Friday, February 26 The logic of loving substitution
Athanasius (293-373), On the Incarnation.
Taking a body like our own, because we all were liable to the corruption of death, He surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father. This He did out of sheer love for us so that, as all died in Him, the law relating to the corruption of men might be abolished…The death of all was consummated in the Lord’s body, and both death and corruption were utterly destroyed through the Word who was present in it; for death there had to be, and death for all, so that the debt of all might be paid. Wherefore, as I said before, the Word, since it was not possible for Him to die, assumed a body that was capable of dying, so that He might offer it as His own in place of all.”
Tags: athanasius, athanasius of alexandria, loving substitution