The mess about the relation between God and Man is not a recent one . Indeed it dates back to old Greek mythology , and later to Biblical eras which added considerably to the confusion .
The emperor Constantine , around AD 320 , had extensive dealings and attempts in trying to repair and impose fixes to the relations between the Christian God and his creation . Into the heat of all this controversy Athanasius came ( later he became ST. Athanasius ) with a little book titled " On the incarnation ", AD 330 .
After Adam's turn away from God , Athanasius suggests , the chasm between God and man became unbridgeable . God and man became unmixable like water and oil *, how then could the relation between these two be amended and restored , how could oil and water be made to mix ??
The gap between God and man would have remained for ever , the burdens laid clearly upon man for his original transgression against God .
Athanasius in his book considers three different ways ; The first , could an angel do the job ? Angels are good mediums but they are spiritual and do not die , so are not enough man , they would remain on the divine side , they are oil . Second could a good man accomplish the reunification ? a good man unlike the angels is mortal and always dies , like the rest of men , but he would remain on the human side and cannot bring God and man satisfactorily and adequately together . Such a man would be water . The third and only way for Athanasius involves the mediation by someone who has a divine , or Godly nature , and also a mortal side .
Athanasius clearly implied that Christ had to be both divine and mortal at the same time , or else God and Man would have remained unmixable oil and water for all times . The necessary mediator between God and Man had to be simultaneously divine and mortal , oily and watery .
Jesus was therefore " born of a woman " in the words of the Nicene Creed , though also " begotten and not made ". Jesus , the son of God , became miraculously divine and mortal , oily and watery , the perfect mediator and representative of both God and Man .
ST. Athanasius in his work , stopped short of telling us how hard of a work it was for some privileged members of the Nicene convention , (AD 325). Years were spent thinking , discussing and conceptualizing the ideas for the duality of Jesus until finally they all came with perfect answers/solutions to solve an impossible situation regarding the Christian ** God and Man . A truly monumental collective work . It then took all the powers and swords of the Emperor Constantine to enforce the idea on everyone .
* (prof. Mitchel analogy )
** Jews and Gentiles were clearly and harshly criticized by Athanasius for not believing and mocking the whole Jesus creation and duality .
Though the oil and water analogy is not literally spelled in the work of ST. Athanasius , I have found it very descriptive of his ideas about Jesus , God and Man . I drew these conclusions and writings after reading ST. Athanasius' works , and , notes and comments by prof. Mitchel . My thanks goes to you all for following .
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