Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

Chapter 2 Human Sin and the Divine Dilemma

While humanity is made to know God and share in his incorruptible life, we have instead turned toward evil and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator. The penalty of our sin is corruption which leads to death, and results in destruction on a mass scale. Humanity’s spoiling of God’s good creation brings about a divine dilemma. On the one hand, God must be true to his word and punish sin with the penalty of death. But, on the other hand, it would be unfitting for God’s good and beloved creation to merely perish. What is the solution? One thing is clear: repentance from humanity will not suffice, for it would only deal with a symptom of the problem (wrong behavior) as opposed its source (the corrupted nature of humanity). The solution must come from God. ***

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