On the incarnation - Athanasius - VI - Chapter 7 (Refutation of the Gentiles)

Required reading
On the incarnation by Athanasius (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 7 (Refutation of the Gentiles).

My summary
Now Athanasius takes on objections of the Gentiles to the incarnation.

To refute the Gentiles Athanasius basically answers the following questions:
(i) Is not the incarnation ridiculous?;
(ii) Is it because humanity is a thing created and brought into being out of non-existence that they regard as unfitting the manifestation of the Savior in our nature?;
(iii) Why did Jesus not manifest himself by means of other and nobler parts of creation, and use some nobler instrument, such as sun or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of mere man?;
(iv) If God wanted to instruct and save mankind, might he have done so, not by His Word's assumption of a body, but, even as He at first created them, by the mere signification of his will?

What grabbed me
I liked the point about why Jesus had to become a man rather than something else in creation: 'Some may then ask, why did He not manifest Himself by means of other and nobler parts of creation, and use some nobler instrument, such as sun or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of mere man? The answer is this. The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.'

Man doesn't need simply a display of God's glory, he needs a Saviour.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 8 (Refutation of the Gentiles continued).

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