A Marvelous and Mighty Paradox

“He, the Life of all, our Lord and Savior,did not arrange the manner of his own deathlest He should seem to be afraid of some other kind.No. He accepted and bore upon the crossa death inflicted by others,and those other His special enemies,a death which to them was supremely terribleand by no means to be faced;and He did this in order that,by destroying even this death,He might Himself be believed to be the Life,and the power of death be recognised as finally annulled.A marvelous and mighty paradox has thus occurred,for the death which they thought to inflict on Him as dishonour and disgracehas become the glorious monument to death’s defeat.”

– Athanasius, On the Incarnation

HT: Trevin Wax

No Vain Display

The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.

― Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation

Knowledge Before Obedience

"[Paul] deemed it necessary to teach first about Christ and the mystery of the incarnation. Only then did he point to things in their lives that needed to be corrected. He wanted them first to know the Lord and then to want to do what he told them. For if you don’t know the one who leads the people in observing God’s commands, you are not very likely to obey them."

- St. Athanasius

Hat Tip: Peter Kirk at Gentle Wisdom