On the Incarnation

by Athanasius of Alexandria

For of His becoming Incarnate we were the object, and for our salvation He dealt so lovingly as to appear and be born even in a human body. 4. Thus, then, God has made man, and willed that he should abide in incorruption; but men, having despised and rejected the contemplation of God, and devised and contrived evil for themselves (as was said{12} in the former treatise), received the condemnation of death with which they had been threatened; and from thenceforth no longer remained as they were made, but{13} were being corrupted according to their devices; and death had the mastery over them as king.{14} For transgression of the commandment was turning them back to their natural state, so that just as they have had their being out of nothing, so also, as might be expected, they might look for corruption into nothing in the course of time.

Great thoughts!