Athanasius of Alexandria

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.