowledge of the Father.
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Thus, then, God the Word revealed Himself to men through His works.
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We must next consider the end of His earthly life and the nature of His bodily death.
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by it, too, no less than by His other acts, Christ is revealed as God and Son of God.
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Here, then, is the second reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man's account with death and free him from the primal transgression. In the same act also He showed Himself mightier than death, displaying His own body incorruptible as the first-fruits of the resurrection.
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Thus it happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord's body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished.
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Have no fear, then. Now that the common Saviour of all has died on our behalf, we who believe in Christ no longer die, as men died aforetime, in fulfilment of the threat of the law.
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but He did not die of hunger, because He Whose body hungered was the Lord. Similarly, though He died to ransom all, He did not see corruption. His body rose in perfect soundness, for it was the body of none other than the Life Himself.
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but He accepted death at the hands of men, thereby completely to destroy it in His own body.
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There are some further considerations which enable one to understand why the Lord's body had such an end.
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The supreme object of His coming was to bring about the resurrection of the body.
V. The Resurrection
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Death used to be strong and terrible, but now, since the sojourn of the Saviour and the death and resurrection of His body, it is despised; and obviously it is by the very Christ Who mounted on the cross that it has been destroyed and vanquished finally.
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Doubt no longer, then, when you see death mocked and scorned by those who believe in Christ, that by Christ death was destroyed, and the corruption that goes with it resolved and brought to end.
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The Saviour is working mightily among men, every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, both within and beyond the Greek-speaking world, to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching.
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For where Christ is named, idolatry is destroyed and the fraud of evil spirits is exposed; indeed, no such spirit can endure that Name, but takes to flight on sound of it. This is the work of One Who lives, not of one dead; and, more than that, it is the work of God.
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We are agreed that a dead person can do nothing yet the Saviour works mightily every day, drawing men to religion, persuading them to virtue, teaching them about immortality, quickening their thirst for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring strength in face of death, manifesting Himself to each, and displacing the irreligion of idols;
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No room for doubt remains, therefore, concerning the resurrection of His body.
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It therefore died, as mortal, but lived again because of the Life within it; and its resurrection is made known through its works.
VI. Refutation Of The Jews
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Surely, then, it must be plain even to the most shameless that the Christ has come,
VII. Refutation Of The Gentiles
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We come now to the unbelief of the Gentiles; and this is indeed a matter for complete astonishment, for they laugh
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And, indeed, how could the Lord have been proved to be the Life at all, had He not endued with life that which was subject to death?
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Had death been kept from it by a mere command, it would still have remained mortal and corruptible, according to its nature. To prevent this, it put on the incorporeal Word of God,
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The Word of God thus; acted consistently in assuming a body and using a human instrument to vitalise the body.
VIII. Refutation Of The Gentiles—continued
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In old times the whole world and every place in it was led astray by the worship of idols,
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He is in truth Son of God, Existent Word and Wisdom and Power of the Father. This is the reason why His works are no mere human works,
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At what man's death was the sun darkened and the earth shaken?
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whose death did ever daemons fear, save that of Christ?
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The Greeks told all sorts of false tales, but they could never pretend that their idols rose again from death:
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Who, then, is He Who has done these things and has united in peace those who hated each other, save the beloved Son of the Father, the common Saviour of all, Jesus Christ,
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they turn from fighting to farming, and instead of arming themselves with swords extend their hands in prayer.
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In a word, instead of fighting each other, they take up arms against the devil and the daemons, and overcome them by their self-command and integrity of soul.
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Yet He is even now invisibly exposing every man's error, and single-handed is carrying off all men from them all, so that those who used to worship idols now tread them under foot,
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so too let him who does not see Christ with his understanding at least consider Him in His bodily works and test whether they be of man or God.
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through the Incarnation of the Word the Mind whence all things proceed has been declared, and its Agent and Ordainer, the Word of God Himself. He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God. He manifested Himself by means of a body in order that we might perceive the Mind of the unseen Father.
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The substance of what we have said so far may be summarised as follows. Since the Saviour came to dwell among us, not only does idolatry no longer increase, but it is getting less and gradually ceasing to be. Similarly, not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer make any progress, but that which used to be is disappearing.
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And daemons, so far from continuing to impose on people by their deceits and oracle-givings and sorceries, are routed by the sign of the cross if they so much as try.
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On the other hand, while idolatry and everything else that opposes the faith of Christ is daily dwindling and weakening and falling, see, the Saviour's teaching is increasing everywhere!
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Worship, then, the Saviour "Who is above all" and mighty, even God the Word, and condemn those who are being defeated and made to disappear by Him.
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When the sun has come, darkness prevails no longer; any of it that may be left anywhere is driven away. So also, now that the Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the darkness of idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are enlightened by His teaching.
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But since the Word of God has been manifested in a body, and has made known to us His own Father, the fraud of the daemons is stopped and made to disappear and men, turning their eyes to the true God, Word of the Father, forsake the idols and come to know the true God.
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Now this is proof that Christ is God, the Word and Power of God.
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For whereas human things cease and the fact of Christ remains, it is clear to all that the things which cease are temporary, but that He Who remains is God and very Son of God, the sole-begotten Word.
IX. Conclusion
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Here, then, Macarius, is our offering to you who love Christ, a brief statement of the faith of Christ and of the manifestation of His Godhead to us. This will give you a beginning, and you must go on to prove its truth by the study of the Scriptures.
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They were written and inspired by God; and we, who have learned from inspired teachers who read the Scriptures and became martyrs for the Godhead of Christ, make further contribution to your eagerness to learn.
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From the Scriptures you will learn also of His second manifestation to us, glorious and divine indeed, when He shall come not in lowliness but in His proper glory, no longer in humiliation but in majesty, no longer to suffer but to bestow on us all the fruit of His cross—the resurrection and incorruptibility.
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