Humble God

When the Arians claim that the Father made the Son to make the world, they imply that it is unworthy of God to be so directly involved in the details of the created world. Athanasius ( Orations Against the Arians ) sees that the Arian God is prissy, disdainful of making things and so handing the task to the Son. He cites Matthew 10:29 and 6:25-30 to argue that “if it is not unworthy of God to be provident even toward things so minor as the hair of the head and the sparrow and the grass of the field, neither is it unworthy of him to also make these things.” The Arian God is prissy, and prideful, keeping creatures at arm’s length. On the contrary, Athanasius argues, “there is no pride in God.”

Later, he returns to the same theme. If, as some Arians argued, the Son learned to create from the Father, then the Arian God is “jealous” and “weak.” Jealous because “he did not teach many others to be creators so that there may be many creators around him”; jealous because he reserved a communicable power to Himself and his favorite creature. Weak because “he was not able to create on his own and needed a co-worker or assistant.” Athanasius’s earlier response applies: “there is no pride in God.”