O LORD our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us: but by you only will we make mention of your name.
Read Chapter 26
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
For the Son of God indeed, being himself the Word, is Lord of all. But we once were subject from the first to the slavery of corruption and the curse of the law. Then by degrees fashioning for ourselves things that were not, we served, as says the blessed apostle, “them which by nature are no gods.” Ignorant of the true God, we preferred things that were not to the truth. But afterwards, as the ancient people when oppressed in Egypt groaned, so when we too had the law “engrafted” in us, according to the unutterable sighings of the Spirit made our intercession, “O Lord our God, take possession of us”; then, as “he became a house of refuge” and a “God and defense,” so also he became our Lord. Nor did he then begin to be, but we began to have him for our Lord. - "Four Discourses Against the Arians 2.15.14"
Therefore Christ will hand the kingdom over to God and the Father when through him the Father will be known by sight, for his kingdom consists of those in whom he now reigns through faith. In fact, in one sense Christ’s kingdom means his divine power according to which every created thing is subject to him; and in another sense his kingdom means the church in respect to the faith that it has in him. In accord with this meaning is the prayer of him who says, “Possess us,” for it is not the case that [Christ] himself does not possess all things. This is also the meaning of the following statement: “When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.” Therefore he will destroy every dominion and every authority and power, so that he who sees the Father through the Son will neither require nor be pleased with repose in his own or the power of any created thing. - "Question 69.4"
