God Was Not Formerly Distant
some thoughts on "On the Incarnation" part 3
For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes into our realm, although he was not formerly distant. For no part of creation is left void of him; while abiding with his own Father, he has filled all things in every place. But now he comes, condescending towards us in his love for human beings and his manifestation.
St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, trans. John Behr (2011), p. 56.
I love the line “although he was not formerly distant.”
In other words, the Word of God has always been present with us, and since Jesus said what he did in John 14:20, we can know he wasn’t alone:
“In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20
Wherever the Son is, the Father is. Wherever the Father is, the Son is. The two are inseparable.
There has never been a time when God hasn’t been present in the creation. There will never be a time when God is absent from creation. What Athanasius is saying in On the Incarnation is that God doesn't do abandonment.
As Isaiah and Stephen both announced,
Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. Isaiah 66:1–2
And
And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:3
Holy, Holy, Holy. That is, the Trinity has always “filled all things in every place.”
The incarnation of the Word doesn’t change something about God; it changes our perception of who God has always been. And God has always been self-giving, all-encompassing Love.
From this perspective, the cross doesn’t change God’s mind about us; it changes our mind about God. For as Athanasius says,
But now he comes, condescending towards us in his love for human beings and his manifestation.
God doesn't love the world because Jesus died on the cross; Jesus died on the cross because God loves the world.
Do you see the difference?
As the apostle Paul says,
The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Acts 17:24–28
You see, Paul was able to say this because Jesus was not revealed to him or towards him but “in him” (Galatians 1:16). Paul knew God was not far from each one of us because of his experience of the ever-present God.
This radically transformed Paul’s view of God. Paul was like one of those who John described in John 1:
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:5
and
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. John 1:10
The Light has always been shining. The Word was always in the world. The issue wasn't with a distant God who couldn’t bear be close to sinners; the issue was with human beings who couldn’t comprehend or understand God because of the Original Lie.
Jesus took on flesh. He “moved into the neighborhood.” But this doesn’t mean that he was formerly distant. He’s never been distant from you, and you’ve never been distant from him. You may have felt “far off” because of your own sin, doubts, or struggles, but the Father doesn’t do abandonment.
Daniel, I can appreciate that you are wrestling through some of the "traditional understandings" of humankind's base level relationship with God.
Much of what the "church fathers" and "Orthodox doctrines" have to say needs to be challenged. But not because it doesn't jive with our desires or instinctual hunches, but because such things often don't accurately reflect the words of Jesus and His chosen apostles.
On this particular topic of innate closeness or distance from God you seem to be veering pretty far from Scripture though. Check out the teaching of the apostle Paul's in Ephesians chapter 2.
Perhaps the confusion in your mind has to do with God's actions of love towards us, even while we are living in rebellion, against Him. You seem to want to equate His mercy towards us with nearness of relationship. But the two are entirely different things. Mercy can lead to redemption, but the extension of that gracious behavior on God's part does not equal closeness.
As someone who has extended extreme levels of mercy to people who are running from God only to see them continue to run from me and God,...even to the point of cutting off all contact with me or anybody else who wants to talk to them about God's love, has taught me that love does not equal relationship. Love only equals relationship when it is reciprocal.
This is how it actually works...
"And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them...
And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the [v]saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
I really wonder if so much of the relationship of humans and God or the fallen angels has to do with dominion.
If humans were given dominion on earth, then God honors that and does not force himself onto us. Similarly the devil cannot force himself onto humans unless they allow it.