JOSEPH KOHM, JR.

ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION

OF THE WORD OF GOD
JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
CITY DIRECTOR, C.S. LEWIS INSTITUTE – VIRGINIA BEACH

W
hen considering the best way to
avoid theological error, C.S. Lewis
once wrote, “The only palliative is
to keep the clean sea breeze of
the centuries blowing through our
minds, and this can be done only
by reading old books.”1 While this
may be a familiar quote to Lewis
readers, its source may not be. It
comes from his introduction to a translation of Athanasius’s The
Incarnation of the Word of God, by Lewis’s friend Sister Penelope
Lawson, a nun in the order of the Convent of the Community of
St. Mary the Virgin. At that time, nuns from this order were not
permitted to write books under their own names, so readers
looking for this translation will find the translator listed as “A
Religious of C.S.M.V.”
To understand the importance of The Incarnation, it is important
to put Athanasius in his historical context. Twenty-first-century
Christians might be tempted to think that the doctrine of the Trinity
was universally accepted in the early church. But much of the
general body of theology we now take for granted, especially
regarding the Trinity, had to be developed and worked out.
Athanasius played an important role in this theological process.
He was born in A.D. 298 to a wealthy family near Alexandria,
Egypt, and became the bishop of Alexandria before he was thirty
years old. There was a popular belief around that time that Jesus,
though divine, was less than God. This belief was promulgated by
Arius, a presbyter, also from Alexandria. Arius taught that because
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The proof that Christ rose from the dead and
continues to live is found in His lasting impact,
the most profound of which is that true followers
of Christ have lost their fear of death in that
they “tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer
to die rather than deny their faith in Christ.”
 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

Jesus was “begotten” by the Father, Jesus was a creature made

by God; therefore, there must have been a point in time in which
Jesus did not exist. The implications for this view were grave; if
accepted, it would have meant that ultimately Christ’s sacrifice
on the cross would not have been sufficient payment for the sin
of humankind. Athanasius was the prominent voice advocating
for the divinity of Jesus. Not only was Athanasius a strong voice
regarding the divinity of Jesus; he was also an important advocate
for the doctrine of the Trinity over the course of his entire life.
In the introduction to The Incarnation, Lewis advises that, rather
than read books about the great thinkers of the past, readers should
go directly to the source and obtain “first-hand knowledge,” which
is “usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.”2 This is
excellent advice, especially applied to Athanasius. At fewer than a
hundred pages, The Incarnation is a short work that develops into
a comprehensive and easy-to-understand Christology. It begins
by detailing Christ’s role in the creation of the universe. Paralleling
the first chapter of John, where we are told that in the beginning
the Word was with God and that all things were made through
the Word, Athanasius identifies Christ as the Word, and that “the
renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word who
made it in the beginning.”3 Christ’s presence at the creation of the
world is evidence for Athanasius of the inter-Trinitarian relationship
between Jesus and the Father.
From there, Athanasius begins to develop the reasons for the
incarnation of the second person of the Trinity. The “why” behind
the incarnation is love. Christ was “manifested in a human body
for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for
the salvation of men.”4 God loves us and, as a consequence of His
grace, made us in His image. Yet our sin marred that image; as a
result, humanity “was unworthy of the goodness of God.”5 God’s
response was to “renew His image in mankind, so that through
it men might once more come to know Him.”6 This was done by
Christ coming to earth to take the form of a human. Yet while He
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 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

was a human, he was also fully God. Athanasius writes, “as Man
He was living a human life, and as Word He was sustaining the
life of the universe.”7
The proof that Christ rose from the dead and continues to live is
found in His lasting impact, the most profound of which is that true
followers of Christ have lost their fear of death in that they “tread
it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than deny their
faith in Christ.”8 Athanasius was a firsthand witness to Christian
martyrdom, so his remarks regarding those willing to die for Christ
have personal significance. Other proofs of Christ’s continuing
impact cited by Athanasius include changes in the people’s
behavior (“the living to cease from their activities, the adulterer
from his adultery, the murderer from murdering”) and the growth in
the number of Christians all over the world at that time. This is the
work of One who still lives while the power of those who are dead
“lasts only to the grave.”9
Athanasius’s influence reverberates throughout the fourth century.
The controversy surrounding the divinity of Jesus was the subject
of the Council of Nicaea, convened by the newly converted
emperor Constantine in A.D. 325. Arius’s ideas were eventually
repudiated, and we can see the foundations of Athanasius’s work
in the Nicene Creed. It reads, “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds;
God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not
made, being of one substance with the Father…” The words
“begotten of the Father before all worlds” emphasize the eternal
characteristic of the Sonship of Christ, eliminating the idea that
there was ever a time when Jesus did not exist. We can hear
the echoes of Athanasius in Mere Christianity where Lewis notes,
“The Son exists because the Father exists: but there never was a
time before the Father produced the Son.”10
For the modern reader, there is a twofold value in Athanasius’s

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When informed that the whole world was
against him regarding his view of Christ’s
full divinity, he replied, “Then I am against
the world.”
 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

The Incarnation of the Word of God. In his introduction, Lewis

refers to the “sensible synthetic religions which are so strongly
recommended today.”11 As in Athanasius’s time, skeptics are
currently trying to infiltrate the church with false teachings and
philosophies. Athanasius arms us with a thorough and complete
understanding of who Jesus is so that we will be able to reject
subtle and nuanced attempts to dilute both the theological heritage
of the church and the living Word revealed to us in Scripture.
What’s more, Athanasius can serve as a role model for us today.
In his introduction, Lewis reminds us that Athanasius’s epitaph is
“Athanasius against the world.”12 When informed that the whole
world was against him regarding his view of Christ’s full divinity, he
replied, “Then I am against the world.”13 Like Athanasius, we must
be ready to stand against that to which the popular heterodoxy or
culture is pressuring us to conform. Oftentimes there is a cost for
standing up for truth or, in Athanasius’s case, standing up for the
“Truth.” Over the course of his life, he was exiled on five separate
occasions. Toward the end of The Incarnation, Athanasius notes,
“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.” Let us aspire to copy the deeds of Athanasius and,
as Lewis wrote, “keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries
blowing through our minds” by reading The Incarnation of the
Word of God. n

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 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

NOTES
1
C.S. Lewis, introduction to Athanasius: The Incarnation of the Word of God,
trans. by A Religious of C.S.M.V. (New York: Macmillian, 1946), 7.
2
Ibid., 5.
3
C.S.M.V., Athanasius, 26.
4
Ibid., 26.
5
Ibid., 32.
6
Ibid., 41.
7
Ibid., 45.
8
Ibid., 67.
9
Ibid., 60.
10
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; repr., New York: HarperCollins, 2001),
173.
11
Lewis, introduction, C.S.M.V., Athanasius, 11.
12
Ibid.
13
Samuel Tadros, Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity
(Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution, 2013), 19.
14
Ibid., 96.

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 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

A Book Observed
Our online bookclub
We hope that by encouraging the reading of great ‘old books’, and
facilitating a community experience of lively online discussion of
those books with others, this book club will help stimulate spiritual
growth and powerful discipleship of heart and mind.
A Book Observed is a self paced online ‘old book’ club where
members can read the book and join the discussion threads at
their own pace. Each book discussion lasts three months.
We encourage people to comment and ask questions associated
with the topic. Occasionally some of our senior teaching staff will
join in the discussion to help answer questions as well.
Join us here http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/bookclub

KNOWING & DOING 8 WiNTER | 2017

 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

?
1

How can knowing about Athanasius

help you in your spiritual growth
today?

What aspects of Athanasius’s

teaching most challenge your
understanding of theology?

KNOWING & DOING 9 WINTER | 2017

 JOSEPH KOHM, JR.
ATHANASIUS: THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

JOSEPH KOH M, J R .
CITY DIRECTOR, C.S. LEWIS INSTITUTE
VIRGINIA BEACH

Joseph A. Kohm, Jr., is an attorney and

Certified Major League Baseball Agent.
He is the author of Baseball’s Antitrust
Exemption: It’s Going, Going…Gone!, 
and co-author of The Family Advisor:
The New Trend for Athletes with
Family Values. Prior to receiving his
Juris Doctorate degree from Regent
University School of Law, he earned his
MBA from the State University of New
York. While earning his undergraduate
degree from Syracuse University, Joe
was a member of the basketball team
that participated in the 1987 Final Four. He has been married for
30 years to his wonderful wife Lynne. They have two children, Joe
and Kathleen. He also serves as the City Director of C.S. Lewis
Institute – Virginia Beach.

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