Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

transgression of my people?” It says, “By oppression and judgment he was taken away; . . . and they made his grave with the wicked and with a richman in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him” (Isa 53:8–10).

§35 – The Old Testament Prophecies the Cross and Virgin Birth

You have heard the prophecy of his death, and now, perhaps, youwant to knowwhat 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, “Your life shall hang in doubt before you . . . you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life” (Deut 28:66). After him the prophets also give their witness, saying, “But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living’” (Jer 11:19). And, again, “They have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (Ps 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 humanity, all nations everywhere have begun to know God; and this too Holy Scripture expressly mentions. “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isa 11:10).