Athanasius: Why This Way?

“Only upon the cross does one die with hands stretched out.”

“He that completes his life on the cross dies in the air.”

—Athanasius, On the Incarnation

At the heart of the Christian faith stands an arresting image—one that captures its deepest power, passion, and mystery. The cross.  

Ever since Jesus Christ embraced the cross, His followers have pondered its mystery and majesty, marveling at the self-giving love God revealed there. Among them was Athanasius, fourth-century bishop of Alexandria, and when he considered the way Jesus died, Athanasius noticed two details.

First, Jesus died with His arms outstretched.

Athanasius saw in those open arms the great embrace of God—one arm reaching toward Israel, the other toward the nations, drawing the whole world into Himself.

Second, Jesus died suspended between earth and heaven. He died in the air.

The apostle Paul called Satan “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). And so, Athanasius pictured Jesus entering the enemy’s territory and defeating him in his own domain. Jesus did not merely endure the cross; He transformed it into the place of His ultimate triumph.

Outstretched arms can signify worship, surrender, victory, invitation, or embrace—and somehow, at the cross, all of them come together. We see Jesus’ surrender to the Father, His victory over sin and death, and His invitation to the world.  

Jesus prophesied this reality in John 12:32 when He said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

The cross was more than the place where Jesus died. It was the place where surrender became victory and an instrument of death became an invitation to life. When Jesus was lifted up, God opened His arms to the world, announcing that nothing—not sin, death, hell, or the grave—could keep us from coming home to Him.

No wonder the apostle Paul announced, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul, like Athanasius, understood the cross.