Commentary on Ephesians

Athanasius of Alexandria (296–373)

The Father makes all things by the Word in the Spirit. So it is that the Unity of the Trinity is safeguarded. So it is that in the Church is proclaimed the one God who is 'above all and through all and in all (Eph 4.6)'. He is 'above all' as Father, as author and source; 'through all' by the Word; 'in all' in the Holy Spirit." - "Letters to Serapion on The Holy Spirit, 1.28"

But in the Body which was circumcised, and carried, and ate and drank, and was weary, and was nailed on the tree and suffered, there was the impassible and incorporeal Word of God. This Body it was that was laid in a grave, when the Word had left it, yet was not parted from it, to preach, as Peter says, also to the spirits in prison. And this above all shews the foolishness of those who say that the Word was changed into bones and flesh. For if this had been so, there were no need of a tomb. For the Body would have gone by itself to preach to the spirits in Hades. But as it was, He Himself went to preach, while the Body Joseph wrapped in a linen cloth, and laid it away at Golgotha. And so it is shewn to all that the Body was not the Word, but Body of the Word.

See also

• More works by Athanasius of Alexandria

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