The Festal Epistles of S. Athanasius

Athanasius of Alexandria. The Festal Epistles of S. Athanasius. Translated by Henry Burgess. Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; F. and J. Rivington, 1854. 978-0341699156, 200 pages

Raphael Mnkandhla 

Thesis: This book contains letters that Athanasius wrote to the churches concerning the Christian Festival of Easter. This was a duty that was expected of the bishop of Alexandria to notify the Church the time at which Easter was to be celebrated. The letters were sent to churches in Egypt and also in Rome. The letters start on the year he became Bishop and end the year he died. 

The letters were not intended to be controversial, yet they make mention and refute the doctrines and practices of Arians, Manicheans and any other heresies troubling the churches. The letters fill up the empty gaps of history, yet they are not intended to be historical but pastoral. Athanasius takes the liberty to stir up the minds of the faithful to the importance of a due and spiritual observance of the great and holy feast, frequently contrasting its character with that of the Jewish Passover and dwelling upon the superiority of the former. Anxious to build up in the faith those committed to his charge, he inculcates the necessity of a steadfast adherence thereto against all adversaries; while he earnestly urges upon them the intimate connection between purity of faith and holiness of life. Love to God, charity to our neighbor, diligence in prayer and thanksgiving, distribution to the poor, a careful study of the holy Scriptures, are subjects upon which he often dilates. When an exile, through the fury or treachery of his enemies, he reminds his flock of the spiritual unity of Christians, wherever they may be: when restored to the Church, he invites them to join him in thanksgiving.[1]

a.d. 329.

In this year, Easter-day was on XI Pharmuthi; VIII Id. Ap.; XXII Moon; Coss. Constantinus Aug. VIII, Constantinus Cæs. IV.; the same Zenius being Præfect of Egypt; Indict. II; Epact VI; Gods, II. This was the first Letter he [Athan.] sent; for he was appointed Bishop in the preceding year after the Paschal feast; Alexander, as is known, having despatched one for that year, before he was removed from this world. This was in the 45th of the Diocletian Æra.

·      Athanasius writes to the churches e wants to make sure that these are done for the glory of Christ and the good of man. 

·      After covering the old testament views on feasts, he shows how they are fulfilled in Christ and now gives them dates for fasting and feasting

II.

a.d. 330.

In this year, Easter-day was on XXIV Pharmuthi; XIII Kal. Mai.; XV Moon; Coss. Gallicanus, Symmachus; Magninianus the Cappadocian being Præfect of Egypt; Indict. III; Epact XVII; Gods, III. In this year, he [Athan.] went through the Thebais.

·      The feast is to nourish the people so that they can they following the footsteps of apostles can not only preach the gospel but also embody it. 

·      Keeping the feast allows them to enter into the same joy as the apostles, therefore the feast is intended to be renewing to the church.

III.

a.d. 331.

In this year, Easter-day was on XVI Pharmuthi; XVIII Moon; III Id. Ap.; Coss. Annius Bassus, Ablavius; Hyginus, Præfect of Egypt; Epact XXVIII; Indict. IV. He sent this Letter while journeying, on his return from the Comitatus. For in this year he went to the Comitatus to the Emperor Constantine, having been summoned before him, on account of an accusation his enemies made, that he had been consecrated when too young. He appeared before [Constantine], was thought worthy of favour and honour, and returned when the [quadragesimal] fast was half finished.

·      Feasts are for keeping pace with the grace of God 

·      Grace given to him kept him going even in exile. Persecution at the beginning of the chapter make sure you use the years to track with his exiles and where he is writing from

·      The feast is to move people towards thankfulness, against callousness and unproductive Christian living. 

IV.

a.d. 332.

In this year, Easter-day was on XVII Pharmuthi; XX Moon; IV Non. Apr.; Epact IX; Gods, VI; Coss. Pacatianus, Hilarianus; the same Hyginus, Præfect of Egypt; Indict. V. In this year, he went through Pentapolis, and was in Ammoniaca.

·      This letter was sent form the Emperors court buy a soldier when Athanasius was sick

·      We do not celebrate these days in the character of mourners; but, as refreshing ourselves with spiritual food, we impose silence on our fleshly lusts” ( 32)

·      The feast is to be celebrated in light of Satan’s defeat and Christ’s victory. 

·      We have sent this letter from the Comitatus, by the hand of an attendant officer, to whom it was given by Ablabius, the Præfect of the Prætorium, who fears God in truth. For I am at the Comitatus, having been summoned by the emperor Constantine to see him. But the Meletians, who were present there, being envious, sought our ruin before the Emperor. But they were put to shame and driven away thence as calumniators, being confuted by many things. Those who were thus driven away were Callinicus, Ision, Eudæmon, and Gelous Hieracammon, who, on account of the shame of his name, calls himself Eulogius. ( 35-36) 

V.

a.d. 333.

In this year, Easter-day was on XX Pharmuthi; XV Moon; XVII Kal. Mai.; Epact XX; Gods, VII; Coss. Dalmatius, Zenophilus; Pateriusc, Præfect of Egypt; Indict. VI.

·      The feast is to renew 

·      We eat, as it were, the food of life; and, thirsting continually, are at all times delighted, as it were, from a fountain, by His precious blood. For we, on the one hand, are always eagerly desirous; He, on the other, stands ready for those who thirst; and for those who thirst, there is the word of our Saviour, which, according to His loving-kindness, He vouchsafed in the day of the feast; If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Nor was it then alone when any one drew near to Him, that He cured his thirst; but, moreover, whenever it is sought, is there access freely for any man to the Saviour. For the grace of the feast is not limited to one time, nor does its splendid brilliancy suffer an eclipse; but it is always near, enlightening the conscience of those who earnestly desire it.( 37-38)

·      the season now requires this of us, that we should not only utter such words, but also imitate the deeds of the saints. But we imitate them, when we acknowledge Him Who died; and no longer live unto ourselves, but Christ henceforth lives in us; when we render a recompense to the Lord to the utmost of our power; when, I say, we make a return, not by giving any thing of our own, but those things which we have before received from Him; this being especially of His grace, that He should require, as from us, His own gifts ( 40) 

·      The fast and the feast is to walk in the footsteps of the saints not so that we pay for our salvation but so that we can have a greater appreciation of what he has done. 

VI.

a.d. 334.

In this year, Easter-day was on XII Pharmuthi. XVII Moon; VII Id. Apr.; Indict. VII; Epact I; Gods, I; Coss. Optatus, Paulinus; Paterius, Præfect of Egypt. In this year he [Athan.] went through the low country. In it, he was also summoned to a Synod. But his enemies had previously devised mischief against him in Cæsarea of Palestine; he became aware of the conspiracy, and excused himself from attending.

·      We have the feast thinking of Jesus who said he would not eat the feast until the kingdom is fulfilled. We have it now on the victory side. 

·      We will not be like the ungrateful 9 lepers that had been healed but didn’t come and say thank you 

·      And let us rejoice, not in ourselves, but in the Lord, that we also may be inheritors with the saints. Let us keep the feast then, as Moses. Let us watch like David, who rose seven times, and in the middle of the night gave thanks for the righteous judgments of God. Let us be early, as he said, In the morning I will stand before Thee, and Thou wilt look upon me: in the morning Thou wilt hear my voice. Let us fast like Daniel; let us pray without ceasing, as Paul commanded; all of us recognising the season of prayer, but especially those who are honourably married; so that when a testimony is borne to us by these things, and we keep the feast by them, we may be able to enter into the joy of our Lord in the kingdom of heaven. But as Israel, when going up to Jerusalem, was first purified in the wilderness, being trained to forget the customs of Egypt; as the [divine] word has graciously prescribed to us the holy fast of forty days; let us first be purified and purged, so that when we depart hence, having been careful of fasting, we may be able to ascend to the upper chamber with the Lord, to sup with Him; and may be partakers of the joy which is in heaven. In no other manner shall we be able to go up to Jerusalem, and to eat the Passover, but as we apply ourselves to the fast of forty days. ( 53-54)

VII.

a.d. 335.

In this year, Easter-day was on XIV Pharmuthi; XX Moon; III Kal. Ap.; Indict. VIII; Epact XII; Gods, II; Coss. Constantiusd, Albinus; the same Paterius, Præfect of Egypt.

VIII.

a.d. 336.

In this year, Easter-day was on XXIII Pharmuthi; XX Moon; XIV Kal. Mai; Indict. IX; Epact XXIII; Gods, IV; Coss. Nepotianus, Facundus; the governor Philagrius, the Cappadocian, being Præfect of Egypt. In this year, he [Athan.] went to a Synod of his enemies which was assembled at Tyre. He departed from this place [i.e. from Alexandria] on XVII Epiphi; but when a discovery was made of the preparation against him, he removed thence, and fled in a vessel to Constantinople. Arriving there on II Athyr, after eight days he presented himself before the Emperor Constantine, and spoke plainly. But his enemies, by various secret devices, influenced the Emperor, who suddenly condemned him to exile, and he set out on the twelfth of Athyr to Gaul, to Constans Cæsar, the son of Augustus. On this account, he wrote no Festal Letter.

IX.

a.d. 337.

In this year, Easter-day was on VIII Pharmuthi; XVI Moon; IV Non. Ap.; Indict. X; Epact IV; Gods, V; Coss. Felicianus, Titianus; the governor Philagrius, the Cappadocian, being Præfect of Egypt. He [Athan.] was in Treviri of Gaul, and on this account was unable to write a Festal Letter.

X.

a.d. 338.

In this year, Easter-day was on XXX Phamenoth; VII Kal. Ap.; XIX Moon; Indict. XI; Epact XV; Gods, VI; Coss. Ursus, Polemius; the governor Theodorus, of Heliopolis, Præfect of Egypt. In this year, Constantine having died on XXVII Pachon; Athanasius, now liberated, returned from Gaul triumphantly, on XXVII Athyr. In this year, too, there were many events. Anthony, the great leader, came to Alexandria, and though he remained there only two days, shewed himself wonderful in many things, and healed many. He departed on the third of Messori.

·      What is his view on disfance and fellowship

·      While I then committed all my affairs to God, I was anxious to celebrate the feast with you, not taking into account the distance between us. For although place separate us, yet the Lord the Giver of the feast, and Who is Himself our feast , Who is also the Bestower of the Spirit , brings us together in mind, in harmony, and in the bond of peace.

·      Oh! My dearly beloved, if we shall gain comfort from afflictions, if rest from labours, if health after sickness, if from death immortality, it is not right to be distressed by the temporal ills that lay hold on mankind.

·      This is the grace of the Lord, and these are the Lord's means of restoration for the children of men. For He suffered to prepare freedom from suffering for those who suffer in Him, He descended that He might raise us up, He took on Him the trial of being born, that we might love Him Who is unbegotten, He went down to corruption, that corruption might put on immortality, He became weak for us, that we might rise with power, He descended to death, that He might bestow on us immortality, and give life to the dead. Finally, He became man, that we who die as men might live again, and that death should no more reign over us; for the Apostolic word proclaims, 'Death shall not have the dominion over us.

a.d. 339.

In this year, Easter-day was on XX Pharmuthi; XX Moon; XVII Kal. Mai.; Epact XXVI; Gods, VII; Indict. XII; Coss. Constantius II, Constanse; the governor Philagrius, the Cappadocian, Præfect of Egypt. In this year, again, there were many tumults. On the XXII Phamenoth, he [Athan.] was sought after by his persecutors in the night. On the next morning he fled from the Church of Theonas, after he had baptized many. Then, on the fourth day, Gregorius the Cappadocian entered the city as Bishop.

·      Since we are thus circumstanced, my brethren, let us never loiter in the path of virtue; for hereto he counsels us, saying, 'Be followers of me, as I also am of Christ [ 1 Corinthians 11:1 ].' For he gave this advice not to the Corinthians only, since he was not their Apostle only, but being 'a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity [ 1 Timothy 2:7 ],' he admonished us all through them; and in short, the things he wrote to each particular person are commandments common to all men.

·      For to those who thus examine themselves, and conform their hearts to the Lord, nothing adverse shall happen; for indeed, their heart is strengthened by confidence in the Lord, as it is written, 'They who trust in the Lord are as mount Sion: he who dwells in Jerusalem shall not be moved for ever.

·      Let us therefore keep the feast, my brethren, celebrating it not at all as an occasion of distress and mourning, neither let us mingle with heretics through temporal trials brought upon us by godliness. But if anything that would promote joy and gladness should offer, let us attend to it; so that our heart may not be sad, like that of Cain; but that, like faithful and good servants of the Lord, we may hear the words, 'Enter into the joy of your Lord [ Matthew 25:21 ].'

·      Because he was sacrificed let us feed upon him, and with alacrity and diligence partake of his sustencence; since he is given to all without.  Grudging, and is in everyone a well of everlasting life( Jn 4:4) 

XII.

a.d. 340.

In this year, Easter-day was on XIV Pharmuthi; XV Moonf; III Kal. Ap.; Epact VII; Gods, II; Indict. XIII; Coss. Acyndinus, Proclus; the same governor Philagrius, Præfect of Egypt. Gregorius continued his acts of violence, and therefore wrote no Festal Letter. The Arians proclaimed [Easter] on XXVII Phamenoth, and were much ridiculed on account of this error. Then altering it in the middle of the fast, they kept it with us on XIV Pharmuthi, as above. He [Athanasius] gave notice of it to the presbyters of Alexandria in a short note, not being able to send a Letter as usual, on account of his flight, and the treachery employed.

A letter to Serapion 

·      He sends to him only one letter so the pretenders will not claim to be him 

·      But I have further deemed it highly necessary and very urgent, to make known to your modesty—for I have written this to each one—that thou shouldest proclaim the fast of forty days to the brethren, and persuade them to fast; to the end that, while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing-stock, as the only people who do not fast, but take our pleasure in these days. For if we do not fast, because the Letter is [only] then read, it is right that we should take away this pretext also, and that it be read before the fast of forty days, so that they may not make this an excuse for neglect of fasting(100) 

·      He informs him of all the bishops that have succeeded those who have fallen asleep. 

XIII.

a.d. 341.

In this year, Easter-day was on XXIV Pharmuthi: XVI Moon; XIII Kal. Mai.; Epact XVIII; Gods, III; Indict. XIV; Coss. Marcellinus, Probinus; Longinus, of Nice, Præfect of Egypt. There was a schism in Augustannice, on account of Gregorius continuing in the city, and exercising violence. But his illness commenced, nor did the Pope write a Festal Letter this time.

·      But we should especially remember it, and not at all forget its commemoration from time to time. Now the unbelievers do not consider that there is a season for feasts, because they spend all their lives in revelling and follies; and the feasts which they keep are an occasion of grief rather than of joy. 

·      But to us in this present life they are above all an uninterrupted passage [to heaven]— it is indeed our season. For such things as these serve for exercise and trial, so that, having approved ourselves zealous and chosen servants of Christ, we may be fellow-heirs with the saints.

XIV.

a.d. 342.

In this year, Easter-day was on XVI Pharmuthi; XX Moong; III Id. Ap.; Epact XXIX; Gods, IV.; Indict. XV.; Coss. Constantius III, Constans II; the governor Longinus, of Nice, Præfect of Egypt. Because Gregorius was severely ill in the city, the Pope was unable to send [any Letter].

·      For as He is the Shepherd, and the High Priest, and the Way and the Door, and every thing at once to us, so further, He has been revealed to us as the feast, and the holyday, according to the blessed Apostle; Our Passover, Christ, is sacrificed (111) 

·      But respecting these matters, I have confidence in your wisdom, and your care for instruction. Such points as these have been touched upon by us often and in various Letters.

·      Why therefore do we tarry, and why do we delay, and not come with all eagerness and diligence to the feast, trusting that it is Jesus who calls us? Who is all things for us, and was laden in ten thousand ways for our salvation; Who hungered and thirsted for us, though He gives us food and drink in His saving gifts. For this is His glory, this the miracle of His divinity, that He changed our sufferings for His happiness. For, being life, He died that He might make us alive, being the Word, He became flesh, that He might instruct the flesh in the Word, and being the fountain of life, He thirsted our thirst, that thereby He might urge us to the feast, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink [ John 7:37 ].'

·      Therefore let us also, when we come to the feast, no longer come as to old shadows, for they are accomplished, neither as to common feasts, but let us hasten as to the Lord, Who is Himself the feast , not looking upon it as an indulgence and delight of the belly, but as a manifestation of virtue.

·      let us keep the festival to the Spirit, Who is even now near us, in Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom to the Father be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

XV.

a.d. 343.

In this year, Easter-day was on I Pharmuthi; XV Moon; VI Kal. Ap.; Epact XI; Gods, V.; Indict. I.; Coss. Placidus, Romulus; the same governor Longinus, of Nice, Præfect of Egypt. In this year, there was a Synod held at Sardica; and when the Arians had arrived, they returned to Philippopolis, for Philagrius gave them this advice there. In truth, they were blamed every where, and were even anathematised by the Church of Rome, and having written a recantation to the Pope Athanasius, Ursacius and Valens were put to shame. There was an arrangement entered into at Sardica respecting Easter, and a decree was issued to be binding for fifty years, which the Romans and Alexandrians every where announced in the usual manner. Again he [Athan.] wrote a Festal Letter.

XVI.

a.d. 344.

In this year, Easter-day was on XX Pharmuthi; XIX Moon; XVII Kal. Mai.; Epact XXI; Gods, VI; Coss. Leontius, Sallustius; the governor Palladius Italus, Præfect of Egypt; Indict. II. Being at Naissus on his return from the Synod, he [Athan.] there celebrated Easter. Of this Easter-day, he gave notice in few words to the presbyters of Alexandria, but he was unable to do so to other parts.

XVII.

a.d. 345.

In this year, Easter-day was on XII Pharmuthi; XVIII Moon; VII Id. Ap.; Epact II; Gods, I; Indict. III; Coss. Amantius, Albinus; the governor Nestorius, of Gaza, Præfect of Egypt. Having travelled to Aquileia, he [Athan.] kept Easter there. Of this Easter-day, he gave notice in few words to the presbyters of Alexandria, but not to other parts.

Athanasius, to the Presbyters and Deacons of Alexandria, and the beloved brethren in Christ, greeting.

According to custom, I give you notice respecting Easter, my beloved; that you also may notify the same to the districts of those who are at a distance, as is usual. Therefore after this present festival, I mean this which is on the twentieth of the month Pharmuthi, the first of the Paschal week ensuing will be on the vii Id. April; or, according to the Alexandrians, on the twelfth of Pharmuthi. Give therefore notice in all those districts, that the first day of the Paschal week is on the vii Id. April, on the twelfth of Pharmuthi according to the Alexandrian reckoning. That ye may be in health in Christ, I pray, my beloved brethren (118)

XVIII.

a.d. 346.

In this year, Easter-day was on IV Pharmuthi; XXIh Moon; III Kal. Ap.; Epact XIV; Gods, II; Indict. IV; Coss. Constantiusi IV, Constans III; the same governor Nestorius, of Gaza, Præfect of Egypt. Gregorius having died on the second of Epiphi, he [Athan.] returned from Rome and Italy, and entered the city and the Church. He was, too, thought worthy of a grand reception; for on the fourth of Paophi, the people and those in authority met him a hundred miles distant. He had already sent the Festal Letter for this year, written in few words, to the presbyters.

·      Therefore let there be no dispute, but let us act as becomes us. For I have thus written to the Romans also. Give notice then as it has been notified to you, that it is on the iii Kal. April; the fourth of Pharmuthi, according to the Alexandrian reckoning. That you may have health in the Lord, I pray, my dearly beloved brethren. (119)

XIX.

a.d. 347.

In this year, Easter-day was on XVII Pharmuthi; XV Moon; Prid. Id. Apr.; Epact XXV; Gods, III; Indict. V; Coss. Rufinus, Eusebius; the same governor Nestorius, of Gaza, Præfect of Egypt. He [Athan.] wrote this Letter while residing here in Alexandria, giving notice of some things which he had not been able to do before.

·      This letter goes over the unworthy way of coming before God thaf he detests and recommends whayt way to take

·      For what is so fitting for the feast, a turning from wickedness, and a pure conversation, and prayer offered without ceasing to God, with thanksgiving? Therefore let us, my brethren, looking forward to celebrate the eternal joy in heaven, keep the feast here also, rejoicing at all times, praying incessantly, and in everything giving thanks to the Lord. I give thanks to God, for those other wonders He has done, and for the various helps that have now been granted us, in that though He has chastened us sore, He did not deliver us over to death, but brought us from a distance even as from the ends of the earth, and has united us again with you. I have been mindful while I keep the feast, to give you also notice of the great feast of Easter, that so we may go up together, as it were, to Jerusalem, and eat the Passover, not separately but as in one house ; let us not as sodden in water, water down the word of God; neither let us, as having broken its bones, destroy the commands of the Gospel. But as roasted with fire, with bitterness, being fervent in spirit, in fastings and watchings, with lying on the ground, let us keep it with penitence and thanksgiving.

XX.

a.d. 348.

In this year, Easter-day was on VIII Pharmuthi; XVIII Moon; III Non. Ap.; Epact VI; Gods, IV; Indict. VI; Coss. Philippus, Salia; the same governor Nestorius, of Gaza, Præfect of Egypt. This Letter also he sent while residing in Alexandria.

·      Let us now keep the feast, my brethren, for as our Lord then gave notice to His disciples, so He now tells us beforehand, that 'after some days is the Passover [ Matthew 26:2 ],' in which the Jews indeed betrayed the Lord, but we celebrate His death as a feast, rejoicing because we then obtained rest from our afflictions. We are diligent in assembling ourselves together, for we were scattered in time past and were lost, and are found.

·      When we thirst, He satisfies us on the feast-day itself; standing and crying, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink [ John 7:37 ].'

[1] Athanasius of Alexandria, The Festal Epistles of S. Athanasius, trans. Henry Burgess (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; F. and J. Rivington, 1854), xi–xii.

c Vid. note b, p. 36.

d The Syr. has Constantinus, by an error.

e The Syriac has erroneously Constantius I, Constans II.

f Syr. ‘month.’

g The Syriac has XVI, which is an error.

h The Syriac in this place has XXIV. But we find XXI in the heading to the Letter itself.

i The Syriac has Constantinus.

Outline: On the Incarnation - Athanasius

Athanasius. On the Incarnation. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 2012. 978-0881414271 $13,61 110 pages 

Chapter One 

• Introductory. — The subject of this treatise: the humiliation and incarnation of the Word. Presupposes the doctrine of Creation, and that by the Word. The Father has saved the world by Him through Whom he first made it. Loc 73  

• Come now , Macarius ( worthy of that name ) , and true lover of Christ , let us follow up the faith of our religion , and set forth also what relates to the Word’s becoming Man , and to His divine Appearing amongst us , which Jews traduce and Greeks laugh to scorn , but we worship ; in order that , all the more for the seeming low estate of the Word , your piety toward Him may be increased and multiplied. (Loc 79)

•  For it will appear not inconsonant for the Father to have wrought its salvation in Him by Whose means He made. Loc 92 

Chapter Two

Erroneous views of Creation rejected. (1) Epicurean (fortuitous generation). But diversity of bodies and parts argues a creating intellect. (2.) Platonists (pre - existent matter.) But this subjects God to human limitations, making Him not a creator but a mechanic. (3) Gnostics (an alien Demiurge). Rejected from Scripture. Loc 98

•  Of the making of the universe and the creation of all things many have taken different views, and each man has laid down the law just as he pleased. Loc 100 

•  On the contrary, we see a distinction of sun, moon, and earth; and again, in the case of human bodies, of foot, hand, and head. Now, such separate arrangement as this tells us not of their having come into being of themselves but shews that a cause preceded them; from which cause it is possible to apprehend God also as the Maker and Orderer of all. Loc 106 

•  For He could not in any sense be called Creator unless He is Creator of the material of which the things created have in their turn been made. Loc 117

• “What, therefore, God hath joined together let not man put asunder:” how come these men to assert that the creation is independent of the Father? Loc 121

Chapter Three

The true doctrine. Creation out of nothing, of God’s lavish bounty of being. Man created above the rest, but incapable of independent perseverance. Hence the exceptional and supra - natural gift of being in God’s Image, with the promise of bliss conditionally upon his perseverance in grace. Loc 130

• He has made all things out of nothing by His own Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Loc 141

• He did not barely create man, as He did all the irrational creatures on the earth, but made them after His own image, giving them a portion even of the power of His own Word. Loc 143 

Chapter Four

Our creation and God’s Incarnation most intimately connected. As by the Word man was called from non - existence into being, and further received the grace of a divine life, so by the one fault which forfeited that life they again incurred corruption and untold sin and misery filled the world. Loc 157 

• For of His becoming Incarnate we were the object, and for our salvation He dealt so lovingly as to appear and be born even in a human body. Loc 163 

• For transgression of the commandment was turning them back to their natural state, so that just as they have had their being out of nothing, so also, as might be expected, they might look for corruption into nothing in the course of time. Loc 169 

Chapter Five 

• For God has not only made us out of nothing; but He gave us freely, by the Grace of the Word, a life in correspondence with God. 182 

•  “God made man for incorruption, and as an image of His own eternity; but by envy of the devil death came into the world.”  Loc 187

•   For even in their misdeeds men had not stopped short at any set limits ; but gradually pressing forward , have passed on beyond all measure : having to begin with been inventors of wickedness and called down upon themselves death and corruption ; while later on , having turned aside to wrong and exceeding all lawlessness , and stopping at no one evil but devising all manner of new evils in succession , they have become insatiable in sinning. Loc 190

Chapter Six 

The human race then was wasting, God’s image was being effaced, and His work ruined. Either, then, God must forego His spoken word by which man had incurred ruin; or that which had shared in the being of the Word must sink back again into destruction, in which case God’s design would be defeated. What then? was God’s goodness to suffer this? But if so, why had man been made? It could have been weakness, not goodness on God’s part. Loc 203 

Chapter Seven 

None could renew but He Who had created. He alone could (1) recreate all, (2) suffer for all, (3) represent all to the Father. Loc 228 

• For it were monstrous for God, the Father of truth, to appear a liar for our profit and preservation. Loc 231

• For He would still be none the more-true, if men did not remain in the grasp of death; nor, secondly, does repentance call men back from what is their nature — it merely stays them from acts of sin. Loc 235 

•  For being Word of the Father, and above all, He alone of natural fitness was both able to recreate everything, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be ambassador for all with the Father. Loc 241 

Chapter Eight 

 The Word, then, visited that earth in which He was yet always present; and saw all these evils. He takes a body of our Nature, and that of a spotless Virgin, in whose womb He makes it His own, wherein to reveal Himself, conquer death, and restore life. Loc 247

• That the things whereof He Himself was Artificer were passing away : seeing , further , the exceeding wickedness of men , and how by little and little they had increased it to an intolerable pitch against themselves : and seeing , lastly , how all men were under penalty of death : He took pity on our race , and had mercy on our infirmity , and condescended to our corruption , and , unable to bear that death should have the mastery — lest the creature should perish , and His Father’s handiwork in men be spent for naught — He takes unto Himself a body , and that of no different sort from ours . Loc 255

Chapter Nine 

The Word, since death alone could stay the plague, took a mortal body which, united with Him, should avail for all, and by partaking of His immortality stay the corruption of the Race. By being above all, He made His Flesh an offering for our souls; by being one with us all, he clothed us with immortality. Simile to illustrate this. Loc 274 

• He takes to Himself a body capable of death , that it , by partaking of the Word Who is above all , might be worthy to die in the stead of all , and might , because of the Word which was come to dwell in it , remain incorruptible , and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the Grace of the Resurrection. Loc 279 

• And thus He, the incorruptible Son of God, being conjoined with all by a like nature, naturally clothed all with incorruption, by the promise of the resurrection.  Loc 283

• And like as2 when a great king has entered into some large city and taken up his abode in one of the houses there , such city is at all events held worthy of high honour , nor does any enemy or bandit any longer descend upon it and subject it ; but , on the contrary , it is thought entitled to all care , because of the king’s having taken up his residence in a single house there : so , too , has it been with the Monarch of all. Loc 286

• For now, that He has come to our realm, and taken up his abode in one body among His peers, henceforth the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind is checked, and the corruption of death which before was prevailing against them is done away. Loc 289 

Chapter Ten 

By a like simile, the reasonableness of the work of redemption is shewn. How Christ wiped away our ruin and provided its antidote by His own teaching. Scripture proofs of the Incarnation of the Word, and of the Sacrifice He wrought. Loc 296 

• For if a king , having founded a house or city , if it be beset by bandits from the carelessness of its inmates , does not by any means neglect it , but avenges and reclaims it as his own work , having regard not to the carelessness of the inhabitants , but to what beseems himself ; much more did God the Word of the all - good Father not neglect the race of men , His work , going to corruption : but , while He blotted out the death which had ensued by the offering of His own body , He corrected their neglect by His own teaching , restoring all that was man’s by His own power . Loc 298

• For by the sacrifice of His own body, He both put an end to the law which was against us, and made a new beginning of life for us, by the hope of resurrection which He has given us. Loc 314

• This then is the first cause of the Saviour’s being made man. Loc 321 

Chapter Eleven 

Second reason for the Incarnation. God, knowing that man was not by nature sufficient to know Him, gave him, in order that he might have some profit in being, a knowledge of Himself. He made them in the Image of the Word, that thus they might know the Word, and through Him the Father. Yet man, despising this, fell into idolatry, leaving the unseen God for magic and astrology; and all this in spite of God’s manifold revelation of Himself. Loc 327 

• He gives them a share in His own Image , our Lord Jesus Christ , and makes them after His own Image and after His likeness : so that by such grace perceiving the Image , that is , the Word of the Father , they may be able through Him to get an idea of the Father , and knowing their Maker , live the happy and truly blessed life. Loc 338 

Chapter Twelve

For though man was created in grace, God, foreseeing his forgetfulness, provided also the works of creation to remind man of him. Yet further, He ordained a Law and Prophets, whose ministry was meant for all the world. Yet men heeded only their own lusts. Loc 356 

Chapter Thirteen 

 Here again, was God to keep silence? to allow to false gods the worship He made us to render to Himself? A king whose subjects had revolted would, after sending letters and messages, go to them in person. How much more shall God restore in us the grace of His image. These men, themselves but copies, could not do. Hence the Word Himself must come (1) to recreate, (2) to destroy death in the Body. Loc 372 

•  Whence the Word of God came in His own person, that, as He was the Image of the Father, He might be able to create afresh the man after the image. Loc 389

Chapter Fourteen 

A portrait once effaced must be restored from the original. Thus, the Son of the Father came to seek, save, and regenerate. No other way was possible. Blinded himself, man could not see to heal. The witness of creation had failed to preserve him and could not bring him back. The Word alone could do so. But how? Only by revealing Himself as Man. Loc 395 

Chapter Fifteen 

Thus, the Word condescended to man’s engrossment in corporeal things, by even taking a body. All man’s superstitions He met halfway; whether men were inclined to worship Nature, Man, Demons, or the dead, He shewed Himself Lord of all these. Loc 420 

• For this cause He was both born and appeared as Man , and died , and rose again , dulling and casting into the shade the works of all former men by His own , that in whatever direction the bias of men might be , from thence He might recall them , and teach them of His own true Father , as He Himself says : “ I came to save and to find that which was lost . Loc 437 

• By his being a man, life miracles, death and resurrection he was using that to show man he is God and thereby cause then to repent and be renewed.

Chapter Sixteen

 He came then to attract man’s sense - bound attention to Himself as man, and so to lead him on to know Him as God. Loc 444

•  For by His becoming Man , the Saviour was to accomplish both works of love ; first , in putting away death from us and renewing us again ; secondly , being unseen and invisible , in manifesting and making Himself known by His works to be the Word of the Father , and the Ruler and King of the universe . Loc 456 

Chapter Seventeen

How the Incarnation did not limit the ubiquity of the Word, nor diminish His Purity. (Simile of the Sun.) Loc 462 

• And this was the wonderful thing that He was at once walking as man, and as the Word was quickening all things, and as the Son was dwelling with His Father. So that not even when the Virgin bore Him did, He suffer any change, nor by being in the body was [ His glory] dulled: but, on the contrary, He sanctified the body also. Loc 475 

• For if the sun too , which was made by Him , and which we see , as it revolves in the heaven , is not defiled1 by touching the bodies upon earth , nor is it put out by darkness , but on the contrary itself illuminates and cleanses them also , much less was the all - holy Word of God , Maker and Lord also of the sun , defiled by being made known in the body ; on the contrary , being incorruptible , He quickened and cleansed the body also , which was in itself mortal : “ who2 did , ” for so it says , “ no sin , neither was guile found in His mouth . ” Loc 478 

Chapter Eighteen

How the Word and Power of God works in His human actions: by casting out devils, by Miracles, by His Birth of the Virgin.  Loc 486 

• But just as from these things He was known to be bodily present, so from the works He did in the body He made Himself known to be Son of God. Loc 492 

• But if I do them, though ye believe not Me, believe My works; that ye may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Loc 494 

•  For who, seeing a body proceeding forth from a Virgin alone without man, can fail to infer that He Who appears in it is Maker and Lord of other bodies also? Loc 504 

•   Or who, seeing the substance of water changed and transformed into wine, fails to perceive that He Who did this is Lord and Creator of the substance of all waters? Loc 505

• Miracles show He is the creator

Chapter Nineteen 

Man, unmoved by nature, was to be taught to know God by that sacred Manhood, whose deity all nature confessed, especially in His Death. Loc 512 

•  But our next step must be to recount and speak of the end of His bodily life and course , and of the nature of the death of His body ; especially as this is the sum of our faith , and all men without exception are full of it : so that you may know that no whit the less from this also Christ is known to be God and the Son of God . Loc 522 

Chapter Twenty 

None, then, could bestow incorruption, but He Who had made, none restore the likeness of God, save His Own Image, none quicken, but the Life, none teach, but the Word. And He, to pay our debt of death, must also die for us, and rise again as our first - fruits from the grave. Mortal therefore His Body must be; corruptible, His Body could not be. Loc 525 

• And so it was that two marvels came to pass at once, that the death of all was accomplished in the Lord’s body, and that death and corruption were wholly done away by reason of the Word that was united with it. For there was need of death, and death must needs be suffered on behalf of all, that the debt owing from all might be paid.Location 544

Chapter Twenty-One 

Death brought to naught by the death of Christ. Why then did not Christ die privately, or in a more honorable way? He was not subject to natural death but had to die at the hands of others. Why then did He die? Nay but for that purpose He came, and but for that, He could not have risen. Location 555

•   Firstly, because the death which befalls men comes to them agreeably to the weakness of their nature; for, unable to continue in one stay, they are dissolved with time. Location 568

•   But since He was , firstly , the Life and the Word of God , and it was necessary , secondly , for the death on behalf of all to be accomplished , for this cause , on the one hand , because He was life and power , the body gained strength in Him ; Location 572

•  Hence, even if He died to ransom all, yet He saw not corruption. For [ His body] rose again in perfect soundness, since the body belonged to none other, but to the very Life. Location 580

Chapter Twenty-Two 

But why did He not withdraw His body from the Jews, and so guard its immortality? (1) It became Him not to inflict death on Himself, and yet not to shun it. (2) He came to receive death as the due of others, therefore it should come to Him from without. (3) His death must be certain, to guarantee the truth of His Resurrection. Also, He could not die from infirmity, lest He should be mocked in His healing of others. Location 583

•  The Savior came to accomplish not His own death , but the death of men ; whence He did not lay aside His body by a death of His own1 — for He was Life and had none — but received that death which came from men , in order perfectly to do away with this when it met Him in His own body . Location 591

Chapter Twenty-Three 

Necessity of a public death for the doctrine of the Resurrection. Location 604

•  He would have seemed on all hands to be telling idle tales, and what He said about the Resurrection would have been all the more discredited, as there was no one at all to witness to His death. Location 607

•  Or how could the end of death, and the victory over it be proved, unless challenging it before the eyes of all He had shown it to be dead, annulled for the future by the incorruption of His body? Location 618

• For the proclamation of the atoning work of Christ tone public and result in the freedom of it had to be a public crucifixion and death so that there we witnesses.

Chapter Twenty Four

Further objections anticipated. He did not choose His manner of death; for He was to prove Conqueror of death in all or any of its forms: (simile of a good wrestler). The death chosen to disgrace Him proved the Trophy against death: moreover, it preserved His body undivided. Location 622

•  So death came to His body, not from Himself , but from hostile counsels , in order that whatever death they offered to the Savior , this He might utterly do away . Location 629

• So something surprising and startling has happened; for the death , which they thought to inflict as a disgrace , was actually a monument of victory against death itself . Location 636

•  He took the death that came to him to show that he wasn’t choosing a n easy death Location 637

Chapter Twenty Five

Why the Cross, of all deaths? (1) He had to bear the curse for us. (2) On it He held out His hands to unite all, Jews and Gentiles, in Himself. (3) He defeated the “Prince of the powers of the air” in His own region, clearing the way to heaven and opening for us the everlasting doors. Location 641

•  For if He came Himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could He have “become a curse,” unless He received the death set for a curse? and that is the Cross. For this is exactly what is written: “Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree.” Location 646

• Whence it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out His hands, that with the one He might draw the ancient people, and with the other those from the Gentiles, and unite both in Himself. Location 651

•  For thus being lifted up He cleared the air of the malignity both of the devil and of demons of all kinds , as He says : “ I beheld7 Satan as lightning fall from heaven ; ” and made a new opening of the way up into heaven as He says once more : “ Lift8 up your gates , O ye princes , and be ye lift up , ye everlasting doors . ” Location 662

• He became a curse for us, he reconciled the far and then near by his blood and defeated Satan Location 665

Chapter Twenty Six

Reasons for His rising on the Third Day. (1) Not sooner for else His real death would be denied , nor (2) later ; to (a) guard the identity of His body , (b) not to keep His disciples too long in suspense , nor (c) to wait till the witnesses of His death were dispersed , or its memory faded . Location 672

•  His rising had to be at the right time so as to expel any objections that could rise. Location 674

•   For one might have said that He had not died at all, or that death had not come into perfect contact with Him, if He had manifested the Resurrection at once. Location 680

Chapter Twenty Seven

The change wrought by the Cross in the relation of Death to Man. Location 695

•  In Christ all believers have lost fear of death and Satan because they have been defeated. Location 696

•  For that death is destroyed , and that the Cross is become the victory over it , and that it has no more power but is verily dead , this is no small proof , or rather an evident warrant , that it is despised by all Christ’s disciples , and that they all take the aggressive against it and no longer fear it ; but by the sign of the Cross and by faith in Christ tread it down as dead . Location 696

• But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ tread him under as nought and choose rather to die than to deny their faith in Christ. Location 700

• For as when a tyrant has been defeated by a real king , and bound hand and foot , then all that pass by laugh him to scorn , buffeting and reviling him , no longer fearing his fury and barbarity , because of the king who has conquered him ; so also , death having been conquered and exposed by the Savior on the Cross , and bound hand and foot , all they who are in Christ , as they pass by , trample on him , and witnessing to Christ scoff at death , jesting at him , and saying what has been written against him of old : “ O death3 , where is thy victory ? O grave, where is thy sting.” Location 708

Chapter Twenty Eight

This exceptional fact must be tested by experience. Let those who doubt it become Christians. Location 715

• A challenge to those who doubt the outlook of Christians in relation to death to trust in Christ see for themselves

•  For man is by nature afraid of death and of the dissolution of the body; but there is this most startling fact, that he who has put on the faith of the Cross despises even what is naturally fearful, and for Christ’s sake is not afraid of death. Location 718

• But just as he who has got the asbestos knows that fire has no burning power over it , and as he who would see the tyrant bound goes over to the empire of his conqueror , so too let him who is incredulous about the victory over death receive the faith of Christ, and pass over to His teaching , and he shall see the weakness of death , and the triumph over it . Location 727

Chapter Twenty Nine

Here then are wonderful effects, and a sufficient cause, the Cross, to account for them, as sunrise accounts for daylight. Location 733

•  For when one sees men, weak by nature, leaping forward to death, and not fearing its corruption nor frightened of the descent into Hades, but with eager soul challenging it ; and not flinching from torture, but on the contrary, for Christ’s sake electing to rush upon death in preference to life upon earth, or even if one be an eye - witness of men and females and young children rushing and leaping upon death for the sake of Christ’s religion; who is so silly, or who is so incredulous, or who so maimed in his mind, as not to see and infer that Christ, to Whom the people witness, Himself supplies and gives to each the victory over death, depriving him of all his power in each one of them that hold His faith and bear the sign of the Cross . Location 742

Chapter Thirty

The reality of the resurrection proved by facts : ( 1 ) the victory over death described above : ( 2 ) the Wonders of Grace are the work of One Living , of One who is God : ( 3 ) if the gods be ( as alleged ) real and living , a fortiori He Who shatters their power is alive . Location 753

Note: Athanasius argues that if Christ had not risen then death still reigns.

•  For if, as our argument shewed, death has been brought to nought, and because of Christ all tread him under foot, much more did He Himself first tread him down with His own body, and bring him to nought. Location 758

• how could death have been shewn to be brought to nought unless the Lord’s body had risen? Location 760

•  For now that the Saviour works so great things among men , and day by day is invisibly persuading so great a multitude from every side , both from them that dwell in Greece and in foreign lands , to come over to His faith , and all to obey His teaching , will anyone still hold his mind in doubt whether a Resurrection has been accomplished by the Saviour, and whether Christ is alive , or rather is Himself the Life ? Location 764

• For where Christ is named, and His faith, there all idolatry is deposed and all imposture of evil spirits is exposed, and any spirit is unable to endure even the name, nay even on barely hearing it flies and disappears. But this work is not that of one dead, but of one that lives — and especially of GodLocation 770.

Chapter Thirty One

If Power is the sign of life, what do we learn from the impotence of idols, for good or evil, and the constraining power of Christ and of the Sign of the Cross? Death and the demons are by this proved to have lost their sovereignty. Coincidence of the above argument from facts with that from the Personality of Christ. Loc 775

Chapter Thirty Two

But who is to see Him risen, so as to believe? Nay, God is ever invisible and known by His works only: and here the works cry out in proof. If you do not believe, look at those who do, and perceive the Godhead of Christ. The demons see this, though men be blind. Summary of the argument so far. Location 796

• The way we know Christ has risen is the power for men today to forsake idols and change and by these things we know death has been brought to nothing. 

• As then demons confess Him, and His works bear Him witness day by day, it must be evident, and let none brazen it out against the truth, both that the Saviour raised His own body , and that He is the true Son of God , being from Him , as from His Father , His own Word , and Wisdom , and Power , Who in ages later took a body for the salvation of all , and taught the world concerning the Father , and brought death to nought , and bestowed incorruption upon all by the promise of the Resurrection , having raised His own body as a first - fruits of this , and having displayed it by the sign of the Cross as a monument of victory over death and its corruption . Location 812

Chapter Thirty Three

Unbelief of Jews and scoffing of Greeks. The former confounded by their own Scriptures. Prophecies of His coming as God and as Man. Location 817

 Note: Scripture is pervaded by promises of God to send his son and save the world come now let us put to rebuke both the disbelief of the Jews and the scoffing of the Gentiles.

Chapter Thirty Four

Prophecies of His passion and death in all its circumstances. Location 839

• Nor is even His death passed over in silence: on the contrary, it is referred to in the divine Scriptures, even exceeding clearly. For to the end that none should err for want of instruction in the actual events , they feared not to mention even the cause of His death , — that He suffers it not for His own sake , but for the immortality and salvation of all , and the counsels of the Jews against Him and the indignities offered Him at their hands .Location 840

Chapter Thirty Five

Prophecies of the Cross. How these prophecies are satisfied in Christ alone. Location 861

• Note: Scriptures testify that Jesus will die on the cross and his coming id confirmed by his birth which is different than any of Israel’s great men

•  But of Christ’s birth the witness was not man, but a star in that heaven whence He was descending. Location 882

Chapter Thirty Six

Prophecies of Christ’s sovereignty, flight into Egypt, & c. Location 890

Chapter Thirty Seven

 Psalm 22: 16, & c . Majesty of His birth and death. Confusion of oracles and demons in Egypt. Location 908

•  Note- Though many of the great men might have had enemies they died in peace. Jesus died under the cruelty of his enemies. Creation and even Egyptian idolaters acknowledged his Kingship at his birth

•  the hands of the people; true, he was pursued by Saul, but he was preserved unhurt. Location 911

•  Who then is he of whom the Divine Scriptures say this? Or who is so great that even the prophets predict of him such great things? None else, now, is found in the Scriptures but the common Saviour of all, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Location 918

• it was fitting that the King of Creation when He came forth should be openly recognized by all creation. Location 924

• He was born in Judaea, and men from Persia came to worship Him. He it is that even before His appearing in the body won the victory over His demon adversaries and a triumph over idolatry. Location 924

Chapter Thirty Eight

Other clear prophecies of the coming of God in the flesh. Christ’s miracles unprecedented. Location 933

• Note - There were a few miracles performed through the prophets, but Jesus came and performed the same miracles and exceeded even any miracles that have ever been performed to prove that he is the son of God

•  When, then, have they taken place, save when the Word of God Himself came in the body? Or when did He come, if not when lame men walked, and stammerers were made to speak plain, and deaf men heard, and men blind from birth regained their sight? For this was the very thing the Jews said who then witnessed it, because they had not heard of these things having taken place at any other time: “Since the world began it was never heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” Location 952

Chapter Thirty Nine

 Do you look for another? But Daniel foretells the exact time. Objections to this removed. Location 959

• Note - Using the prophecy of Daniel 9:24 this chapter shows that Christ is the savior who came to fulfil the prophecy in such a way that after him there was no other prophets that were raised to promise another messiah.

• “ Seventy1 weeks are cut short upon thy people , and upon the holy city , for a full end to be made of sin , and for sins to be sealed up , and to blot out iniquities , and to make atonement for iniquities , and to bring everlasting righteousness , and to seal vision and prophet , and to anoint a Holy of Holies ; and thou shalt know and understand from the going forth of the word to restore2 and to build Jerusalem unto Christ the Prince ” Location 964

Chapter Forty

Argument (1) from the withdrawal of prophecy and destruction of Jerusalem, (2) from the conversion of the Gentiles, and that to the God of Moses. What more remains for the Messiah to do, that Christ has not done?Location 977

Chapter Forty One

For if it were absurd for Him to have been in a body at all, it would be absurd for Him to be united with the whole either, and to be giving light and movement to all things by His providence. Location 1026

Chapter Forty Two

His union with the body is based upon His relation to Creation as a whole. He used a human body, since to man it was that He wished to reveal Himself. Location 1037

Chapter Forty Three

He came in human rather than in any nobler form, because (I) He came to save, not to impress; (2) man alone of creatures had sinned. As men would not recognize His works in the Universe, He came and worked among them as Man; in the sphere to which they had limited themselves. Location 1063

• Let them know that the Lord came not to make a display, but to heal and teach those who were suffering. Location 1066

• For the way for one aiming at display would be , just to appear , and to dazzle the beholders ; but for one seeking to heal and teach the way is , not simply to sojourn here , but to give himself to the aid of those in want , and to appear as they who need him can bear it ; that he may not , by exceeding the requirements of the sufferers , trouble the very persons that need him , rendering God’s appearance useless to them . Location 1067

• But men alone, having rejected what was good, then devised things of nought instead of the truth, and have ascribed the honour due to God, and their knowledge of Him, to demons and men in the shape of stones. Location 1071

Chapter Forty Four

As God made man by a word, why not restore him by a word? But (1) creation out of nothing is different from reparation of what already exists. (2) Man was there with a definite need, calling for a definite remedy. Death was ingrained in man’s nature: He then must wind life closely to human nature. Therefore, the Word became Incarnate that He might meet and conquer death in His usurped territory. (Simile of straw and asbestos.) Location 1090

• For it was not things without being that needed salvation, so that a bare command should suffice, but man, already in existence, was going to corruption and ruin. 2 It was then natural and right that the Word should use a human instrument and reveal Himself everywhither. Location 1100

•  Therefore, He put on a body, that He might find death in the body, and blot it out. Location 1112

Chapter Forty Five

Thus, once again every part of creation manifests the glory of God. Nature, the witness to her Creator, yields (by miracles) a second testimony to God Incarnate. The witness of Nature, perverted by man’s sin, was thus forced back to truth. If these reasons suffice not, let the Greeks look at facts. Location 1124

Chapter Forty Six

Discredit, from the date of the Incarnation, of idol - cultus, oracles, mythologies, demoniacal energy , magic , and Gentile philosophy . And whereas the old cults were strictly local and independent, the worship of Christ is catholic and uniform. Location 1147

Chapter Forty Seven

The numerous oracles, — fancied apparitions in sacred places, & c., dispelled by the sign of the Cross. The old gods prove to have been mere men. Magic is exposed. And whereas Philosophy could only persuade select and local cliques of Immortality, and goodness, — men of little intellect have infused into the multitudes of the churches the principle of a supernatural life. Location 1165

• Christ alone has been recognized among men as the true God, the Word of God. Location 1175

Chapter Forty Eight

Further facts. Christian continence of virgins and ascetics. Martyrs. The power of the Cross against demons and magic. Christ by His Power shews Himself more than a man, more than a magician, more than a spirit. For all these are totally subject to Him. Therefore, He is the Word of God. Location 1188

• Who by His own Name and Presence casts into the shade and brings to nought all things on every side, and is alone strong against all, and has filled the whole world with His teaching? Location 1195

• For if He is a man, how then has one man exceeded the power of all whom even themselves bold to be gods, and convicted them by His own power of being nothing? But if they call Him a magician, how can it be that by a magician all magic is destroyed, instead of being confirmed? Location 1198

•  For how is it possible that He should be a demon who drives the demons out? Location 1203

• Then , if the Saviour is neither a man simply , nor a magician , nor some demon , but has by His own Godhead brought to nought and cast into the shade both the doctrine found in the poets and the delusion of the demons and the wisdom of the Gentiles , it must be plain and will be owned by all , that this is the true Son of God , even the Word and Wisdom and Power of the Father from the beginning . For this is why His works also are no works of man, but are recognized to be above man , and truly God’s works , both from the facts in themselves , and from comparison with [ the rest of ] mankind . Location 1207

Chapter Forty Nine

His Birth and Miracles. You call Asclepius, Heracles, and Dionysus gods for their works. Contrast their works with His, and the wonders at His death, & c. Location 1213

• Or why, if Christ is, as they say, a man, and not God the Word, is not His worship prevented by the gods they have from passing into the same land where they are? Or why on the contrary does the Word Himself, sojourning here, by His teaching stop their worship and put their deception to shame? Location 1225

Chapter Fifty

Impotence and rivalries of the Sophists put to shame by the Death of Christ. His Resurrection unparalleled even in Greek legend. Location 1228

•  For whose death ever drove out demons? or whose death did demons ever fear, as they did that of Christ? For where the Saviour’s name is named, there every demon is driven out. Or who has so rid men of the passions of the natural man, that whoremongers are chaste, and murderers no longer hold the sword, and those who were formerly mastered by cowardice play the man? Location 1237

• Who persuaded men of barbarous countries and heathen men in divers places to lay aside their madness, and to mind peace, if it be not the Faith of Christ and the Sign of the Cross? Or who else has given men such assurance of immortality, as has the Cross of Christ, and the Resurrection of His Body? Location 1240

Chapter Fifty One

The new virtue of continence. Revolution of Society purified and pacified by Christianity. Location 1247

• Note - Only Christ is able to transform societies and turn enemies to friends

• What man has ever yet been able to pass so far as to come among Scythians and Ethiopians, or Persians or Armenians or Goths , or those we hear of beyond the ocean or those beyond Hyrcania, or even the Egyptians and Chaldees, men that mind magic and are superstitious beyond nature and savage in their ways, and to preach at all about virtue and self - control , and against the worshipping of idols, as has the Lord of all, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ? Location 1251

• But when they have come over to the school of Christ, then, strangely enough, as men truly pricked in conscience, they have laid aside the savagery of their murders and no longer mind the things of war: but all is at peace with them, and from henceforth what makes for friendship is to their liking. Location 1260

Chapter Fifty Two

Wars, & c., roused by demons, lulled by Christianity. Location 1264

• Who then is He that has done this, or who is He that has united in peace men that hated one another, save the beloved Son of the Father, the common Saviour of all , even Jesus Christ, Who by His own love underwent all things for our salvation ? Location 1265

• but when they hear the teaching of Christ , straightway instead of fighting they turn to husbandry, and instead of arming their hands with weapons they raise them in prayer, and in a word, in place of fighting among themselves, henceforth they arm against the devil and against evil spirits, subduing these by self - restraint and virtue of soul .Location 1271

• Why, they who become disciples of Christ, instead of warring with each other, stand arrayed against demons by their habits and their virtuous actions : and they rout them , and mock at their captain the devil ; so that in youth they are self - restrained, in temptations endure, in labours persevere, when insulted are patient, when robbed make light of it : and, wonderful as it is, they despise even death and become martyrs of Christ. Location 1276

Chapter Fifty Three

The whole fabric of Gentilism levelled at a blow by Christ secretly addressing the conscience of Man. Location 1283

•  what mere man or magician or tyrant or king was ever able by himself to engage with so many, and to fight the battle against all idolatry and the whole demoniacal host and all magic, and all the wisdom of the Greeks, while they were so strong and still flourishing and imposing upon all, and at one onset to check them all, as was our Lord, the true Word of God, Who, invisibly exposing each man’s error, is by Himself bearing off all men from them all, so that while they who were worshipping idols now trample upon them, those in repute for magic burn their books, and the wise prefer to all studies the interpretation of the Gospels? Location 1285

Chapter Fifty Four

The Word Incarnate, as is the case with the Invisible God, is known to us by His works. By them we recognize His deifying mission. Let us be content to enumerate a few of them, leaving their dazzling plentitude to him who will behold. Location 1300

• For He was made man that we might be made God; 1 and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality. Location 1306

• the achievements of the Saviour, resulting from His becoming man, are of such kind and number, that if one should wish to enumerate them, he may be compared to men who gaze at the expanse of the sea and wish to count its waves. Location 1310

• Better is it, then, not to aim at speaking of the whole, where one cannot do justice even to a part, but, after mentioning one more, to leave the whole for you to marvel at. For all alike are marvelous, and wherever a man turns his glance, he may behold on that side the divinity of the Word and be struck with exceeding great awe.Location 1314

Chapter Fifty Five

 Summary of foregoing. Cessation of pagan oracles, & c. : propagation of the faith . The true King has come forth and silenced all usurpers. Location 1318

•  since the Saviour has come among us , idolatry not only has no longer increased , but what there was is diminishing and gradually coming to an end : and not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer advance , but what there is now fading away : and demons , so far from cheating any more by illusions and prophecies and magic arts , if they so much as dare to make the attempt , are put to shame by the sign of the Cross . Location 1321

• behold how the Saviour’s doctrine is everywhere increasing, while all idolatry and everything opposed to the faith of Christ is daily dwindling, and losing power, and falling. Location 1324

• as, when the sun is come, darkness no longer prevails, but if any be still left anywhere it is driven away; so , now that the divine Appearing of the Word of God is come, the darkness of the idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are illumined by His teaching. Location 1326

• God appeared in a body, and made known to us His own Father, then at length the deceit of the evil spirits is done away and stopped, while men, turning their eyes to the true God, Word of the Father, are deserting the idols, and now coming to know the true God. Location 1333

Chapter Fifty Six

Search then, the Scriptures, if you can, and so fill up this sketch. Learn to look for the Second Advent and Judgment. Location 1337

• And you will also learn about His second glorious and truly divine appearing to us , when no longer in lowliness , but in His own glory , — no longer in humble guise , but in His own magnificence , — He is to come , no more to suffer , but thenceforth to render to all the fruit of His own Cross , that is , the resurrection and incorruption ; and no longer to be judged , but to judge all , by what each has done in the body , whether good or evil ; where there is laid up for the good the kingdom of heaven , but for them that have done evil everlasting fire and outer darkness .Location 1343

Chapter Fifty Seven

Above all, so live that you may have the right to eat of this tree of knowledge and life, and so come to eternal joys. Doxology. Location 1355

• For just as , if a man wished to see the light of the sun , he would at any rate wipe and brighten his eye , purifying himself in some sort like what he desires , so that the eye , thus becoming light , may see the light of the sun ; or as , if a man would see a city or country , he at any rate comes to the place to see it ; — thus he that would comprehend the mind of those who speak of God must needs begin by washing and cleansing his soul , by his manner of living , and approach the saints themselves by imitating their works ; so that , associated with them in the conduct of a common life , he may understand also what has been revealed to them by God , and thenceforth , as closely knit to them , may escape the peril of the sinners and their fire at the day of judgment , and receive what is laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven , which “ Eye hath not seen , 1 nor ear heard , neither have entered into the heart of man , ” whatsoever things are prepared for them that live a virtuous life , and love the God and Father , in Christ Jesus our Lord : through Whom and with Whom be to the Father Himself , with the Son Himself , in the Holy Spirit , honour and might and glory for ever and ever . Amen. Location 1360

What I am reading.

Articles

1. THE IMAGE OF GOD, RACE, AND INTELLECTUAL HONESTY

2. If You Use Your Phone as an Alarm Clock

3. IS THERE A THEOLOGICAL FAULT LINE BENEATH OUR NOSES?

4. 10 Ways for Every Pastor to Be More Relational

5. 4 Ways Acts 29 Helps Church Planters

Outline: St. Athanasius

Forbes, F. A. St. Athanasius. Standard-Bearers of the Faith. London; Glasgow: R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd., 1919. 978-0-89555-623-3. $7.59 98 pages

Raphael Mnkandhla 

Chapter One: A Foreshadowing 

This chapter introduces the reader to Alexandria the city where Athanasiu grew up

·      It starts with Alexander looking back at the persecuted church relishing on examples of Bishop Peter the last martyr. 

·      While he waits for guests, he notices boys playing and enacting the baptism of catechumens and from there he takes young Athanasius under him as a disciple.

·      Athanasius is seen as a young man who is keen to learn already wants to be a priest and knows the cost through peter. 

·      He is taken in a secretary by Alexander to learn and eventually becomes his advisor and is taken to Nicea

Chapter Two: Arius the Heresiarch 

·      This chapter introduces Arius who was at first deposed by the Bishop Peter because of his support of Meletians. After a vision from God of Christ’s garments torn Peter warns Alexander and Achilles not to restore Arius but they went against his counsel after his martyrdom and set him over one of the largest churches. 

·      Arius and Alexander never saw eye to eye and this the heresy started. 

·      After the bishop Alexander deposed of Arius, he went to gain support of Eusebius who was close to the emperor. 

·      The emperor had been given victory through the sign of the cross and had become a Catechumen. Constantine was deceived by Eusebius who argued it was his role to bring Arius and Alexander to reconcile. Wanting peace, he called for the council Nicaea to gather. 

·      Alexander was old and Athanasius accompanied him and was accused of advising him

Chapter Three: The Great Council 

·      The chapter begins by listing all the attendants of Nicaea and Athanasius is included.

·      Constantine was there taking a humble posture as a servant who wants to see peace prevail in the church. 

·      Also present is Alexander, Arius arguing Jesus is not God  and Athanasius is there as the deacon  who is given an opportunity to speak by Alexander. 

·      Eusebius argues the Arians believes everything the church believes but after some time the Arians are opposed 

·      Hosius draws up the Nicene creed, those present with the emperor approves the creed and he declared that any who go against will be condemned promising he will uphold the law.

·      The chapter ends with the emperor seeing through the deceit of Eusebius who had erased his name from the signed creed

Chapter Four:  The Calm Before The Storm 

This chapter describes the calm and accomplishments made before Athanasius and the church face persecution. 

·      Constantine begins to build the churches

·      Alexander dies and installs Athanasius as bishop at the age of 30. 

·      Athanasius helps establish the church in Ethiopia 

·      Pachomius is a monk of influence and he becomes friends with Athanasius. The friendship of monks is a strength to him in times of trouble. 

Chapter Five: False Witnesses 

Constantine begins to waver in his loyalty to the Nicene Creed under Eusebius’s persuasion. 

·      He is convinced to hear Arius who confirms that he believes what the church believes. Eusebius and Arius are restored, and Constantine proves changeable. 

·      They begin to depose other bishops and install Arians to gain power.

·      Their main target is Athanasius and the following are accusations against Athanasius his main enemy being Eusebius who was close to Constantine. 

o   Eusebius fought for Arius to be received for communion and Athanasius refused. Eusebius wrote to the emperor arguing he is too young and he should be threatened with exile. Athanasius replied the emperor and persuaded him it was not right. 

o   Meletians and Arians accused Athanasius of 

§  stealing taxes 

§   the Meletians accuses him of rebellion 

§  Anthony visited him to encourage and draw a line to condemn the Arians

§  Accused of breaking the chalice the man who had not been ordained 

§  Accused of killing Arsenious and Athanasius is summoned to come to Nicomedia. Arsenious is found presented in court the next time. 

Chapter Six: A Royal-Hearted Exile 

Eusebius continues accusing Athanasius.

·      Athanasius is accused to being violent killing Arsenious who is brought up to show he is alive, after this they accuse him of magic. 

·      Athanasius accused by the Arians and called to trial knew that he wouldn’t gain a fair trial and he met Constantine to give him a fair trial. 

·      With the Arians having already deposed Athanasius, in front of Constantine they accused Athanasius for preventing grain to go to Constantinople which infuriated Constantine.

·       Athanasius is banished for the first time. Antony even wrote to Constantine appealing to him and he refused

·      In exile Athanasius continued to pastor through writing. 

·      Alexander was forced to admit Arius into communion, having prayed and fasted Arius died before partaking. 

·      Eusebius elected Gregory for bishop who used force to try to control people. All who resisted were killed scourged 

·      Athanasius was exiled in Rome. 

Chapter Seven: The Day of Rejoicing

After four years of tyrant the Alexandrians killed Gregory. 

·      Even after Eusebius died, the Arians drew up their own creed, but it was rejected. In response they formed their own council 

·      The council of Sardica declared Athanasius innocent 

·      Pope Julius wrote you the Alexandrians and they rejoiced at his coming back 

·      Pope Julius in praise of their Patriarch. “If precious metals,” he wrote, “such as gold and silver, are tried in the fire, what can we say of so great a man, who has been through so many perils and afflictions, and who returns to you, having been declared innocent by the judgment of the whole Synod? Receive, therefore, beloved, with all joy and glory to God, your Bishop Athanasius.” Never had Alexandria seen such rejoicings. The people thronged forth from the city to meet their exiled Patriarch, singing hymns of rejoicing, waving branches of trees, and throwing rich carpets upon the road along which he was to pass. Every little hillock was crowded with people thirsting for a sight of that beloved face and figure. It was six years since they had seen him, and what had they not suffered during his absence? ( 79-80) 

·      Athanasius resumed work to strengthen the church, he pardoned those who were led astray and restored the work of the church. 

·      The present moment was the Patriarch’s, and he determined to use it to the full. The Bishops of Egypt gathered round him; widows and orphans were provided for; the poor housed and fed, and the faithful warned against false doctrines. The churches were not large enough to hold the crowds that flocked to them. It was a time of peace which God vouchsafed to His people to strengthen them for the coming storm. ( 80) 

·      This was short time of peace which Athanasius took advantage of to ordain more bishops and write to the monks who looked for guidance from him. 

·      Letters from Athanasius were a powerful weapon in defence of the truth. ( 81) 

·      Constans killed and Constantias who had pledged loyalty to Athanasius turned on him

·      Athanasius yielded to leading Easter in a building that had not been dedicated and this brought charges. 

·      Syriannus came to Alexandria and at midnight he was surrounded 

·      In the dim light of the sanctuary Athanasius sat on the Bishop’s throne, calm and unmoved in the midst of the tumult. “Read the 135th Psalm,” he said to one of the deacons, “and when it is finished all will leave the church.” The words rang out through the building with their message of hope and confidence and were answered by the people. (84) 

·      Into the darkness of the winter’s night he fled, an exile and a fugitive once more. (85) 

Chapter Eight The Invisible Patriarch 

The bishops who had sided with nicea had been exiled 

·      St. Anthony, over a hundred years old, was on his death-bed. His monks, crowding round the dying Saint, groaned over the evil days that had befallen the Church.“Fear not,” replied the old man, “for this power is of the earth and cannot last. As for the sufferings of the Church, was it not so from the beginning, and will it not be so until the end? Did not the Master Himself say, ‘They have persecuted Me, they will persecute you also’?” Did not the “perils from false brethren” begin even in the lifetime of those who had been the companions of Christ? And yet, had not the Master Himself promised that, although she must live in the midst of persecution, He would be with His Church for ever, and that the gates of Hell should not prevail against her?’ 9 (87-88)

·      In Alexandria Athanasius was declared a runaway, yet people were loyal to him as their bishop. Athanasius was denounced as a “run-away, an evil-doer, a cheat and an impostor, deserving of death.” Letters came from the Emperor ordering all the churches in the city to be given up to the Arians, and requiring the people to receive without objections the new Patriarch whom he would shortly send them.(88-89)

·      Things got worse under the Arians. Churches were burned, tortured and Arians were installed 

·      constantias sent George to take Athanasius place. George was so dishonest, pork butcher who wanted to make money 

·      They had not long to wait. Even Gregory had been humane compared with George of Cappadocia. Monasteries were burned down; Bishops, priests, virgins, widows—all, in fact, who were faithful to the Church—were insulted, tortured or slain. Many died in consequence of the treatment they had received; others were forced into compliance. The troops of the Emperor, with an Arian at their head, were there to do George’s bidding. ( 90-91) 

·      Athanasius was invisible, but his voice could not be silenced, and it was a voice that moved the world. Treatise after treatise in defense of the true faith; letter after letter to the Bishops of Egypt, to his friends, and to the faithful, were carried far and wide by the hands of trusty messengers. The Arians had the Roman Emperor on their side, but the pen of Athanasius was more powerful than the armies of Constantius. ( 91-92) 

·      For six years he eluded those who searched for him because the monks hid him and were willing to die for them as one of their own. He was always warned on time. 

·      The Arians gave the title eternal to constantias the title that they didn’t give to Christ. Arians made statement and eventually argued that they never meant that Jesus Christ was not a creature only that he was  a different kind of creature. They called themselves Semi- Arians. 

·      Constantius was dead, and that his nephew Julian had succeeded him as Emperor. The moment of reckoning had come. George was seized by the pagan population and literally torn to pieces; his body was burnt, and its ashes scattered to the winds. ( 95)

·      Julian the apostate declared himself a pagan. He allowed everyone to practice religion as they wanted. His methods were different. Privileges were granted to the pagans which were denied to the Church; the Galileans, as Julian called the Christians, were ridiculed, and paganism praised as the only religion worthy of educated men.

·      The results were not what the Emperor had expected, and he complained bitterly that there were so few who responded to his efforts to enlighten them. As for the Church, she knew at least what she had to expect; an open enemy is less dangerous than a false friend. ( 96)

Chapter Nine: A Short-Lived Peace 

Athanasius has a short-lived peace but he took advantage of it. He pardoned the people that had been deceived of Arianism.l 

·      He returned after 6 years. Many pagans who had watched the behavior of the Christians under persecution now came forward and asked to join the Church, amongst them some Greek ladies of noble family whom Athanasius himself instructed and baptized. News of this reached the ears of the Emperor Julian, who was already furious at the influence that this Christian Bishop of Alexandria was exercising throughout the whole empire. (99) 

·      Julian sends a letter to the governor of Egypt to depose Athanasius. The Patriarch had been barely eight months in Alexandria when the Governor of Egypt received a message from his Royal master. “Nothing that I could hear of would give me greater pleasure,” he wrote, “than the news that you have driven that miscreant out of the country.” (100) 

·      The people were inconsolable, but Athanasius comforted them. “This time it is only a passing cloud,” he said; “it will soon be over.” Then, recommending his flock to the most trusted of his clergy, he left the city, an exile once more. It was not a moment too soon. Scarcely had he vanished when the messengers of Julian arrived. ( 101) 

·      Athanasius runs to the desert and Julian kept on with his paganism. 

Chapter Ten: The Last Exile 

Athanasius is led to exile again but welcomed all at Hermopolis. Julian was persistent in finding him and seemed he would succeed but news came that he had died and replaced by Jovian. 

·      Jovian was on Athanasius side he wrote to him. “Jovian—to Athanasius, the faithful servant of God,” it ran. “As we are full of admiration for the holiness of your life, and your zeal in the service of Christ our Saviour, we take you from this day forth under our Royal protection. We are aware of the courage which makes you count as nothing the heaviest labours, the greatest dangers, the sufferings of persecution, and the fear of death. You have fought faithfully for the Truth, and edified the whole Christian world, which looks to you as a model of every virtue. It is therefore our desire that you should return to your See and teach the doctrine of salvation. Come back to your people, feed the flock of Christ, and pray for our person, for it is through your prayers that we hope for the blessing of God.” (110-111)

·      The Arians tried to accuse him and Jovian argued for Athanasius. 

·      Jovian had been but a few months on the throne, when he died suddenly on his way from Antioch to Constantinople. He was succeeded by Valentinian, who, unfortunately for the peace of the Church, chose his brother Valens to help him in the government, taking the West for his own share of the empire, and leaving the East to his brother. (113) 

·      Athanasius faced persecution again with the governor looking for him. For four long months he remained in concealment, at the end of which time the Governor, fearing an outbreak amongst the people, for the whole of Egypt was in a ferment, persuaded Valens to let him return in peace to his see. ( 116)

Chapter Eleven: The Truce of God

The people wanted Athanasius as their bishop and this time whenever the emperor tried to install another bishop the people were in uproar.

·      His pen was still busy. One of his first acts on his return to Alexandria was to write the life of St. Anthony, a last tribute of love and gratitude to the memory of his dear old friend. The book was eagerly read; we are told in the “Confessions of St. Augustine” how two young officers of the Imperial army, finding it on the table of a certain hermitage near Milan and reading it, were so inspired by enthusiasm for the religious life that they embraced it then and there. ( 118) 

·      Many of the persecuted Bishops looked to Athanasius for the comfort and encouragement which they never sought in vain. He was always ready to forget the past, and to make advances even to those who had been his bitterest enemies. Let them only accept the creed of Nicæa, he said, and he would admit them to communion. ( 118-119.) 

·      Athanasius corresponded with Basil who was also being hard pressed by the Arians and encouraged him. His example helped him to stand against the opposition. 

·      He continued to influence many through writing. 

·      In 366 Pope Liberius died, and was succeeded by Pope St. Damasus, a man of strong character and holy life. Two years later, in a Council of the Church, it was decreed that no Bishop should be consecrated unless he held the creed of Nicæa. Athanasius was overwhelmed with joy on hearing this decision. The triumph of the cause for which he had fought so valiantly was now assured. His life was drawing to an end. Five years later, after having governed his diocese for forty-eight years—years of labour, endurance, and suffering—he passed peacefully into the presence of that Lord for whose sake he had counted all his tribulations as joy. ( 123-124) 

·      Great summary of his life : From his earliest youth he bad stood forth as the champion of Truth and defender of the Faith—a gallant warrior who had not laid down his arms until the day of his death. Where a weaker man would have lost courage, he had stood firm; suffering had only served to temper his spirit, as steel is tempered by the fire. Amongst men who were capable of every compromise he had remained loyal and true, and few have been more loved or hated than he. To his own people he was not only their Bishop, but a Saint, an ascetic, a martyr in all but deed; above all, an intensely lovable personality, whose very greatness of soul only made him more compassionate. To the outside world he was a guiding light, a beacon pointing straight to God and Heaven. He was a living example of the truth that a man may be large-minded and yet strong; that he may hate error, yet love the erring—stand like a rock against heresy, yet be full of compassion for heretics.

·      Scarcely was he dead when he was honoured as a Saint. Six years after his death, St. Gregory Nazianzen speaks of him in one breath with the patriarchs, prophets, and martyrs who had fought for the Faith and won the crown of glory. His influence is with us to this day, his memory lingers in the words of that Nicene Creed which was his war-cry; for it is largely owing to his valour that we possess it still. And through all his works breathes the same spirit—the spirit that nerved him to fight and suffer—an intense love and devotion to Him who was the Lord and Master of his life—Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. ( 124-125) 

Book Outline: St. Athanasius: His Life and Times R. Wheler Bush

Bush, R. Wheler. St. Athanasius: His Life and Times. The Fathers for English Readers. London; Brighton; New York: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1888. $11,97 293 pages

Raphael Mnkandhla 

Chapter One: This chapter introduces the reader to Alexandria the city where Athanasius was born, raised and died. It was a city of different nationalities, varied religions, with a population enlightened by commerce, devoted to the pursuit of literature, and accustomed to the teaching of an eclectic philosophy. This is where Christianity also began to Thrive. 

Alexandria was a city that had many people’s attention because of its beauty. Founded by Alexander the Great the city was marked off into three distinct regions. 

1.     Extremely west of the city is the Egyptian quarter where seafaring community had gathered together even before the days of homer. There Athanasius would have gazed with regret, not unmixed with wonder, on the “Serapeium,” the magnificent Temple of Serapis—whatever deity Serapis might symbolise or personify—which Dean Milman describes as “the proudest monument of pagan religious architecture next to that of Jupiter in the Capitol,” and which Rufinus speaks of as one of the wonders of the world, its architecture combining the grandeur of Egyptian, with the beauty of Grecian, art. There, too, was to be seen the smaller library, called the “Daughter,” with its 200,000 volumes. (5)

2.     The Jews quarter was on the east, called Brucheim. This was the royal or Hellenic district, and was the largest in extent. Here could be found the royal palace and the seat of the Roman Government. Here, contiguous to the long central avenue of the city, arose the celebrated library, containing from 400,000 to 700,000 volumes, industriously, perhaps unscrupulously, collected by the kings of the Lagid dynasty—“Elegantiæ regum curæque egregium opus.(5) 

3.     The Jews’ quarter constituted the third division of the city, occupying the eastern extremity of Alexandria. This quarter would, no doubt, have possessed no little interest for Athanasius. It had its own walls, its own Ethnarch, or Arabarches, its own Sanhedrim, and its own laws. Between the Alexandrian Hellenists and the Jews frequent and sanguinary contests took place, the product of religious or political animosities. We learn from the New Testament (Acts 6:9) that they had their synagogues for worship, some of whose members are represented as hotly disputing with Stephen.(5)

4.     Athanasius grew up in diverse city They would undoubtedly have had their effect. But intercourse with such a population as Alexandria contained must have had its moulding influence upon his cast of thought and on the general tone of his character. His mind must have been enlarged as he was thrown into constant contact with men of almost every nation under heaven, who assembled there for the purpose either of commercial enterprise, or intellectual training, or religious improvement, or theological discussion and research.(8)

5.     Such a city and such inhabitants tended to form and mould the mind, the heart, the imagination, and the spirit of the great Athanasius. (9)

6.     It would seem probable a priori that in a city of such different nationalities and of such varied religions as Alexandria—with a population enlightened by commerce, devoted to the pursuit of literature, and accustomed to the teaching of an eclectic philosophy—the prejudices against the reception of a new religion would not be so great as elsewhere.(12)

Chapter 2: The birth, boyhood, and youth of Athanasius 

·      This chapter begins by lamenting the fact that there are no records of the life of Athanasius from the pen of any of his friends or contemporaries. 

·      Eusebius cannot be fully trusted in his account because of his favoring Arianism 

·      More is learned from his own works 

·      The exact date of his birth is also involved in no slight a degree of uncertainty. It probably occurred in the year 296 a.d., though some writers have thought that it took place in 290 a.d. Athanasius tells us in his “History of the Arians” (64) that he had no personal recollection of the persecution under Maximian that took place in the year 303 a.d. Had he been born before the year 296—which is usually assigned as the date of his birth—it can scarcely be supposed that he would have retained no remembrance of the cruelties then inflicted upon the Christians. And, moreover, when he was made bishop, soon after 325 a.d. (the time of the Nicene Council), he was regarded as a decidedly young man—too young, in fact, according to the Arians, to have been legally consecrated, though he would then have been, in accordance with the earlier reckoning, in his thirty-seventh year.(18-19)

Chapter 3: Athanasius appointed secretary of Alexander 

·      Athanasius serving under Alexander and gaining influence in the church as the chief deacon 

Chapter 4 :  The rise of Arianism and the council of Nicea

·      Arius birth and influence 

·      The council of Nicaea called 

Chapter 7: Athanasius made Archbishop of Alexandria 

·      After the Nicene council Athanasius gained fame as the deacon of Alexandria because of his intelligence and love for orthodoxy.

·      Alexander died five months after Nicaea in 326 A.D and Athanasius unwillingly became the Bishop of Alexandria. 

·      Becoming the head of the Alexandrian church meant to become the head of the Egyptian churches as well. He consecrated 

Chapter 8: A Time for Peace –(Eccles.3:8) 

·      He enjoyed a short time of peace and this is when he through Frumentius started the church in Abyssinia. The love of Christ was kindled in Ethiopia. 

·      In Thebaid Arians and Meletians were causing anxiety amongst the churches and Athanasius joined with Pachonius a monk with a great following. In this community he met Antony. This community were vastly influential to his progress in the struggles with Arianism. 

Chapter 9 : False Charges against Athanasius 

The quiet days of Athanasius were soon past and over. The bravery which he had displayed at the Nicene Council in opposing Arianism had raised up against him a host of embittered enemies, relentless in their hostility, and incapable of forgiveness. They scarcely ever allowed him from the time of his consecration to the last hour of his life a single day of undisturbed repose. Scheme succeeded scheme, and plot followed plot. Accusations against him on the part of the Arians never ceased. (89) 

·      330 A. D Eusebius induced Constantine against Athanasius. While the emperor had maintained neutrality, it was after Nicaea he upheld it. He was asked to relisten to Arius and asked Athanasius to receive him again into communion who refused. 

·      Athanasius opposed the view that Arius views were merely misunderstood and stood his ground. This is when Eusebius brought in Constantine and brought false charges against Athanasius. 

o   Charged and cleared of usurping governmental authority and diverting goods

o   Charged of shattering a chalice but this was found to be false 

Chapter 10: Graver Plots Against Athanasius 

·      They accused him of killing Arsenius and he was summoned to the emperor but he was proven to be alive. 

·      Eusebius accused him again and called a council and Athanasius brought Arsenius as evidence that he was alive 

·      Athanasius knowing that he would never have fair trial he presented himself to the emperor knowing that he had been condemned by the Arians. 

·      From whatever motives Constantine may have acted—and his motives were not unfrequently difficult to discover—he abruptly ended the trial by sending the bishop, as an exile, to the far-off city of Trier or Treves, the capital of the first province of Belgium, where his eldest son, Constantine, held his court, and where the imperial viceroys had their residence. By this son the bishop was received with kindness and consideration, in February of the year 336 a.d. (108)

·      This was the first Exile of Athanasius. 

Chapter 11: Athanasius’ First Exile Passed at Treves

·      The city of Treves was one in which the Emperor Constantine the Great had frequently dwelt from 306 to 331 a.d., and in which, as we have seen, his eldest son Constantine was now residing. ( 110)

·      He was allowed to write letters to the churches. At this time—in his days of comparative quietness and peace—he wrote to the presbyters of Alexandria, urging them to enter fully into the Apostle’s words, and to make them their own,—“Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ.” And still later on, at the beginning of the year 338 a.d., he addressed a “Festal Letter” to the Church, in which he assures his fellow-Christians that, though “absent in the flesh,” he should still be “present in the spirit,” and keep the Easter feast in heart with them (“Fest. Ep.” 10). He also affectionately reminded them that the road to consolation often led through affliction; that God’s saints must expect the opposition of the unbelievers; but that those whose life was hid in Christ would eventually gain the crown. (112)

·      This is the time when Constantine died at 63 after reigning for 31 years.  

·      Athanasius was exiled two and half years and when he was restored he arrived in Alexandria in November, 338 a.d. He was received by the Church with sympathetic congratulation and rejoicing (“Apol. c. Arian.” § 7). In the different churches thanksgivings for his safe return were earnestly offered up, and his clergy declared that the day of his return was the happiest day in their lives. It was observed as an annual festival. (114-115)

Chapter 12: Fresh Troubles on his return to his See 

·      The animosity against Athanasius increased and Eusebius was his persistent enemy with accusations brought to the emperor. Sometimes the emperor believed and Athanasius ended up displaced from his church. 

·      Constantine II who was favorable to Athanasius died and this led to Athanasius taking up residence in the church in Theonas 

·      Gregory, who was Arian, was sent to be installed as Bishop of Alexandria and when the city protested against it and the Arian persecution erupted. 

·      The season of Lent was disfigured by an Arian persecution. Gregory, enraged, it is said, at the loathing shown by the orthodox at his entering into a certain church, caused Philagrius, on Good Friday, to scourge thirty-four women, one of whom held a Psalter in her hand; and on Easter Day, to the satisfaction of the heathen population of the city, he imprisoned many orthodox believers. Some captains of ships were put to the torture in order to make them take Gregory’s “Letters of Communion.” The clergy were not allowed to visit the sick or to baptise; the laity could not pray undisturbed in their own houses; an indictment, in which Athanasius was charged with capital offences, which bore the signatures alike of heathens and Arians, was intrusted to Philagrius for presentation to the Emperor.(120-121)

Chapter 13: His second Exile Spent at Rome 

·      Athanasius is exiled for the second time and is welcomed by Julius and is housed in the Church of Rome where he attends services. 

·      He was attended at Rome by two Egyptian Monks Isidore and Ammonius and they were a wonder to the church for their piety. This is why Athanasius is seen as one who introduced monastic life to the church in Rome.

·      Athanasius still wrote letters to the church as a way of pastoring For, troubled as we are, because we are so far from you, He moves us to write, that by a letter we might comfort ourselves, and provoke one another to good.” (126) 

·      After a year and a half of exile in Rome Julius gathered a council and when the letter of the Eusebians was read, Athanasius’ case was examined. When the Council had examined into these different allegations, and had heard the evidence on both sides, they pronounced Athanasius to be “innocent” in respect to the charges made against him, and fully recognised his right to be admitted to Church privileges and, brotherly treatment at the hands of the Bishop of Rome, which treatment he had, in fact, continued to receive from Julius from the very first.(129) 

·      This is the time when the Athanasian creed was written, yet it is disputed if he wrote it. 

·      Athanasius, it would seem, continued to reside at Rome until the fourth year from the time of his arrival—the summer of 343 a.d (131) 

Chapter 14: Councils of Milan and Sardica 

·      In the summer of 343 a.d., Constans wrote a letter to Athanasius, desiring the archbishop to join him at Milan. He found that some prelates had exerted themselves to induce Constans to convene a fresh Council, at which bishops both of the Eastern and Western Churches should be present, that so, if possible, an end might be put to the troubles of the Church.(132)

·      They repeat all the old charges against Athanasius, accusing him, in addition, of cruelty and oppression; of restoring bishops condemned by different councils; of acting in a most arbitrary and tyrannical manner on his return to Alexandria; and they conclude by urging their friends no longer to communicate with him and others whom they name, affirming that it was opposed to all ecclesiastical rule and discipline that the Churches of the West should set aside the decisions of those of the East. It would appear, from the statements of Athanasius, that the members of the Council acted with great violence after they quitted Sardica.( 136) 

·      In the meantime the Council at Sardica prosecuted their investigations, and, as the result of their careful and deliberate inquiries, their sifting of evidence, and their examination of witnesses, pronounced Athanasius to be innocent, and restored him, with every expression of affection, to his see. They also acquitted Marcellus of Ancyra, and Asclepas of Gaza. At the same time they excommunicated eleven Eusebian bishops, who had “separated (they said) the Son from the Father, and so merited separation from the Catholic Church,” and had been guilty of numberless cruelties and much evil to the orthodox.( 136–137.)

Chapter 15: Athanasisus’s second Restoration to his see 

·      Gregory was slain by the people 

·      Six years had now passed away since Athanasius had been so kindly received by Julius on his first arrival at the metropolis of the West. And now Julius, in a letter of the greatest beauty and warmth of feeling (Athan., “Apol.,” § 52; Soc., ii. 23), congratulates the Alexandrian Church upon the restoration of their beloved bishop, whose many virtues and excellences he recounts, and in whose private friendship he rejoiced; and compliments them on the firm faith which they had themselves displayed during this long period of suffering and bereavement, dilating upon the gladness with which they would welcome him on his return; and concludes his letter with the prayer that they might be partakers of joys which eye had not seen nor ear heard. “If precious metals (he says), such as gold and silver, are tried by the fire, what can be worthily said of so great a man, who has overcome the perils of so many afflictions, and who returns to you, having been declared innocent, not only by us, but by the judgment of the whole synod? Receive, therefore, beloved brethren, with all joy, and glory to God, your Bishop Athanasius.” (141)

·      Constantius exonerated Athanasius. And even the bishops who had opposed him recanted. 

·      His return :never was a bishop received with such acclamations and such rejoicings before. “His whole course,” it has been remarked, “was that of an adventurous and wandering prince, rather than of a persecuted theologian; and when in the brief intervals of triumph he was enabled to return to his native city, his entrance was like that of a sovereign rather than of a prelate.” (146)

·      His attitude towards his enemies was remarkable : Gregory also tells us how gracious and kindly was the bearing of Athanasius towards all his former opponents, and how earnestly he strove to unite every one in the bonds of peace and mutual affection. By such conduct on his part charity prevailed, religious feeling was deepened and strengthened, and self-devotion stimulated. We read that “the hungry and the orphans were sheltered and maintained, and every household by its devotion transformed into a church” (Theod., ii. 12) ( 146) 

·      He received congratulations from Antony, the monks and other bishops. The work of the gospel continued to thrive after his return. 

Chapter 16: Life. And work at Alexandria 

·      After six years of being away Athanasius was resumed his ministry, but his peace was disturbed when he found out that Constans had been killed and now the Roman Empire was under the rule of Constantius. 

·      Athanasius enjoyed a short time of peace with Constantius promising to uphold his freedom the same way Constans had done. 

·      During this time he ordained many, made many alliances with bishops. It was a season—we can scarcely doubt—of strange and unwonted quiet and repose for the bishop, which continued perhaps for nearly three years (“Hist. Arian.,” § 25). The Church seemed to enjoy at length the blessing of peace; but, after all, it was in appearance rather than in reality. She had soon to learn the humiliating lesson that reliance on kings was but a poor and frail support to depend upon. ( 149) 

·      During this time he wrote the letters :On the Nicene definition of Faith , On the Opinion of Dionysius , and Apology against. The the Arians 

·      Accusations against him to the emperor never stopped and finally he caved in. Influenced by such an appeal as this, Constantius at once forgot all the solemn promises which he had before made to Athanasius, all thought of the memory of Constans, and openly went over to the side of the Arians, and zealously espoused their cause. (152) 

·      The emperor began to seek for support to condemn Athanasius from influential Bishops even toturing some with new accusations coming up. Athanasius was accused of using an non dedicated church for Easter and conspiring against the emperor. 

·      He was a man who trusted in God and was defended by many. A remarkable event of syranus and 5000 soldiers surrounding him shows how his faith was applied practically. 

·      at midnight on Thursday, February 8th, when the Bishop was engaged in a vigil-service which lasted through the night at the Church of St. Theonas, previous to the sacramental service of the next day, Syrianus the general, with 5,000 soldiers, and with Hilarius the notary, and Gorgonius the chief of the police, surrounded the church on every side. Athanasius tells us (in his “Apol. pro Fugâ,” 24) that, when he heard the ill-omened uproar without, he sat down on his episcopal throne, in the depth of the choir, which was dimly lighted with lamps, and requested the deacon to read the 136th psalm, to which the people were to respond, “For His mercy endureth for ever;” and after this the congregation was to quit the Church. This solemn recitation was hardly ended before the doors of the church were violently broken open, and the brutal soldiery forced their way into the sacred building, discharging their arrows, and brandishing their swords, in the midst of the unarmed congregation, their shouts mingling with the clash of their weapons (162-163) 

Chapter 17: His third exile spent in the desert

·      George who is a cruel man , violent is made bishop by constantias Many he robbed of their inheritance; he secured a monopoly of the nitre, papyrus, and salt-lakes of Egypt; he made profit even out of funerals, by only allowing the dead to be carried in biers or painted coffins of his own manufacture. ( 166) 

·      During this time Athanasius wrote:    The Encyclical Letter to the Egyptian and Libyan Bishops against the Arians.

·      It concludes thus: “But of these things I have no care; for I know and am persuaded that they who endure shall receive a reward from our Saviour; and that ye also, if ye endure as the Fathers did, and show yourselves examples to the people, and overthrow these strange and alien devices of impious men, shall be able to glory, and say, ‘We have kept the faith;’ and ye shall receive the ‘crown of life,’ which God ‘hath promised to them that love Him.’ And God grant that I also, together with you, may inherit the promises which were given, not to Paul only, but also to all them who have loved the appearing of our Lord, and Saviour, and God, and universal King, Jesus Christ.” ( 167) 

·      There was a search for Athanasius everywhere. We hear that at Easter bishops, presbyters, virgins, widows, and the orthodox in general, were alike subjected to insult, violence, and persecution. Monasteries were burnt down—private houses were sacked—tombs were again violated in their search for Athanasius. On the Sunday after Pentecost, in the evening, at a time when the faithful had met together in a cemetery for worship apart from the Arianizers, the Duke Sebastian, an Imperial officer, and also a Manichæan, violent in temper, who sympathised with George, beset the place where they were assembled with 3,000 soldiers, and, finding some virgins and others engaged in prayer, when they refused to adopt the Arian Creed, ordered them to be scourged, and that, too, with such severity, that some died in consequence, the last rites being denied to their dead bodies. ( 167-168) 

·      The desert filled with exiled bishops facing persecution

·      Athanasius is declared a run away by constans and he turned the derset into a home. Athanasius was able in his own practice to reconcile both the life of the hermit and of the Cœnobite. In him it might truly be said that the active and contemplative life met.At this time Antony died, and left his well-worn sheepskin cloak—which was the garment usually put on by the monks, and which, when it was new, Athanasius had given him—with the request that it might be returned to its donor. ( 169-170) 

·      Feeing like an outcast he turned to the desert

·      He kept constant communication by letters-place and faith Athanasius was thus handed on from monastery to monastery, and from cell to cell, sheltered from capture by those among whom he was living, with all the strange experiences in his flight and wanderings, which, in after days, might—it has been remarked—have been shared in by a Vendean or a Jacobite. ( 171)

·      When a pause in the pursuit occurred, we find him actively engaged in correspondence with his brethren, encouraging, cheering, and advising them in their different difficulties and perplexities, and informing Serapion that the letters which he had received from his friends were of the greatest comfort to him, as proving their kindly feelings and their interest in his welfare. (171) 

Chapter 18: The literary harvest of his third exile 

But during those six years of seclusion, when hiding in the midst of the caves and deserts of Egypt, we are struck with the wonderful power which Athanasius possessed of adapting himself to the circumstances under which he was placed,—a power in which he so much resembled the Apostle of the Gentiles. During that time he zealously devoted himself to literary work of different kinds, not only controversial, but also historical. He was able to pour forth from the rich stores of knowledge which he had already accumulated one work after another; for he could scarcely have obtained either any use of books to aid him, or any assistance from the living. ( 173) 

o   Wrote an apology to constantias where he maintains his innocence on all the charges

o   He wrote an apology for his flight 

o   He appealed to the examples of Jacob, and Moses, and David, and Elijah in his justification. Moreover—in addition to the conduct of different distinguished saints of God—he dwelt upon the example of Christ Himself, who avoided danger when He deemed it right to do so. He fled, so he tells us, not because he was afraid to die, but in compliance with the injunctions of Christ, that men should wait their appointed time, and not rashly tempt God; and he affirmed that he was always ready to meet death rather than renounce the faith of Christ. (175)

o   Wrote his letter to the monks: In it he narrated the calamities in which the Church was involved; the corrupt and wicked practices of the Arians; and the sufferings of the orthodox in defence of the Catholic faith. The letter was, in all probability, written in the year 358 a.d. (176)

o   He wrote the letter to Serapion 

o   He wrote four Orations on the Arians

Chapter 19: His third restoration to his see 

o   Athanasius after being restored convened a council that called for people that had the privildege of church membership to be restored through confessing the Nicene creed. 

o   It was found that the differences, when investigated, were rather verbal than real; that when, for example, three hypostases were spoken of, it was understood to mean three “really existing persons,” and when one hypostasis was asserted, it was intended to convey the idea of one “essence.”

o   The work of the council was a work of reconciliation 

o   Athanasius is exiled again after Julian is informed that Athanasius has resumed his see and he had baptized Greek ladies. 

o   Julian called Athanasius the “foe of the gods,” as a “meddler,” a “miscreant,” a “paltry manikin,” and as one who had ventured, in his reign, to baptize Greek ladies, referring to some conversions from paganism which he had brought about since his return. (191) 

Chapter 20: His fourth exile by the banks of the Nile 

o   Athanasius is pursued by the governor under Julian’s orders and barely escapes. 

o   Ahanasius was met bishops, clergy and monks Athanasius quitted his boat, and mounted on an ass, which Theodore led, and so made his way through a vast throng of monks, who bore lanterns and torches, and sang psalms. The archbishop cried out on seeing them, “It is not we that are fathers, it is these men, devoted to humility and obedience;—blessed, indeed, and worthy of all praise are these men who always carry the Lord’s Cross;—‘quorum ignominia vere est gloria, quorum labor vere requies.’ ” He tarried some time at Hermopolis and Arsinoe in order to preach there, and then went southward to Tabenne, noticing every thing on his way, even down to the seats on which the monks sat, and speaking in high terms of praise of the abbot. When Theodore and the monks begged to be remembered in his prayers, the archbishop characteristically replied—“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem!. ( 193) 

o   At Arsinoe Athanasius was terrified that he would be captured and after that he heard that Julian had died. 

Chapter 21: His fourth restoration to his see 

o   Athanasius returned and was presented with a letter from Jovian affirming his faith and the prospect of the church looked brighter again. 

o   Jovian suddenly died and Valens an Arian who had persecuted those in disagreement took his place. 

o   This was the time Athananasius published the Life of Anthony which was instrumental in the conversion of Augustine. 

o   Valens issued an order to banish Athanasius and he was driven from his church for the fifth time. 

Chapter 22: His fifth brief exile 

o   Athanasius concealed himself for four months in his father’s tomb( 203) 

o   He was ordered to return to his church February 1st, 366 A.D. 

o   And now ensued a period of comparative peace and quietness at Alexandria. The storm, however, continued to rage in the neighbouring Churches round about him. Eighty innocent presbyters, who had gone on an embassy to the Emperor when at Nicomedia to complain of their sufferings, were, by the Emperor’s orders to the Prefect Modestus, put on board a vessel, which the crew, taking to their boats, set on fire, and all the eighty perished. ( 203-204) 

o   This is when he wrote the festal letter with canonical book. 

o   Hae wroter the synodal letter to the Africans and the Letter to Damascus. 

Chapter 23: The closing years of his life. 

o   This chapter covers his correspondence with Basil the great and shows the relationship they had concerning excommunicating a violent governor in Lybia. 

o   This correspondence between Athanasius and Basil is of a deeply interesting nature—a correspondence carried on between the aged Athanasius and the youthful and active Basil, who was just entering on the direction of his new diocese. It is the sight (as Dean Stanley has well said, “E. C.,” Lect. vii. 301) seldom witnessed, of a cordial salutation and farewell between the departing and the coming generation. The younger prelate, suspected of heresy, eagerly appeals to the old oracle of orthodoxy, and from him receives the welcome support which elsewhere he had sought in vain. ( 207-208) 

o   He wrote the letters to Aldephius, Maximus, Epictetus, and Against Appollinaries. In all this the author points to his graciousness. 

o   He died in the spring of the year 373 a.d.—a date which appears certain, as supported by the “Festal Index,” the Maffeian Fragment, and by other ancient and modern authorities. It was, perhaps, on Thursday, May the 2nd (according to the calendar of the Greek and Latin Churches), that he was taken to his rest. His successor, Cyril, tells us that he had occupied the episcopal chair at Alexandria for forty-six years. Had he lived a few weeks longer his episcopate would have lasted forty-seven years. After having recommended one of his presbyters, named Peter, as his successor, he quietly passed away under the shelter of his own roof. He had been called upon to undergo “many struggles” (Rufin., ii. 3). His earthly lot had been full of vexation and unrest; and his life, in the words of Tillemont, had been a “continual martyrdom.” He was buried in Alexandria, though his body was afterwards transferred to Constantinople. “The story”—says Professor Bright, to whose researches no biographer of Athanasius can fail to owe the deepest obligations—“the story of its removal by a Venetian captain in 1454 to Santa Croce in Venice, reads like a strange echo of some of his adventures during life.”Gregory Nazianzen thus refers to his death:—“He ended his life in a holy old age, and went to keep company with his fathers, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, who had fought valiantly for the truth, as he had done. (214) 

Chapter 24: His character as a man 

o   His life was marked by a deep tone of piety 

o   He determinedly carried out the end which he had deliberately placed before him, however much he might have been affected by his sympathies for others, and by the impression which other natures made upon him.

o   And again, we can trace in him that deep tenderness of disposition which rendered him so faithful and loving a friend, so ready to cast the ægis of his protection over others, so desirous to secure peace and unity—a trait in his character which, in response, caused him to be loved with so true a loyalty and such unalterable affection by those placed under him, namely, his hundred suffragans, his clergy, the monks, and the laity. 

o   He was also an antagonist 

o   The qualities, however, which would appear to have arrested the attention of the men of his day in the greatest degree were the versatility of his character, and the ready promptitude with which he was able to act in emergencies. (219) 

o   He would seem to have possessed those marvellous natural powers which enabled him—as Themistocles is pictured by Thucydides (i. 138)—to determine at a moment’s notice what was best to be done. It was this remarkable versatility which rendered his character so many-sided. The same great historian (ii. 41) assigns this peculiar grace of character to the Athenians—the power of adapting themselves with the happiest versatility to all the different circumstances in which they might be placed. It was thus that he, like the great Apostle, could “make himself all things to all men,” without losing the uprightness and firmness of his character. In this respect St. Augustine resembled him. This peculiar aspect of his character struck very forcibly Gregory Nazianzen, and he has brought it out very pointedly in his Eulogy—saying of him that he could equally distribute praise or blame; that he could arouse the sluggish, and repress the enthusiastic; that, while single in his aims, he was manifold in his modes of government; that he was wise in his speech, and yet still wiser in his thoughts and intentions; that he was on a level with the most ordinary men, and could rise to the height of the most speculative; and that he united in himself all the various attributes of all the heathen gods. ( 219-220) 

o   He was humorous 

o   He was a man of peace 

o   He knew when to fight or flight 

o   He was forbearing and gentle 

o   By contrast, therefore, with his environment, the character of Athanasius stands forth all the more grandly; the dark background in which it is set tending to display, in brighter and fairer light, its beauty and attractiveness. (225) 

o   He might sometimes be led away into acrimonious severity in controversy; he might not always interpret aright, or even, perhaps, charitably, the motives and principles of those who were opposed to him on the great fundamental doctrines to which he attached so deep an importance; he may, perhaps, have sometimes fallen into a casuistical line of argument; he may have been chargeable, now and then, with errors in judgment, or possibly in conduct; but still we cannot refrain from placing him among the very foremost and noblest characters that have adorned the religion of Christ since the days in which the Apostles lived and taught. (225–226.)

Chapter 25: His chatacter as a Theologian 

o   But though his intense love of doctrinal truth, and his earnest desire to maintain the orthodox view in opposition to the errors of Arianism, may have hurried him occasionally into a violence of language which we should scarcely have expected to find in his writings, and should not associate with his evenly-balanced and argumentative cast of mind, yet they never led him into cruel or merciless action, such as that into which his successor, Cyril, was hurried. Athanasius could never have been charged with any participation whatever in the murder of Bishop George; but Cyril is by no means acquitted of complicity with the cruel and savage butchery of Hypatia. (228-229) 

o   Athanasius was never guilty of persecution. It was his ruling idea, that “the duty of orthodoxy is not to compel, but to persuade belief.” Cyril, however, placed himself at the head of ferocious monks and violent partisans, and carried out his schemes by force and coercion. (229) 

o   Another feature in the theological character of Athanasius is to be traced in the masterly manner in which he could discriminate between mere imaginary differences, and in which he could draw a line of separation between what is essential and what is non-essentia (229)

o   It is very natural that in the case of a man so absorbed as Athanasius was during his whole life with one single controversy, the works that he wrote and left behind him of a really valuable and instructive character should, for the most part, be those which treat of this particular subject, which occupied for so long a time all his thoughts and influenced all his actions.( 235-236) 

o   Athanasius, as we have already remarked, had been a diligent reader of Plato and of Homer; and the energy and incisiveness of his style would lead to the inference that he had also studied Demosthenes. But he had no ambition to excel in merely showy and epideictic oratory. He was master of a calm and irresistible logic . (236–237) 

o   If we seek to trace to its source the great moral power and influence of Athanasius, we shall find it in the depth of his communion with God; a communion realised in the Scriptures. He was an earnest, prayerful student of the Word of God. It was the remark of Gregory Nazianzen, that he was better acquainted with both the Old and New Testaments than others were with one. He devoted himself to the daily study of the Sacred Scriptures, and especially of the Psalms, on which he published commentaries and practical expositions. Hence the strength of his devout and earnest piety. In a letter which he wrote to his friend Marcellinus, he says, “I learn that you give yourself up to the study of all the Sacred Scriptures, and particularly of the Psalms;” adding, “I praise you greatly for this; my own desire is earnestly directed to that especial portion of Holy Scripture, and indeed to all the sacred writings.” (237) 

This week's quotes

Commenting on Psalm 48:4-7 Calvin, 2:223, encourages us to look up to God:

At the same time, let us remember that a nod alone on the part of God is sufficient to deliver us; and that, although our enemies may be ready to fall upon us on every side to overwhelm us, it is in his power, whenever he pleases, to strike them with amazement of spirit, and thus to make their hearts fail in a moment in the very midst of their efforts against us. Let this reflection serve as a bridle to keep our minds from being drawn away, to look in all directions for human aid.

VanGemeren, Willem A.. Psalms (The Expositor's Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 13854-13858). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Commenting on Mat 19:3-10 Ray Ortlund show us a great way to read the Bible in the in the footsteps of Jesus

The way he reads the Bible is grounded in a certain preunderstanding he brings to the Bible. He hints at it in verse 4, “from the beginning,” and again in verse 8, “but from the beginning it was not so.” Jesus shows that how the Bible begins must take precedence. This leads us to realize that the structure of the Bible as a whole shapes how we interpret its parts. The Bible starts with a glorious beginning (Genesis 1–2), then moves quickly to a catastrophic betrayal and precipitous decline (Genesis 3–11), and then to a growing body of divine promises of grace intermixed with many episodes of human failure (Genesis 12–Malachi 4), leading to Jesus in his life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the spread of the gospel out into the nations, his second coming, the final judgment, and the greater glory of his renewed creation (Matthew 1–Revelation 22). So the Bible is not flat literary terrain. The Bible is built as a growing narrative, with a trajectory of progressive revelation trending toward the renewal of all things. And the point is this: all the parts of the Bible along the way cannot be rightly understood if they are detached from the grand narrative starting in the creation and culminating in Jesus. And it is the end that finally explains the beginning and the middle.

Ortlund Jr., Raymond C.. Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (p. 82). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Exodus and the New Testament | The two sons of God Israel and Jesus

The matching of Old and New Testaments around the Exodus theme can be pursued a little further. Exodus, right at the start, announces that the currently enslaved and oppressed Israel is none other than ‘my firstborn son’ (4:22). This, too, is where Matthew’s Gospel begins. The son of David, son of Abraham, son of Mary is also ‘my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Matt. 1:1, 16; 3:17). Yet Jesus’ life, like the existence of Israel, was threatened by the contemporary political authorities, and, like them, he even made the journey into and out of Egypt (Matt. 2:13–15). He too was subjected to adversity and satanic opposition (Matt. 4:1–11).

It is instructive to note other parallels. Just as Israel left Egypt and came to the Red Sea (Exod. 14), Matthew immediately follows the account of Jesus’ return from Egypt (the only reference he makes to the boyhood of Jesus) with his coming to the Jordan for baptism (Matt. 2:23; 3:1). Just as Israel emerged from the Red Sea to go into the wilderness (Exod. 15:22), so Jesus went from the waters of baptism into the wilderness (Matt. 4:1). Israel experienced in turn absence of water and food (Exod. 15:23; 16:3), as did Jesus during his first temptation (Matt. 4:1–4). Israel came to the place where they put the Lord to the test (Exod. 17:2), something that Jesus refused to do in his second temptation (Matt. 4:7). Israel arrived at Mount Sinai (Exod. 19) where, promptly, they turned from the Lord to worship an idol (Exod. 32:1–6), whereas, by contrast, looking on all the kingdoms of the world from a ‘very high mountain’ Jesus insisted that only the Lord is to be worshipped (Matt. 4:8–10).4 In other words, Exodus is the story of the son of God who stands in need of salvation, failing at every point of life and even of privilege; Matthew tells of the Son of God who brings salvation (Matt. 1:21), perfect and righteous at every point and in every circumstance and test.

4 The other side of the parallel between Exodus and Matthew is that despite Israel’s sin, when they came to Mount Sinai, God himself descended to reveal his word (Exod. 19:18–19). Jesus too took his place on a mountain, not as Israel awaiting the word of God, nor as the mediator Moses, ascending and descending, but as God come to teach his people (Matt. 5:1).

 Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage, ed. Alec Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2005), 22–23.

The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband; (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:30; Is. 62:5; Hos. 2:9; Jer. 3:1, 2; Hos. 2:2.) the union by which he connects us with himself, when he receives us into the bosom of the Church, having some resemblance to that of holy wedlock, because founded on mutual faith. As he performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband, so he stipulates for love and conjugal chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan, to be defiled with foul carnal lusts. Hence, when he rebukes the Jews for their apostasy, he complains that they have cast off chastity, and polluted themselves with adultery. Therefore, as the purer and chaster the husband is, the more grievously is he offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to himself in truth, declares that he burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of his holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and especially when the worship of his Deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since, in this way, we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the nuptial couch, by giving access to adulterers.

 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).

The classic description of zeal for God was given by . We quote it at length.

Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature—which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted—but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others that they alone deserve to be called ‘zealous’ men. . . A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies—whether he has health, or whether he has sickness—whether he is rich, or whether he is poor-whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offence — whether he is. thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish—whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise—whether he gets honour, or whether he gets shame-for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it — he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him. Such a one will always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray. . . If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill (Exodus 17:9-13). If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I speak of ‘zeal’ in religion. (Bishop J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 1959 ed., p. 130)

Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (pp. 196-197). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Today’s Quotes 05/28/20

Richard Lovelace on “structural exorcism.”

“The formula which insists that the gospel should deal with “spiritual matters” and not meddle with political or social affairs, the familiar Fundamentalist argument for passive support of the status quo, emerged before the Civil War as a conservative evangelical defence of resistance toward or postponement of abolition.”

“Not only can we expect to carry on offensive warfare which takes ground away from Satan in the exorcism of persons, we can also undertake, when we have liberty from God to do so, the exorcism of structures occupied by demonic forces — not only fallen structures in the church in the process of reformation and revival, but also fallen structures in society which are instruments of injustice.”

“Structural exorcism is therefore real spiritual warfare which requires more than theorising, demonstrating, legislating, making pronouncements and other conventional modes of social action. It may require all of these. But it also requires comprehensive spiritual renewal through the strength available in Christ. And especially it requires the exercise of prayer.”

“Our intercession must be extensive enough to sweep regularly across the whole scene displayed by the news media like their revolving scanner on a radar scope, discovering the presence of obstacles to the progress of the kingdom of God. Then we must face these mountains as Jesus told us to and command them in prayer to move into the sea.”

— Richard Loveless, Dynamics of Spiritual Life,376-394,

John Piper on the greatest enemy on hunger for God 

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable (A Hunger for God, Wheaton: Crossway, 1997, 14)”

— A Hunger for God, Wheaton: Crossway, 1997, 14


Exiled but not exiled from God

“One of the things Athanasius had learned was that though exiled from Alexandria, he was not exiled from God. Prayer winged its flight to the great loving Father as speedily in Gaul as in Egypt. And he found himself face to face with great inner realities—he entered more deeply into the knowledge of Christ—as the way became difficult and lone. Whatever coming days might bring him, this time of exile had been fruitful for his life. If there were new problems to face, new persecutions to meet, from the quiet of the inner communion he would come with new power to meet them. So, serene in the companionship of Christ, Athanasius waited what the future might bring.”

—  Lynn Harold Hough, Athanasius: The Hero, Men of the Kingdom (Cincinnati; New York: Jennings and Graham; Eaton and Mains, 1906), 81–82.

Todays Quotes 05/25/20

God doesn’t need our praise, then why do we praise Him?

“The miserable idea that God should in any sense need, or crave for, our worship like a vain woman wanting compliments, or a vain author presenting his new books to people who never met or heard him, is implicitly answered by the words, “If I be hungry I will not tell thee” (Ps. 50:12). Even if such an absurd Deity could be conceived, He would hardly come to us, the lowest of rational creatures, to gratify His appetite. I don’t want my dog to bark approval of my books.
The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game—praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians and scholars. My whole, more general difficulty, about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.
… I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

— C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (San Diego, CA: Harcourt, 1958), 93, 94,95.

“For as when a tyrant has been defeated by a real king, and bound hand and foot, then all that pass by laugh him to scorn, buffeting and reviling him, no longer fearing his fury and barbarity, because of the king who has conquered him; so also, death having been conquered and exposed by the Saviour on the Cross, and bound hand and foot, all they who are in Christ, as they pass by, trample on him, and witnessing to Christ scoff at death, jesting at him, and saying what has been written against him of old: “O death , where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting.”( 1 Cor 15:55)”

— Athanasius. On the Incarnation of the Word of God . Kindle Edition. Loc 712

Todays Quotes: 5/21/20

What if God sent a boat?

“Augustine has been there. Later in his life, in a sermon on the African shore in Hippo, he would revisit this with his congregation.
When you’ve tried everything but keep finding that what you grasped as ultimate bleeds through your fingers as finite, he says, It is as if someone could see his home country from a long way away, but is cut off from it by the sea; he sees where to go, but does not have the means to get there. In the same way all of us long to reach that secure place of ours where that which is is, because it alone always is as it is. But in between lies the sea of this world through which we are going, even though we already see where we are going (many, however, do not see where they are going). 19

The brutal truth: You can’t get there from here. Not even a map is enough. You might already have realized where you need to go, but the question is how to get there. What if God sent a boat? What if the Creator captained a ferry from that other shore? “So that we might also have the means to go, the one we were longing to go to came here from there. And what did he make? A wooden raft for us to cross the sea on.” 20 God sends a raft from home: “For no one can cross the sea of this world unless carried over it on the cross of Christ.” Get on, God invites. Hang on. I’ll never let you go. It’s not just a matter of finally settling down or coming to the end of the road. We find rest because we are found; we make it home because someone comes to get us. The prodigal’s story reframes everything because of how it ends: “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15: 20). The wayward son is not defined by his prodigality but by the welcome of a father who never stopped looking, who is ever scanning the distance, and who runs to gather him up in an embrace. God is not tapping his foot judgmentally inside the door as you sneak in, crawling over the threshold in shame. He’s the father running toward you, losing his sandals on the way, his robes spilling off his shoulders, with a laughing smile whose joy says, “I can’t believe you came home!” This is what grace looks like.

By”

— Smith, James K. A.. On the Road with Saint Augustine (pp. 14-15). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Where does my consolation come from?

“Each person, in whatever his station in life, will endure and overcome troubles, inconveniences, disappointments, and anxieties, convinced that his burden has been placed upon him by God. Great consolation will follow from all of this. For every work performed in obedience to ones calling, no matter how ordinary and common, is radiant - most valuable in the eyes of our Lord
By”

— Calvin, J. A Little Book On The Christian Life (p. 126). ReformationTrust. 

Fighting Temptation

“You may remember that I said that the first step towards humility was to realize that one is proud. I want to add now that the next thing is to make some serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues. A week is not enough. Things often go swimmingly for the first week. Try six weeks. By that time, having, as far as one can see, fallen back completely or even fallen lower than the point one began from, one will have discovered some truths about oneself. No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.
By”

— Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics) (p. 142). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

What is faith?

“To the Hebrew mind, therefore faith meant confidence. It was the capacity to enter life with courageous expectation. The person of faith did more than believe in his heart or develop an attitude of trust. He stepped out into life to act on that belief. His mental assurances and convictions were transformed into action. The person of faith was one who was so committed to do that like Abraham, he ventured into the unknown with the full expectation that God would meet him there. Thus in the biblical sense, to have faith was to move out in life and know God would be there waiting. It was the “call to step boldly into tomorrow, to embrace the new – with confidence that every new day would prove to be a meeting place with the holy and eternal God. The opposite of faith was to cling desperately to yesterday, fearing that if one ever left it, one would leave God.
By”

— Marvin R .Wilson... Our father Abraham: Jewish roots of the Christian faith.(1989), 184

Book Review: Speaking God's Words

A Review By Raphael Mnkandhla

The book by Peter Adams on preaching offers a well written theological and practical call to preach the gospel faithfully. Preaching finds it power and sustainability in the thoughts behind it, even more, God’s thoughts behind it. The aim of this book is to provide a robust practical theology of preaching as part of the ministry of the Word in the local church. A robust theology of preaching is needed because most climates are against preaching and preaching is demanding work needing time and energy for preparation and delivery. This book is a call to confidence on God’s call to preach. 

         Part one lays down three biblical foundations of preaching intending to provide the basis for part two where he deals with preaching as ministry of the word, the use of scripture, the purpose of the preacher and the demands of preaching. 

         Chapter one deals with the idea “God has spoken” , his words remain powerful, and that without historic revelation in words there can be no ministry of the Word. Adam shows multiple places where God has spoken audibly, into the minds of people and through his son. God speaking is fundamental to biblical faith and preaching hangs on this. “If God is dumb, we may speak, but we cannot speak God’s words, for there are none to speak.”   

          Chapter two, deals with the second foundation for preaching, “It is written”.  Adam demonstrates that what we have in scripture is the revealed and preserved words of God. Preservation is captured in the term “inscripturation” a method used to preserve the words for future generations. “Fixation” is another important term which describes the belief that God’s revelations is fixed or settled at a particular time for the future.   The chapter traces the writing ministry of the people of God in the Old Testament and shows that the New Testament is a product of the inscripturation of the revelation in and about Jesus Christ.  Preaching also hangs on this that God has preached first through his written word.

         Chapter three explores the third foundation “Preach the Word” that preaching depends not only on having a God-given source, the Bible, but also a God-given commission to preach, teach and explain it to people and to encourage and urge them to respond. Preachers are convinced that God has given them a message to pass on to others. Adam uses Moses’, the prophets’, John the Baptist’s, Jesus’ and the disciples’ preaching ministry as examples of God giving his word to his servant to pass to others. 

         God has spoken, it is written, and God has instructed us to Preach the Word through the ministry of teaching elders. Adam then provides the implications of these three foundations namely that God’s words are effective, they are part of his self-revelation, he has appointed the ministry of the Word, preserving his words for us today, uses human agents in giving his revelation and preserving his words and that his revelation is both historical and contemporary.

       Chapter four looks at preaching as one of the many ministries of the Word, and aims at learning about Preaching. In scripture, looking at Jesus and Paul, the church’s ministry can be looked at as evangelizing unbelievers, training and equipping the saints, counselling, public reading of scripture, private bible reading and preaching. Adam shows this through the lives of John Calvin and Richard Baxter. 

Chapter 5, “The preacher’s Bible”, examines eight key issues which bear upon the relationship between the Bible and preaching, in order to see the practical implications of the Bible’s nature and how it affects the way we prepare our sermons and preach. 

         First, Adam attempts to clarify the relationship between the content of Scripture and preaching. Examining Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, and showing the use of the Old Testament, he claims the Scriptures were a means to an end. His recommendation to how Scripture is used in today’s Sermons is:

 “The purpose of our teaching and preaching the Bible is to explain and commend the good news of God, the gospel of God, the gospel of God’s grace, the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus.”

 The preaching of scripture then provides a means to an end, that is, preaching and teaching Christ. The message is the end and the Bible is the means. 

         Second, on the effectiveness of Scripture, Adam argues that God will use Scripture as he promised, and still speaks through its message. Third, just as the nature of scripture is propositional by teaching truth by parable, history and sayings, Adam recommends that our preaching should reflect this variety. 

         Fourth, a firm theology of God’s authorship and the purpose of scripture and our place in salvation will convince preachers that where Scripture speaks, God speaks. Arguing for scriptures relevance, Adam uses God’s unlimited horizon that he had the future in mind and is still alive.  Fifth, Adam shows the ways to misuse Scripture and encourages preachers to teach the content of scripture, be faithful to its purpose, model its use and allow the congregation to test what we say about it. 

         Sixth, preachers are to respect both the divine and human authorship of scripture. Seventh, the preacher can derive immense strength from biblical theology: the belief that the bible is God’s given, theological, self- interpreting, and cohesive. This chapter concludes by challenging preaching from the words of scripture for it to be considered the message of God. 

         Chapter Six discusses the purpose of the preacher. His important task is to see preaching as a means to an end, its to serve so he shouldn’t ask, “Have I preached well?” but “Have I served God and Christ, and have I served the people of God?”  Serving God means that the preacher will respect God, his words and his people, believe that God who is active and present is going to work through our Christian ministry and pray that he does so.  

         This kind of preaching allows the text to set the agenda, yet also it will faithfully have application and exhortation for the congregation through what Adam calls a ministry sentence for every sermon.  The rest of the chapter focuses on the example of John Calvin in the priority of servanthood in ministry in both his theology and the practice of preaching. His theology is outstanding especially the one on God and the preacher, most theologies on preaching exclude the preacher and focus on the text and the act of preaching not the point on why God chooses to use humans. 

          Chapter Seven deals with the demands of preaching. It demands love and obedience to God and Christ, commitment to the truth of God, love for people, hard work, relating to the real world in which people live, suffering and a life of ministry. A ministry which is so central in God’s mind and to God’s plan must surely have the honor and glory of God and of Christ as its chief aim.  

         Preaching then is an endeavor that depends on God from preparation to delivery. He demonstrates this using John Owen argument that the preaching ministry needed spiritual gifts of wisdom or knowledge, skill to divide the Word, skill to apply it and a gift of utterance. The demand upon the preacher is to see God as his ruler and judge instead of the people, to have a commitment to the Word of God on and off the pulpit, and a great love for people, of which Paul was a great example. 

         Adam’s suggestions for preaching preparation and educating the congregation are very useful for readers that have not nailed rhythms of preparation that don’t still makes sure other ministry responsibilities are neglected. Adam argues that though monologue in form, true preaching should be a dialogue in content; this means that our preaching ought to be deeply aware of the issues we ourselves and people face.  Our sermons also need to be both intellectual and emotional - a demand for the preachers to work hard on making sermons both challenging and also pleasant to hear. Preaching is not only to be demanding to the preacher but also to the hearers and both these have the promise of sufficient grace from God to energize and sustain them. 

          The reader’s response

         The author accomplishes that which he set out to do. Adam provides a robust theology of preaching and provides rich arguments from scripture and church history. The first three chapters are indeed foundational to preaching. The treasure of the book is the examples that Adam has done on the ministries of Calvin and Baxter. Writing to preachers, the book has great summaries to every chapter that helps commit it memorable. This is a book that should be included in preaching resources for both beginners and preaching veterans.  

Quick Review and Highlights | Making All Things New by David Powlison

My brief Review

This is the most hope-filled, biblical and realistic book I have ever read in this subject. Powlison has a great way of exposing sexual sin, the hurt, brokenness, and shame it brings to the offended and offender and at the same time point to the ever freeing Grace of God. I also love how he doesn't promise a one and done solution but a realistic picture of progress in killing sin. Although this book has sexual brokenness as its target the truths it explores are applicable to any sin that ensnares believers. I am currently reading it to prepare a talk on this subject and I would recommend it to pastors, counselors, anyone and everyone who wants a good gospel view of the fight with sexual sin.

Notes and highlights for Making All Things New by Powlison, David

Introduction

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Our sexuality was designed to be a willing servant of love . It becomes distorted by our willfulness or our fear . It is being remade into a willing servant of love . Love makes sexuality like a laser beam : its power under control , its intensity focused , nothing wasted or promiscuously scattered .

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God began a comprehensive good work in you . He will complete what he has begun . Wrongs are made right , and , to quote Julian of Norwich , “ all shall be well , and all shall be well , and all manner of thing shall be well . ” 1 You will flourish in a garden of safety and joy .

1 Getting Oriented

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In order to renew anything , we must have a vision for what it is intended to be , for what’s gone wrong , and for how to bring about transformation .

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When husband and wife join in intercourse , the One who sees in the dark sees exactly what they are doing and says , “ It is very good . ” The private intimacy of marriage is public before the God who made male and female , who made their union good . Sexual intimacy is intended to flourish within trustworthy fidelity . It is meant to express love in the generosity and gladness of mutual giving . It bears fruit in children , if God gives that gift . The “ one flesh ” of marriage is such a good thing that it serves as a central metaphor for the relationship between Jesus Christ and his people . To see sexual immoralities as wrong is not to be nervous about sexuality . Christian faith envisions sexual joy before the eyes of the holy God . Neither immorality nor prudishness understands that .

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Jesus comes forgiving and changing the immoral . He bridges the chasm between sordid and glorious . He invites us to cross over from death to life . What was perverted can be converted . To disagree with immorality is not simply to condemn the immoral . It is to identify particular forms of lostness that need finding .

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We worship a seeking and finding God . We have been sought out and found by a Savior . He reproves the unruly in order to invite us to come seek help . Come now , let us reason together , says the Lord : though your sins are like scarlet ,

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they shall be as white as snow . ( Isa . 1 : 18 ) This same Jesus comes rescuing and protecting the victimized . He is a refuge for the afflicted . We worship a seeking and finding rescuer , a protector of the innocent . He calls predators , liars , and betrayers to account . He comes to deliver victims from the pain and power of what their oppressors have done .

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In sum , the Lord has a highly positive view of sex . He has a highly negative view of immorality . And he has a deep concern both for the consensually immoral and for the victims of the criminally immoral . He has more mercy than we can imagine . Of course , there are not two gospels , one for sinners and one for sufferers ! There is the one gospel of Jesus Christ , who came to make saints of all kinds of sinner - sufferers and sufferer - sinners , whatever our particular configuration of defections and distresses .

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Other books are written for people who struggle with the impact of sexual betrayal , molestation , and assault . But this book will intentionally look in both directions . Sin and affliction are different in kind . What you do and what happens to you could not be more distinct . But both intertwine in the DNA of the human condition . A double helix of darkness twists through all human experience .

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But sanctification is about both transgressions and afflictions , and about the continual interplay between them . This is crucial , because it is true of both Scripture and life .

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It is a decided mark of wisdom that our sins come to afflict us , not delight us .

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A theme runs throughout the book : “ I am sure of this , that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ ” ( Phil . 1 : 6 ) . Notice that this sentence is not first about finding personal assurance . It communicates Paul’s confidence regarding God’s renewing work in other people , our brothers and sisters . Our Father has begun a process in you and in me that he will finish when we see Jesus Christ face - to - face . What will this lifelong process look like ? How do we get from here to there ? How does degradation transform into beauty ? What’s the battle like ? We’re somewhere in the middle , but the Spirit of life has begun a good work . And God always finishes what he begins .

2 Making Renewal Personal

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As with most human struggles , there is often an intricate dance between what arises from inside us and what assaults or beguiles us from the outside .

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Jesus’s mercies make all things new . His grace is a most versatile stain remover . He redeems both the wayward and the wounded . His wisdom puts sex in its proper perspective . He goes to work on us . He works in us for as long as it takes . He does not give up . He will not give up on you .

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Perhaps you’ve been grievously wronged sexually and have lived a nightmare . But you long for light . The longing for goodness and peace is a blossom of light pulling you in the direction of more light . Kyrie eleison — Lord , have mercy , you who bind up the brokenhearted . Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for everything wrong to be made right . Or , perhaps you’ve been wrong sexually and have lived in a fantasyland of lewd , nude , and crude . But you feel sick and tired , dirty and ashamed . Honest guilt and longing for good are blossoms of light . Your sins delight you less and less ; they afflict you more and more . Kyrie eleison — Lord , have mercy , you whose mercies are new every morning . Whenever people know they need help from the Savior , then they’re

3 Renewing All That Darkens Sex

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He has no excuse at all . But a significant life pressure and loss has changed their marriage , providing a context in which he has sinned rather than learned the harder kinds of love and self - control .

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So the world around us plays liar , aggressor , and accuser . The human heart generates both desire and condemnation . The Evil One lies , allures , murders , degrades , and accuses . And then there is all the ordinary affliction , disappointment , and loss . We have many knots to disentangle in the renewal of our sexuality .

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The most obvious forms of sexual darkness involve the sins of overt immorality . There are countless ways that sexuality veers into nonmarital eroticism . Sex can become a carnival of intoxicating fires , a dreamworld of erotic arousal , predatory instinct , manipulative intention , and the pursuit of carnal knowledge . In a nutshell , in each of the many forms of wrong , a person copulates with the wrong object of desire . Sexual love flourishes as a loving intimacy between a husband and wife . But desires are easily distorted and actions misdirected . Such miscopulation can occur either in reality or in fantasy . These are the typical red - letter , on - the - marquee sins .

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So what do adultery , fornication , pornography , homosexuality , prostitution , rape , pedophilia , bestiality , voyeurism , incest , fetishism , sadomasochism , transgenderism , and polyamory have in common ? You copulate , in person or in your imagination , with the wrong object of desire . 2 Others become objects of unholy desire . Our culture earnestly tells us that the desires we discover within ourselves define us . Scripture is more realistic . By impulse , orientation , inclination , tendency , habit , and instinct , our desires mislead us . Sexual immoralities , either in fantasy or in interpersonal transaction , are the obvious ways in which human sexuality is misdirected into overt sins .

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By realigning who you most love with all your heart , soul , mind , and might , he rightly orders all secondary loves .

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Jesus Christ is about the reality business . An old prayer gets things straight : “ Grant that I may not so much seek . . . to be loved as to love . ” 3 Jesus teaches us how to be committed , patient , kind , protective , able to make peace , keeping no record of wrongs , merciful , forgiving , generous , and all the other hard , wonderful characteristics of grace .

4 Renewal Is Lifelong

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And if you promise easy , once - for - all victories to others , then you’ll never be much help to other strugglers . God works organically in our lives . Organic growth has integrity . God works step - by - step . He walks with you . He’s always interested in how you take your very next step . Walking through life with him feels right . You’re going somewhere . The day of “ completion ” will not arrive until the day when Jesus Christ arrives ( Phil . 1 : 6 ) . When we see him , then we will be like him ( 1 John 3 : 2 ) . Only when God lives visibly in our midst will all tears be past ( Rev . 21 : 3 – 4 ) . Someday , not today , everything being renewed will be entirely new ( Rev . 21 : 5 ) . Much of the failure to fight well , befriend well , pastor well , and counsel well arises because we don’t really understand and work well with this long truth . Consider two specific implications . First , sanctification is a direction you are heading . Second , repentance is a lifestyle you are living .

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much the best life faileth , ” and so all of us must “ live alone by mercy . ” 1 And as John Newton sang : Through many dangers , toils , and snares I have already come , because grace has brought me safe thus far , and grace will lead me home . 2

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Disciple is the most common New Testament identity describing God’s people . A disciple is simply a lifelong learner of wisdom , living in relationship to a wise master . The second most common identity , son / daughter / child , embodies the same purpose . By living in lifelong relationship to a loving Father , we learn how to trust and love in practical ways day by day .

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The key to getting a long view of sanctification is to understand direction . What matters most is not the distance you’ve covered . It’s not the speed you’re going . It’s not how long you’ve been a Christian . It’s the direction you’re heading .

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No more adultery or homosexual encounters : you break it off once and for all . Never again . It sometimes happens like that . Not always , of course , but a gazelle season is a joy to all .

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Some people crawl on their hands and knees for a long or short season . Progress is painful . You’re barely moving . But praise God for the glory of his grace , you are inching in the right direction . And there may be times when you’re not even moving — stuck in gridlock , broken down — but you’re still facing in the right direction . That’s Psalm 88 , the “ basement ” of the Psalms . The writer feels dark despair — but it’s despair oriented in the Lord’s direction . In other words , it’s still faith , even when faith feels so discouraged you can only say , “ You are my only hope . Help . Where are You ? ” That kind of prayer counts — it made it into the Bible .

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God manages to work his wonder - working power in and through all of the above scenarios ! God’s people need to know that so someone else’s story doesn’t set the timetable for how Christ’s grace is working out in your life . By the way , everything I’ve just discussed applies in every area of life , not just with the renewal of sexuality .

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The trumpet call , thesis number 1 of Luther’s Ninety - Five Theses , was this : “ When our Lord and Master , Jesus Christ , said ‘ Repent , ’ He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance . ” That dismantled all the machinery of religiosity and called us back to human reality . Luther glimpsed and aimed to recover the essential inner dynamic of the Christian life . It is an ongoing change process . It involves a continual turning motion , turning toward God and turning away from the riot of other voices , other desires , other loves .

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This life is not righteous , but growth in righteousness ; it is not health , but healing ; not being , but becoming ; not rest , but exercise ; we are not yet what we shall be , but we are growing toward it ; the process is not yet finished , but it is going on ; this is not the end , but it is the road ; all does not yet gleam in glory , but all is being purified .

5 Renewal Is a Wider Battle

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Why did his collection of truths and techniques never seem to warm up and invigorate the quality of his relationships with God and people ? Is the centerpiece of the Christian life really an endless cycle of “ I sin . I don’t sin . I sin . I don’t sin . I sin . ” What were we missing ?

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If you have any pastoral care genes in you , you light up at an answer like that . Repeated patterns always prove extremely revealing on inspection . I asked , “ Why does sexual sin surface on Friday night ? What’s going on with that ? ” He said , “ I turn to pornography as my temper tantrum at God . ”

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‘ God has cheated you . If only I had a girlfriend or a wife . I can’t stand how I feel . Why not feel good for a while ? What does it matter anyway ? ’ Then I take the plunge into sin . ”

6 Renewal Is a Deeper Battle

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Though it’s rarely that dramatic , anger frequently plays a role in immorality . A teenager finds sex a convenient way to rebel against and to hurt morally upright parents . A man cruises the Internet after he and his wife exchange words . A woman masturbates to fantasies of former boyfriends after she and her husband argue . In all these situations , the redemption of dirtied sexuality can only happen alongside the redemption of dirtied anger .

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She is an extreme case . But many people , especially early in their becoming “ sexually active , ” are significantly pressured by desires to be acceptable , by fears of rejection , by desires to be loved in nonsexual ways . Sexual behavior can be an instrument in the hands of nonsexual cravings .

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Interesting , isn’t it ? Mercy ministry to financial needs played a significant role in reducing a woman’s vulnerability to one particular sort of sexual temptation . She needed counsel , too , in order to run further

7 Renewal Brings an Increasingly Subtle Struggle

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Is it possible to alter the subtle tendencies that pattern how you look at people ? Yes . The Holy Spirit is about this business . It takes a while : a lot of walking on the paths of light , a lot of needing God and loving God , a lot of receiving his mercies , a lot of learning to genuinely love people .

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One of the deep truths of sanctification is that you get better and worse at the same time ! You

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The children of God [ are ] freed through regeneration from bondage to sin . Yet . . . there still remains in them a continuing occasion for struggle whereby they may be exercised ; and not only be exercised , but also better learn their own weakness . In this matter all writers of sounder judgment agree that there remains in a regenerate man a smoldering cinder of evil , from which desires continually leap forth to allure and spur him to commit sin .

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you or forsake you . ” Fears , shame , confusion , a sense of abandonment , and painful self - condemnation can continually darken the human heart . Fears are false prophets , breathing threats and prophesying disaster . When fear and trembling seize the soul , the impulse to flee is strong .

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The first four beatitudes emphasize our need , dependency , and submission to God . The second four move toward strength , generosity , purity of motive , fruitfulness in helping other people , and courage and joy when life is hard . The Beatitudes map out how you find help in your own struggles and how you become helpful to other strugglers .

8 Remembering the Goal of Renewal

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Get your goals straight . It heightens the significance of your Savior . He alone restores you to practical love for God , to the practical , familial love appropriate for each of your various kinds of neighbors , and to the practical sexual love that is one part of all that is appropriate in marriage . Christ makes everyday life shine with visible glory .

9 Getting Down to Today’s Skirmish in the Great War

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Just as we don’t change all at once , so we don’t take in all of truth in one massive Bible transfusion .

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We are simple people . You can’t remember ten things at once . Invariably , if you could remember just one vital truth in the moment of trial and then seek your God , you’d be different . Bible verses aren’t magic . But God’s words are revelations of God from God for our redemption . When you actually remember God , you do not sin . The only way we ever sin is by suppressing God , by forgetting , by tuning out his voice , switching channels , and listening to other voices . When you actually remember , you actually change . In fact , remembering is the first change .

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times , “ I am with you . ” Those are his exact words . How does taking that to heart utterly change the script of your sexual darkness ? What if you are facing a temptation to some immorality ? For starters , nothing is private ; no secrets are possible . “ I am with you . ” “ I . . . am . . . with . . . you . ” Say it ten different ways . Say it back to him , the way Psalm 23 : 4 does : “ You are with me . ” Slow it down . Speed it up . Say it out loud . You’ll probably find that you immediately need to say more : “ You are with me . Help me . Make me know that . Have mercy on me . Don’t forsake me . I need you . Make me understand . ”

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Someone’s manipulative and violent lust violated you ; the steadfast love of God never betrays you .

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We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, step-by-step in real life. Walking in the light is not magic. When you can see the fork in the road more clearly (today’s skirmish), and when you see and hear your Lord more clearly (something he says), then you start needing, start talking, start trusting. And then you start making the hard, significant, joyous choice to love people today.

Quick Review: Voices From The Past

Have you ever stumbled into treasure? At some point in my Christian life, I was introduced to the Puritans and I felt like I stumbled on to great treasure.  This devotional will help introduce you to a vast array of puritan theologians.

Warning: This comes with punches of spiritual realities that will lead you to commune with old saints, drive you to repentance and revive your soul. I couldn't agree with Richard Rushing more concerning this book " How thrilling it has been for me to read the Puritans on the glory and attributes of God, divine providence, fellowship with God, holiness of life and the mortification of indwelling sin, heavenly mindedness, prayer, evangelistic zeal, and trust in the Lord during times of affliction. At every turn these truths are eloquently taught, faithfully applied, and kindly offered as the subject of sweet spiritual meditation."

The puritans connected with God in amazing ways and those who want to connect with God in this way recklessly abandon themselves in their writings.  Puritans come also with a caution of turning one into deep introspection that can be debilitating to a Christian if not balanced with the fact that we are not only sinners but also saints. For more on this read Trevin Wax's Beware of the Puritans. I would also like to say that as you read these keep in mind that the Puritans also were people who were not perfect.

Overall, this devotional has been greatly helpful to me.