The Incarnation of the Prince of Peace

The fourth century church father Athanasius’ On the Incarnation is a Christian classic, read widely by Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox alike. In it, the bishop and theologian makes his case for why the incarnation–the act of God the Son taking on humanity–was necessary for our salvation.

In this work, Athanasius points to the fall of mankind–how the creatures which were made in God’s image had removed God from their knowledge and thus, “as they had at the beginning come into being out of non-existence, so were they now on the way to returning, through corruption, to non-existence again.”

But this would not do. God found Himself in a dilemma of sorts. He could not “go back upon His word… [that man should] die; but it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption.” The solution to this dilemma was the incarnation: “through this union of the immortal Son of God with our human nature, all men were clothed with incorruption in the promise of the resurrection.” Thus, the most famous sentence in this book: The Word “assumed humanity that we might become God.” Not in the sense that we are without beginning or all-powerful, as God is, but in that God intends to share something of His nature with us as His adopted sons and daughters. While we give appropriate attention to Jesus’ death and resurrection, one might argue that His incarnation and birth are events which are just as important to our salvation. Perhaps Christmas is as essential as Easter.

Other sections of this treatise are less famous, but should also inform our understanding of what Christmas means. For example, in his arguments against the gentile pagans, Athanasius writes of Jesus’ defeat of the demons. It was to this defeat which Athanasius attributed to Christian border crashing and peacemaking. For, while the gentiles “were serving idols and offering sacrifices to demons… nothing could wean them from that war-like spirit.” But “since they came over to the school of Christ… they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more.”

This was not so with the gentiles who remained in paganism. For those of Athanasius’ day were “naturally savage in their habits, and as long as they sacrifice to their idols, they rage furiously against each other and cannot bear to be a single hour without weapons.” But all of this changed when they embraced the teaching of Christ. Just as Isaiah had predicted in Isaiah 2:4, once gentiles hear the true gospel of Jesus, “instead of fighting each other, they take up arms against the devil and the daemons.”

For Athanasius, it was no mystery that paganism and war go hand in hand. For “the daemons were always setting men to fight each other, fearing lest, if they ceased from mutual strife, they would turn to attack the daemons themselves… and chase them away and mock at their captain the devil.” In short, the incarnation meant the reclaiming of the nations from the demons who had been leading them astray, and the end of war for those who were willing to leave their gods behind and serve the true Lord.

It is no wonder then, that in Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming messiah, He is named “Prince of Peace”: for when the world truly turns to serve Christ, “every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire” (Isaiah 9:5).