On the incarnation - Athanasius - III - Chapter 4 (The death of Christ)

Required reading
On the incarnation by Athanasius (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 4 (The death of Christ).

My summary
At the beginning of the Chapter Athanasius recaps what he has already taught about reasons for Christ's incarnation: 'We have dealt as far as circumstances and our own understanding permit with the reason for His bodily manifestation. We have seen that to change the corruptible to incorruption was proper to none other than the Savior Himself, Who in the beginning made all things out of nothing; that only the Image of the Father could re-create the likeness of the Image in men, that none save our Lord Jesus Christ could give to mortals immortality, and that only the Word Who orders all things and is alone the Father's true and sole-begotten Son could teach men about Him and abolish the worship of idols.'

Then Athanasius explains the next reason for the incarnation, the death of Christ: 'But beyond all this, there was a debt owing which must needs be paid; for, as I said before, all men were due to die. Here, then, is the second reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man's account with death and free him from the primal transgression. In the same act also He showed Himself mightier than death, displaying His own body incorruptible as the first-fruits of the resurrection.'

Then the rest of the chapter provides reasons why Jesus had to die a shameful death on the cross, rather than another type of death.

What grabbed me
I liked the list of reasons given for the necessity of the cross. 

Particularly enjoyed the reasoning that Jesus' death had to be public because of the resurrection that would follow: 'Then, again, suppose without any illness He had just concealed His body somewhere, and then suddenly reappeared and said that He had risen from the dead. He would have been regarded merely as a teller of tales, and because there was no witness of His death, nobody would believe His resurrection. Death had to precede resurrection, for there could be no resurrection without it. A secret and unwitnessed death would have left the resurrection without any proof or evidence to support it. Again, why should He die a secret death, when He proclaimed the fact of His rising openly? Why should He drive out evil spirits and heal the man blind from birth and change water into wine, all publicly, in order to convince men that He was the Word, and not also declare publicly that incorruptibility of His mortal body, so that He might Himself be believed to be the Life? And how could His disciples have had boldness in speaking of the resurrection unless they could state it as a fact that He had first died? Or how could their hearers be expected to believe their assertion, unless they themselves also had witnessed His death? For if the Pharisees at the time refused to believe and forced others to deny also, though the things had happened before their very eyes, how many excuses for unbelief would they have contrived, if it had taken place secretly? Or how could the end of death and the victory over it have been declared, had not the Lord thus challenged it before the sight of all, and by the incorruption of His body proved that henceforward it was annulled and void?'

If Jesus hadn't died publicly, then people would have very quickly doubted the resurrection. 

But as Jesus definitely died, we can also believe that his appearances afterward were resurrection appearances!

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 5 (The resurrection).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.