Athanasius contra mundum ("against the world")

Athanasius of Alexandria was one of the Early Church Fathers, living during the reign of Constantine and his legalization of Christianity within the Roman Empire by means of his Edict of Milan (AD 313). Athanasius witnessed the secularization of the Church as unregenerate Roman citizens began to be baptized as "believers." He saw the compromising of orthodox doctrine for the sake of political expediency. As the empire moved like a defiant wave in this new corrupt direction, Athanasius remained steadfast like a staunch pillar grounded in biblical truth, to the extent that many have said that he stood contra mundum - "against the world." Of particular significance during his life was his emphatic defense of the deity of Christ as he battled Arius and his followers, ultimately leading to the gathering of the Nicene Council (AD 325) and the declaration of Arianism as anathema. The sovereign Lord of creation has a way of raising up men throughout history to govern with resiliency the pestilence of false teachings. Athanasius is one of those men.

In his Defense of the Nicene Defintion, he writes about God's sovereignty with respect to the Son:

In like manner, when the Prophets spoke of God as All-ruling, they did not so name Him, as if the Word were included in that All; (for they knew that the Son was other than things originated, and Sovereign over them Himself, according to His likeness to the Father); but because He is Ruler over all things which through the Son He has made, and has given the authority of all things to the Son, and having given it, is Himself once more the Lord of all things through the Word. Again, when they called God, Lord of the powers, they said not this as if the Word was one of those powers, but because while He is Father of the Son, He is Lord of the powers which through the Son have come to be. For again, the Word too, as being in the Father, is Lord of them all, and Sovereign over all; for all things, whatsoever the Father hath, are the Son's.(1)

(1) Quoted from Dr. Steve Lawson's article "Against the World - African Father: Athanasius of Alexandria," from his Pillars of Grace: A Long Line of Godly Men (AD 100 - 1564, Vol. II), pg. 151.