Athanasius of Alexandria

If any of our own people also inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way except on the cross, let him also be told that no other way than this was good for us and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he himself came to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have "become a curse" unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: "Cursed is he that hangs on a tree."

On the Incarnation of the Word 25 ↗