Christianity Today: Keeping the End in View
How the strange yet familiar doctrine of theosis can invigorate the Christian life.
...As evangelicals, we know how to answer the question, "Are you saved?": If we have believed in Jesus Christ, we are saved—right there, right then.
Sometimes, though, the way we talk about salvation makes it sound like little more than a get-out-of-hell-free card. With our emphasis on what sinners like ourselves are saved from, do we know what we are saved for? Is salvation solely about us and our need to be forgiven and born again, or is there a deeper, God-ward purpose?
The leaders of the ancient church thought so, speaking regularly of salvation in a way that may sound strange to many evangelicals, but which Wesley alluded to in some of his hymns. In particular, they envisioned salvation as theosis, an ongoing process by which God's people become increasingly "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), formed more and more in God's likeness. As the 2nd-century theologian Irenaeus urged in Against Heresies, "Through his transcendent love, our Lord Jesus Christ became what we are, that he might make us to be what he is." The great 4th-century defender of Jesus' divinity, Athanasius, put it even more forcefully: "[God] became man, that man might become god."
Though unfamiliar to most of us, this way of thinking strongly influenced John Wesley's own view of sanctification and was embraced by C. S. Lewis, who in Mere Christianity wrote, "God said that we were 'gods' and he is going to make good his words." This continues to be the basic understanding of salvation within Eastern Christianity. Also called "divinization" or "deification," it plays off of Jesus' words in John 10:34 ("Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'?" as quoted by Lewis above) and several other key biblical passages. ...
...As evangelicals, we know how to answer the question, "Are you saved?": If we have believed in Jesus Christ, we are saved—right there, right then.
Sometimes, though, the way we talk about salvation makes it sound like little more than a get-out-of-hell-free card. With our emphasis on what sinners like ourselves are saved from, do we know what we are saved for? Is salvation solely about us and our need to be forgiven and born again, or is there a deeper, God-ward purpose?
The leaders of the ancient church thought so, speaking regularly of salvation in a way that may sound strange to many evangelicals, but which Wesley alluded to in some of his hymns. In particular, they envisioned salvation as theosis, an ongoing process by which God's people become increasingly "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), formed more and more in God's likeness. As the 2nd-century theologian Irenaeus urged in Against Heresies, "Through his transcendent love, our Lord Jesus Christ became what we are, that he might make us to be what he is." The great 4th-century defender of Jesus' divinity, Athanasius, put it even more forcefully: "[God] became man, that man might become god."
Though unfamiliar to most of us, this way of thinking strongly influenced John Wesley's own view of sanctification and was embraced by C. S. Lewis, who in Mere Christianity wrote, "God said that we were 'gods' and he is going to make good his words." This continues to be the basic understanding of salvation within Eastern Christianity. Also called "divinization" or "deification," it plays off of Jesus' words in John 10:34 ("Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'?" as quoted by Lewis above) and several other key biblical passages. ...
Good grief. I was just coming up to speed with supralapsarianism and theodicy and dispensationalism, and now they throw "theosis" at me. I can sort of divine its meaning (oops) by comparison with "osmosis", but the whole idea sounds a little fishy to me. Do you have any more thoughts?
The reference to "Ye are gods" is Psalm 82:6, and the Hebrew word there is "elohiym", which Strong says can be "rulers, judges, gods, ...". An interesting note in the "Gesenius's Lexicon" part (you have to expand the selection):
(A)(2): "once applied to kings, ..., Ps.82:1, especially verse 6".
The OT talks a lot about gods: "Thou shalt have no other god before Me". But as I read the verses, it's pretty clear that He means "idols". One of the points of the OT was to let people know that there were not gods of this and gods of that (wind, harvest, fertility, ...), but only One.
Posted by: ZZMike | Oct 29, 2008 at 04:02 PM
Mike, I think theosis is one of those concepts that requires careful consideration. I the G.O. would suggest that we are born in the image of God but we are being conformed to his likeness and one day we shall fully reflect his glory and character in a way do not presently. We aren't going to become omniscient or omnipresent. We will become gods in terms of character and will.
Posted by: Michael W. Kruse | Oct 29, 2008 at 04:24 PM