becoming

the trail of a family becoming

Feb 4, 2010

Fear of Theosis

Read an interesting post today about Theosis, and our fear of the concept and hesitation of using that word):

Why are so many Protestants afraid of theosis? This is the term, used primarily in the Eastern Christian tradition but now enjoying a revival more widely, for becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter): becoming like God, a process that begins now and culminates in eschatological glory. Other terms for theosis are deification, divinization, and christification. We come to share in God’s life especially God’s holiness, and immortality. Some of us even argue that there is a spirituality of theosis in Paul…

Michael Gorman then listed 5 common objections with his response in each case. Read them here.

[link | HT: New Testament Perspectives]

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Filed by edmund at 12.02 pm under Faith |

4 Comments

  1. Anson

    Haha, is this the subtext behind your blog title?

    Feb 4th, 2010

  2. Anson

    Well, for me, theosis I’m not so sure, but “Christosis” is a definite. As far as I know, Calvin’s big on union with Christ.

    Feb 4th, 2010

  3. edmund

    @Anson: I think that’s precisely the problem. The Chinese word 效法 can be significantly different in meaning than the English word “Becoming”!

    Feb 5th, 2010

  4. Anson

    I looked up the Greek a bit….

    According to the Greek “summorphizo” in Phil 3:10, the english translation “becoming” seems not quite right either, since “summorphizo” is about sharing the outward form of something, not necessarily becoming the same in substance. Romans 8:29’s “conforming” is also using the same Greek word “summorphous”, that we are becoming “like” Christ (in form), not becoming Christ (in substance).

    ……. ahh… perhaps I’m sounding too Platonic now.

    But if that’s the case, 效法 seems to be a better translation than “becoming”. Or perhaps 變得像 is a even better translation.

    As in 2 Peter 1:3, we only partake in or share some of the divine nature or characteristics of God….. and this seems to me a very different thing from deification.

    I can understand the resistance to associate with deification, cuz Caesar is being deified and identified as god. Christians don’t want to go there….

    Feb 5th, 2010

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