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Saint Athanasius' "On the Incarnation" CHAPTER IX
Conclusion(56) Here, then, Macarius, is our
offering to you who love Christ, a brief statement of the faith
of Christ and of the manifestation of His Godhead to us. This
will give you a beginning, and you must go on to prove its truth
by the study of the Scriptures. They were written and inspired
by God; and we, who have learned from inspired teachers who read
the Scriptures and became martyrs for the Godhead of Christ,
make further contribution to your eagerness to learn. From the
Scriptures you will learn also of His second manifestation to
us, glorious and divine indeed, when He shall come not in lowliness
but in His proper glory, no longer in humiliation but in majesty,
no longer to suffer but to bestow on us all the fruit of His
cross-- the resurrection and incorruptibility. No longer will
He then be judged, but rather will Himself be Judge, judging
each and all according to their deeds done in the body, whether
good or ill. Then for the good is laid up the heavenly kingdom,
but for those that practice evil outer darkness and the eternal
fire. So also the Lord Himself says, "I say unto you, hereafter ye shall
see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of power, coming
on the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father."[1]
For that Day we have one of His own sayings to prepare us, "Get ready and watch, for ye know not
the hour in which He cometh"[2]
And blessed Paul says, "We must all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ, that each one may receive according as he practiced
in the body, whether good or ill."[3]
(57) But for the searching and right
understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a good life
and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide the mind to
grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the
Word. One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints
unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life.
Anyone who wants to look at sunlight naturally wipes his eye
clear first, in order to make, at any rate, some approximation
to the purity of that on which he looks; and a person wishing
to see a city or country goes to the place in order to do so.
Similarly, anyone who wishes to understand the mind of the sacred
writers must first cleanse his own life, and approach the saints
by copying their deeds. Thus united to them in the fellowship
of life, he will both understand the things revealed to them
by God and, thenceforth escaping the peril that threatens sinners
in the judgment, will receive that which is laid up for the saints
in the kingdom of heaven. Of that reward it is written: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
hath entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared"[4]
for them that live a godly 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, honor
and might and glory to ages of ages. Amen. |