Inspiration
In
the very first book of the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis, we find the
divine descent and relationship of humanity to God
God
said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man
in
his own image, in the image of God he created him (Gen. 1:26,27)
Human beings were created in the image and likeness of
their Creator. This relationship with God is truly impressive. Humanity
was created in the image of God, and each and every human being is called
to become like God. We are called to become divine, not only before our
fall in sin, but afterwards as well. After the fall of mankind through
sin, we begin to see the realization of this purpose in the Israelite
people, whom God selected to be His Chosen People. This divine adoption
had a group character. Later on, it took on an individual character in the
persons of the pious kings David and Solomon, and before them in the
Judges, who are called “sons of God” as well as “gods”, in spite of the
fact that as human beings they had to die. This divine adoption is
nothing other than the call to all persons to become divine—a call
to Theosis. The Old Testament is full of these teachings in which
men and women are seen as sons and daughters of God, with a unique call to
Theosis, that is to union with God.
The New Testament in a quite special and
magnificent way teaches about the Theosis of human beings. The fact that
God Himself becomes man and takes on human nature, making it divine by
uniting it with His own divine nature and raising it up to the throne of
God, cries out in the most eloquent manner the truth which St. Athanasios
formulated:
God
became man, so that we might be made gods. (Concerning the Incarnation
of the
Word, 54.P.G. 25, 192B)
The Son of God repeatedly speaks to us, calling us to
Theosis. And His refrain is:
That
you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5:44)
Saint Paul writes on this topic with great clarity in
his letter to the Galatians:
But when the time had full come, God sent forth
his Son, born of a woman, born under
the law, to redeem those who were under the
law, so that we might receive adoption
as sons. And because you are sons, God has
sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying “Abba, Father!” So through God you are
no longer a slave, but a son, and if a
son then an heir. (Gal. 4:4-7)
He is our Father, We are His children, His inheritors through Jesus
Christ. This is our calling—Theosis. The meaning of Theosis in the New
Testament is the adoption of man, his participation in the incorruptibility
of God, and his mixture with the divine nature in indescribable glory and
blessedness. This whole situation of divine adoption and Theosis is
summarized in St. Athanasios’ phrase:
God becomes a man, so that He may make Adam
into a god.
Taken from: Partakers of Divine Nature, by
Archimandrite Christoforos Stavropoulos, translated by Rev. Dr. Stanley
Harakas, Light and Life Pub. Co., 1976
