Athanasius' refutation of the Jews!
Athanasius of Alexandria (A.D. 297 – 373) Bishop of Alexandria, was a chief theologian and early Church Father of the Christian faith. To this day he is widely respected within Western Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. As a staunch Trinitarian, Athanasius spent much of his life battling against the groundwork laid by his predecessor, Arius, a non-Trinitarian. In his writings Against the Heathen, Orations Against the Arians, and The Incarnation of the Word of God, Athanasius stresses the urgency of holding to the faith proclaimed by the apostolic teachings of Scripture. Historically he has been credited as being the first person to identify the same twenty-seven books of the New Testament that are familiar to Christians today.
At the Nicaean Council of A.D.
325, the young Athanasius made the following statement: “Jesus, who I know as
my Redeemer, cannot be less than God.” This passion for exalting the Eternal
Trinity forced him into exile five separate times by Roman Emperors. However,
as providence would have it, Athanasius returned undisturbed to his home in
Alexandria to spend his final years writing and preaching, until his death at
the age of seventy-six.
The
following is Chapter 6 of Athanasius' Commentary, where he deals with the
conflict between what Jews believe about Jesus Christ, and his profound
refutation of the dogma they use to deny His divinity.
"We have dealt thus far with the Incarnation of our Savior, and have found clear proof of the resurrection of His Body and His victory over death. Let us now go further and investigate the unbelief and the ridicule with which Jews and Gentiles respectively regard these same facts. It seems that in both cases the points at issue are the same, namely the unfittingness or incongruity (as it seems to them) alike of the cross and of the Word’s becoming man at all. But we have no hesitation in taking up the argument against these objectors, for the proofs on our side are extremely clear.
(35)
You have heard the prophecy of His death, and now, perhaps, you want to know
what indications there are about the cross. Even this is not passed over in
silence: on the contrary, the sacred writers proclaim it with the utmost
plainness. Moses foretells it first, and that right loudly, when he says, “You
shall see your Life hanging before your eyes, and shall not believe.” [Deuteronomy
28:66]
After him the prophets also give their witness, saying, “But I as an innocent lamb brought to be offered was yet ignorant of it. They plotted evil against Me, saying, ‘Come, let us cast wood into His bread, and wipe Him out from the land of the living.” [Jeremiah 11:19] And, again, “They pierced My hands and My feet, they counted all My bones, they divided My garments for themselves and cast lots for My clothing.” [Psalm 22:16-18] Now a death lifted up and that takes place on wood can be none other than the death of the cross; moreover, it is only in that death that the hands and feet are pierced. Besides this, since the Savior dwelt among men, all nations everywhere have begun to know God; and this too Holy Writ expressly mentions. “There shall be the Root of Jesse,” it says, “and he who rises up to rule the nations, on Him nations shall set their hope.” [Isaiah 11:10]
(36) Then, again, what king that ever was reigned and took
trophies from his enemies before he had strength to call father or mother? Was
not David thirty years old when he came to the throne and Solomon a grown young
man? Did not Joash enter on his reign at the age of seven, and Josiah, some
time after him, at about the same age, both of them fully able by that time to
call father or mother? Who is there, then, that was reigning and despoiling his
enemies almost before he was born? Let the Jews, who have investigated the
matter, tell us if there was ever such a king in Israel or Judah—a king upon
whom all the nations set their hopes and had peace, instead of being at enmity
with him on every side! As long as Jerusalem stood there was constant war
between them, and they all fought against Israel. The Assyrians oppressed
Israel, the Egyptians persecuted them, the Babylonians fell upon them, and,
strange to relate, even the Syrians their neighbors were at war with them. And
did not David fight with Moab and smite the Syrians, and Hezekiah quail at the
boasting of Sennacherib? Did not Amalek make war on Moses and the Amorites
oppose him, and did not the inhabitants of Jericho array themselves against
Joshua the son of Nun? Did not the nations always regard Israel with implacable
hostility? Then it is worth inquiring who it is, on whom the nations are to set
their hopes. Obviously there must be someone, for the prophet could not have
told a lie. But did any of the holy prophets or of the early patriarchs die on
the cross for the salvation of all? Was any of them wounded and killed for the
healing of all? Did the idols of Egypt fall down before any righteous man or
king that came there? Abraham came there certainly, but idolatry prevailed just
the same; and Moses was born there, but the mistaken worship was unchanged.
(39) But surely they cannot fight against plain facts. So it may
be that, without denying what is written, they will maintain that they are
still waiting for these things to happen, and that the Word of God is yet to
come, for that is a theme on which they are always harping most brazenly, in
spite of all the evidence against them. But they shall be refuted on this
supreme point more clearly than on any, and that not by ourselves but by the
most wise Daniel, for he signifies the actual date of the Savior’s coming as
well as His Divine sojourn in our midst. “Seventy weeks,” he says, “are cut
short upon thy people and upon the holy city, to make a complete end of sin and
for sins to be sealed up and iniquities blotted out, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity and to seal vision and prophet, and to anoint a Holy One of
holies. And thou shalt know and understand from the going forth of the Word to
answer, 5 and to build Jerusalem, until Christ the
Prince.” [Daniel 9:24-25] In regard to the other
prophecies, they may possibly be able to find excuses for deferring their
reference to a future time, but what can they say to this one? How can they
face it at all? Not only does it expressly mention the Anointed One, that is
the Christ, it even declares that He Who is to be anointed is not man only, but
the Holy One of holies! And it says that Jerusalem is to stand till His coming,
and that after it prophet and vision shall cease in Israel! David was anointed
of old, and Solomon, and Hezekiah; but then Jerusalem and the place stood, and
prophets were prophesying, Gad and Asaph and Nathan, and later Isaiah and Hosea
and Amos and others. Moreover, those men who were anointed were called holy
certainly, but none of them was called the Holy of holies. Nor is it any use
for the Jews to take refuge in the Captivity, and say that Jerusalem did not
exist then, for what about the prophets? It is a fact that at the outset of the
Exile Daniel and Jeremiah were there, and Ezekiel and Haggai and Zechariah also
prophesied.
Thus the Jews may be refuted by these and other arguments from the
Divine teaching!"
Athanasius of Alexandria (A.D. 297 – 373) Bishop of Alexandria, was a chief theologian and early Church Father of the Christian faith. To this day he is widely respected within Western Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. As a staunch Trinitarian, Athanasius spent much of his life battling against the groundwork laid by his predecessor, Arius, a non-Trinitarian. In his writings Against the Heathen, Orations Against the Arians, and The Incarnation of the Word of God, Athanasius stresses the urgency of holding to the faith proclaimed by the apostolic teachings of Scripture. Historically he has been credited as being the first person to identify the same twenty-seven books of the New Testament that are familiar to Christians today.
"We have dealt thus far with the Incarnation of our Savior, and have found clear proof of the resurrection of His Body and His victory over death. Let us now go further and investigate the unbelief and the ridicule with which Jews and Gentiles respectively regard these same facts. It seems that in both cases the points at issue are the same, namely the unfittingness or incongruity (as it seems to them) alike of the cross and of the Word’s becoming man at all. But we have no hesitation in taking up the argument against these objectors, for the proofs on our side are extremely clear.
First, then, we will consider the Jews. Their unbelief has its
refutation in the Scriptures which even themselves read; for from cover to
cover the inspired Book clearly teaches these things both in its entirety and
in its actual words. Prophets foretold the marvel of the Virgin and of the
Birth from her, saying, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
they shall call his name ‘Emmanuel,’
which means ‘God is with
us.’” [Isaiah 7:14] And Moses, that truly great one
in whose word the Jews trust so implicitly, he also recognized the importance
and truth of the matter. He puts it thus: “There shall arise a star from Jacob
and a man from Israel, and he shall break in pieces the rulers of Moab. [Numbers
24:17] And, again, “How lovely are thy dwellings, O Jacob, thy
tents, O Israel! Like woodland valleys they give shade, and like parks by
rivers, like tents which the Lord has pitched, like cedar-trees by streams.
There shall come forth a Man from among his seed, and he shall rule over many
peoples.” [Numbers 24:5-7] And, again, Isaiah says,
“Before the Babe shall be old enough to call father or mother, he shall take
the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria from under the eyes of the king
of Assyria.” [Isaiah 8:4] These words, then, foretell that a
Man shall appear. And Scripture proclaims further that He that is to come is
Lord of all. These are the words, “Behold, the Lord sitteth on an airy cloud
and shall come into Egypt, and the man-made images of Egypt shall be shaken.” [Isaiah
19:1] And it is from Egypt also that the Father calls him back,
saying, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” [Hosea
11:1]
(34) Moreover, the Scriptures are not silent even about His death.
On the contrary, they refer to it with the utmost clearness. They have not
feared to speak also of the cause of it. He endures it, they say, not for His
own sake, but for the sake of bringing immortality and salvation to all, and
they record also the plotting of the Jews against Him and all the indignities
which He suffered at their hands. Certainly nobody who reads the Scriptures can
plead ignorance of the facts as an excuse for error! There is this passage, for
instance: “A man that is afflicted and knows how to bear weakness, for His face
is turned away. He was dishonored and not considered, He bears our sins and
suffers for our sakes. And we for our part thought Him distressed and afflicted
and ill-used; but it was for our sins that He was wounded and for our
lawlessness that He was made weak. Chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and
by His bruising we are healed.” [Isaiah
53:3-5] O marvel at the love of the Word for men, for it is on our
account that He is dishonored, so that we may be brought to honor. “For all
we,” it goes on, “have strayed like sheep, man has strayed from his path, and
the Lord has given Him up for our sins; and He Himself did not open His mouth
at the ill-treatment. Like a sheep He was led to slaughter, and as a lamb is
dumb before its shearer, so He opened not His mouth; in His humiliation His
judgment was taken away.” [Isaiah 53:6-8] And then Scripture anticipates
the surmises of any who might think from His suffering thus that He was just an
ordinary man, and shows what power worked in His behalf. “Who shall declare of
what lineage He comes?” it says, “for His life is exalted from the earth. By
the lawlessnesses of the people was He brought to death, and I will give the
wicked in return for His burial and the rich in return for His death. For He
did no lawlessness, neither was deceit found in His mouth. And the Lord wills
to heal Him of His affliction.” [Isaiah
53:8-10]
After him the prophets also give their witness, saying, “But I as an innocent lamb brought to be offered was yet ignorant of it. They plotted evil against Me, saying, ‘Come, let us cast wood into His bread, and wipe Him out from the land of the living.” [Jeremiah 11:19] And, again, “They pierced My hands and My feet, they counted all My bones, they divided My garments for themselves and cast lots for My clothing.” [Psalm 22:16-18] Now a death lifted up and that takes place on wood can be none other than the death of the cross; moreover, it is only in that death that the hands and feet are pierced. Besides this, since the Savior dwelt among men, all nations everywhere have begun to know God; and this too Holy Writ expressly mentions. “There shall be the Root of Jesse,” it says, “and he who rises up to rule the nations, on Him nations shall set their hope.” [Isaiah 11:10]
These are just a few things in proof of what has taken place; but
indeed all Scripture teems with disproof of Jewish unbelief. For example, which
of the righteous men and holy prophets and patriarchs of whom the Divine
Scriptures tell ever had his bodily birth from a virgin only? Was not Abel born
of Adam, Enoch of Jared, Noah of Lamech, Abraham of Terah, Isaac of Abraham,
and Jacob of Isaac? Was not Judah begotten by Jacob and Moses and Aaron by
Ameram? Was not Samuel the son of Elkanah, David of Jesse, Solomon of David,
Hezekiah of Ahaz, Josiah of Amon, Isaiah of Amos, Jeremiah of Hilkiah and
Ezekiel of Buzi? Had not each of these a father as author of his being? So who
is He that is born of a virgin only, that sign of which the prophet makes so
much? Again, which of all those people had his birth announced to the world by
a star in the heavens? When Moses was born his parents hid him. David was
unknown even in his own neighborhood, so that mighty Samuel himself was
ignorant of his existence and asked whether Jesse had yet another son. Abraham
again became known to his neighbors as a great man only after his birth. But
with Christ it was otherwise. The witness to His birth was not man, but a star
shining in the heavens whence He was coming down.
(37) Again, does Scripture tell of anyone who was pierced in hands
and feet or hung upon a tree at all, and by means of a cross perfected his
sacrifice for the salvation of all? It was not Abraham, for he died in his bed,
as did also Isaac and Jacob. Moses and Aaron died in the mountain, and David
ended his days in his house, without anybody having plotted against him.
Certainly he had been sought by Saul, but he was preserved unharmed. Again
Isaiah was sawn asunder, but he was not hung on a tree. Jeremiah was shamefully
used, but he did not die under condemnation. Ezekiel suffered, but he did so,
not on behalf of the people, but only to signify to them what was going to
happen. Moreover, all these even when they suffered were but men, like other
men; but He Whom the Scriptures declare to suffer on behalf of all is called
not merely man but Life of all, although in point of fact He did share our
human nature. “You shall see your Life hanging before your eyes,” they say, and
“Who shall declare of what lineage He comes?” With all the saints we can trace
their descent from the beginning, and see exactly how each came to be; but the
Divine Word maintains that we cannot declare the lineage of Him Who is the
Life. Who is it, then, of Whom Holy Writ thus speaks? Who is there so great
that even the prophets foretell of Him such mighty things? There is indeed no
one in the Scriptures at all, save the common Savior of all, the Word of God,
our Lord Jesus Christ. He it is that proceeded from a virgin, and appeared as
man on earth, He it is Whose earthly lineage cannot be declared, because He
alone derives His body from no human father, but from a virgin alone. We can
trace the paternal descent of David and Moses and of all the patriarchs. But
with the Savior we cannot do so, for it was He Himself Who caused the star to
announce His bodily birth, and it was fitting that the Word, when He came down
from heaven, should have His sign in heaven too, and fitting that the King of
creation on His coming forth should be visibly recognized by all the world. He
was actually born in Judea, yet men from Persia came to worship Him. He it is
Who won victory from His demon foes and trophies from the idolaters even before
His bodily appearing—namely, all the heathen who from every region have abjured
the tradition of their fathers and the false worship of idols and are now
placing their hope in Christ and transferring their allegiance to Him. The
thing is happening before our very eyes, here in Egypt; and thereby another
prophecy is fulfilled, for at no other time have the Egyptians ceased from
their false worship save when the Lord of all, riding as on a cloud, came down
here in the body and brought the error of idols to nothing and won over
everybody to Himself and through Himself to the Father. He it is Who was
crucified with the sun and moon as witnesses; and by His death salvation has
come to all men, and all creation has been redeemed. He is the Life of all, and
He it is Who like a sheep gave up His own body to death, His life for ours and
our salvation.
(38) Yet the Jews disbelieve this. This argument does not satisfy
them. Well, then, let them be persuaded by other things in their own oracles.
Of whom, for instance, do the prophets say “I was made manifest to those who
did not seek Me, I was found by those who had not asked for Me? I said, ‘See,
here am I,’ to the nation that had not called upon My Name. I stretched out My
hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.” [Isaiah
65:1-2] Who is this person that was made manifest, one might ask the
Jews? If the prophet is speaking of himself, then they must tell us how he was
first hidden, in order to be manifested afterwards. And, again, what kind of
man is this prophet, who was not only revealed after being hidden, but also
stretched out his hands upon the cross? Those things happened to none of those
righteous men: they happened only to the Word of God Who, being by nature
without body, on our account appeared in a body and suffered for us all. And if
even this is not enough for them, there is other overwhelming evidence by which
they may be silenced. The Scripture says, “Be strong, hands that hang down and
feeble knees, take courage, you of little faith, be strong and do not fear.
See, our God will recompense judgment, He Himself will come and save us. Then
the eyes of blind men shall be opened and the ears of deaf men shall hear, and
stammerers shall speak distinctly.” [Isaiah
35:3-6] What can they say to this, or how can they look it in the
face at all? For the prophecy does not only declare that God will dwell here,
it also makes known the signs and the time of His coming. When God comes, it
says, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the deaf will hear and the
stammerers will speak distinctly. Can the Jews tell us when such signs occurred
in Israel, or when anything of the kind took place at all in Jewry? The leper
Naaman was cleansed, it is true, but no deaf man heard nor did any lame man
walk. Elijah raised a dead person and so did Elisha; but no one blind from
birth received his sight. To raise a dead person is a great thing indeed, but
it is not such as the Savior did. And surely, since the Scriptures have not
kept silence about the leper and the dead son of the widow, if a lame man had
walked and a blind man had received his sight, they would have mentioned these
as well. Their silence on these points proves that the events never took place.
When therefore did these things happen, unless when the Word of God Himself
came in the body? Was it not when He came that lame men walked and stammerers
spoke clearly and men blind from birth were given sight? And the Jews who saw it
themselves testified to the fact that such things had never before occurred.
“Since the world began,” they said, “it has never been heard of that anyone
should open the eyes of a man born blind. If this Man were not from God, He
could do nothing.” [John 9:32-33]
(40) So the Jews are indulging in fiction, and transferring
present time to future. When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it
not when Christ came, the Holy One of holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable
proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither is
prophet raised up nor vision revealed among them. And it is natural that it
should be so, for when He that was signified had come, what need was there any
longer of any to signify Him? And when the Truth had come, what further need
was there of the shadow? On His account only they prophesied continually, until
such time as Essential Righteousness has come, Who was made the Ransom for the
sins of all. For the same reason Jerusalem stood until the same time, in order
that there men might premeditate the types before the Truth was known. So, of
course, once the Holy One of holies had come, both vision and prophecy were
sealed. And the kingdom of Jerusalem ceased at the same time, because kings
were to be anointed among them only until the Holy of holies had been anointed.
Moses also prophesies that the kingdom of the Jews shall stand until His time,
saying, “A ruler shall not fail from Judah nor a prince from his loins, until
the things laid up for him shall come and the Expectation of the nations
Himself.” [Genesis 49:10] And that is why the Savior
Himself was always proclaiming “The law and the prophets prophesied until
John.” [Matthew 11:13] So if there is still king or
prophet or vision among the Jews,
they do well to deny that Christ is come; but if there is neither king nor
vision, and since that time all prophecy has been sealed and city and temple
taken, how can they be so irreligious, how can they so flaunt the facts, as to
deny Christ Who has brought it all about? Again, they see the heathen forsaking
idols and setting their hopes through Christ on the God of Israel; why do they
yet deny Christ Who after the flesh was born of the root of Jesse and reigns
henceforward? Of course, if the heathen were worshipping some other god, and
not confessing the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses, then they
would do well to argue that God had not come. But if the heathen are honoring
the same God Who gave the law to Moses and the promises to Abraham—the God
Whose word too the Jews dishonored, why do they not recognize or rather why do
they deliberately refuse to see that the Lord of Whom the Scriptures prophesied
has shone forth to the world and appeared to it in a bodily form? Scripture
declares it repeatedly. “The Lord God has appeared to us,” [Psalm
118:27] and again, “He sent forth His Word and healed them.” [Psalm
107:20] And again, “It was no ambassador, no angel who saved us, but
the Lord Himself.” [Isaiah 63:9]
The Jews are afflicted like some
demented person who sees the earth lit up by the sun, but denies the sun that
lights it up! What more is there for their Expected One to do when he comes? To
call the heathen? But they are called already. To put an end to prophet and
king and vision? But this too has already happened. To expose the
God-denyingness of idols? It is already exposed and condemned. Or to destroy
death? It is already destroyed. What then has not come to pass that the Christ
must do? What is there left out or unfulfilled that the Jews should disbelieve
so light-heartedly? The plain fact is, as I say, that there is no longer any
king or prophet nor Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision among them; yet the
whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and the Gentiles, forsaking
atheism, are now taking refuge with the God of Abraham through the Word, our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Surely, then, it must be plain even to the most shameless that the
Christ has come, and that He has enlightened all men everywhere, and given them
the true and divine teaching about His Father.
"
[To read the entirety of Athanasius' Commentary, please click here]