An Introduction to Deification / Theosis
Monday, November 03, 2008.
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A few days ago I stumbled upon a blog with an interesting entry on Athanasius. In the entry, the blogger reported his experiences of reading Athanasius' On the Incarnation of the Word. He was struck by the same thing that I was the first time I read it: 'God became man that man might become God.' To the ears of most Protestants who have not heard of deification/theosis, this phrase sounds preposterous—perhaps even blasphemous.
When I first read this, I was fortunate enough to have a professor with whom I could discuss it. He helped put the phrase in its context and explain what Athanasius and other Fathers meant by this language. He told me that I had come across a completely different vision of salvation, which is called deification or theosis. Several years later, Professor Andrew Louth added further details: deification is not an element of salvation; salvation is an element of deification, for deification encompasses salvation. For Fathers such as St. Irenaeus, salvation marks a return or restoration of humanity to its original state of innocence, but deification is the means by which human beings progress into something far beyond mere innocence. Deification marks the maturation of the person into the full image and likeness of God, which is expressed by love, guided by reason, and empowered by divine grace and communion.
I don't know if this blogger has access to similar people, so I wrote a brief introductory explanation of deification / theosis. I have posted it below, if you are interested:
...What you have highlighted is an expression of Athanasius' doctrine of deification (which St. Gregory of Nazianzus later named 'theosis'). Athanasius, like many others before him (including Irenaeus), affirms that God truly became man, lived, died, and was raised from the dead, not only to save humanity from sin and death (which have a lot to do with ontology and going out of existence—not merely with what Prostestants might describe as 'justice'), but also to restore human beings to the image and likeness of God.
As I'm sure you noticed, Athanasius is very careful to distinguish between the created and the Creator. Athanasius teaches that the final goal of human life is to be deified, but this deification is ultimately about being conformed to the divine image and likeness (which includes knowledge and communion with God, along with holiness, obedience, and love, among other things). For Athanasius, and Irenaeus, we are made 'gods' by the Son and Holy Spirit, but even then we remain creatures—we are never 'God' in the same way that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are 'God', for we remain dependent upon God for our existence and have been created by God, whereas the Triune God is eternal and uncreated.
One of the central ways that deification is described is by the language of participation. Irenaeus and Athanasius teach that in the incarnation human nature itself was deified 'in Christ'. Yet, this deification remains to be realised in us. We must choose to 'opt in' to it, by following God and allowing His Spirit to sanctify us, as we strive to love and obey Him, and become like the Logos, i.e. live according to reason. When we begin to live in this way, we begin to participate in the life of God, and begin moving towards deification.
For an excellent survey of the history of the doctrine, see Norman Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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