If the coming of the Lord in the flesh did not take place, the Redeemer did not pay Death the price for us, and did not by Himself destroy the reign of Death.  For if that which is subject to Death were one thing and that which was assumed by the Lord were another, then neither would Death have stopped doing his own works, nor would the suffering of the God-bearing flesh have become gain for us.  He would not have destroyed sin in the flesh; we who had been dying in Adam would not have been made alive in Christ, that which had fallen apart would not have been repaired; that which was shattered would not have been restored; that which had been alienated from God by the deceit of the serpent would not have been made God’s own again.

St. Basil the Great (+379) Letter, AD 377

Inasmuch as I was weak by reason of the flesh, the Saviour has been sent to me in the likeness of the flesh of sin to conduct a very special business deal, so that He might redeem me from slavery, from corruption, and from death. And for me “He became righteousness and sanctification and redemption”; righteousness because by His fidelity He atoned for sin; sanctification because He acquitted through water and Spirit, and in His word; redemption, because He gave Himself, His blood, the blood of the true Lamb, as a price for me.

St. Epiphanius (+403), The Man Well-Anchored