Athanasius Against the World and the Christ Who Saves
- Oct 1, 2024
- 4 min read
In the fourth century, one man stood against emperors, exile, and slander to defend a single truth: only God can save. Athanasius believed that if Jesus Christ is not truly God, the gospel collapses. Hebrews shows why he was right.
This article is adapted from a message preached on October 2nd, 2025. Watch the full sermon on YouTube.
When most Christians think about the defence of the gospel, they think first of the New Testament writers. But outside the pages of Scripture itself, few figures have mattered more to the preservation of the Christian faith than Athanasius.
Born around AD 297 in Alexandria, Egypt, Athanasius lived at a time when the very identity of Jesus Christ was under fierce attack. His enemies were not pagans alone, but professing Christians who claimed that the Son of God was not truly God, but a created being, exalted yet subordinate. The man most associated with that teaching was Arius.
Athanasius understood that this was not an abstract theological debate. If Christ were merely a creature, no matter how exalted, then salvation itself would be impossible. A creature cannot save sinners. Only God can.
Athanasius and the battle for Christ’s deity
In AD 325, Athanasius attended the Council of Nicaea as a young man, serving as the secretary to his older teacher Alexander. The council did not meet to invent Christian belief, but to confess clearly what the church already believed from Scripture. The deity of Christ was being questioned, and the church was compelled to speak.
Though younger than many present, Athanasius took part in the discussions. A later historian recorded that he “contended earnestly for the apostolic doctrines” and earned both applause and hostility for it. That hostility would follow him for the rest of his life.
Over the next decades, Athanasius was exiled five times under four different emperors. At one point, a price was placed on his head. Soldiers burst into churches searching for him. He spent years in hiding, protected by believers who loved him and believed his teaching. His life became a living illustration of the phrase later used to describe him: Athanasius contra mundum, Athanasius against the world.
Yet through exile, slander, and danger, he never retreated from his central conviction. Christ is truly God. On that truth, he staked his life.
For reliable historical background on Athanasius and his role in the early church, see:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Saint Athanasius”
Christian History Institute, “Athanasius Defines the New Testament”
Athanasius, 39th Festal Letter (English translation)
Why Hebrews matters to Athanasius
The book of Hebrews provided Athanasius with firm biblical ground for his convictions. Hebrews opens by declaring that while God once spoke through prophets, He has now spoken finally and fully in His Son. This Son is no creature. He is the heir of all things. He is the one by whom God made the worlds. He is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person. He upholds all things by the word of His power.
These words leave no room for a lesser Christ. To be the exact representation of God’s being requires equality with God. To create all things and sustain all things requires divine power. To reveal God fully requires deity.
Athanasius saw clearly that if these statements are true, then Christ cannot be anything less than God Himself. And if they are not true, Christianity has no foundation.
Only God can save
The controversy with Arius came to a decisive point here. Athanasius argued that salvation is the prerogative of God alone. A creature cannot forgive sin. A creature cannot absorb divine judgment. A creature cannot reconcile sinners to God.
Hebrews reinforces this truth when it speaks of Christ’s work at Calvary.
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. (Hebrews 10:11-13)
The contrast is deliberate. The priests stand because their work is never finished. Christ sits because His work is complete.
This is why Athanasius insisted that the gospel collapses if Christ is not God. If Christ is merely a creature, then His sacrifice cannot save. But if He is God, then His sacrifice is infinitely sufficient.
The Son who stood alone
Hebrews tells us that Christ purged our sins by Himself. No one helped Him. He stood alone.
Why did Jesus die on the cross?
Jesus gave Himself willingly to rescue us from what we could not escape.
At Calvary, two criminals were crucified alongside Him. They bore their own guilt. But the man on the middle cross had no sins of His own. He was bearing the sins of others. He went alone into the judgment of God, suffering wrath that no human being could ever endure.
Thousands have been crucified in history, but no one suffered what Christ suffered. Movies can show physical pain, but they cannot depict divine judgment. On the cross, the Lord Jesus became the object of God’s righteous wrath against sin. He absorbed it fully. When the work was finished, He sat down.
This is why Hebrews insists on the finality of His sacrifice:
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
Forgiveness that is free and forever
Because Christ stood alone at Calvary, God can now forgive sinners freely. Forgiveness is not earned. It is not deserved. It is given on the basis of what Christ has done.
Scripture says our sins are forgiven for His name’s sake. God forgives because of His Son. And when He forgives, He forgives forever. He removes sins as far as the east is from the west. He casts them into the depths of the sea. They will never be brought up again.
Athanasius defended this truth at immense personal cost because he knew what was at stake. If Christ is not God, forgiveness is impossible. If Christ is God, forgiveness is gloriously complete.
Near the end of his life, Athanasius summed up his faith with words that still ring true: “Jesus, that I know as my Redeemer, cannot be less than God.”
