The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. Athanasius—Powerful Defender of Deity of Christ

ATHANASIUS (c. 297-373), bishop of Alexandria and most prominent theologian of the fourth century, is commonly called the “defender of orthodoxy,” because of his conspicuous championship of the eternal deity of Christ in the battle over the Godhead, as against the prolonged attacks of Arianism. CFF1 1061.1

1. THE CENTER OF THE THEOLOGICAL WORLD

Athanasius’ childhood spanned the terrible Diocletian persecution, 303-313. He was highly trained in the famous schools of Alexandria, and was well acquainted with the Platonic philosophy, and the various other systems, along with the tenets of Judaism. He was a young deacon under Bishop Alexander when the Arian controversy arose about 320. And he was presbyter of the Alexandria Church at the time of the first general Council of Nicea (325), where he became the chief defender of the Trinitarian doctrine, as against the heresy of Arianism. CFF1 1061.2

In 328 the dying Bishop Alexander recommended that Athanasius be his successor. Accordingly, Athanasius was made not only bishop of Alexandria in 328 but metropolitan of all Egypt and Libya, and Pentapolis as well—the highest ecclesiastical dignity in the East. To him more than any other individual is due the triumph of Trinitarianism. ² His life has been described as “an epic of heroism, fortitude, and faith.” Forty-six years a bishop, he was the center of the theological world as Constantine was of the political realm—both bearing the title “the Great,” in their respective spheres. That was his stature. CFF1 1061.3

2. FOUR TIMES BANISHED IN STORMY CAREER

For years prior to Nicea there had been theological controversy in Egypt over the contentions of Arianism. And now Athanasius’ position on the coeternity and coequality of the Father and the Son had brought the issue to a head at Nicea. The overwhelming majority voted against Arius, who was deposed and banished. But politics mingled with theology at Nicea, each side seeking to win imperial favor. CFF1 1061.4

Picture 2: Teaching of Athanasius:
Athanasius Presented the Eternal Christ as Creator, Redeemer, Source of Immortailty, and Upholder of the Moral Law.
Page 1062

Later, reaction against the decisions of Nicea restored Arius. But Athanasius, who had incurred Arian hatred, was four times banished from his church by Arian emperors and once by Julian the Apostate—spending more than twenty years in exile. Five times in his stormy career he returned to his church, spending his last years still defending “orthodoxy” and opposing “heresy.” He was thus the outstanding obstacle to the triumph of Arianism in the East. He also upheld the deity of the Holy Spirit. He conspicuously maintained that, at the Incarnation, God Himself entered into humanity. Such was his eminence. CFF1 1062.1

3. CHAMPIONED CERTAIN ASPECTS OF CONDITIONALISM

But he also championed certain aspects of Conditionalism, contending that “securing immortality” is the aim of the soul—and that position was taken in the very city where the allegorizing Philo of the Jews (c. 20 B.C.-c. A.D. 50) had lived, and where the Neoplatonic Origen (d. c. 254) had held forth as powerful head of the Catechetical School a century and a quarter prior. But Athanasius’ voice faltered somewhat at this point, and he fluctuated in his witness. Nevertheless, he held firmly to the second coming of Christ to raise the dead and establish His kingdom. These points will be noted shortly. CFF1 1063.1

In his De Incarnatione Verbi Dei (“On the Incarnation of the Word”) Athanasius expounds how God the Word (Logos) by His union with human manhood restores to fallen man the image of God, in which he had been created. And by His death and resurrection He met and overcame death and the consequences of sin. It is a powerful presentation as we shall now see. CFF1 1063.2