Salvation, according to Athanasius, consists not simply in the forgiveness of the sins of the human race, but in the deliverance of the world from death and corruption:

For this reason, that bodiless, incorruptible, immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, from which it was not far from before, because not a single part of creation has remained deprived of Him, but, abiding with His Father, He fills the entire universe in all its parts. But He comes, condescending to us by His love for humanity and appearing among us. And seeing that the verbal human race is perishing, that death reigns over men in corruption: noting also that the threat of transgression keeps corruption alive in us, and it would be incongruous to abolish the law before it is fulfilled; noticing also the impropriety of what had been done, because that of which He Himself was the creator was destroyed; noticing also the wickedness of people, which surpasses all measure, because people gradually increased it to their own detriment to the point of intolerability; noticing also that all people are guilty of death, He took pity on our race, had compassion on our infirmity, condescended to our corruption, did not tolerate the possession of death, and so that what was created would not perish and be found in vain, which His Father did for people, He takes upon Himself a body, and a body that is not alien to ours. For it did not just want to be in the body and only wished not to appear. And if it only wanted to appear, then it could accomplish its Theophany by means of another more perfect one. But it receives our body, and not simply, but from the all-pure, uncorrupted, unadulterated Virgin, a pure body, not in the least inviolable to male intercourse. Being omnipotent and the Creator of the universe, in the Virgin He prepares a body for his temple and appropriates it to himself as an instrument, allowing himself to be known in it and dwelling in it. And thus, having borrowed from us a body similar to ours, because we were all guilty of the corruption of death, having given it over to death for all, he brings it to the Father. And this He does out of love for mankind, so that, on the one hand, since all were dying, to put an end to the law of the corruption of men, by the fact that his power was fulfilled in the Lord's body, ... and on the other hand, to return people who have turned to corruption to incorruptibility and to revive them from death by appropriating the body and by the grace of the Resurrection, destroying death in them like straw with fire.

(Ibid. 8)

The salvation of the world for St. Athanasius is not a speculative problem, as for Origen, but a matter of life and death. The created world is real, living, and therefore precious in the eyes of God; death is such a powerful enemy that it can be defeated only from within, only by its own weapon - death, and moreover by the death of the incarnate God himself. For this reason the Incarnation of God takes place, by which the power of death is overcome, and corruption is destroyed:

The Word knew that corruption could not be stopped in people except by inevitable death; it was impossible for the Word, as the immortal and Father's Son, to die. It is for this very reason that He takes upon Himself a body that could die, so that, as a partaker of the Word that exists over all, He may suffer death for all, so that for the sake of the Word that dwells in Him He may remain incorruptible, and so that, finally, corruption in all may be stopped by the grace of the resurrection. Therefore, offering the body He took upon Himself to death, as a sacrifice and slaughter, free from all defilement, by this offering of the likeness in all like, death immediately destroyed death. For the Word of God, being above all, and offering His temple, His bodily instrument at the price of redemption for all, by His death completely fulfilled what was due, and thus, by means of such a body, coexisting with all, the incorruptible Son of God, as it should be, clothed all in incorruption by the promise of resurrection. And corruption itself in death no longer has power over people, for the sake of the Word, Who dwelt in them through one body... The human race would have perished if the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, had not come to put an end to death.

(Ibid., 9)

In contrast to the Neoplatonists, who understood salvation as the attainment of the vision of God, St. Athanasius speaks of adoration, i.e. of the attainment of the incorruptible state. Deification is possible only through the incarnation of God the Word, who took on flesh so that we could become bearers of the Spirit:

Who will not marvel at this? Or who will not agree that this is truly God's work? For if the works proper to the Divinity of the Word were not accomplished through the body, then man would not be deified. On the other hand, if the things proper to the flesh were not ascribed to the Word, then man would not be completely freed from it, but although, as we said before, he would be delivered for a short time, nevertheless sin and corruption would still remain in him, as was the case with people who lived before... Many were made holy and pure from all sin: Jeremiah was sanctified from his mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:15), John, who was still in his womb, "leaped with joy" at the voice of the Mother of God (Luke 1:44). However, "death reigned from Adam to Moses, and over those who did not sin, like the transgression of Adam" (Rom. 5:14). And thus, people nevertheless remained mortal, perishable, accessible to the sufferings inherent in nature. But now, since the Word was made man and took on His own flesh, this no longer concerns the body because of the Word that was in the body, but was destroyed by Him, and people no longer remain sinful and dead according to their passions, but, having risen by the power of the Word, remain immortal and incorruptible forever. Therefore, when the flesh is born of the Theotokos Mary, he is called born who gives existence to others, so that we may bear our birth upon Him, and we, as one earth, should not depart into the earth, but, united with the Word which is from heaven, be raised up to heaven from Him. For this reason, it is not without reason that He also transferred to Himself the other infirmities of the body, so that we no longer as men, but as our own to the Word, would become partakers of eternal life. For we no longer die according to our former existence in Adam, but since our being and all bodily infirmities have been transferred to the Word, we rise from the earth after the absolution of the oath for sin by Him Who in us and for us was salted with an oath (curse). And this is fair. As all of us who are from the earth die in Adam, so, having been reborn again by water and the Spirit, we are all made alive in Christ, because our flesh is no longer earthly, as it were, but has been brought into identity with the Word by the Word of God Himself, Who for our sake became flesh.