St. Athanasius: He Came to Take What Was Ours and Give Us What Was His Own

One of the central questions which every Christian has to come to terms with in a very personal and convictional way is "why did Christ come?", "what did Christ come to accomplish," or, in other words, "what is the Gospel?" Individual Christians are apt to put forward different formulations, and those formulations can differ markedly depending on what tradition they represent. For example, the Lutheran New Testament scholar and theologian Matthew Bates suddenly awoke to the realization of the madness of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and recast the doctrine as "justification by allegiance alone." One of his first tasks is to state what the Gospel is, so that he can then spell out what "allegiance" looks like. He goes on to distill the Gospel into eight essential points. Nevertheless, probably the easiest answer to these questions, the most terse formulation comes from St. Athanasius of Alexandria in the fourth century. This formula that appears so frequently in many Eastern liturgies is simply, "He came to take what was ours and give us what was His own."

It is a single statement in two parts, envisaging the Incarnation as two movements: one of taking and one of giving. Both of these movements are extremely important to us and each of them open vistas to us, which are literally infinite. "He came to take what was ours" is Athanasius' terse way of describing Christ becoming man for our sake. He took upon Himself integral human nature, integral meaning whole. In other words, there was no aspect of it, which He did not take. Christ accepting integral human nature doesn't mean that He assumed a human nature like that of Adam before the fall of mankind into sin. No, He took on the human nature that all of us have, the human nature damaged by sin. He did not know sin either original or actual, but He willingly assumed the consequences of sin. The reason we know this is the case is simply because He died. Yet, before He died He took Adam's fallen human nature and submerged it in the water of the Jordan, making the water effectual in the cleansing of sin. In this sense, and only in this sense, do the words of the Savior have meaning when He tells the Baptist that His baptism "fulfills all justice." Yes, it fulfills all justice because all the consequences of sin are born by One Who is completely innocent into the Jordan where they are drowned like Pharaoh and his armies in the days of the Exodus. This is part of the reason, but only part of the reason, why St. Paul says of Christ: "He Who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might inherit the righteousness of God."(2Cor 5:21)

At the same time, however, Athanasius' formula tells us that He came to give us what was His own. This means Divine Life and everything that is associated with it (immortality, beatitude, dominion and glory). God loves human beings so profoundly that He wants them to share Life with Him forever. So, in Christ, the Incarnation brings to us everything necessary to attain to that eternal destiny.

And that fact brings us to what Athanasius' response to the foundational question means to us in our day-to-day life and struggles. It means that life in Christ is transformational. It must be transformational. Any time that it is not transformational, it is not genuine. A false gospel means no transformation. There are modern versions of Christianity, for example, that tell us that we can persist in our sins. No transformation necessary. The real Gospel is quite different. The testimony of the Early Church suffices. In the First Epistle of St. John, we read: "This is the way we came to understand love: that He laid down His life for us. Thus, we also should lay down our lives for our brethren."(1Jn 3:16) The path of transformation is sacrificially laying down life in exchange for greater life. It's not quid pro quo. It's love. Love is always transformational.