Theosis

2 Peter 1:2-4
"2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature..."

What is "Theosis" from the eastern teaching? Is it different from the western teaching?

Thanks,

BradM

I was unaware that theosis was taught in the west. Can you elaborate on it?

Thanks

It has a different name than "theosis" but it is related to "justification," it is called "divine sonship" = "divinization."

The term "divine sonship" is the most often used term by Dr. Scott Hahn when speaking of the Catholic view of justification in his tape set "Romanism in Romans."

I confirmed (via email) with Dr. Scott Hahn that the Catholic teaching of justification is more than a juridical ruling declaring that you are not guilty before God (the Protestant view), but also of an infusing of Christ's righteousness and divine nature in the believer, therefore justification is "divine sonship" = "divinization."

The Protestant view is that we are all unrighteous like a pile of dung, that by being justified before God with Christ's righteousness we are simply being covered with white snow, but underneath we are still a pile of dung.

Concept: being infused with the divine nature is being infused with Christ's righteousness, they are synomynous.

The Catholic view is that we are like a glass being filled with water (which is Christ's righteousness and divine nature), that the air in the glass is the sin in us and that as the water is pouring into us we are being justified with Christ's righteousness, we are being infused with the divine nature. That when justification is complete there is no longer any air in the glass but all water, we are full of Christ's righteousness and have completely inherited "divine sonship", we are "divinized."

So the process of becoming infused with Christ's righteousness is the processes of justification which is "partaking of the divine nature" which is "divine sonship" = "divinization" which is the same as "theosis."

I believe I got it right!

BradM

Brad,

Just a small correction -- the western term is "divinization" and it corresponds very closely with "theosis." Each is a process in which we come to share in the divine life of God. It is a process of purification and of coming to "know" God. East and West define this knowledge of God differently since they approach theology differently. The Eastern apophatic approach is to define what God is not (unapproachable, unknowable, uncontainable, etc.) while the West, using a cataphatic approach, tends to define what God is (almighty, omnipresent, omniscienct, etc.).

Justification, on the other hand, is both a juridic position (see the recent join declaration on salvation by the Catholic and Lutheran Churches) and the theotic state.

Edward, deacon and sinner

Fr. Deacon Ed wrote: It is a process of purification and of coming to "know" God.

In the words of St. Basil the Great, "man is nothing less than a creature that has received the order to become God." This order of God’s plan of deification is begun through His self-revelation given to us in our sacramental initiation into the Church, Baptism, Chrismation, and Eucharist. In Baptism we put on Christ Jesus and are called into obedience in Christ. As St. Gregory the Great wrote, "obedience is the only virtue that implants other virtues in a soul, and preserves them." It is through our Chrismation that we receive the seal of the Holy Spirit over our senses and soul which allows us to become obedient to God. Then receiving the Eucharist-Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ-our souls are nourished so we may join in His nature. As St. Anathanasius stated, "He became ‘incarnate’ that we might become ‘ingodded,’ and ‘He was made man that we might be God." Through the essence, humility, and obedience of the Son to the Father, acquiescent unto death, we are granted the gift of deification. We only gain this gift of God’s great love, grace and mercy which is poured out for our sins, so that we may become humble and obedient, dying to ourselves that we can live for Christ.

Through our sacramental initiation along with the other sacramental mysteries of the Church, God grants us His grace. In becoming gods we receive the essence of Jesus, but not the divine nature of Jesus Christ. So it is our nature, the nature of man, which is the essence that we are called to share with Jesus. Because God knew Christ’s human nature before all eternity, He evoked it from non-existence into existence, allowing us to receive His grace so many may become as Christ. His divine nature is only held in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one nature. Yet even in the hypostatic union, which is the closest possible union between God and a creature, Jesus’ Sacred Humanity does not become God or visa versa. The Eternal Word remains fully God when He assumes human nature so that the two natures unite in one Divine Person "without confusion, without change, without division and without separation . . . the difference of the natures is not removed through the union but the property of each nature is preserved" (as the definition of the Council of Chalcedon states). Thus, Christ has two natures that of God and that of man. The regeneration of nature in Christ allows us to proceed in the direction that the Father calls us to deification. The grace from this regeneration will allow us to have a vision of God, "face-to-face." Theosis therefore, is a union of grace, which mysteriously assimilates a rational creature to the Creator. Yet despite the profound intimacy of this union, it is the Holy Spirit who prepares the soul to unite with God, while keeping the creature essentially distinct from God.

The Son and the Holy Spirit are then the source of sanctification and it is the Holy Spirit Who prevents God’s will from being foreign to us. St. John Chrysostom wrote in a homily on Baptism that the soul has the natural inclination of being one with its creator even before Baptism. God the Father initiates us through Jesus Christ His Son, the Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are called to a moral life in this essence of nature with Jesus by the fulfillment of God’s commandments. By living out God’s laws the Holy Spirit enables us to grow interiorly. Docility develops by the use of God’s commands with the indwelling guidance of the Holy Spirit. Through the manifestation of the guiding voice of Christ in our lives by the Holy Spirit, we gain the ability to cooperate with God’s divine will, so we too may enter into the divine image of man, Jesus Christ. By the work of the Holy Spirit, we become Christ to others who have never seen or known of Him, because it is Christ who lives and works in us. "The Spirit and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory"(Romans 8:15-17). This should be normal for us in the life of Christ, a willingness to bear witness. We gained our sinful nature through Adam and Eve, but through repentance our goal is normality, to be the reflection of Christ Jesus. St. John of the Cross wrote that our souls should be like a window glass that we keep clean from sin, so that we reflect Jesus to ourselves and then back out to others. This reflection grows, as Clement of Alexandria expresses concerning the divinizing goal the incarnation: "Logos, the Word of God, became man in order that you can learn through the intercession of Man, how man can become God by grace."


Hope this helps.
Rose