Part 8 — The Word Known by His Works: Conclusion
The works of Christ's body are put forward as the test of who He is, and the book ends by handing the reader on to the Scriptures, which ask a certain life of their reader.
Before you listen
Part eight is the shortest of the eight, and it is the book's close. Athanasius turns from what had to happen to what can be looked at: the works done in the body, and what has become of idolatry, of the wisdom of the Greeks and of the demons since the Word appeared. Then he tells the reader plainly that all of this is only an outline, and points him on to the Scriptures. Follow the two halves — first the evidence he offers, then the conditions he sets on anyone who wants to read further.
Listen for The comparisons. In ten minutes he reaches for five of them — the waves of the open sea, the sunrise, a king who has stayed indoors, an eye wiped clean to look at the sun, and a man who travels to a city in order to see it — and each one does a piece of work the argument would otherwise have to do at length.
Open the reading · 10:00The text in hand
The passage, in full
Suppose, then, a man should wish to see God, who is invisible by nature and not seen at all. Then he comes to know God, and lays hold of Him, from His works. In just the same way, let the man who does not see Christ with his understanding at least learn of Him from the works of the body, and let him test whether they are a man's works or God's works. If they are a man's, let him mock. Yet if they are not a man's works but the works of God, let him not laugh at what is no matter for laughter.
The passage, in full
In just this way the demons and men of old used to deceive, clothing themselves in the honor that belongs to God. But when the Word of God appeared in a body, and made His own Father known to us, then at last the deceit of the demons vanishes and ceases, and men, looking to the Father's true Word, who is God, leave the idols behind and from then on acknowledge the true God. And the mark that Christ is God the Word and the Power of God is this: human things come to an end, but what Christ has spoken remains; and from this it is plain to all that what comes to an end is temporary, while He who remains is God, and God's true Son, the only-begotten Word.
A line to keep
For He became man that we might be made God.
A line to keep
there is need of a good life and a pure soul and the virtue that is according to Christ
What this part is doing
A test anyone can run
God is invisible and is come to be known from His works; so, Athanasius says, let the man who does not see Christ with his understanding learn of Him from the works of the body, and test whether they are a man's works or God's. He states both outcomes and leaves the choice standing. What follows is not a proof but a list of things to marvel at, ending with the admission that the whole cannot be counted at all.
What has happened since He came
The evidence offered is a set of changes: idolatry no longer increasing but dwindling, the wisdom of the Greeks advancing no further, the demons put to shame by the Sign of the Cross. Two comparisons carry it — darkness that no longer prevails once the sun has risen, and impostors exposed the moment the true king comes out of his house. The mark he finally settles on is duration: human things come to an end, and what Christ has spoken remains.
Where the book hands you on
Athanasius calls what he has written a first grounding and an outline, and tells the reader to take it as a starting point and go to the Scriptures themselves — where he will learn of the second appearing, and of judgement according to what each has done in the body. But the last word is about the reader rather than the text: searching the Scriptures needs a good life, and coming to the saints by likeness of deeds. Two phrases in these sections depart deliberately from the literal — "a saving counsel" in section 56, and "the hearts of men" in section 57, which differs from the wording of 1 Corinthians 2:9 that most readers will have in their ear; the About page explains both.
Words it keeps using
Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or counted. They exist so you can notice what did not land.
What is the reader who cannot see Christ with his understanding told to do?
Learn of Him from the works of the body, and test whether they are a man's works or God's works. If they are a man's, let him mock; if they are not a man's but God's, let him not laugh at what is no matter for laughter (section 54).
What does Athanasius point to as the sign that the Word has appeared?
Changes he says can be looked at: since the Saviour came to dwell among us, idolatry has ceased to increase and is dwindling, the wisdom of the Greeks advances no further, and the demons no longer deceive by illusions and divinations and magic. The mark he draws out is that human things come to an end, while what Christ has spoken remains (section 55).
What does he say is needed for searching the Scriptures?
A good life and a pure soul and the virtue that is according to Christ. Without a pure mind, and without shaping the life after the saints, no one could lay hold of the words of the saints (section 57).
Terms
the works of the body
What the Word did while in a body, offered as the evidence by which He can be known — as the invisible God is known from His works. The reader is asked to judge whether these are a man's works or God's.
the second appearing
Christ's coming again, described here as glorious and truly divine: no longer in lowliness but in His own glory, no longer to suffer but to render the fruit of His own Cross to all, and to judge each by what he has done in the body.
incorruption
Not merely deathlessness but permanence in being: what man would have kept had he guarded his likeness to the One who is. It is promised again through the Resurrection.
the Resurrection
The rising of the body the Word had made His own, by whose grace corruption ceases from those who share His nature, and in whose promise incorruption is held out to all.