Question about this Verse from Athanasius

[SimonArizona]

St. Athanasius says “Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies 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 in His death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished because, having fulfilled in His body that for which it was appointed, it was therefore voided of its power for men.”-On the Incarnation

How is the law of death abolished?

and how is it therefore voided of its power for men?

He continues… “This He did that He might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption, and make them alive through death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of His resurrection. Thus He would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.”

and once more…“For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required.”

How did He fulfill in death all that was required?

 

[bpbasilphx]

**
How is the law of death abolished?**

**Jesus died so that He could be raised. The Resurrection shows that death is not fatal–it’s NOT the last word.

As we sing at Pasch, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”**

 

[CentralFLJames]

St. Athanasius says “Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies 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 in His death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished because, having fulfilled in His body that for which it was appointed, it was therefore voided of its power for men.”-On the Incarnation

How is the law of death abolished?

and how is it therefore voided of its power for men?

He continues… “This He did that He might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption, and make them alive through death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of His resurrection. Thus He would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.”

and once more…“For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required.”

How did He fulfill in death all that was required?

This focus is on satisfying God’s Justice and the requirements of Law. A human could never satisfy a “one to many” debt. At best any person could do is sacrifice himself for one other. Only by the infinite merits of the Divine could the large combined human plurality of debt be satisfied by a single action. The severity of the transgression of the human race in Eden through Adam & Eve was more than we can possibly fathom. To get a small insight into the severity of the transgression imagine how you would feel if your worst enemy who hates you in every-way seduced your only beloved virginal daughter into having sex with him and he enjoyed himself and got her pregnant just to mock you (the child is personally innocent but your bloodline is now forever forced to carry on your enemies face). It’s not a complete analogy but it gives a feeling of the wrath and betrayal that God as humanity’s Creator must have felt by Eve’s (and Adam’s) willful participation in intimate disobedience with God’s worse enemy.

Thus only a single Divine act of substitution could settle the huge injustice in a “one to many sort of relationship”. God’s justice would not permit an arbitrary and unearned Mercy. But God’s Mercy and Love could not permit Him to let personally innocent life suffer for the sins of their parents - no matter how much those illegitimate children looked to God like His worst enemy coming out of the womb. God still sees His original image in each of us even if He also sees the taint and contempt of His worse enemy in each of us as well.

The worst punishment any of us can suffer on earth is death. This is the worst that anyone can threaten us with. After one is dead one’s worse enemies can do nothing at all to harm us personally. So by dieing for us Jesus brings us to a condition of disempowering our enemies - there is nothing more that they can do to us personally. At death we are outside of all contempt and laws - there is nothing to act on. By dieing “in Christ” (through baptism) we are removed from the reach of our enemies and the law. Since Christ is Divine and had risen from the dead our baptism and continued abiding in Him through cooperation with grace let’s us be carried with Him into resurrection and eternal life. The Church is the body of Christ and it is the arc of the new covenant that carries us. Thus the Church is a mystical entity that is eternal and what serves to deliver us from the bondage of debt and sin to the promised land (heaven). In essence we are reborn through real physical death in Christ into new beings with the corruption of God’s enemies being extricated and replaced with a nature of Christ - a divine-human nature superior to Adam’s. God gets the last laugh at His ancient enemy Satan and tells Satan that even though you corrupted my children’s bloodline I have used your vile corruption as a means to make them greater than you and greater than even Adam ever way and into My own very loved divine-human children. God also tells Satan, you can have the old corrupt carcass that you corrupted as it blows like dust in the wind since in heaven I will give my children a new uncorrupt body that is perfect in every way where your vile face and your corruption will never again be seen or suffered.

James

 

[Eucharisted]

St. Athanasius says “Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies 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 in His death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished because, having fulfilled in His body that for which it was appointed, it was therefore voided of its power for men.”-On the Incarnation

How is the law of death abolished?

and how is it therefore voided of its power for men?

He continues… “This He did that He might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption, and make them alive through death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of His resurrection. Thus He would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.”

and once more…“For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required.”

How did He fulfill in death all that was required?

By His death, Jesus has restored the supernatural life to souls and conquered every evil - including death. He is the Life itself.

By His resurrection He has guarenteed the resurrection of the dead; He is the first to rise - the first fruit, first among brethern - because He is the Resurrection itself.

 

[SimonArizona]

By His death, Jesus has restored the supernatural life to souls and conquered every evil - including death. He is the Life itself.

By His resurrection He has guarenteed the resurrection of the dead; He is the first to rise - the first fruit, first among brethern - because He is the Resurrection itself.

He’s not the first to rise, Lazarus rose first, the widow’s son rose before Jesus did.

 

[SimonArizona]

By His death, Jesus has restored the supernatural life to souls and conquered every evil - including death. He is the Life itself.

By His resurrection He has guarenteed the resurrection of the dead; He is the first to rise - the first fruit, first among brethern - because He is the Resurrection itself.

He’s not the first to rise, Lazarus rose first, the widow’s son rose before Jesus did.

 

[SimonArizona]

This focus is on satisfying God’s Justice and the requirements of Law. A human could never satisfy a “one to many” debt. At best any person could do is sacrifice himself for one other. Only by the infinite merits of the Divine could the large combined human plurality of debt be satisfied by a single action. The severity of the transgression of the human race in Eden through Adam & Eve was more than we can possibly fathom. To get a small insight into the severity of the transgression imagine how you would feel if your worst enemy who hates you in every-way seduced your only beloved virginal daughter into having sex with him and he enjoyed himself and got her pregnant just to mock you (the child is personally innocent but your bloodline is now forever forced to carry on your enemies face). It’s not a complete analogy but it gives a feeling of the wrath and betrayal that God as humanity’s Creator must have felt by Eve’s (and Adam’s) willful participation in intimate disobedience with God’s worse enemy.

Thus only a single Divine act of substitution could settle the huge injustice in a “one to many sort of relationship”. God’s justice would not permit an arbitrary and unearned Mercy. But God’s Mercy and Love could not permit Him to let personally innocent life suffer for the sins of their parents - no matter how much those illegitimate children looked to God like His worst enemy coming out of the womb. God still sees His original image in each of us even if He also sees the taint and contempt of His worse enemy in each of us as well.

The worst punishment any of us can suffer on earth is death. This is the worst that anyone can threaten us with.

I can think of worse.

After one is dead one’s worse enemies can do nothing at all to harm us personally. So by dieing for us Jesus brings us to a condition of disempowering our enemies - there is nothing more that they can do to us personally. At death we are outside of all contempt and laws - there is nothing to act on. By dieing “in Christ” (through baptism) we are removed from the reach of our enemies and the law. Since Christ is Divine and had risen from the dead our baptism and continued abiding in Him through cooperation with grace let’s us be carried with Him into resurrection and eternal life. The Church is the body of Christ and it is the arc of the new covenant that carries us. Thus the Church is a mystical entity that is eternal and what serves to deliver us from the bondage of debt and sin to the promised land (heaven). In essence we are reborn through real physical death in Christ into new beings with the corruption of God’s enemies being extricated and replaced with a nature of Christ - a divine-human nature superior to Adam’s. God gets the last laugh at His ancient enemy Satan and tells Satan that even though you corrupted my children’s bloodline I have used your vile corruption as a means to make them greater than you and greater than even Adam ever way and into My own very loved divine-human children. God also tells Satan, you can have the old corrupt carcass that you corrupted as it blows like dust in the wind since in heaven I will give my children a new uncorrupt body that is perfect in every way where your vile face and your corruption will never again be seen or suffered.

James

So it is because of the merits of the Word of God, that dieing instead of all, that act satisfies justice when God said “you shall die.” And because Christ is Lord over death, He disempowered death by resurrection, and took the entire race with Him?

 

[CentralFLJames]

So it is because of the merits of the Word of God, that dieing instead of all, that act satisfies justice when God said “you shall die.” And because Christ is Lord over death, He disempowered death by resurrection, and took the entire race with Him?

Yes, the infinite merits of Christ’s substituting His life to permit any of us to attain eternal life are easily sufficient to satisfy the demands of Justice and silence our accuser (Satan) for every soul ever created. But that gross overpayment does not mean that all are saved. As a mater of scale - a single drop of divine-human blood shed on our behalf would have been sufficient. But there is more going on here. Since the mechanism of salvation is co-participation with Christ’s passion, death and resurrection (through baptism and Christian life) Christ is lovingly making us partners in our own salvation to let us share in His nature. He is more than balancing the debt and restoring us to our pre-fail status he is ELEVATING our nature. We are being remade into a new creation that is formed on Christ as our new prototype (new Adam) and given a large measure of his nature so that we may love God at a more authentic level that God can commune with. While God loves all His creatures it is impossible for a created Creature to love God in a manner that God loves Himself. So Christ’s saving mechanism makes it possible for us to love God as children would love a father in the truest since.

James

 

[skeyes]

Great responses James! You have a gift for being able to sift through and find the wheat. Keep up the good work.
Stan

 

[cfrancis]

He’s not the first to rise, Lazarus rose first, the widow’s son rose before Jesus did.

There is a distinction, though. Lazarus and the widow’s son were resuscitated not resurrected, as they had to die eventually.
Christ is truly the first resurrection, in that He will die no more.