Athanasius of Alexandria

And if, as David says in the seventy-first [LXX] psalm, "His name remains before the sun and before the moon, from one generation to another," how did he receive what he always had, even before he now received it? Or how is he exalted, being before his exaltation the Most High? Or how did he receive the right of being worshiped, who before he now received it, was always worshiped? It is not an obscure saying but a divine mystery. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; but for our sakes afterwards the "Word was made flesh." And the term in question, "highly exalted," does not signify that the essence of the Word was exalted, for he always existed and is "equal to God," but the exaltation is of the human nature.