On the Incarnation

St Athanasius’s On the Incarnation explains the saving mystery at the heart of the Christian faith: the eternal Word of God truly became human for us. Humanity, created by God for life and communion with him, had fallen under corruption and death through sin. Athanasius argues that the Creator alone could restore his creation. By taking a true human body, offering it in death, and raising it incorruptible, the Word defeats death, renews the divine image in humanity, and makes the Father known. The work remains one of the clearest patristic accounts of salvation through the Incarnation.

On the Incarnation belongs to Athanasius’s early theological writing and forms a companion to Against the Heathen. Its exact date is debated, but it is commonly placed in the early fourth century and reflects concerns that shaped Athanasius throughout his life: creation by the Word, humanity’s fall into corruption, the knowledge of God, and the identity of the Savior. The treatise is not simply a later summary of the Arian controversy. Its argument begins with creation and salvation and presents the divinity of the Word as necessary to understand how Christ’s death and resurrection can renew humanity and creation.

Athanasius begins with creation, explaining that humanity was made through the Word for life with God but turned toward corruption and death through sin. He then asks what God, in his goodness and faithfulness, should do for his ruined creation. The central chapters explain why the Word assumed a body, died publicly, and rose again, defeating death from within human nature. Athanasius also argues from the transformation of believers, the fall of idolatry, prophecy, and the spread of the Church that Christ is truly God. He ends by urging the reader toward Scripture and holy living.

Our Greek text follows Archibald Robertson’s 1893 second edition of St. Athanasius on the Incarnation. A digital transcription from the Open Greek and Latin / First1KGreek project was used to assist with transcription and was checked against Robertson’s printed edition where needed. The Voices of the Fathers Modern English is a new translation directly from the Greek, prepared for contemporary readers while seeking to preserve Athanasius’s meaning, argument, and imagery. Robertson’s 1891 English translation is also available on this site for readers who wish to consult a historical translation.