The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
All Commentaries on Proverbs 8:22 Go To Proverbs 8
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
Salvation proceeds from the Savior, just as illumination does from the light. The salvation, then, which was from the Savior, being created new, did, as Jeremiah says, “create for us a new salvation,” and as Aquila renders: “The Lord created a new thing in woman,” that is, in Mary. For nothing new was created in woman, save the Lord’s body, born of the Virgin Mary without intercourse, as also it says in the Proverbs in the person of Jesus, “The Lord created me, a beginning of his ways for his works.” Now he does not say “created me before his works,” lest any should take the text of the deity of the Word. Each text then which refers to the creature is written with reference to Jesus in a bodily sense. For the Lord’s humanity was created as “a beginning of ways,” and he manifested it to us for our salvation. For by it we have our access to the Father. For he is the way which leads us back to the Father. And a way is a corporeal visible thing, such as is the Lord’s humanity. Well, then, the Word of God created all things, not being a creature but an offspring. For he created none of the created things equal or like unto himself. But it is the part of a Father to beget, while it is a workman’s part to create. Accordingly, that body is a thing made and created which the Lord bore for us, which was begotten for us, as Paul says, “wisdom from God, and sanctification and righteousness, and redemption,” while yet the Word was before us and before all creation, and is, the wisdom of the Father. –.
