ἐνανθρωπήσαντα.
The word occurs in the true Nicene formula, where, as Dr. Swainson
thinks, it is “scarcely ambiguous,” “it is
defective.” Both the Verb and the Substantive ἐνανθρώπησις
are constantly used by Athanasius to denote the Incarnation in a
perfectly general way, without any indication of ambiguity or
defect. In the Creed proposed by Eusebius of Cæsarea instead
of ἐνανθρωπήσαντα
we find ἐν
ἀνθρώποις
πολιτευσάμενον;
and in the Expositio Fidei ascribed to Athanasius, but of
somewhat doubtful authenticity, the Incarnation is described thus
ἐκ τῆς
ἀχράντου
παρθένου
Μαρίας τὸν
ἡμέτερον
ἀνείληφεν
ἄνθρωπον
Χριστὸν
᾽Ιησοῦν. In the
Apollinarian controversy the attempt was made to interpret ἐνηνθρώπησεν
as meaning not that “He became Man,” but that
“He assumed a man,” i.e. that “the man was
first formed and then assumed” (Gregory, Epist. ad
Cledon, quoted by Swainson, p. 83), or else merely that “He
dwelt among men.” But the context of the passages in which
Cyril uses the word (iv. 9; xii. 3) clearly shews that he employed it
in the perfectly orthodox sense which it has in the Nicene Formula and
in Athanasius.