What is theosis?

[Milliardo]

Theosis simply means that we become like God. Of course we do not become God Himself, but through praxis we become like Him. Many use 2 Pt. 1:3-4 for this, but I would say that what Jesus Himself said would be much closer in showing what theosis means: “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). That verse, I believe, is more in line with theosis. To put it simply, when we put on Christ and through praxis, it then should lead us to theosis. Or to simplify it further, praxis leads to theosis.

 

[joshrp]

Theosis simply means that we become like God. Of course we do not become God Himself, but through praxis we become like Him. Many use 2 Pt. 1:3-4 for this, but I would say that what Jesus Himself said would be much closer in showing what theosis means: “Be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). That verse, I believe, is more in line with theosis. To put it simply, when we put on Christ and through praxis, it then should lead us to theosis. Or to simplify it further, praxis leads to theosis.

What is God like?

 

[Milliardo]

What is God like?

Well, that would be hard to say, since we are not God; however, Jesus did say that He is perfect, and at the same time He said that we should be just as perfect. Of course, that is the goal of theosis–to be perfect like God Himself. While we are here on Earth, praxis is what we do in order to go into theosis. Praxis simply means leading the life Christ wants us to lead–or, to follow Him in short and be obedient to Him.

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Well, what does God do? And who is Alexander Roman?

It isn’t necessarily a matter of “what God does”, per se, so much as it is a matter of “what God is”.
Strains brain to think of good answer

Humanity was born to be in communion with God. However through the act of disobedience our parents Adam and Eve made, humanity alienated itself from God. Due to Original Sin, humanity is born without sanctifying grace.

Christ came and was Incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. He united humanity to divinity by His own Hypostatic Union. By doing so and by living perfectly, suffering, dying, rising from the dead, and ascending into Heaven, Jesus has freed human nature and exalted it. To those who are incorporated into His Mystical Body- the Church- Grace is given to those persons. This Grace- which is the very life of God and His power- sanctifies us and unites furthermore to Jesus. These normal Means of Grace are the Sacraments; and of these Sacraments, paramount is the Eucharist.

Having been united to Christ and sanctified by the Means of Grace, we are conformed (by the power of the Holy Spirit) to the image and likeness of Jesus. We grow in holiness and in Love. Our communion with God is restored, and our true destiny as humans may be fulfilled- namely, to live in that Communion of Love with God, giving glory to the Father through His Son Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I do hope that made sense. If it doesn’t, I blame it on the first week of college

And to answer your second question:
Alexander Roman is a frequent poster on the Eastern Catholicism board, and a very important member. His knowledge of Eastern Catholicism is vast, and he is able to explain things in better ways than I can.

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Lol, honestly, I am not satisfied with that definition at all. Divinity is an idea, not a meaningless word.

I admit that it was a poor definition. My apologies; I wrote that out at, like, 11:30 PM last night. My bad

Although I would argue that divinity is not merely an idea. It is an actual property of God, and not merely an intellectual imposition upon Him. Although with that statement I have plunged myself down the rabbit hole

 

[system]

Keep up the good work bro.Your article is really great and I truly enjoyed reading it.Waiting for some more great articles like this from you in the coming days

jogos de carros 3d
giochi per ragazze

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Hi,

I heard something about the term “theosis”. Does anyone know what this is and if it has any truth to it. In the CCC, there is a quote from St. Athanasius where he says “God became man, so that men could become gods.” What does this mean?

Joshua

Dear Joshua,

Yes, Theosis is true and is the process by which we appropriate the salvation of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the process by which we are transformed/transfigured in the Holy Spirit, a never-ending process which is acquired throughout our lives by means of ceaseless prayer, the sacraments and, in general, by our participation in the life of sanctification of the Church.

We can never participate in God’s Essence, God Who is the Uncreated and All-Powerful Origin and Source of all that is. We can participate in the life of the Holy Trinity through what Eastern Fathers call the “Divine Energies” and the analogy that is drawn sometimes includes the idea of the sun (Essence of God) and the sun’s rays (the Divine Energies).

The more we live in Christ, the more we are transfigured in and by Him. In iconography, this is illustrated by the way Saints are depicted. In a Byzantine Church especially, the Saints appear to have the same features, characteristics. This is why the icons of the Saints are painted to conform to the icon of Christ Himself to underscore our transfiguration in the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

In terms of your questions “What is divinity?” I would love to “know” myself!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Dear Joshua,

Yes, Theosis is true and is the process by which we appropriate the salvation of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the process by which we are transformed/transfigured in the Holy Spirit, a never-ending process which is acquired throughout our lives by means of ceaseless prayer, the sacraments and, in general, by our participation in the life of sanctification of the Church.

We can never participate in God’s Essence, God Who is the Uncreated and All-Powerful Origin and Source of all that is. We can participate in the life of the Holy Trinity through what Eastern Fathers call the “Divine Energies” and the analogy that is drawn sometimes includes the idea of the sun (Essence of God) and the sun’s rays (the Divine Energies).

The more we live in Christ, the more we are transfigured in and by Him. In iconography, this is illustrated by the way Saints are depicted. In a Byzantine Church especially, the Saints appear to have the same features, characteristics. This is why the icons of the Saints are painted to conform to the icon of Christ Himself to underscore our transfiguration in the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

In terms of your questions “What is divinity?” I would love to “know” myself!

Cheers,

Alex

Thank you for giving such a wonderful explanation, Alex. Much better than mine!

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Not at all sir!

I understand that Martin Luther himself understood “Theosis” as the process of salvation, but don’t remember where I saw that.

Alex

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Not at all sir!

I understand that Martin Luther himself understood “Theosis” as the process of salvation, but don’t remember where I saw that.

Alex

Well, not exactly. That is a theory put forth by the Finns, explaining that the overall soteriology of Luther could be comparable to that of theosis. But that, my friend, is a discussion for another time

 

[Alexander_Roman]

I’ll have to read up on that. What do you think of Martin Luther in that regard?

Alex

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

I’ll have to read up on that. What do you think of Martin Luther in that regard?

Alex

Heh. I’m not sure I’m quite the person to ask this question to. Even I don’t know some things.
All I can say is this lame summary- while there are similarities, ultimately Luther (and Lutherans) possess a very different soteriology from Catholicism/Orthodoxy (and frankly, everyone else).

 

[joshrp]

It isn’t necessarily a matter of “what God does”, per se, so much as it is a matter of “what God is”.
Strains brain to think of good answer

Humanity was born to be in communion with God. However through the act of disobedience our parents Adam and Eve made, humanity alienated itself from God. Due to Original Sin, humanity is born without sanctifying grace.

Christ came and was Incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. He united humanity to divinity by His own Hypostatic Union. By doing so and by living perfectly, suffering, dying, rising from the dead, and ascending into Heaven, Jesus has freed human nature and exalted it. To those who are incorporated into His Mystical Body- the Church- Grace is given to those persons. This Grace- which is the very life of God and His power- sanctifies us and unites furthermore to Jesus. These normal Means of Grace are the Sacraments; and of these Sacraments, paramount is the Eucharist.

Having been united to Christ and sanctified by the Means of Grace, we are conformed (by the power of the Holy Spirit) to the image and likeness of Jesus. We grow in holiness and in Love. Our communion with God is restored, and our true destiny as humans may be fulfilled- namely, to live in that Communion of Love with God, giving glory to the Father through His Son Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I do hope that made sense. If it doesn’t, I blame it on the first week of college

And to answer your second question:
Alexander Roman is a frequent poster on the Eastern Catholicism board, and a very important member. His knowledge of Eastern Catholicism is vast, and he is able to explain things in better ways than I can.

Should I post this question in the Eastern Catholicism board. It would probably be more appropriate there wouldn’t it?

 

[joshrp]

Dear Joshua,

Yes, Theosis is true and is the process by which we appropriate the salvation of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the process by which we are transformed/transfigured in the Holy Spirit, a never-ending process which is acquired throughout our lives by means of ceaseless prayer, the sacraments and, in general, by our participation in the life of sanctification of the Church.

We can never participate in God’s Essence, God Who is the Uncreated and All-Powerful Origin and Source of all that is. We can participate in the life of the Holy Trinity through what Eastern Fathers call the “Divine Energies” and the analogy that is drawn sometimes includes the idea of the sun (Essence of God) and the sun’s rays (the Divine Energies).

The more we live in Christ, the more we are transfigured in and by Him. In iconography, this is illustrated by the way Saints are depicted. In a Byzantine Church especially, the Saints appear to have the same features, characteristics. This is why the icons of the Saints are painted to conform to the icon of Christ Himself to underscore our transfiguration in the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

In terms of your questions “What is divinity?” I would love to “know” myself!

Cheers,

Alex

Do you know anything about Nicholas of Cusa? I know that there is a book on Amazon about his ideas on theosis.

Have you read his book De Docta Ignorantia? It is very good. My favorite theology book in fact. You can find it on Jasper Hopkins website if you search for it on Google. Hopkins also translates St. Anselm’s works.

 

[joshrp]

If you read Nicholas of Cusa’s “De Docta Ignorantia”, and you don’t understand it, skip to Book 3. It is the most understandable and in my opinion the best of all 3 books of the work. Book 1 is about God. Book 2 is about the universe. And book 3 is about Jesus Christ. Tell me if you can’t find this on Google and I will provide you with the link.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

An excellent book by a great author!

Alex

 

[ThatOneGuy92]

Should I post this question in the Eastern Catholicism board. It would probably be more appropriate there wouldn’t it?

You did post the question in the Eastern Catholicism board.

 

[Celticnovice]

If you read Nicholas of Cusa’s “De Docta Ignorantia”, and you don’t understand it, skip to Book 3. It is the most understandable and in my opinion the best of all 3 books of the work. Book 1 is about God. Book 2 is about the universe. And book 3 is about Jesus Christ. Tell me if you can’t find this on Google and I will provide you with the link.

Yes you can find all three books on google, here is a link to book three:

ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/On%20Learned%20Ignorance%20Book%20III%20by%20Nicholas%20of%20Cusa.pdf

 

[JohnVIII]

Hi,

I heard something about the term “theosis”. Does anyone know what this is and if it has any truth to it. In the CCC, there is a quote from St. Athanasius where he says “God became man, so that men could become gods.” What does this mean?

Joshua

I do not have the quote from St. Athanasius handy, but I’m pretty sure it is more like this, “God became man, so that man may become God”.

I hope I do not inspire a tangent in this conversation by making the comment that St. Athanasius was Miaphysite. By stating this (I believe it to be a) fact I can get right to the point of theosis or deification.

At the point of the incarnation of Christ God’s very nature become one with the nature of man in the person of Jesus Christ. “God became man”. This happened so that “man may become God”, which is the process of deification which when it is completed makes a man’s nature one with the nature of God in Christ. This really is much the same thing as Eternal Salvation in Christ. The Scripture speaks of becoming “one in Christ” and this is what it is all about. This is what the “new creature in Christ” means. And, Salvation would not be possible without it!

It is impossible that man’s nature, apart from Christ, can be saved. As the Scripture says, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” (John 3:13). But “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

St. Athanasius said, “God became man, so that man may become God” mainly in refutation of a heresy. The Arian’s, much like the orthodox, did believe in the last part of what St. Athanasius said, that man may be deified, but St. Athanasius pointed out that such a thing can only be possible because “God became man”, which the Arian’s did not confess. They believed that Jesus was only a man to begin with, but that he was becoming God; thus the heresy of the Arian’s was that they introduced degrees into the Godhead.

 

[preyoflove]

Greetings, brethren in Christ!

I just finished listening to talks by Phil Krill on theosis, and from what I can understand, it seems to me that theosis is this: When Christ unites me to Him, He imparts to me His two natures, human and divine. So like God who is three persons but one being, Christ and I are two persons but one being—Him, divine, and me, human. Furthermore, it seems to me that one of the reasons Christ is not a human person is that if He is also a human person, then He would not be able to unite me to Him without replacing me, the human person, in the process since He is already a human person.

To be honest, though, I’m truly troubled by what I understood from all this discussion on theosis. If anyone could point out to me the errors in my understanding (which I’m sure there are), please, for the love of God, do so.

Thank you and God love you all.