Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius (pronounced “ath-a-NAY-shus”) was an Egyptian theologian and bishop, born circa 296 A.D. in Alexandria. He died on May 2, 373 A.D., leaving behind him a stalwart legacy of passion for the glory of Christ, the grace of the Scriptures, and a lasting view of the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity and the full divinity of Jesus.

During his day, a contemporary presbyter (elder) named Arius, from Libya, was teaching a doctrine summarized by a catchy jingle: “There was a time when the Son was not.” In other words, Arianism taught that Jesus was like God, but was not actually divine. He reasoned that if the Father “begot” the Son, then there was a time before the Son was “begotten.” Athanasius spent a large portion of his many years in ministry combatting this heresy from Scripture and reason, to great effect.

Athanasius insisted that our savior had to be fully human, in order to atone for human sin; he also had to be fully God, since only God has the power to save, and to lay down his life and take it up again. Jesus must be not only like God in substance, but he must be one with God in substance. Fully man, and fully God. Hebrews 2:9 says,

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Hebrews 2:14 continues,

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

In other words: Jesus was fully God, then was made to be fully human as well. God had to become killable, so that we could be save-able. Without this truth, the Church is impoverished. As Athanasius himself said, “Those who maintain 'There was a time when the Son was not' rob God of his Word, like plunderers.”

Not only did Athanasius ably defend the divinity of Jesus, he always was pivotal in recognizing the New Testament canon (“rule”). It is a common myth that the early church fathers argued about which documents belonged in the New Testament, and which didn’t. Then, the myth goes, they finally all got together and created the New Testament.

But God inspires his word and gives is to his people as a gift, so that they, illumined by the Holy Spirit, might recognize its truth and beauty and live according to it, “the only rule of faith and practice.” Contrary to the oft-perpetuated myth, the early church was in widespread agreement on which books the Lord had given to his Church as authoritative. The reason why the canon had to be officially recognized by the Church is two-fold: one, because of heresy. And two, because of the nature of size-dynamics and institutionalization.

First, heresy: heresies such as Arianism and Gnosticism were spreading rampant, and many brought their own writings to the table and argued that they, too, were the authoritative word of God. Such false writings had to be formally refuted. In order to do so, the God-given canon had to be formally recognized — a rule against which to measure these other writings and teachings.

Second, size-dynamics: something that may be organic when dealing with a small group must necessarily get more formal and organized as the group grows. For instance, if I were inviting three of my closes friends for dinner to celebrate my birthday I could simply text them and say, “Birthday dinner, Thursday, my place.” They don’t need any more instruction. If I’m inviting ten people, I may have to add an option to RSVP and include signups to bring side dishes and drinks. If I’m inviting 50 people, I will now have to organizing parking guidance, put balloons on the mailbox, and send out invitations. As the group grows, the necessary level of formality and organization grows.

The Church of Jesus had exponentially exploded throughout the known world in the couple centuries after the resurrection of Jesus. The group was growing. Accordingly, the level of formality must also grow.

When Athanasius assembled the list of the 27 books of the New Testament, it was not met by the Church with bewilderment or argument; it was met with obvious agreement. These are the writings that the Church had always known to be gifts from the risen Jesus, and now the Spirit of the Lord had moved in his people to step into this next season of organization, for the building up and safety of the Church throughout the ages.

We praise God for the legacy of Athanasius, and that throughout the ages he has been faithful to gift to his Church Spirit-filled fathers and mothers of the faith to guide us more, by his grace, into all truth.