When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, he made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
1 Peter 2:23 & 3:15
Today I want to give a little space for an interesting passage written by Athanasius around 1700 years ago. He was a Christian leader who wrote a book called, “On the Incarnation.” In this book, he relates what he thinks in a convincing proof that Jesus is God. Read it for yourself.
The barbarians of the present day are naturally savage in their habits, and as long as they sacrifice to their idols they rage furiously against each other and cannot bear to be a single hour without their weapons. But when they hear the teaching of Christ, forthwith they turn from fighting to farming, and instead of arming themselves with swords extend their hands in prayer. In a word, instead of fighting each other, they take up arms against the devil and the demons, and overcome them by their self-command and integrity of soul. These facts are proof of the Godhead of the Savior, for He has taught men what they could never learn among the idols. It is also no small exposure of the weakness and nothingness of the demons and idols, for it was because they knew their own weakness that the demons were always setting men to fight each other, fearing lest, if they ceased from mutual strife, they would turn to attack the demons themselves. For in truth the disciples of Christ, instead of fighting each other, stand arrayed against the demons by their habits and virtuous actions, and chase them away and mock at their captain the devil. Even in youth they are chaste, they endure in times of testing and persevere in toils. When they are insulted, they are patient, when robbed they make light of it, and marvelous to relate, they make light even of death itself, and become martyrs of Christ.
Athanasius, in On the Incarnation, written around 335ad
That’s a beautiful testimony about what kind of life convinced people in Athanasius’ culture about the divinity of Jesus. You can choose to disagree with him on some point, but I think this ancient testimony deserves to be heard in our days as more than potentially able to shed light on our current interaction with our own culture.
– Deryk Pritchard, Preacher
