President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. The “On Faith” panelist is a theologian and ordained minister and has served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and the Doctor of Philosophy (in systematic and historical theology) from Southern Seminary. He did additional study at the St. Meinrad School of Theology and research at Oxford University. He became seminary president after serving as editor of The Christian Index, the oldest of the state papers serving the Southern Baptist Convention. Called "an articulate voice for conservative Christianity at large" by the Chicago Tribune, Mohler's mission is to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview. He hosts a daily radio program for the Salem Radio Network and blogs on moral, cultural and theological issues. He also has contributed chapters to several books including Hell Under Fire, Whatever Happened to Truth, Here We Stand: A Call From Confessing Evangelicals and The Coming Evangelical Crisis. He served as General Editor of The Gods of the Age or the God of the Ages: Essays by Carl F. H. Henry.
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R. Albert Mohler Jr.
President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. The “On Faith” panelist is a theologian and ordained minister and has served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches.
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I find it interesting that "historic Christianity," or "historical/biblical Christianity" is so often used on the internet by modern "Christians" who then present later Christian dogmas as being what people have to currently believe in order to be a "Christian," or "saved"! It seems to me a lot of picking & care selecting of "historic Christianity," & "biblical Christianity," goes on while turning or not mentioning other aspects of "historic Christianity" also belief. So what "historic Christianity" are they talking about? The versions & selections that agree with ones particular brand of modern "Christianity"?
To illustrate:
Rev. Mohler wrote: "Christianity promises salvation through Christ's atonement and the sinner's justification by faith."
All throughout Christian "HISTORY" this point, FAITH & WORKS, was hashed over, especially during the Reformation! The earliest to later Christians, from James on, argued against those who were attempting to claim that a person's behaviour didn't matter, when it did.
Many modern "Christians" also seem more interested in how you believe, rather than how you live your life, good or bad, it don't matter, so long as you've "confessed Jesus!"
In anti-Mormon propaganda, Mormons are "damned" for attempting to do good works, and are "damned" for when some are caught doing evil works! Damned if they do, & damned if they don't!
In HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY:
J. R. Hoffmann notes that by the 2nd century, there were Christian sects that followed "salvationism" by grace alone, with out works. Earlier, James is amongst the earliest Christian leaders to respond to these types of early movements. But we also know from many examples in the New Testament, & the early to later Christian fathers, that this issue concerning "grace" & "works" was a subject of interest & debate. Jude had written against a group of so-called "Christians, antinomians" who had attempted to encourage sexual transgressions, rejected authority & understood divine grace as sanctioning immorality. (R. Joseph Hoffman, Celsus, On The True Doctrine, p. 14-16; Jude 3-8).
Modern "Christians" in claiming, that one must "know Jesus as their personal Savior," and they preach a "salvation" were what you do & don't do, as by way of works, doesn't count. However, in claiming to know Christ as their personal savior, do they, or should they also keep his commandments, for "He that saith, I know him, and keepth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
Passages on works seem to be overlooked by those who selectively cite from those about grace.
Here's just some of the ones on works: Eccl.12:14, Jer.17:10 & 32:19, Micah 6:8, Matt. 5:6, 16, 19-20, 7:16, 21-23, 13:23, 41-6, 16:27, 19:16-17; 25:11-30; 34-6, 1 Cor. 3:8, 6:9; 2 Cor.5:9; John 3:21, 5:29, 12:50; Rom.1:5, 18, 22, 2:6-13; 5:3, 8:16-17, 35, 12:12, 2 Cor. 5:9-10, 6:17, 7:10, 17:7; Gal.6:4-7; Eph. 2:10, 5:5-9; 2 Tim.3:17; Heb.4:11, 17, 5:8-9, 1 Pet.1:10, 17; 2 Pet.1:5; 1 John 3:18, 22, James 1:12, 22-7, 2:26, 4:17-18; Rev.2:7, 11, 3:4-5, 7:14, 22:14, Job 34:11; Isa.1:17; John 14:15; Phil.2:12; John 12:50; Acts 5:32; 10:35, 14:22; 1 Cor.6:9, 2 Thess.1:4-9, Luke 9:23-6, 21:12-15.
It is also interesting to note how hard the "saved" "Christians," are WORKING to "witness" to "the unsaved"!
DEIFICATION: BECOMING GODS
Rev. Mohler: "Mormonism promises deification."
The fact is, "HISTORIC" & "BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY," also debated over deification, theosis, perfection, or becoming gods too! It was an important part of Christian history that seems to be passed over as though it didn't happen, or was part of "historic Christianity," when it is! The early Christian father even cite the same passages of scripture to defend & expound on their own particular versions of deification, as the Mormons do.
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS ON DEIFICATION (These passages are also used by Mormons in defense of their own "restored" version of deification, called exaltation).
Psalm 82; John 10:30-39; John 17:17-24; Matthew 5:48; Luke 14:11 & 18:14; 6:40 22:29; Romans 8:16-18; Matthew 25:21, 34-40; Colossians 3:24-25: Luke 22:29; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:35-43; Matthew 13:43;
Daniel 12:3; 1 John 2:3-11, 18-29; 3:2-3; Colossians 3:4; Isaiah 1:18; 41:22—23.
There sure is a lot of passages in the Bible about deification, despite how many modern "Christians," continue to claim that it's "non-Christians," "satanic," & "non-biblical," & not part of "Historical Christianity."
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS:
Psalm 82 was a passage that some of the early to later Christians made reference to in order to show from the scriptures that their own particular versions & interpretations of deification was based on the scriptures.
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Christ cites this passage in defense of his claim to being divine, (John 10:30-39).
Some of the early to later Christians who made reference to Psalms 81-2 as scriptural proof texts in support of their own particular versions of the doctrine of deification were:
1. Justin Martyr, 110-165 A.D.
2. Irenæus, 120-202 A.D.
3. Clement of Alexandria, 153-193-217 A.D.
The Ante-Nicene Fathers, = (TANF), Vol.2, pp.206, 215, 374, & 437; Tertullian [145-220 A.D.] (TANF) Vol.3, pp.480, & 608; Origen of Alexandria, [185-230-254 A.D.];(TANF) Vol.4, p.509; Thascius Cyprian, [200-258 A.D.] Thascius Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage until he suffered martyrdom [248-58 A.D.], (TANF) Vol.5, pp.263-4, & 518; Novatian, a Roman Presbyter, [210-280 A.D.]; (TANF) Vol.5, p.631; Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, [born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D.] The Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers = (TN&PNF) Vol.4, pp. lxxxv, lxxxvii, & 329, Discourse Against The Arians I:38-39; S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, [born a few years before the outbreak of Arianism in A.D. 318, and died about March 18th, 386 A.D.] (TN&PNF) Vol.7, pp. i, xi, 2; St. Jerome, [345-420 A.D.]15 15- The Homilies of St. Jerome, Pub. The Catholic Un. Press, Wash. DC, 1964, pp.106-7 & 353; St. Augustine of Hippo, [354-430 A.D.]; Deification: The Content Of Athanasian Soteriology by Keith Edward Norman, (Dept. of Rel. Duke Un.), thesis for degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1980, p.241-2, & note 1 on p.214, Ennar. in Ps. 49.2.
Christ prayed that we would become perfect and one with Him and the Father. "Sanctify them through thy truth...And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:17-24.)
If we are to become one with Christ, & the Father, would we not also become divine? Would we not also be glorified with the same type of glory? Christ said: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one even as we are one...that they may be made perfect in one..." (Jn.17:22 & 23).
Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd century A.D.], used John 17:24 to scripturally point out that the disciples would also be glorified. (TANF) 1: pp.478-9.
Also, Origen [A.D. 185-230-254] used portions of Christ's prayer in support of the doctrine of perfection & deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chapter 6.
Christ said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt.5:48). Origen also used this passage in defense of deification.(TANF) 4: p.509, Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap.29.
Another idea behind deification was that the earliest Christians, (like the Mormons), believed that Christ & the Most High God the Father would not be removed out of their places so that these newly deified beings could take over:
"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11 & 18:14).
And: "The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke 6:40). Irenaeus cites this passage to point out that in coming up out of the realm of the dead by way of the resurrection, the body that is raised up, is perfected. (TANF) 1: p.560).
Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217], cites this passage while writing about deification too. (TANF) 2: p.364, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book 2, chap. xvii.
Paul wrote to the Romans that: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:16-18).
A number of early Christians used this passage to support their beliefs that the early Christian martyrs had been perfected, glorified, deified & rewarded with divine ranks. For they had remained faithful, & even though they had suffered greatly, they still had endured to the end. (TANF) 2: pp.411-13, 416-17, & 426-441; Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217]; Martyrdom & Persecution in the Early Church, by W.H.C. Frend, 1967.
Upon becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, we might want to consider what Christ was heir to. God appointed him to be "heir of all things", for it was through Christ that the worlds were created. Christ alone had purged our sins and had "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they". The Father also said to his Son, "Thy throne O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." (Hebrews 1:1-4, & 8; see also: Galatians 3:27-29, 4:1-7; Revelations 3:21-22; 21:7).
Another passage reads: "His lord said unto him, Well done thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21).
The early Christian Father, Hippolytus [A.D. 170-236 A.D.], wrote that one of the reasons why the righteous had been deified was because they had shown that they had been faithful over small things while in earth life. And thus, upon being deified, they would have entrusted unto them that which was great. (TANF) 5: p.151, & note 6, The Refutation of All Heresies, Book X, chap. xxix).
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34-40).
Christ also talked about the good works that they did, & thus, in having done these good works they would enter on the right hand path into the Kingdom of God, & would inherit the kingdom. (Rev.1:6; 3:21-22; 4:4, 10-11; 5:10).
"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done". (Colossians 3:24-25.)
"And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me". (Luke 22:29).
In the New Testament we read about how some resurrected bodies will shine with greater glory and brightness that others. For in some cases our resurrected bodies will also be glorified, some to lesser, others to greater degrees of glory. (1 Corinthians 15:35-43). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], used this passage while responding to the early anti-Christian Celsus, & while expounding on what he understood to be the doctrine of deification. (TANF) 4: p.509.
Paul to the Corinthians: Through the "spirit of the Lord" we will be changed from bodies without glory, into bodies of the same glory as Christ. "Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Paul to the Philippians: "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:20-21).
Jesus said: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 13:43). Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd centuries A.D.], cites this passage as scriptural evidences for deification. (TANF) 1: pp.523-5; Matt.13:40-3).
Much later, Thomas Aquinas [1225-74 A.D.] also used this passage to suggest that the righteous would shine forth with great light and glory in the after life. (Heaven: A History, by Colleen McDannell & Berhard Lang, Yale Un. Press, New Haven, & Lon., 1988, pp.83-4, 89-92, n.27, on p.369, Aquinas, Sth, Suppl. 91:3).
The Old Testament Prophet Daniel wrote: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever." (Daniel 12:3). Irenaeus also cites from Daniel as scriptural proof text that showed that the faces of those who had been deified would shine with great glory and light.(TANF) 1: pp.488-90, & 497.
Paul to the Colossians: "To whom God would make known what is the riches of glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" (Colossians 1:27-28).
The ritual of anointing is combined with the idea of deification, even in the earliest days of the Church. However, John noted that some of their anointing rituals had been counterfeited by "anti-Christs" who had infiltrated the Church and who were bringing in counterfeit forms of anointing. He goes on to tell the earliest saints that the anointing they had received was from God, while the other was from "anti-Christs". (1 John 2:3-11, 18-29).
John then goes on to present the idea and symbolical types in their own anointing ritual, and how deification fits in with some of the symbolical meanings behind anointing. For having been anointed they were cleansed and purified of their sins. This also shows up and is expounded upon in the writings of the Fathers in early to later Christianity.
John wrote: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], cites portions of this in support and in defense of the doctrine of perfection and deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, & 509, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chap. 6; Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap. 29.
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4.)
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27).
In some cases in the early Christian mysteries, after they had been anointed and baptized. They put on new and pure garments to symbolize that which was to come in the resurrection when they would be clothed in the same type of immortality as Christ was.
Paul tells us to put on charity "which is the bond of perfection." (Colossians 3:14).
To Timothy, Paul wrote that the scriptures would, among other things, help them towards reaching perfection. "That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work." (2 Tim.3:15-17).
To the Hebrews, Paul wrote: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Hebrews 2:7-11).
Paul seems to have written here of Christ's return to glory. But also of Christ leading his other brothers and sisters back into the family in heaven to partake of divine glory with him. This idea was expounded upon in early to later Christian writings and art works. Christ suffered for the just and the unjust, and those who were once disobedient, but who were willing to repent and live according to God's commandments even though they might have been sent to the spirit prison. For Christ descended down unto them and preached the gospel there and led them up out of captivity. Thus, Christ brought them to God the Father, and presented them to the Father. Having led the way. Upon their ascension up out of the underworld their deification and glorification had begun. As Christ and the host of freed captives exited out of the spirit prison, they trample over the devil or demons that had attempted to keep Christ from entering into the prison house. Paul also mentioned crowns of glory, and makes references to having all things put under his feet. Many early to later Christian art works show Christ standing on the devil as he frees the captive prisoners. Paul also made references to Christ leading or bringing "many sons", many "children" or "vast multitudes of God's people to heaven". Leading them over into "glory" and deification.
The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah seems to suggest that even though we have done good or evil, we may be washed clean of our sins, if we repent, and then in the ultimate end, we can become gods. Isaiah wrote: "Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together." (Isaiah 1:16-20; 41:22-23; Hebrews 10:16-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
The deified would have also passed through rites of passage dramas too, thus, in early to later Christianity this included the heavenly coronations, vestments, crowns, enthronement, and the glorification of the saints.
The New Testament writers mentions many aspects of this aspect of deification, for Paul, upon writing to Timothy, shows how he looked forward to being crowned in the next life for his efforts & endurance, for he says, I have "Fought a good fight, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
The crown of righteousness hints to the ordinances. The early Christians were anointed, clothed in garments & royal robes in their mysteries or ordinances as types of that which was to come in the heavenly kingdoms of God. The crown was the symbol of the reward for faithfulness, for they would be deified & crowned in glory. In John's book of Revelation, Christ promised: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:21).
In early Christian thought, Christ was the greatest example of the deification process because the body in which His Spirit had been clothed in through birth, was eventually deified and glorified when He was later resurrected. For when Christ lived on the earth in the body of His birth to Mary, was He glorified? Did His earthly body at all times give off visible light and a brightness that was brighter than the sun at noon-day? Or did He look like other men? The scriptures tell us that He was born and grew up from childhood to manhood (Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:80; 2:52).
There were times when the divine light of His power and glory did shine forth while He was in that earthly body. Such as the time when Christ was transfigured to the point in which "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matthew 17:2-9).
But we know that His body didn't shine as bright as the sun every moment of His life. If He was already glorified in that body every moment, why did He pray to His Father that He would glorify Him with the same glory that He had had before His birth? "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." (John 17:5).
Christ also prayed that His followers would be glorified too. (John 17:18-26). Later, after the crucifixion & Christ's descent into the spirit world, Christ's spirit entered his resurrected body which was eventually glorified upon his ascension into heaven. A number of people became witnesses to the brightness of that glorified resurrected body. (Acts 1:9-11, 7:55-56; & 9:3-5).
The scriptures show that others, such as those who had lived on the earth as prophets, they too had been glorified after Christ had. John saw in a number visions, bright angels, some were even ones "like unto the Son of man", in great brightness & glory. Later he found out that some of these bright angels were glorified persons who had been prophets at one time, like unto himself. And yet they were & are glorified, & even speak for the Lord, at times, in the first-person. In some cases, John had thought that the glorified person that was speaking to him was the Lord, but the bright messenger corrected John as he began to worship the messenger. He told John that he was only a fellow servant & of his brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. And that he should not worship him, but rather he should worship God instead. Had this servant from among the prophets been glorified and perfected? Had his body been changed and fashioned like unto Christ's glorified body, as the scriptures say would happen? (Rev. 1:10-15; 19:6-10; 22:7-9; 2 Cor.3:4-18; 5:2-4; Phil.3:20-21; Col.1:27-28; Heb. 2:9-11; 10:16-22).
Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:5-12).33 33- 1 Peter 1:3-16.
Peter wrote: "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called unto us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:2-11).
A portions of this passages helped Athanasius scripturally support the idea deification through Christ. (Athanasius, was bishop of Alexandria, he was born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D. (TN&PNF), Vol.4, pp.lxxxv, lxxxvii, & p.576, Letters of Athanasius, LX. Ad Adelphium, 4).
Other passages say: "That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14).
Some of the different leaders in Christ's church were chosen to help the members develop Christ like traits. Thus, they were given: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" (Ephesians 4:10-13). Clement of Alexandria used this passage upon writing about perfection & deification. (TANF) 2: pp.433, & 547, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book IV, chap.xxi & book VII, chap.xiv.
Christ tested a rich man to see if he was willing to do all that He asked of him in order to be perfected. The rich man said that he had kept the commandments from his youth till then, and he asked what more he lacked. Christ said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me." (Matthew 19:16-26).
However, this man refused to do what Christ asked of him. Later on during the 3rd century A.D., this passage inspired a number of Christians, such as a wealthy young man named Anthony of Egypt. He was so impressed by the passage that he followed Christ's advice and retired to the desert. He was later joined by like-minded men who lived as monks or hermits who sought to work towards moral perfection or "Christian perfection." (Western Civilizations, (Their History and Their Culture), by Edward McNall Burns, Robert E. Lerner, & Standish Meacham, Pub. W.W. Norton & Co., N.Y., & Lon., 1st ed., 1941, 10th edition 1984, Vol.1, p.219; & 222-23; The March Of The Cross, by Leonard W. Cowie, 1962, (First Pub. in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson LTD. 1962), & first pub. in the USA by McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N.Y., Toronto, & Lon., 1962, pp.33-4; Christian Monasticism, by David Knowles, 1969, reprinted 1972 & 1977, Pub. World Un., Library, McGraw-Hill Co., N.Y., Toronto, p.10; The Early Church by W.H.C. Frend, Pub. J.B. Lippincott Co., Phil., & N.Y., 1966, pp.202-3, Athanasius (Life 2); The Holy Rule (Notes on St. Benedict's Legislation for Monks), by Dom Hubert Van Zeller, Pub. by Sheed & Ward, N.Y., 1958, p.370; The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, pub. Oxford Un. Press, Oxford N.Y., 1990, pp.51, 67, 69, 80, & 135-6; & The Ladder of Perfection, by Walter Hilton, Pub., by Penguin Classics, 1957, & 1988.
Paul noted how some were having trouble understanding the signs of the times, for they supposed that Christ's second coming was "at hand". Paul wrote that there was going to be a falling away first before that day should come. He also noted that even during his day in time there were different ones who had taught & practiced counterfeit forms of deification, for they exalted themselves to Godhood in the mystery religions. Thus, he wrote that the "mystery of iniquity is already at work". Paul then goes on to point out that the followers of Christ wouldn't obtain the glory of Christ through these counterfeit mysteries, signs, & wonders of the devil. But rather, it was through what Christ & their own leaders had taught them that they would obtain the glory of Christ. (2 Thess. chapt. 2)
In Coptic Christian versions of deification, the Apostle Thomas had pulled his finger out of the wound in Christ's side, some of Christ's blood flowed down from Christ's side. Christ said that His blood had joined to their bodies, and thus, they themselves had become divine, even as Christ was divine. (Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, by E.A. Wallis Budge, 6 Vol.s, Pub. Oxford Un., Press, 1913, Vol. 3, p. 214, The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle).
Almost every belief restored by Mormon prophets from "historic biblical Christianity," continues to be rejected and not accepted modern "Christianity" that continues to select the belief and practives to as to give us watered down version.
I find it interesting that "historic Christianity," or "historical/biblical Christianity" is so often used on the internet by modern "Christians" who then present later Christian dogmas as being what people have to currently believe in order to be a "Christian," or "saved"! It seems to me a lot of picking & care selecting of "historic Christianity," & "biblical Christianity," goes on while turning or not mentioning other aspects of "historic Christianity" also belief. So what "historic Christianity" are they talking about? The versions & selections that agree with ones particular brand of modern "Christianity"?
To illustrate:
Rev. Mohler wrote: "Christianity promises salvation through Christ's atonement and the sinner's justification by faith."
All throughout Christian "HISTORY" this point, FAITH & WORKS, was hashed over, especially during the Reformation! The earliest to later Christians, from James on, argued against those who were attempting to claim that a person's behaviour didn't matter, when it did.
Many modern "Christians" also seem more interested in how you believe, rather than how you live your life, good or bad, it don't matter, so long as you've "confessed Jesus!"
In anti-Mormon propaganda, Mormons are "damned" for attempting to do good works, and are "damned" for when some are caught doing evil works! Damned if they do, & damned if they don't!
In HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY:
J. R. Hoffmann notes that by the 2nd century, there were Christian sects that followed "salvationism" by grace alone, with out works. Earlier, James is amongst the earliest Christian leaders to respond to these types of early movements. But we also know from many examples in the New Testament, & the early to later Christian fathers, that this issue concerning "grace" & "works" was a subject of interest & debate. Jude had written against a group of so-called "Christians, antinomians" who had attempted to encourage sexual transgressions, rejected authority & understood divine grace as sanctioning immorality. (R. Joseph Hoffman, Celsus, On The True Doctrine, p. 14-16; Jude 3-8).
Modern "Christians" in claiming, that one must "know Jesus as their personal Savior," and they preach a "salvation" were what you do & don't do, as by way of works, doesn't count. However, in claiming to know Christ as their personal savior, do they, or should they also keep his commandments, for "He that saith, I know him, and keepth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
Passages on works seem to be overlooked by those who selectively cite from those about grace.
Here's just some of the ones on works: Eccl.12:14, Jer.17:10 & 32:19, Micah 6:8, Matt. 5:6, 16, 19-20, 7:16, 21-23, 13:23, 41-6, 16:27, 19:16-17; 25:11-30; 34-6, 1 Cor. 3:8, 6:9; 2 Cor.5:9; John 3:21, 5:29, 12:50; Rom.1:5, 18, 22, 2:6-13; 5:3, 8:16-17, 35, 12:12, 2 Cor. 5:9-10, 6:17, 7:10, 17:7; Gal.6:4-7; Eph. 2:10, 5:5-9; 2 Tim.3:17; Heb.4:11, 17, 5:8-9, 1 Pet.1:10, 17; 2 Pet.1:5; 1 John 3:18, 22, James 1:12, 22-7, 2:26, 4:17-18; Rev.2:7, 11, 3:4-5, 7:14, 22:14, Job 34:11; Isa.1:17; John 14:15; Phil.2:12; John 12:50; Acts 5:32; 10:35, 14:22; 1 Cor.6:9, 2 Thess.1:4-9, Luke 9:23-6, 21:12-15.
It is also interesting to note how hard the "saved" "Christians," are WORKING to "witness" to "the unsaved"!
DEIFICATION: BECOMING GODS
Rev. Mohler: "Mormonism promises deification."
The fact is, "HISTORIC" & "BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY," also debated over deification, theosis, perfection, or becoming gods too! It was an important part of Christian history that seems to be passed over as though it didn't happen, or was part of "historic Christianity," when it is! The early Christian father even cite the same passages of scripture to defend & expound on their own particular versions of deification, as the Mormons do.
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS ON DEIFICATION (These passages are also used by Mormons in defense of their own "restored" version of deification, called exaltation).
Psalm 82; John 10:30-39; John 17:17-24; Matthew 5:48; Luke 14:11 & 18:14; 6:40 22:29; Romans 8:16-18; Matthew 25:21, 34-40; Colossians 3:24-25: Luke 22:29; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:35-43; Matthew 13:43;
Daniel 12:3; 1 John 2:3-11, 18-29; 3:2-3; Colossians 3:4; Isaiah 1:18; 41:22—23.
There sure is a lot of passages in the Bible about deification, despite how many modern "Christians," continue to claim that it's "non-Christians," "satanic," & "non-biblical," & not part of "Historical Christianity."
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS:
Psalm 82 was a passage that some of the early to later Christians made reference to in order to show from the scriptures that their own particular versions & interpretations of deification was based on the scriptures.
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Christ cites this passage in defense of his claim to being divine, (John 10:30-39).
Some of the early to later Christians who made reference to Psalms 81-2 as scriptural proof texts in support of their own particular versions of the doctrine of deification were:
1. Justin Martyr, 110-165 A.D.
2. Irenæus, 120-202 A.D.
3. Clement of Alexandria, 153-193-217 A.D.
The Ante-Nicene Fathers, = (TANF), Vol.2, pp.206, 215, 374, & 437; Tertullian [145-220 A.D.] (TANF) Vol.3, pp.480, & 608; Origen of Alexandria, [185-230-254 A.D.];(TANF) Vol.4, p.509; Thascius Cyprian, [200-258 A.D.] Thascius Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage until he suffered martyrdom [248-58 A.D.], (TANF) Vol.5, pp.263-4, & 518; Novatian, a Roman Presbyter, [210-280 A.D.]; (TANF) Vol.5, p.631; Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, [born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D.] The Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers = (TN&PNF) Vol.4, pp. lxxxv, lxxxvii, & 329, Discourse Against The Arians I:38-39; S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, [born a few years before the outbreak of Arianism in A.D. 318, and died about March 18th, 386 A.D.] (TN&PNF) Vol.7, pp. i, xi, 2; St. Jerome, [345-420 A.D.]15 15- The Homilies of St. Jerome, Pub. The Catholic Un. Press, Wash. DC, 1964, pp.106-7 & 353; St. Augustine of Hippo, [354-430 A.D.]; Deification: The Content Of Athanasian Soteriology by Keith Edward Norman, (Dept. of Rel. Duke Un.), thesis for degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1980, p.241-2, & note 1 on p.214, Ennar. in Ps. 49.2.
Christ prayed that we would become perfect and one with Him and the Father. "Sanctify them through thy truth...And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:17-24.)
If we are to become one with Christ, & the Father, would we not also become divine? Would we not also be glorified with the same type of glory? Christ said: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one even as we are one...that they may be made perfect in one..." (Jn.17:22 & 23).
Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd century A.D.], used John 17:24 to scripturally point out that the disciples would also be glorified. (TANF) 1: pp.478-9.
Also, Origen [A.D. 185-230-254] used portions of Christ's prayer in support of the doctrine of perfection & deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chapter 6.
Christ said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt.5:48). Origen also used this passage in defense of deification.(TANF) 4: p.509, Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap.29.
Another idea behind deification was that the earliest Christians, (like the Mormons), believed that Christ & the Most High God the Father would not be removed out of their places so that these newly deified beings could take over:
"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11 & 18:14).
And: "The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke 6:40). Irenaeus cites this passage to point out that in coming up out of the realm of the dead by way of the resurrection, the body that is raised up, is perfected. (TANF) 1: p.560).
Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217], cites this passage while writing about deification too. (TANF) 2: p.364, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book 2, chap. xvii.
Paul wrote to the Romans that: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:16-18).
A number of early Christians used this passage to support their beliefs that the early Christian martyrs had been perfected, glorified, deified & rewarded with divine ranks. For they had remained faithful, & even though they had suffered greatly, they still had endured to the end. (TANF) 2: pp.411-13, 416-17, & 426-441; Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217]; Martyrdom & Persecution in the Early Church, by W.H.C. Frend, 1967.
Upon becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, we might want to consider what Christ was heir to. God appointed him to be "heir of all things", for it was through Christ that the worlds were created. Christ alone had purged our sins and had "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they". The Father also said to his Son, "Thy throne O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." (Hebrews 1:1-4, & 8; see also: Galatians 3:27-29, 4:1-7; Revelations 3:21-22; 21:7).
Another passage reads: "His lord said unto him, Well done thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21).
The early Christian Father, Hippolytus [A.D. 170-236 A.D.], wrote that one of the reasons why the righteous had been deified was because they had shown that they had been faithful over small things while in earth life. And thus, upon being deified, they would have entrusted unto them that which was great. (TANF) 5: p.151, & note 6, The Refutation of All Heresies, Book X, chap. xxix).
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34-40).
Christ also talked about the good works that they did, & thus, in having done these good works they would enter on the right hand path into the Kingdom of God, & would inherit the kingdom. (Rev.1:6; 3:21-22; 4:4, 10-11; 5:10).
"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done". (Colossians 3:24-25.)
"And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me". (Luke 22:29).
In the New Testament we read about how some resurrected bodies will shine with greater glory and brightness that others. For in some cases our resurrected bodies will also be glorified, some to lesser, others to greater degrees of glory. (1 Corinthians 15:35-43). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], used this passage while responding to the early anti-Christian Celsus, & while expounding on what he understood to be the doctrine of deification. (TANF) 4: p.509.
Paul to the Corinthians: Through the "spirit of the Lord" we will be changed from bodies without glory, into bodies of the same glory as Christ. "Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Paul to the Philippians: "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:20-21).
Jesus said: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 13:43). Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd centuries A.D.], cites this passage as scriptural evidences for deification. (TANF) 1: pp.523-5; Matt.13:40-3).
Much later, Thomas Aquinas [1225-74 A.D.] also used this passage to suggest that the righteous would shine forth with great light and glory in the after life. (Heaven: A History, by Colleen McDannell & Berhard Lang, Yale Un. Press, New Haven, & Lon., 1988, pp.83-4, 89-92, n.27, on p.369, Aquinas, Sth, Suppl. 91:3).
The Old Testament Prophet Daniel wrote: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever." (Daniel 12:3). Irenaeus also cites from Daniel as scriptural proof text that showed that the faces of those who had been deified would shine with great glory and light.(TANF) 1: pp.488-90, & 497.
Paul to the Colossians: "To whom God would make known what is the riches of glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" (Colossians 1:27-28).
The ritual of anointing is combined with the idea of deification, even in the earliest days of the Church. However, John noted that some of their anointing rituals had been counterfeited by "anti-Christs" who had infiltrated the Church and who were bringing in counterfeit forms of anointing. He goes on to tell the earliest saints that the anointing they had received was from God, while the other was from "anti-Christs". (1 John 2:3-11, 18-29).
John then goes on to present the idea and symbolical types in their own anointing ritual, and how deification fits in with some of the symbolical meanings behind anointing. For having been anointed they were cleansed and purified of their sins. This also shows up and is expounded upon in the writings of the Fathers in early to later Christianity.
John wrote: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], cites portions of this in support and in defense of the doctrine of perfection and deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, & 509, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chap. 6; Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap. 29.
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4.)
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27).
In some cases in the early Christian mysteries, after they had been anointed and baptized. They put on new and pure garments to symbolize that which was to come in the resurrection when they would be clothed in the same type of immortality as Christ was.
Paul tells us to put on charity "which is the bond of perfection." (Colossians 3:14).
To Timothy, Paul wrote that the scriptures would, among other things, help them towards reaching perfection. "That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work." (2 Tim.3:15-17).
To the Hebrews, Paul wrote: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Hebrews 2:7-11).
Paul seems to have written here of Christ's return to glory. But also of Christ leading his other brothers and sisters back into the family in heaven to partake of divine glory with him. This idea was expounded upon in early to later Christian writings and art works. Christ suffered for the just and the unjust, and those who were once disobedient, but who were willing to repent and live according to God's commandments even though they might have been sent to the spirit prison. For Christ descended down unto them and preached the gospel there and led them up out of captivity. Thus, Christ brought them to God the Father, and presented them to the Father. Having led the way. Upon their ascension up out of the underworld their deification and glorification had begun. As Christ and the host of freed captives exited out of the spirit prison, they trample over the devil or demons that had attempted to keep Christ from entering into the prison house. Paul also mentioned crowns of glory, and makes references to having all things put under his feet. Many early to later Christian art works show Christ standing on the devil as he frees the captive prisoners. Paul also made references to Christ leading or bringing "many sons", many "children" or "vast multitudes of God's people to heaven". Leading them over into "glory" and deification.
The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah seems to suggest that even though we have done good or evil, we may be washed clean of our sins, if we repent, and then in the ultimate end, we can become gods. Isaiah wrote: "Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together." (Isaiah 1:16-20; 41:22-23; Hebrews 10:16-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
The deified would have also passed through rites of passage dramas too, thus, in early to later Christianity this included the heavenly coronations, vestments, crowns, enthronement, and the glorification of the saints.
The New Testament writers mentions many aspects of this aspect of deification, for Paul, upon writing to Timothy, shows how he looked forward to being crowned in the next life for his efforts & endurance, for he says, I have "Fought a good fight, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
The crown of righteousness hints to the ordinances. The early Christians were anointed, clothed in garments & royal robes in their mysteries or ordinances as types of that which was to come in the heavenly kingdoms of God. The crown was the symbol of the reward for faithfulness, for they would be deified & crowned in glory. In John's book of Revelation, Christ promised: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:21).
In early Christian thought, Christ was the greatest example of the deification process because the body in which His Spirit had been clothed in through birth, was eventually deified and glorified when He was later resurrected. For when Christ lived on the earth in the body of His birth to Mary, was He glorified? Did His earthly body at all times give off visible light and a brightness that was brighter than the sun at noon-day? Or did He look like other men? The scriptures tell us that He was born and grew up from childhood to manhood (Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:80; 2:52).
There were times when the divine light of His power and glory did shine forth while He was in that earthly body. Such as the time when Christ was transfigured to the point in which "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matthew 17:2-9).
But we know that His body didn't shine as bright as the sun every moment of His life. If He was already glorified in that body every moment, why did He pray to His Father that He would glorify Him with the same glory that He had had before His birth? "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." (John 17:5).
Christ also prayed that His followers would be glorified too. (John 17:18-26). Later, after the crucifixion & Christ's descent into the spirit world, Christ's spirit entered his resurrected body which was eventually glorified upon his ascension into heaven. A number of people became witnesses to the brightness of that glorified resurrected body. (Acts 1:9-11, 7:55-56; & 9:3-5).
The scriptures show that others, such as those who had lived on the earth as prophets, they too had been glorified after Christ had. John saw in a number visions, bright angels, some were even ones "like unto the Son of man", in great brightness & glory. Later he found out that some of these bright angels were glorified persons who had been prophets at one time, like unto himself. And yet they were & are glorified, & even speak for the Lord, at times, in the first-person. In some cases, John had thought that the glorified person that was speaking to him was the Lord, but the bright messenger corrected John as he began to worship the messenger. He told John that he was only a fellow servant & of his brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. And that he should not worship him, but rather he should worship God instead. Had this servant from among the prophets been glorified and perfected? Had his body been changed and fashioned like unto Christ's glorified body, as the scriptures say would happen? (Rev. 1:10-15; 19:6-10; 22:7-9; 2 Cor.3:4-18; 5:2-4; Phil.3:20-21; Col.1:27-28; Heb. 2:9-11; 10:16-22).
Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:5-12).33 33- 1 Peter 1:3-16.
Peter wrote: "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called unto us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:2-11).
A portions of this passages helped Athanasius scripturally support the idea deification through Christ. (Athanasius, was bishop of Alexandria, he was born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D. (TN&PNF), Vol.4, pp.lxxxv, lxxxvii, & p.576, Letters of Athanasius, LX. Ad Adelphium, 4).
Other passages say: "That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14).
Some of the different leaders in Christ's church were chosen to help the members develop Christ like traits. Thus, they were given: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" (Ephesians 4:10-13). Clement of Alexandria used this passage upon writing about perfection & deification. (TANF) 2: pp.433, & 547, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book IV, chap.xxi & book VII, chap.xiv.
Christ tested a rich man to see if he was willing to do all that He asked of him in order to be perfected. The rich man said that he had kept the commandments from his youth till then, and he asked what more he lacked. Christ said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me." (Matthew 19:16-26).
However, this man refused to do what Christ asked of him. Later on during the 3rd century A.D., this passage inspired a number of Christians, such as a wealthy young man named Anthony of Egypt. He was so impressed by the passage that he followed Christ's advice and retired to the desert. He was later joined by like-minded men who lived as monks or hermits who sought to work towards moral perfection or "Christian perfection." (Western Civilizations, (Their History and Their Culture), by Edward McNall Burns, Robert E. Lerner, & Standish Meacham, Pub. W.W. Norton & Co., N.Y., & Lon., 1st ed., 1941, 10th edition 1984, Vol.1, p.219; & 222-23; The March Of The Cross, by Leonard W. Cowie, 1962, (First Pub. in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson LTD. 1962), & first pub. in the USA by McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N.Y., Toronto, & Lon., 1962, pp.33-4; Christian Monasticism, by David Knowles, 1969, reprinted 1972 & 1977, Pub. World Un., Library, McGraw-Hill Co., N.Y., Toronto, p.10; The Early Church by W.H.C. Frend, Pub. J.B. Lippincott Co., Phil., & N.Y., 1966, pp.202-3, Athanasius (Life 2); The Holy Rule (Notes on St. Benedict's Legislation for Monks), by Dom Hubert Van Zeller, Pub. by Sheed & Ward, N.Y., 1958, p.370; The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, pub. Oxford Un. Press, Oxford N.Y., 1990, pp.51, 67, 69, 80, & 135-6; & The Ladder of Perfection, by Walter Hilton, Pub., by Penguin Classics, 1957, & 1988.
Paul noted how some were having trouble understanding the signs of the times, for they supposed that Christ's second coming was "at hand". Paul wrote that there was going to be a falling away first before that day should come. He also noted that even during his day in time there were different ones who had taught & practiced counterfeit forms of deification, for they exalted themselves to Godhood in the mystery religions. Thus, he wrote that the "mystery of iniquity is already at work". Paul then goes on to point out that the followers of Christ wouldn't obtain the glory of Christ through these counterfeit mysteries, signs, & wonders of the devil. But rather, it was through what Christ & their own leaders had taught them that they would obtain the glory of Christ. (2 Thess. chapt. 2)
In Coptic Christian versions of deification, the Apostle Thomas had pulled his finger out of the wound in Christ's side, some of Christ's blood flowed down from Christ's side. Christ said that His blood had joined to their bodies, and thus, they themselves had become divine, even as Christ was divine. (Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, by E.A. Wallis Budge, 6 Vol.s, Pub. Oxford Un., Press, 1913, Vol. 3, p. 214, The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle).
Almost every belief restored by Mormon prophets from "historic biblical Christianity," continues to be rejected and not accepted modern "Christianity" that continues to select the belief and practives to as to give us watered down version.
Rev. M.: "Mormonism holds that God is an exalted man, with a physical body."
JM: In "historic Christianity," if he means early Christianity, then: God the Father was considered a spirit, but Christ, first a pre-mortal spirit, became a man, though he was also God, the son!
Rev. M: "Christianity teaches that God is Spirit. Mormonism denies the historic Christian understandings of the Trinity,"
JM: Yes, Mormons don't go along with the Nicene Creed of 325 AD. But rather they believe in a restored revealed knowledge of the God head. It's interesting to note that the Nicene Fathers that gave us the creed also believed and taught the doctrine of deification, becoming gods! So, why do modern Christians reject this idea?
Rev: "the person and work of Christ, and the doctrine of salvation." Christianity promises salvation through Christ's atonement and the sinner's justification by faith. Mormonism promises deification. Christianity calls for personal faith in Jesus Christ. Mormonism calls for obedience to its own teachings as the path to exaltation. Mormonism replaces belief in the sole authority of the Bible with other writings, including the Book of Mormon. This list is only a brief summary of the vast chasm that separates Christianity from Mormonism. Put simply, Mormonism is not just another form of Christianity. It is a rejection of historic Christianity."
Seed Planter wrote: "In other words, deification is not becoming like God in the Mormon sense. There is no continuity between the two. Not only is eternal progression not found in the early church fathers’ theosis, neither is the concept found in historic Judaism as Mormons claim."
Eternal progression "not found in the early church fathers' theosis"?! Perhaps not the exact type of eternal progression as in Mormonism; however, Irenaeus, AD 115-202, a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Revelator, mentions something similar in his own version of deification:
"While man gradually advances and mounts towards perfection; that is, he approaches the eternal. The eternal is perfect; and this is God. Man has first to come into being, then to progress, and by progressing come to manhood, and having reached manhood to increase, and thus increasing to persevere, and persevering to be glorified, and thus see his Lord." (Henry Bettenson, The Early Christian Fathers: A Selection from the Writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of Rome to St. Athanasius (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 94).
"We were not made gods at our beginning, but first we were made men, then, in the end, gods." (Ibid., p. 94).
"How then will any be a god, if he has not first been made a man? How can any be perfect when he has only lately been made man? How immortal, if he has not in his mortal nature obeyed his maker? For one's duty is first to observe the discipline of man and thereafter to share in the glory of God". (Ibid., 95-96),
The Damascus Document tells how the deifieds "seed would be scattered across the universe." Now this and Irenaeus' versions of theosis, are not exactly the same as the Mormons' version, but it's interesting to note that they still had these beliefs.
Seed Planter wrote: "It is sad that there are numerous Mormons so caught up in the piles of Mormon propaganda."
It's sadder that many "Christians" are so caught up in the piles of anti-Mormon propaganda, that they don't realize that the very things that anti-Mormon "Christians" use to 'discredit' mormonism and their faith, is the same types of tactics, methods and propaganda ploys that Atheists and early to later anti-Christians used to discredit Christianity!
Planter: "My prayer from the heart is that on your way to seeking truth (which I hope you are) that you will not completely lose your faith in the Bible and become an atheist."
Tactics used by them: (them being anti-religiousness against other religions, be it Atheists, early anti-Christians, anti-Mormon Christians, etc).
They point out, allege and charge that they have:
1. Changes, Contradictions & alleged borrowings from their environment to make up their scriptures.
2. Different accounts of events that don't match up in their tellings, (written and verbal accounts, oral traditions).
3. Additions to scriptures.
4. Leaders did miracles through magical means.
5. Had secret ceremonies, symbols, signs, oaths, and strange beliefs.
6. They don't go along with the "mainstream" religion.
7. Their leaders avoid dealings with the law.
8. Have oaths that are against the government!
9. Seek to be perfect, while everyone knows, or gossip has it that they are always getting in trouble with the government and laws, thus they hide what they're doing in their secret meetings.
10. There is nothing original, or ancient about their message.
Justin Martyr Jr's list of references about the early Christians, and how the greeks, romans, and jew looked upon them as, is a good place to start in finding out these tactics mentioned.
Planter also wrote: "...your prayer be for YHWH the God of Israel to reveal Himself to you and to grow in His grace and truth. A prayer of re-application might be to ask the Supreme Being to reveal to you whether or not you've been led astray by the teachings of Jospeh Smith in your quest to know HIM."
I think that most Mormons would testify in what they call a "testimony," that it was through "prayer and study," that they "know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet" and that God "revealed" this to them."
But hey! If they, because of these charges mentioned, "have been led astray," then what of the Christians? Have they been also?
And wouldn't the answers that a Christian might give to an early anti-Christian or modern Atheist, then also have be answers to their own anti-Mormon "Christians'" propaganda too?!
In other words, deification is not becoming like God in the Mormon sense. There is no continuity between the two. Not only is eternal progression not found in the early church fathers’ theosis, neither is the concept found in historic Judaism as Mormons claim. Of course one could round up some references to when the Jews departed from orthodoxy and strayed from the commandments. I’m sure you could even find some kabala mixed in with it along with deviations of secret temple rituals as they maintain, but I don’t think that anyone in their right mind could conclude that this was the norm.
“For the loyal Jew, from that day to this, the fundamental confession of faith is, ‘Hear O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one.’” This was prayed three times a day and was the most basic Jewish conviction.” N. T. Wright, Judas and the Gospel of Jesus p 116 (Deut. 6:4).
The crucial Christian assertion, that God is One, sets an absolute limit on the meaning of theosis - it is not possible for any created being to become, ontologically, God, or even part of God (the henosis of Greek Neoplatonic philosophy).
That "God became God" is not only a pagan idea but it denies the very nature of God Himself, by rejecting His eternality as God (cf. Is. 43:10, LXX: "...So that you may know and believe Me and understand that I AM..." Notice "I AM" in the Greek LXX and not "I am He" as with 41:4. Jesus makes the same claim in John 8:24: "Unless you believe that I AM you will die in your sins"; cf. Gk.).
It is interesting that when one examines the historical nature of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion, it is obvious that something more was happening than ruffling the feathers of a few priests. Jesus was targeted specifically due to His claiming to be God. If the Mormon concept of deification was so widespread and common place in the Judaic/Christian tradition, it would make sense that the Sanhedrin would have merely shrugged it off as a legitimate teaching.
I gleaned and copied numerous material from other web sights. Sorry I didn't post them for you. If any one is interested a simple googling of "theosis" will be a good start to further the investigation.
It is sad that there are numerous Mormons so caught up in the piles of Mormon propaganda. My prayer from the heart is that on your way to seeking truth (which I hope you are) that you will not completely lose your faith in the Bible and become an atheist. May your prayer be for YHWH the God of Israel to reveal Himself to you and to grow in His grace and truth. A prayer of re-application might be to ask the Supreme Being to reveal to you whether or not you've been led astray by the teachings of Jospeh Smith in your quest to know HIM.
Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford. He was until 2005 Principal of Wycliffe Hall, points out, that "A deliberate and systematic distinction is made between the concept of justification itself (understood as the extrinsic divine pronouncement of man’s new status) and the concept of sanctification or regeneration (understood as the intrinsic process by which God renews the justified sinner)." He goes on to explain that: "The significance of the Protestant distinction between iustificatio and regeneratio is that a fundamental discontinuity has been introduced into the western theological tradition where none had existed before…The Reformation understanding of the nature of justification – as opposed to its mode – must therefore be regarded as a genuine theological novum.
McGrath notes that it is "the Augustinian understanding of justification as both event and process, embracing the beginning, continuation, and perfection of the Christian life, and thereby subsuming regeneration under justification. More specifically, St. Augustine integrated theosis within his concept of justification, as Lampe explains: "Augustine makes much use of the idea of deification which he equates with sonship towards God. Justification implies deification, because by justifying men God makes them his sons; if we have been made sons of God (Jn. 1:12) we have also been made gods, not through a natural begetting but through the grace of adoption." In Augustine’s one words, "God wishes to make you a god, not by nature like him whom he begat, but by his gift and adoption. For as he through humanity became partaker of your mortality, so through exaltation he makes you partaker of his immortality" (serm. 166.4) [47]. And similarly: "It is clear that He (i.e. God) calls men gods through their being deified by His grace and not born of His substance. For He justifies, who is just of Himself and not of another; and He deifies, who is God of Himself and not by participation in another. Now He who justifies, Himself deifies, because by justifying He makes sons of God. For to them gave He power to become the sons of God. If we are made sons of God, we are also made gods; but this is by grace of adoption, and not by generation (Ennar. In Ps. 49, 2)’.
“There is… [a] reason why Gregory’s doctrine of deification should not be taken in this radical sense, namely that he admits the terminology of participation. A doctrine of participation would normally hold that when one thing participates in another, a difference between them is indicated. Participation takes place across a line of division. When things of different hypostasis or different ontological status stand in a relation of participation, one entry, because of its receptivity, receives certain characteristics from the other, but without achieving identity with that other in essence. Even if one were to say there is participation in the nature of God, this would not mean that a creature becomes God by nature, but that the nature of God is present in the being of the other entity, transforming it into a new mode of being.” Gregory of Nazianzus: Images and Reflections. Edited by JOSTEIN BØRTNES (Russian Literature at the University of Bergen, former University Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Oslo, in Slavonic Studies at the University of Cambridge and Director of Studies at Sidney Sussex College. He is the author of 'Visions of Glory' (1988) and has published extensively in the fields of Early and Modern Russian Literature, Literary Theory and Greek Patristic Literature. At present, Jostein Børtnes is working on Mikhail Bakhtin, and on the Cappadocian fathers, in particular on Gregory of Nazianz.) and TOMAS HÄGG, p. 270.
C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963), the popular author of numerous apologetic, theological and fictional works, provides a good example of a contemporary Western writer—much beloved of Evangelicals—who makes use of the idea of theosis. In his famed Mere Christianity, he basically recites the famous Athanasian theosis statement into more modern language: "He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has – by what I call ‘good infection.’ Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.” He spells this out more succinctly a little later in the book: "The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him – for we can prevent Him, if we choose – He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said. Finally, Lewis talks about God "turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity"
"The Greek Fathers taught that, in the fall, humanity lost the likeness but retained the image….Whether the focus is placed on the image of God being restored, or whether one sees these terms as synonymous, the concept of the Christian’s reintegration into the life of God remains central in all understandings of theosis" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49; pH. 3:16-19; 4:13-15) Rakestraw, Robert V., "Becoming Like God: An Evangelical Doctrine of Theosis"
St. Jerome testifies "That we are gods is not so by nature, but by grace. ‘But to as many as receive Him he gave power of becoming sons of God"
St. Athanasius himself attested to the unity of the Cross and theosis: "The Word became flesh in order both to offer this sacrifice and that we, participating in His Spirit, might be deified.” This reveals a tight connection between theosis and salvation, if not an actual definition.
In Augustine’s own words, "God wishes to make you a god, not by nature like him whom he begat, but by his gift and adoption. For as he through humanity became partaker of your mortality, so through exaltation he makes you partaker of his immortality" (serm. 166.4)
St. Athanasius could hardly escape blame, since theosis figured prominently in his soteriology [12]. In his masterpiece On the Incarnation of the Word of God (54:3), he wrote the classic statement for theosis: "He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God.” In fact, theosis was used by him in his defense of the full deity of Christ against the Arians: "The Word could never have divinized us if He were merely divine by participation and were not Himself the essential Godhead, the Father’s veritable image.” He argues in like manner against the Tropici sect concerning the Holy Spirit’s divinity, stating that "If, by a partakability of the Spirit we shall become partakers of the divine nature, it would be madness then afterwards to call the Spirit an originated entity, and not of God; for on account of this also those who are in him are made divine. But then if he makes man divine, it is not dubious to say his nature is of God"
Gerald Bonner explains: "There is, however, in Augustine’s spirituality another element, perceived as a consequence of Christ’s taking human nature upon himself; for it is in Christ and through Christ, and only in and through Christ, that man becomes a partaker of God’s nature: ‘He who was God was made man to make gods those who were men’ (serm. 192.1, 1). These words, which parallel the more-often-quoted words of St Athanasius in his De Incarnatione, show that Augustine did not shrink from using the language of deification, often said to be peculiar to the Greek Fathers."
In fact, as G.W.H. Lampe points out, "Augustine repeats more often, perhaps, than any of the Greek theologians, the theme of the ‘interchange of places.’ ‘The Word,’ he says, became what we are that we might attain what we are not. For we are not God; but we can see God with the mind and interior eye of the heart’… ‘God hates you as you are, in order to make you what you are not yet. You will be what he is;’ but Augustine hastens to add that this means that we shall be God’s image in the sense in which a man’s reflection in a mirror is his image inasmuch as it is like him, not in the sense in which a man’s son is his image inasmuch as he is actually what his father is ‘according to substance.’"
Gerald Bonner stresses that "the notion of deification is to be found in Augustine, not as something added to his system as an afterthought, but as an integral whole. In itself, the notion of deification is no more than what is implied by the New Testament term uiothesia – sonship by adoption – by grace, that is to say, and not by nature. It is, indeed, the consequence of human flesh being assumed by the divinity in the Incarnation: that flesh has been taken into heaven by the ascended Christ, and if men participate in Him through membership of the Church, the Body of Christ, they too may hope, after death, to enjoy the divinisation effected by His flesh-taking. So Augustine writes, in the last chapter of the last book of The City of God: ‘We ourselves shall become that seventh day [i.e. the eternal Sabbath], when we have been replenished and restored by His blessing and sanctification. There we shall have leisure to be still, and we shall see that He is God, whereas we wished to be that ourselves when we fell away from Him, after listening to the seducer saying: You will be like gods. Then we abandoned the true God, by whose creative help we should have become gods, but by participating in Him, not by deserting Him"
I was disappointed by responses to the challenge offered by Rene regarding deification in the early church fathers, I have recently been reading up on theosis. Hope it helps someone out there. I also recommend the book by Richard Abanes, “Becoming Gods” in which a whole chapter is devoted to the issue. The Mormons that I have dialogued with seem to have a tendency of pulling things out of their context.
Historically, the word theosis was employed both in pre-Christian Greek antiquity, and also in pagan quarters existing contemporaneously with the early Christian Church, as F.W. Norris notes: "The use of theosis was daring. Non-Christians employed it to speak of pagan gods deifying creatures. The philosophers Iamblichus and Proclus, the poet Callimachus and the dreaded Julian the Apostate had used theoo in that way. It was not first a Christian word nor always employed by only Christians after they made it central. From within his deep contemplative life and from previous Church Tradition the Theologian picked it up, cleaned it up and filled it up with Christian sense. He and his fellow theologians took it captive and used it to speak about Christian realities" [2].
So the Church Fathers were careful to contrast their views with those of pagan thinkers who spoke in similar language (see Note-C). For example, St. Athanasius, who, as we shall see, testifies to theosis on innumerable occasions in his writings, notes that "We are as God by imitation, not by nature" [3]; and "Albeit we cannot become like God in essence, yet by progress in virtue imitate God" [4]. Jaroslav Pelikan, Church historian, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University and recent convert to Orthodoxy, explains that: "All of this Christian language about a humanity made divine was a part of a total Cappadocian system in which the Classical religion of deified men and women and of anthropomorphic gods and goddesses was described as ‘the superstition of polytheism’ and as the error of those mere mortals who had ‘turned aside the honor of God to themselves.’ Therefore, the Cappadocians insisted that it was as essential for theosis as it was for the incarnation itself not to be viewed as analogous to Classical theories about the promotion of human beings to divine rank, and in that sense not to be defined by natural theology at all; on such errors they pronounced their ‘Anathema!’"
My Christmas message to all who read this, 12-24-2007:
In earlier posts I've mentioned how that the early Christian doctrine and belief about Christ going to other nations in pre-Christian times, and during his post-resurrection world wide trek, eventually faded off into much later legendized versions of this in Santa Claus' world wide trek.
I'd like to get into more details on how this can be traced through the centuries.
In the 1891, The Strand Magazine, published a drawing of a small female descending through the
woods to a town below. She was called "Santa Claus." Note how “santa,” is the female title, for a female saint, for i
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Posted on May 9, 2008 08:21
"HISTORICAL BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY"?!
I find it interesting that "historic Christianity," or "historical/biblical Christianity" is so often used on the internet by modern "Christians" who then present later Christian dogmas as being what people have to currently believe in order to be a "Christian," or "saved"! It seems to me a lot of picking & care selecting of "historic Christianity," & "biblical Christianity," goes on while turning or not mentioning other aspects of "historic Christianity" also belief. So what "historic Christianity" are they talking about? The versions & selections that agree with ones particular brand of modern "Christianity"?
To illustrate:
Rev. Mohler wrote: "Christianity promises salvation through Christ's atonement and the sinner's justification by faith."
All throughout Christian "HISTORY" this point, FAITH & WORKS, was hashed over, especially during the Reformation! The earliest to later Christians, from James on, argued against those who were attempting to claim that a person's behaviour didn't matter, when it did.
Many modern "Christians" also seem more interested in how you believe, rather than how you live your life, good or bad, it don't matter, so long as you've "confessed Jesus!"
In anti-Mormon propaganda, Mormons are "damned" for attempting to do good works, and are "damned" for when some are caught doing evil works! Damned if they do, & damned if they don't!
In HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY:
J. R. Hoffmann notes that by the 2nd century, there were Christian sects that followed "salvationism" by grace alone, with out works. Earlier, James is amongst the earliest Christian leaders to respond to these types of early movements. But we also know from many examples in the New Testament, & the early to later Christian fathers, that this issue concerning "grace" & "works" was a subject of interest & debate. Jude had written against a group of so-called "Christians, antinomians" who had attempted to encourage sexual transgressions, rejected authority & understood divine grace as sanctioning immorality. (R. Joseph Hoffman, Celsus, On The True Doctrine, p. 14-16; Jude 3-8).
Modern "Christians" in claiming, that one must "know Jesus as their personal Savior," and they preach a "salvation" were what you do & don't do, as by way of works, doesn't count. However, in claiming to know Christ as their personal savior, do they, or should they also keep his commandments, for "He that saith, I know him, and keepth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
Passages on works seem to be overlooked by those who selectively cite from those about grace.
Here's just some of the ones on works: Eccl.12:14, Jer.17:10 & 32:19, Micah 6:8, Matt. 5:6, 16, 19-20, 7:16, 21-23, 13:23, 41-6, 16:27, 19:16-17; 25:11-30; 34-6, 1 Cor. 3:8, 6:9; 2 Cor.5:9; John 3:21, 5:29, 12:50; Rom.1:5, 18, 22, 2:6-13; 5:3, 8:16-17, 35, 12:12, 2 Cor. 5:9-10, 6:17, 7:10, 17:7; Gal.6:4-7; Eph. 2:10, 5:5-9; 2 Tim.3:17; Heb.4:11, 17, 5:8-9, 1 Pet.1:10, 17; 2 Pet.1:5; 1 John 3:18, 22, James 1:12, 22-7, 2:26, 4:17-18; Rev.2:7, 11, 3:4-5, 7:14, 22:14, Job 34:11; Isa.1:17; John 14:15; Phil.2:12; John 12:50; Acts 5:32; 10:35, 14:22; 1 Cor.6:9, 2 Thess.1:4-9, Luke 9:23-6, 21:12-15.
It is also interesting to note how hard the "saved" "Christians," are WORKING to "witness" to "the unsaved"!
DEIFICATION: BECOMING GODS
Rev. Mohler: "Mormonism promises deification."
The fact is, "HISTORIC" & "BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY," also debated over deification, theosis, perfection, or becoming gods too! It was an important part of Christian history that seems to be passed over as though it didn't happen, or was part of "historic Christianity," when it is! The early Christian father even cite the same passages of scripture to defend & expound on their own particular versions of deification, as the Mormons do.
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS ON DEIFICATION (These passages are also used by Mormons in defense of their own "restored" version of deification, called exaltation).
Psalm 82; John 10:30-39; John 17:17-24; Matthew 5:48; Luke 14:11 & 18:14; 6:40 22:29; Romans 8:16-18; Matthew 25:21, 34-40; Colossians 3:24-25: Luke 22:29; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:35-43; Matthew 13:43;
Daniel 12:3; 1 John 2:3-11, 18-29; 3:2-3; Colossians 3:4; Isaiah 1:18; 41:22—23.
There sure is a lot of passages in the Bible about deification, despite how many modern "Christians," continue to claim that it's "non-Christians," "satanic," & "non-biblical," & not part of "Historical Christianity."
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS:
Psalm 82 was a passage that some of the early to later Christians made reference to in order to show from the scriptures that their own particular versions & interpretations of deification was based on the scriptures.
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Christ cites this passage in defense of his claim to being divine, (John 10:30-39).
Some of the early to later Christians who made reference to Psalms 81-2 as scriptural proof texts in support of their own particular versions of the doctrine of deification were:
1. Justin Martyr, 110-165 A.D.
2. Irenæus, 120-202 A.D.
3. Clement of Alexandria, 153-193-217 A.D.
The Ante-Nicene Fathers, = (TANF), Vol.2, pp.206, 215, 374, & 437; Tertullian [145-220 A.D.] (TANF) Vol.3, pp.480, & 608; Origen of Alexandria, [185-230-254 A.D.];(TANF) Vol.4, p.509; Thascius Cyprian, [200-258 A.D.] Thascius Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage until he suffered martyrdom [248-58 A.D.], (TANF) Vol.5, pp.263-4, & 518; Novatian, a Roman Presbyter, [210-280 A.D.]; (TANF) Vol.5, p.631; Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, [born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D.] The Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers = (TN&PNF) Vol.4, pp. lxxxv, lxxxvii, & 329, Discourse Against The Arians I:38-39; S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, [born a few years before the outbreak of Arianism in A.D. 318, and died about March 18th, 386 A.D.] (TN&PNF) Vol.7, pp. i, xi, 2; St. Jerome, [345-420 A.D.]15 15- The Homilies of St. Jerome, Pub. The Catholic Un. Press, Wash. DC, 1964, pp.106-7 & 353; St. Augustine of Hippo, [354-430 A.D.]; Deification: The Content Of Athanasian Soteriology by Keith Edward Norman, (Dept. of Rel. Duke Un.), thesis for degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1980, p.241-2, & note 1 on p.214, Ennar. in Ps. 49.2.
Christ prayed that we would become perfect and one with Him and the Father. "Sanctify them through thy truth...And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:17-24.)
If we are to become one with Christ, & the Father, would we not also become divine? Would we not also be glorified with the same type of glory? Christ said: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one even as we are one...that they may be made perfect in one..." (Jn.17:22 & 23).
Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd century A.D.], used John 17:24 to scripturally point out that the disciples would also be glorified. (TANF) 1: pp.478-9.
Also, Origen [A.D. 185-230-254] used portions of Christ's prayer in support of the doctrine of perfection & deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chapter 6.
Christ said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt.5:48). Origen also used this passage in defense of deification.(TANF) 4: p.509, Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap.29.
Another idea behind deification was that the earliest Christians, (like the Mormons), believed that Christ & the Most High God the Father would not be removed out of their places so that these newly deified beings could take over:
"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11 & 18:14).
And: "The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke 6:40). Irenaeus cites this passage to point out that in coming up out of the realm of the dead by way of the resurrection, the body that is raised up, is perfected. (TANF) 1: p.560).
Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217], cites this passage while writing about deification too. (TANF) 2: p.364, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book 2, chap. xvii.
Paul wrote to the Romans that: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:16-18).
A number of early Christians used this passage to support their beliefs that the early Christian martyrs had been perfected, glorified, deified & rewarded with divine ranks. For they had remained faithful, & even though they had suffered greatly, they still had endured to the end. (TANF) 2: pp.411-13, 416-17, & 426-441; Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217]; Martyrdom & Persecution in the Early Church, by W.H.C. Frend, 1967.
Upon becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, we might want to consider what Christ was heir to. God appointed him to be "heir of all things", for it was through Christ that the worlds were created. Christ alone had purged our sins and had "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they". The Father also said to his Son, "Thy throne O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." (Hebrews 1:1-4, & 8; see also: Galatians 3:27-29, 4:1-7; Revelations 3:21-22; 21:7).
Another passage reads: "His lord said unto him, Well done thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21).
The early Christian Father, Hippolytus [A.D. 170-236 A.D.], wrote that one of the reasons why the righteous had been deified was because they had shown that they had been faithful over small things while in earth life. And thus, upon being deified, they would have entrusted unto them that which was great. (TANF) 5: p.151, & note 6, The Refutation of All Heresies, Book X, chap. xxix).
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34-40).
Christ also talked about the good works that they did, & thus, in having done these good works they would enter on the right hand path into the Kingdom of God, & would inherit the kingdom. (Rev.1:6; 3:21-22; 4:4, 10-11; 5:10).
"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done". (Colossians 3:24-25.)
"And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me". (Luke 22:29).
In the New Testament we read about how some resurrected bodies will shine with greater glory and brightness that others. For in some cases our resurrected bodies will also be glorified, some to lesser, others to greater degrees of glory. (1 Corinthians 15:35-43). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], used this passage while responding to the early anti-Christian Celsus, & while expounding on what he understood to be the doctrine of deification. (TANF) 4: p.509.
Paul to the Corinthians: Through the "spirit of the Lord" we will be changed from bodies without glory, into bodies of the same glory as Christ. "Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Paul to the Philippians: "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:20-21).
Jesus said: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 13:43). Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd centuries A.D.], cites this passage as scriptural evidences for deification. (TANF) 1: pp.523-5; Matt.13:40-3).
Much later, Thomas Aquinas [1225-74 A.D.] also used this passage to suggest that the righteous would shine forth with great light and glory in the after life. (Heaven: A History, by Colleen McDannell & Berhard Lang, Yale Un. Press, New Haven, & Lon., 1988, pp.83-4, 89-92, n.27, on p.369, Aquinas, Sth, Suppl. 91:3).
The Old Testament Prophet Daniel wrote: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever." (Daniel 12:3). Irenaeus also cites from Daniel as scriptural proof text that showed that the faces of those who had been deified would shine with great glory and light.(TANF) 1: pp.488-90, & 497.
Paul to the Colossians: "To whom God would make known what is the riches of glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" (Colossians 1:27-28).
The ritual of anointing is combined with the idea of deification, even in the earliest days of the Church. However, John noted that some of their anointing rituals had been counterfeited by "anti-Christs" who had infiltrated the Church and who were bringing in counterfeit forms of anointing. He goes on to tell the earliest saints that the anointing they had received was from God, while the other was from "anti-Christs". (1 John 2:3-11, 18-29).
John then goes on to present the idea and symbolical types in their own anointing ritual, and how deification fits in with some of the symbolical meanings behind anointing. For having been anointed they were cleansed and purified of their sins. This also shows up and is expounded upon in the writings of the Fathers in early to later Christianity.
John wrote: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], cites portions of this in support and in defense of the doctrine of perfection and deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, & 509, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chap. 6; Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap. 29.
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4.)
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27).
In some cases in the early Christian mysteries, after they had been anointed and baptized. They put on new and pure garments to symbolize that which was to come in the resurrection when they would be clothed in the same type of immortality as Christ was.
Paul tells us to put on charity "which is the bond of perfection." (Colossians 3:14).
To Timothy, Paul wrote that the scriptures would, among other things, help them towards reaching perfection. "That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work." (2 Tim.3:15-17).
To the Hebrews, Paul wrote: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Hebrews 2:7-11).
Paul seems to have written here of Christ's return to glory. But also of Christ leading his other brothers and sisters back into the family in heaven to partake of divine glory with him. This idea was expounded upon in early to later Christian writings and art works. Christ suffered for the just and the unjust, and those who were once disobedient, but who were willing to repent and live according to God's commandments even though they might have been sent to the spirit prison. For Christ descended down unto them and preached the gospel there and led them up out of captivity. Thus, Christ brought them to God the Father, and presented them to the Father. Having led the way. Upon their ascension up out of the underworld their deification and glorification had begun. As Christ and the host of freed captives exited out of the spirit prison, they trample over the devil or demons that had attempted to keep Christ from entering into the prison house. Paul also mentioned crowns of glory, and makes references to having all things put under his feet. Many early to later Christian art works show Christ standing on the devil as he frees the captive prisoners. Paul also made references to Christ leading or bringing "many sons", many "children" or "vast multitudes of God's people to heaven". Leading them over into "glory" and deification.
The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah seems to suggest that even though we have done good or evil, we may be washed clean of our sins, if we repent, and then in the ultimate end, we can become gods. Isaiah wrote: "Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together." (Isaiah 1:16-20; 41:22-23; Hebrews 10:16-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
The deified would have also passed through rites of passage dramas too, thus, in early to later Christianity this included the heavenly coronations, vestments, crowns, enthronement, and the glorification of the saints.
The New Testament writers mentions many aspects of this aspect of deification, for Paul, upon writing to Timothy, shows how he looked forward to being crowned in the next life for his efforts & endurance, for he says, I have "Fought a good fight, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
The crown of righteousness hints to the ordinances. The early Christians were anointed, clothed in garments & royal robes in their mysteries or ordinances as types of that which was to come in the heavenly kingdoms of God. The crown was the symbol of the reward for faithfulness, for they would be deified & crowned in glory. In John's book of Revelation, Christ promised: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:21).
In early Christian thought, Christ was the greatest example of the deification process because the body in which His Spirit had been clothed in through birth, was eventually deified and glorified when He was later resurrected. For when Christ lived on the earth in the body of His birth to Mary, was He glorified? Did His earthly body at all times give off visible light and a brightness that was brighter than the sun at noon-day? Or did He look like other men? The scriptures tell us that He was born and grew up from childhood to manhood (Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:80; 2:52).
There were times when the divine light of His power and glory did shine forth while He was in that earthly body. Such as the time when Christ was transfigured to the point in which "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matthew 17:2-9).
But we know that His body didn't shine as bright as the sun every moment of His life. If He was already glorified in that body every moment, why did He pray to His Father that He would glorify Him with the same glory that He had had before His birth? "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." (John 17:5).
Christ also prayed that His followers would be glorified too. (John 17:18-26). Later, after the crucifixion & Christ's descent into the spirit world, Christ's spirit entered his resurrected body which was eventually glorified upon his ascension into heaven. A number of people became witnesses to the brightness of that glorified resurrected body. (Acts 1:9-11, 7:55-56; & 9:3-5).
The scriptures show that others, such as those who had lived on the earth as prophets, they too had been glorified after Christ had. John saw in a number visions, bright angels, some were even ones "like unto the Son of man", in great brightness & glory. Later he found out that some of these bright angels were glorified persons who had been prophets at one time, like unto himself. And yet they were & are glorified, & even speak for the Lord, at times, in the first-person. In some cases, John had thought that the glorified person that was speaking to him was the Lord, but the bright messenger corrected John as he began to worship the messenger. He told John that he was only a fellow servant & of his brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. And that he should not worship him, but rather he should worship God instead. Had this servant from among the prophets been glorified and perfected? Had his body been changed and fashioned like unto Christ's glorified body, as the scriptures say would happen? (Rev. 1:10-15; 19:6-10; 22:7-9; 2 Cor.3:4-18; 5:2-4; Phil.3:20-21; Col.1:27-28; Heb. 2:9-11; 10:16-22).
Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:5-12).33 33- 1 Peter 1:3-16.
Peter wrote: "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called unto us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:2-11).
A portions of this passages helped Athanasius scripturally support the idea deification through Christ. (Athanasius, was bishop of Alexandria, he was born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D. (TN&PNF), Vol.4, pp.lxxxv, lxxxvii, & p.576, Letters of Athanasius, LX. Ad Adelphium, 4).
Other passages say: "That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14).
Some of the different leaders in Christ's church were chosen to help the members develop Christ like traits. Thus, they were given: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" (Ephesians 4:10-13). Clement of Alexandria used this passage upon writing about perfection & deification. (TANF) 2: pp.433, & 547, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book IV, chap.xxi & book VII, chap.xiv.
Christ tested a rich man to see if he was willing to do all that He asked of him in order to be perfected. The rich man said that he had kept the commandments from his youth till then, and he asked what more he lacked. Christ said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me." (Matthew 19:16-26).
However, this man refused to do what Christ asked of him. Later on during the 3rd century A.D., this passage inspired a number of Christians, such as a wealthy young man named Anthony of Egypt. He was so impressed by the passage that he followed Christ's advice and retired to the desert. He was later joined by like-minded men who lived as monks or hermits who sought to work towards moral perfection or "Christian perfection." (Western Civilizations, (Their History and Their Culture), by Edward McNall Burns, Robert E. Lerner, & Standish Meacham, Pub. W.W. Norton & Co., N.Y., & Lon., 1st ed., 1941, 10th edition 1984, Vol.1, p.219; & 222-23; The March Of The Cross, by Leonard W. Cowie, 1962, (First Pub. in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson LTD. 1962), & first pub. in the USA by McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N.Y., Toronto, & Lon., 1962, pp.33-4; Christian Monasticism, by David Knowles, 1969, reprinted 1972 & 1977, Pub. World Un., Library, McGraw-Hill Co., N.Y., Toronto, p.10; The Early Church by W.H.C. Frend, Pub. J.B. Lippincott Co., Phil., & N.Y., 1966, pp.202-3, Athanasius (Life 2); The Holy Rule (Notes on St. Benedict's Legislation for Monks), by Dom Hubert Van Zeller, Pub. by Sheed & Ward, N.Y., 1958, p.370; The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, pub. Oxford Un. Press, Oxford N.Y., 1990, pp.51, 67, 69, 80, & 135-6; & The Ladder of Perfection, by Walter Hilton, Pub., by Penguin Classics, 1957, & 1988.
Paul noted how some were having trouble understanding the signs of the times, for they supposed that Christ's second coming was "at hand". Paul wrote that there was going to be a falling away first before that day should come. He also noted that even during his day in time there were different ones who had taught & practiced counterfeit forms of deification, for they exalted themselves to Godhood in the mystery religions. Thus, he wrote that the "mystery of iniquity is already at work". Paul then goes on to point out that the followers of Christ wouldn't obtain the glory of Christ through these counterfeit mysteries, signs, & wonders of the devil. But rather, it was through what Christ & their own leaders had taught them that they would obtain the glory of Christ. (2 Thess. chapt. 2)
In Coptic Christian versions of deification, the Apostle Thomas had pulled his finger out of the wound in Christ's side, some of Christ's blood flowed down from Christ's side. Christ said that His blood had joined to their bodies, and thus, they themselves had become divine, even as Christ was divine. (Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, by E.A. Wallis Budge, 6 Vol.s, Pub. Oxford Un., Press, 1913, Vol. 3, p. 214, The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle).
Almost every belief restored by Mormon prophets from "historic biblical Christianity," continues to be rejected and not accepted modern "Christianity" that continues to select the belief and practives to as to give us watered down version.
March 23, 2008 2:43 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on March 23, 2008 02:43
I find it interesting that "historic Christianity," or "historical/biblical Christianity" is so often used on the internet by modern "Christians" who then present later Christian dogmas as being what people have to currently believe in order to be a "Christian," or "saved"! It seems to me a lot of picking & care selecting of "historic Christianity," & "biblical Christianity," goes on while turning or not mentioning other aspects of "historic Christianity" also belief. So what "historic Christianity" are they talking about? The versions & selections that agree with ones particular brand of modern "Christianity"?
To illustrate:
Rev. Mohler wrote: "Christianity promises salvation through Christ's atonement and the sinner's justification by faith."
All throughout Christian "HISTORY" this point, FAITH & WORKS, was hashed over, especially during the Reformation! The earliest to later Christians, from James on, argued against those who were attempting to claim that a person's behaviour didn't matter, when it did.
Many modern "Christians" also seem more interested in how you believe, rather than how you live your life, good or bad, it don't matter, so long as you've "confessed Jesus!"
In anti-Mormon propaganda, Mormons are "damned" for attempting to do good works, and are "damned" for when some are caught doing evil works! Damned if they do, & damned if they don't!
In HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY:
J. R. Hoffmann notes that by the 2nd century, there were Christian sects that followed "salvationism" by grace alone, with out works. Earlier, James is amongst the earliest Christian leaders to respond to these types of early movements. But we also know from many examples in the New Testament, & the early to later Christian fathers, that this issue concerning "grace" & "works" was a subject of interest & debate. Jude had written against a group of so-called "Christians, antinomians" who had attempted to encourage sexual transgressions, rejected authority & understood divine grace as sanctioning immorality. (R. Joseph Hoffman, Celsus, On The True Doctrine, p. 14-16; Jude 3-8).
Modern "Christians" in claiming, that one must "know Jesus as their personal Savior," and they preach a "salvation" were what you do & don't do, as by way of works, doesn't count. However, in claiming to know Christ as their personal savior, do they, or should they also keep his commandments, for "He that saith, I know him, and keepth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
Passages on works seem to be overlooked by those who selectively cite from those about grace.
Here's just some of the ones on works: Eccl.12:14, Jer.17:10 & 32:19, Micah 6:8, Matt. 5:6, 16, 19-20, 7:16, 21-23, 13:23, 41-6, 16:27, 19:16-17; 25:11-30; 34-6, 1 Cor. 3:8, 6:9; 2 Cor.5:9; John 3:21, 5:29, 12:50; Rom.1:5, 18, 22, 2:6-13; 5:3, 8:16-17, 35, 12:12, 2 Cor. 5:9-10, 6:17, 7:10, 17:7; Gal.6:4-7; Eph. 2:10, 5:5-9; 2 Tim.3:17; Heb.4:11, 17, 5:8-9, 1 Pet.1:10, 17; 2 Pet.1:5; 1 John 3:18, 22, James 1:12, 22-7, 2:26, 4:17-18; Rev.2:7, 11, 3:4-5, 7:14, 22:14, Job 34:11; Isa.1:17; John 14:15; Phil.2:12; John 12:50; Acts 5:32; 10:35, 14:22; 1 Cor.6:9, 2 Thess.1:4-9, Luke 9:23-6, 21:12-15.
It is also interesting to note how hard the "saved" "Christians," are WORKING to "witness" to "the unsaved"!
DEIFICATION: BECOMING GODS
Rev. Mohler: "Mormonism promises deification."
The fact is, "HISTORIC" & "BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY," also debated over deification, theosis, perfection, or becoming gods too! It was an important part of Christian history that seems to be passed over as though it didn't happen, or was part of "historic Christianity," when it is! The early Christian father even cite the same passages of scripture to defend & expound on their own particular versions of deification, as the Mormons do.
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS ON DEIFICATION (These passages are also used by Mormons in defense of their own "restored" version of deification, called exaltation).
Psalm 82; John 10:30-39; John 17:17-24; Matthew 5:48; Luke 14:11 & 18:14; 6:40 22:29; Romans 8:16-18; Matthew 25:21, 34-40; Colossians 3:24-25: Luke 22:29; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:35-43; Matthew 13:43;
Daniel 12:3; 1 John 2:3-11, 18-29; 3:2-3; Colossians 3:4; Isaiah 1:18; 41:22—23.
There sure is a lot of passages in the Bible about deification, despite how many modern "Christians," continue to claim that it's "non-Christians," "satanic," & "non-biblical," & not part of "Historical Christianity."
BIBLICAL PASSAGES USED BY EARLY TO LATER CHRISTIANS:
Psalm 82 was a passage that some of the early to later Christians made reference to in order to show from the scriptures that their own particular versions & interpretations of deification was based on the scriptures.
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Christ cites this passage in defense of his claim to being divine, (John 10:30-39).
Some of the early to later Christians who made reference to Psalms 81-2 as scriptural proof texts in support of their own particular versions of the doctrine of deification were:
1. Justin Martyr, 110-165 A.D.
2. Irenæus, 120-202 A.D.
3. Clement of Alexandria, 153-193-217 A.D.
The Ante-Nicene Fathers, = (TANF), Vol.2, pp.206, 215, 374, & 437; Tertullian [145-220 A.D.] (TANF) Vol.3, pp.480, & 608; Origen of Alexandria, [185-230-254 A.D.];(TANF) Vol.4, p.509; Thascius Cyprian, [200-258 A.D.] Thascius Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage until he suffered martyrdom [248-58 A.D.], (TANF) Vol.5, pp.263-4, & 518; Novatian, a Roman Presbyter, [210-280 A.D.]; (TANF) Vol.5, p.631; Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, [born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D.] The Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers = (TN&PNF) Vol.4, pp. lxxxv, lxxxvii, & 329, Discourse Against The Arians I:38-39; S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, [born a few years before the outbreak of Arianism in A.D. 318, and died about March 18th, 386 A.D.] (TN&PNF) Vol.7, pp. i, xi, 2; St. Jerome, [345-420 A.D.]15 15- The Homilies of St. Jerome, Pub. The Catholic Un. Press, Wash. DC, 1964, pp.106-7 & 353; St. Augustine of Hippo, [354-430 A.D.]; Deification: The Content Of Athanasian Soteriology by Keith Edward Norman, (Dept. of Rel. Duke Un.), thesis for degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1980, p.241-2, & note 1 on p.214, Ennar. in Ps. 49.2.
Christ prayed that we would become perfect and one with Him and the Father. "Sanctify them through thy truth...And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:17-24.)
If we are to become one with Christ, & the Father, would we not also become divine? Would we not also be glorified with the same type of glory? Christ said: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one even as we are one...that they may be made perfect in one..." (Jn.17:22 & 23).
Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd century A.D.], used John 17:24 to scripturally point out that the disciples would also be glorified. (TANF) 1: pp.478-9.
Also, Origen [A.D. 185-230-254] used portions of Christ's prayer in support of the doctrine of perfection & deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chapter 6.
Christ said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt.5:48). Origen also used this passage in defense of deification.(TANF) 4: p.509, Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap.29.
Another idea behind deification was that the earliest Christians, (like the Mormons), believed that Christ & the Most High God the Father would not be removed out of their places so that these newly deified beings could take over:
"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11 & 18:14).
And: "The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke 6:40). Irenaeus cites this passage to point out that in coming up out of the realm of the dead by way of the resurrection, the body that is raised up, is perfected. (TANF) 1: p.560).
Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217], cites this passage while writing about deification too. (TANF) 2: p.364, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book 2, chap. xvii.
Paul wrote to the Romans that: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:16-18).
A number of early Christians used this passage to support their beliefs that the early Christian martyrs had been perfected, glorified, deified & rewarded with divine ranks. For they had remained faithful, & even though they had suffered greatly, they still had endured to the end. (TANF) 2: pp.411-13, 416-17, & 426-441; Clement of Alexandria, [A.D. 153-193-217]; Martyrdom & Persecution in the Early Church, by W.H.C. Frend, 1967.
Upon becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, we might want to consider what Christ was heir to. God appointed him to be "heir of all things", for it was through Christ that the worlds were created. Christ alone had purged our sins and had "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they". The Father also said to his Son, "Thy throne O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." (Hebrews 1:1-4, & 8; see also: Galatians 3:27-29, 4:1-7; Revelations 3:21-22; 21:7).
Another passage reads: "His lord said unto him, Well done thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21).
The early Christian Father, Hippolytus [A.D. 170-236 A.D.], wrote that one of the reasons why the righteous had been deified was because they had shown that they had been faithful over small things while in earth life. And thus, upon being deified, they would have entrusted unto them that which was great. (TANF) 5: p.151, & note 6, The Refutation of All Heresies, Book X, chap. xxix).
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34-40).
Christ also talked about the good works that they did, & thus, in having done these good works they would enter on the right hand path into the Kingdom of God, & would inherit the kingdom. (Rev.1:6; 3:21-22; 4:4, 10-11; 5:10).
"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done". (Colossians 3:24-25.)
"And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me". (Luke 22:29).
In the New Testament we read about how some resurrected bodies will shine with greater glory and brightness that others. For in some cases our resurrected bodies will also be glorified, some to lesser, others to greater degrees of glory. (1 Corinthians 15:35-43). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], used this passage while responding to the early anti-Christian Celsus, & while expounding on what he understood to be the doctrine of deification. (TANF) 4: p.509.
Paul to the Corinthians: Through the "spirit of the Lord" we will be changed from bodies without glory, into bodies of the same glory as Christ. "Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Paul to the Philippians: "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:20-21).
Jesus said: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 13:43). Irenaeus [late 2nd, early 3rd centuries A.D.], cites this passage as scriptural evidences for deification. (TANF) 1: pp.523-5; Matt.13:40-3).
Much later, Thomas Aquinas [1225-74 A.D.] also used this passage to suggest that the righteous would shine forth with great light and glory in the after life. (Heaven: A History, by Colleen McDannell & Berhard Lang, Yale Un. Press, New Haven, & Lon., 1988, pp.83-4, 89-92, n.27, on p.369, Aquinas, Sth, Suppl. 91:3).
The Old Testament Prophet Daniel wrote: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever." (Daniel 12:3). Irenaeus also cites from Daniel as scriptural proof text that showed that the faces of those who had been deified would shine with great glory and light.(TANF) 1: pp.488-90, & 497.
Paul to the Colossians: "To whom God would make known what is the riches of glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" (Colossians 1:27-28).
The ritual of anointing is combined with the idea of deification, even in the earliest days of the Church. However, John noted that some of their anointing rituals had been counterfeited by "anti-Christs" who had infiltrated the Church and who were bringing in counterfeit forms of anointing. He goes on to tell the earliest saints that the anointing they had received was from God, while the other was from "anti-Christs". (1 John 2:3-11, 18-29).
John then goes on to present the idea and symbolical types in their own anointing ritual, and how deification fits in with some of the symbolical meanings behind anointing. For having been anointed they were cleansed and purified of their sins. This also shows up and is expounded upon in the writings of the Fathers in early to later Christianity.
John wrote: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3). Origen [A.D. 185-230-254], cites portions of this in support and in defense of the doctrine of perfection and deification. (TANF) 4: pp.344-5, & 509, Origen De Principiis, book 3, chap. 6; Origen Against Celsus, book 4, chap. 29.
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4.)
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27).
In some cases in the early Christian mysteries, after they had been anointed and baptized. They put on new and pure garments to symbolize that which was to come in the resurrection when they would be clothed in the same type of immortality as Christ was.
Paul tells us to put on charity "which is the bond of perfection." (Colossians 3:14).
To Timothy, Paul wrote that the scriptures would, among other things, help them towards reaching perfection. "That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work." (2 Tim.3:15-17).
To the Hebrews, Paul wrote: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Hebrews 2:7-11).
Paul seems to have written here of Christ's return to glory. But also of Christ leading his other brothers and sisters back into the family in heaven to partake of divine glory with him. This idea was expounded upon in early to later Christian writings and art works. Christ suffered for the just and the unjust, and those who were once disobedient, but who were willing to repent and live according to God's commandments even though they might have been sent to the spirit prison. For Christ descended down unto them and preached the gospel there and led them up out of captivity. Thus, Christ brought them to God the Father, and presented them to the Father. Having led the way. Upon their ascension up out of the underworld their deification and glorification had begun. As Christ and the host of freed captives exited out of the spirit prison, they trample over the devil or demons that had attempted to keep Christ from entering into the prison house. Paul also mentioned crowns of glory, and makes references to having all things put under his feet. Many early to later Christian art works show Christ standing on the devil as he frees the captive prisoners. Paul also made references to Christ leading or bringing "many sons", many "children" or "vast multitudes of God's people to heaven". Leading them over into "glory" and deification.
The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah seems to suggest that even though we have done good or evil, we may be washed clean of our sins, if we repent, and then in the ultimate end, we can become gods. Isaiah wrote: "Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together." (Isaiah 1:16-20; 41:22-23; Hebrews 10:16-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
The deified would have also passed through rites of passage dramas too, thus, in early to later Christianity this included the heavenly coronations, vestments, crowns, enthronement, and the glorification of the saints.
The New Testament writers mentions many aspects of this aspect of deification, for Paul, upon writing to Timothy, shows how he looked forward to being crowned in the next life for his efforts & endurance, for he says, I have "Fought a good fight, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
The crown of righteousness hints to the ordinances. The early Christians were anointed, clothed in garments & royal robes in their mysteries or ordinances as types of that which was to come in the heavenly kingdoms of God. The crown was the symbol of the reward for faithfulness, for they would be deified & crowned in glory. In John's book of Revelation, Christ promised: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:21).
In early Christian thought, Christ was the greatest example of the deification process because the body in which His Spirit had been clothed in through birth, was eventually deified and glorified when He was later resurrected. For when Christ lived on the earth in the body of His birth to Mary, was He glorified? Did His earthly body at all times give off visible light and a brightness that was brighter than the sun at noon-day? Or did He look like other men? The scriptures tell us that He was born and grew up from childhood to manhood (Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:80; 2:52).
There were times when the divine light of His power and glory did shine forth while He was in that earthly body. Such as the time when Christ was transfigured to the point in which "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matthew 17:2-9).
But we know that His body didn't shine as bright as the sun every moment of His life. If He was already glorified in that body every moment, why did He pray to His Father that He would glorify Him with the same glory that He had had before His birth? "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." (John 17:5).
Christ also prayed that His followers would be glorified too. (John 17:18-26). Later, after the crucifixion & Christ's descent into the spirit world, Christ's spirit entered his resurrected body which was eventually glorified upon his ascension into heaven. A number of people became witnesses to the brightness of that glorified resurrected body. (Acts 1:9-11, 7:55-56; & 9:3-5).
The scriptures show that others, such as those who had lived on the earth as prophets, they too had been glorified after Christ had. John saw in a number visions, bright angels, some were even ones "like unto the Son of man", in great brightness & glory. Later he found out that some of these bright angels were glorified persons who had been prophets at one time, like unto himself. And yet they were & are glorified, & even speak for the Lord, at times, in the first-person. In some cases, John had thought that the glorified person that was speaking to him was the Lord, but the bright messenger corrected John as he began to worship the messenger. He told John that he was only a fellow servant & of his brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. And that he should not worship him, but rather he should worship God instead. Had this servant from among the prophets been glorified and perfected? Had his body been changed and fashioned like unto Christ's glorified body, as the scriptures say would happen? (Rev. 1:10-15; 19:6-10; 22:7-9; 2 Cor.3:4-18; 5:2-4; Phil.3:20-21; Col.1:27-28; Heb. 2:9-11; 10:16-22).
Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:5-12).33 33- 1 Peter 1:3-16.
Peter wrote: "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called unto us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:2-11).
A portions of this passages helped Athanasius scripturally support the idea deification through Christ. (Athanasius, was bishop of Alexandria, he was born about 298 and died about May 2-3, 373 A.D. (TN&PNF), Vol.4, pp.lxxxv, lxxxvii, & p.576, Letters of Athanasius, LX. Ad Adelphium, 4).
Other passages say: "That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14).
Some of the different leaders in Christ's church were chosen to help the members develop Christ like traits. Thus, they were given: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" (Ephesians 4:10-13). Clement of Alexandria used this passage upon writing about perfection & deification. (TANF) 2: pp.433, & 547, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, book IV, chap.xxi & book VII, chap.xiv.
Christ tested a rich man to see if he was willing to do all that He asked of him in order to be perfected. The rich man said that he had kept the commandments from his youth till then, and he asked what more he lacked. Christ said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me." (Matthew 19:16-26).
However, this man refused to do what Christ asked of him. Later on during the 3rd century A.D., this passage inspired a number of Christians, such as a wealthy young man named Anthony of Egypt. He was so impressed by the passage that he followed Christ's advice and retired to the desert. He was later joined by like-minded men who lived as monks or hermits who sought to work towards moral perfection or "Christian perfection." (Western Civilizations, (Their History and Their Culture), by Edward McNall Burns, Robert E. Lerner, & Standish Meacham, Pub. W.W. Norton & Co., N.Y., & Lon., 1st ed., 1941, 10th edition 1984, Vol.1, p.219; & 222-23; The March Of The Cross, by Leonard W. Cowie, 1962, (First Pub. in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson LTD. 1962), & first pub. in the USA by McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N.Y., Toronto, & Lon., 1962, pp.33-4; Christian Monasticism, by David Knowles, 1969, reprinted 1972 & 1977, Pub. World Un., Library, McGraw-Hill Co., N.Y., Toronto, p.10; The Early Church by W.H.C. Frend, Pub. J.B. Lippincott Co., Phil., & N.Y., 1966, pp.202-3, Athanasius (Life 2); The Holy Rule (Notes on St. Benedict's Legislation for Monks), by Dom Hubert Van Zeller, Pub. by Sheed & Ward, N.Y., 1958, p.370; The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, pub. Oxford Un. Press, Oxford N.Y., 1990, pp.51, 67, 69, 80, & 135-6; & The Ladder of Perfection, by Walter Hilton, Pub., by Penguin Classics, 1957, & 1988.
Paul noted how some were having trouble understanding the signs of the times, for they supposed that Christ's second coming was "at hand". Paul wrote that there was going to be a falling away first before that day should come. He also noted that even during his day in time there were different ones who had taught & practiced counterfeit forms of deification, for they exalted themselves to Godhood in the mystery religions. Thus, he wrote that the "mystery of iniquity is already at work". Paul then goes on to point out that the followers of Christ wouldn't obtain the glory of Christ through these counterfeit mysteries, signs, & wonders of the devil. But rather, it was through what Christ & their own leaders had taught them that they would obtain the glory of Christ. (2 Thess. chapt. 2)
In Coptic Christian versions of deification, the Apostle Thomas had pulled his finger out of the wound in Christ's side, some of Christ's blood flowed down from Christ's side. Christ said that His blood had joined to their bodies, and thus, they themselves had become divine, even as Christ was divine. (Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, by E.A. Wallis Budge, 6 Vol.s, Pub. Oxford Un., Press, 1913, Vol. 3, p. 214, The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle).
Almost every belief restored by Mormon prophets from "historic biblical Christianity," continues to be rejected and not accepted modern "Christianity" that continues to select the belief and practives to as to give us watered down version.
March 23, 2008 2:39 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on March 23, 2008 02:39
Here's my views on the Rev. comments:
Rev. M.: "Mormonism holds that God is an exalted man, with a physical body."
JM: In "historic Christianity," if he means early Christianity, then: God the Father was considered a spirit, but Christ, first a pre-mortal spirit, became a man, though he was also God, the son!
Rev. M: "Christianity teaches that God is Spirit. Mormonism denies the historic Christian understandings of the Trinity,"
JM: Yes, Mormons don't go along with the Nicene Creed of 325 AD. But rather they believe in a restored revealed knowledge of the God head. It's interesting to note that the Nicene Fathers that gave us the creed also believed and taught the doctrine of deification, becoming gods! So, why do modern Christians reject this idea?
Rev: "the person and work of Christ, and the doctrine of salvation." Christianity promises salvation through Christ's atonement and the sinner's justification by faith. Mormonism promises deification. Christianity calls for personal faith in Jesus Christ. Mormonism calls for obedience to its own teachings as the path to exaltation. Mormonism replaces belief in the sole authority of the Bible with other writings, including the Book of Mormon. This list is only a brief summary of the vast chasm that separates Christianity from Mormonism. Put simply, Mormonism is not just another form of Christianity. It is a rejection of historic Christianity."
More will be said, got to go
March 22, 2008 9:42 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on March 22, 2008 21:42
C1QxeC U cool ))
March 12, 2008 10:40 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on March 12, 2008 22:40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4nXK6sSVnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEfCPxc_OqM
I've recently posted some videos on You Tube that get into some of the thinks I've written about here. I hope you all find them interesting!
1. Secret rituals of early Christians!
2. Disinformation tactics exposed! Satanic Symbols Everywhere!?
More will be eventually posted there too.
March 3, 2008 3:22 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on March 3, 2008 03:22
rqdwhy xfbge ejmargscq crkxahbny cqxh sxurao sbfw
February 8, 2008 9:23 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 8, 2008 21:23
rqdwhy xfbge ejmargscq crkxahbny cqxh sxurao sbfw
February 8, 2008 9:22 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 8, 2008 21:22
rqdwhy xfbge ejmargscq crkxahbny cqxh sxurao sbfw
February 8, 2008 9:21 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 8, 2008 21:21
different kinds, make up the far greater part of every great political The trader A in Edinburgh, we shall suppose, draws a bill upon B in London,
January 24, 2008 6:28 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 24, 2008 18:28
is an improvement of the neat revenue of the society. The whole capital of more. Those metals are said to have become more abundant in America, since
January 24, 2008 6:28 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 24, 2008 18:28
different kinds, make up the far greater part of every great political The trader A in Edinburgh, we shall suppose, draws a bill upon B in London,
January 24, 2008 6:28 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 24, 2008 18:28
is an improvement of the neat revenue of the society. The whole capital of more. Those metals are said to have become more abundant in America, since
January 24, 2008 6:28 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 24, 2008 18:28
ship. Any carrion, the carcase of a dead dog or cat, for example, though increased in so great a proportion, during so short a period, I do not
January 23, 2008 10:08 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 23, 2008 10:08
ship. Any carrion, the carcase of a dead dog or cat, for example, though increased in so great a proportion, during so short a period, I do not
January 23, 2008 10:08 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 23, 2008 10:08
Seed Planter wrote: "In other words, deification is not becoming like God in the Mormon sense. There is no continuity between the two. Not only is eternal progression not found in the early church fathers’ theosis, neither is the concept found in historic Judaism as Mormons claim."
Eternal progression "not found in the early church fathers' theosis"?! Perhaps not the exact type of eternal progression as in Mormonism; however, Irenaeus, AD 115-202, a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Revelator, mentions something similar in his own version of deification:
"While man gradually advances and mounts towards perfection; that is, he approaches the eternal. The eternal is perfect; and this is God. Man has first to come into being, then to progress, and by progressing come to manhood, and having reached manhood to increase, and thus increasing to persevere, and persevering to be glorified, and thus see his Lord." (Henry Bettenson, The Early Christian Fathers: A Selection from the Writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of Rome to St. Athanasius (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 94).
"We were not made gods at our beginning, but first we were made men, then, in the end, gods." (Ibid., p. 94).
"How then will any be a god, if he has not first been made a man? How can any be perfect when he has only lately been made man? How immortal, if he has not in his mortal nature obeyed his maker? For one's duty is first to observe the discipline of man and thereafter to share in the glory of God". (Ibid., 95-96),
http://en.fairmormon.org/Deification_of_man
The Damascus Document tells how the deifieds "seed would be scattered across the universe." Now this and Irenaeus' versions of theosis, are not exactly the same as the Mormons' version, but it's interesting to note that they still had these beliefs.
January 14, 2008 5:13 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 14, 2008 17:13
Seed Planter wrote: "It is sad that there are numerous Mormons so caught up in the piles of Mormon propaganda."
It's sadder that many "Christians" are so caught up in the piles of anti-Mormon propaganda, that they don't realize that the very things that anti-Mormon "Christians" use to 'discredit' mormonism and their faith, is the same types of tactics, methods and propaganda ploys that Atheists and early to later anti-Christians used to discredit Christianity!
Planter: "My prayer from the heart is that on your way to seeking truth (which I hope you are) that you will not completely lose your faith in the Bible and become an atheist."
Tactics used by them: (them being anti-religiousness against other religions, be it Atheists, early anti-Christians, anti-Mormon Christians, etc).
They point out, allege and charge that they have:
1. Changes, Contradictions & alleged borrowings from their environment to make up their scriptures.
2. Different accounts of events that don't match up in their tellings, (written and verbal accounts, oral traditions).
3. Additions to scriptures.
4. Leaders did miracles through magical means.
5. Had secret ceremonies, symbols, signs, oaths, and strange beliefs.
6. They don't go along with the "mainstream" religion.
7. Their leaders avoid dealings with the law.
8. Have oaths that are against the government!
9. Seek to be perfect, while everyone knows, or gossip has it that they are always getting in trouble with the government and laws, thus they hide what they're doing in their secret meetings.
10. There is nothing original, or ancient about their message.
Justin Martyr Jr's list of references about the early Christians, and how the greeks, romans, and jew looked upon them as, is a good place to start in finding out these tactics mentioned.
Planter also wrote: "...your prayer be for YHWH the God of Israel to reveal Himself to you and to grow in His grace and truth. A prayer of re-application might be to ask the Supreme Being to reveal to you whether or not you've been led astray by the teachings of Jospeh Smith in your quest to know HIM."
I think that most Mormons would testify in what they call a "testimony," that it was through "prayer and study," that they "know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet" and that God "revealed" this to them."
But hey! If they, because of these charges mentioned, "have been led astray," then what of the Christians? Have they been also?
And wouldn't the answers that a Christian might give to an early anti-Christian or modern Atheist, then also have be answers to their own anti-Mormon "Christians'" propaganda too?!
Julian
January 2, 2008 5:03 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 2, 2008 17:03
In other words, deification is not becoming like God in the Mormon sense. There is no continuity between the two. Not only is eternal progression not found in the early church fathers’ theosis, neither is the concept found in historic Judaism as Mormons claim. Of course one could round up some references to when the Jews departed from orthodoxy and strayed from the commandments. I’m sure you could even find some kabala mixed in with it along with deviations of secret temple rituals as they maintain, but I don’t think that anyone in their right mind could conclude that this was the norm.
“For the loyal Jew, from that day to this, the fundamental confession of faith is, ‘Hear O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one.’” This was prayed three times a day and was the most basic Jewish conviction.” N. T. Wright, Judas and the Gospel of Jesus p 116 (Deut. 6:4).
The crucial Christian assertion, that God is One, sets an absolute limit on the meaning of theosis - it is not possible for any created being to become, ontologically, God, or even part of God (the henosis of Greek Neoplatonic philosophy).
That "God became God" is not only a pagan idea but it denies the very nature of God Himself, by rejecting His eternality as God (cf. Is. 43:10, LXX: "...So that you may know and believe Me and understand that I AM..." Notice "I AM" in the Greek LXX and not "I am He" as with 41:4. Jesus makes the same claim in John 8:24: "Unless you believe that I AM you will die in your sins"; cf. Gk.).
It is interesting that when one examines the historical nature of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion, it is obvious that something more was happening than ruffling the feathers of a few priests. Jesus was targeted specifically due to His claiming to be God. If the Mormon concept of deification was so widespread and common place in the Judaic/Christian tradition, it would make sense that the Sanhedrin would have merely shrugged it off as a legitimate teaching.
I gleaned and copied numerous material from other web sights. Sorry I didn't post them for you. If any one is interested a simple googling of "theosis" will be a good start to further the investigation.
It is sad that there are numerous Mormons so caught up in the piles of Mormon propaganda. My prayer from the heart is that on your way to seeking truth (which I hope you are) that you will not completely lose your faith in the Bible and become an atheist. May your prayer be for YHWH the God of Israel to reveal Himself to you and to grow in His grace and truth. A prayer of re-application might be to ask the Supreme Being to reveal to you whether or not you've been led astray by the teachings of Jospeh Smith in your quest to know HIM.
January 1, 2008 5:42 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:42
Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford. He was until 2005 Principal of Wycliffe Hall, points out, that "A deliberate and systematic distinction is made between the concept of justification itself (understood as the extrinsic divine pronouncement of man’s new status) and the concept of sanctification or regeneration (understood as the intrinsic process by which God renews the justified sinner)." He goes on to explain that: "The significance of the Protestant distinction between iustificatio and regeneratio is that a fundamental discontinuity has been introduced into the western theological tradition where none had existed before…The Reformation understanding of the nature of justification – as opposed to its mode – must therefore be regarded as a genuine theological novum.
McGrath notes that it is "the Augustinian understanding of justification as both event and process, embracing the beginning, continuation, and perfection of the Christian life, and thereby subsuming regeneration under justification. More specifically, St. Augustine integrated theosis within his concept of justification, as Lampe explains: "Augustine makes much use of the idea of deification which he equates with sonship towards God. Justification implies deification, because by justifying men God makes them his sons; if we have been made sons of God (Jn. 1:12) we have also been made gods, not through a natural begetting but through the grace of adoption." In Augustine’s one words, "God wishes to make you a god, not by nature like him whom he begat, but by his gift and adoption. For as he through humanity became partaker of your mortality, so through exaltation he makes you partaker of his immortality" (serm. 166.4) [47]. And similarly: "It is clear that He (i.e. God) calls men gods through their being deified by His grace and not born of His substance. For He justifies, who is just of Himself and not of another; and He deifies, who is God of Himself and not by participation in another. Now He who justifies, Himself deifies, because by justifying He makes sons of God. For to them gave He power to become the sons of God. If we are made sons of God, we are also made gods; but this is by grace of adoption, and not by generation (Ennar. In Ps. 49, 2)’.
January 1, 2008 5:16 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:16
“There is… [a] reason why Gregory’s doctrine of deification should not be taken in this radical sense, namely that he admits the terminology of participation. A doctrine of participation would normally hold that when one thing participates in another, a difference between them is indicated. Participation takes place across a line of division. When things of different hypostasis or different ontological status stand in a relation of participation, one entry, because of its receptivity, receives certain characteristics from the other, but without achieving identity with that other in essence. Even if one were to say there is participation in the nature of God, this would not mean that a creature becomes God by nature, but that the nature of God is present in the being of the other entity, transforming it into a new mode of being.” Gregory of Nazianzus: Images and Reflections. Edited by JOSTEIN BØRTNES (Russian Literature at the University of Bergen, former University Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the University of Oslo, in Slavonic Studies at the University of Cambridge and Director of Studies at Sidney Sussex College. He is the author of 'Visions of Glory' (1988) and has published extensively in the fields of Early and Modern Russian Literature, Literary Theory and Greek Patristic Literature. At present, Jostein Børtnes is working on Mikhail Bakhtin, and on the Cappadocian fathers, in particular on Gregory of Nazianz.) and TOMAS HÄGG, p. 270.
January 1, 2008 5:06 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:06
C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963), the popular author of numerous apologetic, theological and fictional works, provides a good example of a contemporary Western writer—much beloved of Evangelicals—who makes use of the idea of theosis. In his famed Mere Christianity, he basically recites the famous Athanasian theosis statement into more modern language: "He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has – by what I call ‘good infection.’ Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.” He spells this out more succinctly a little later in the book: "The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him – for we can prevent Him, if we choose – He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said. Finally, Lewis talks about God "turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity"
January 1, 2008 5:05 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:05
"The Greek Fathers taught that, in the fall, humanity lost the likeness but retained the image….Whether the focus is placed on the image of God being restored, or whether one sees these terms as synonymous, the concept of the Christian’s reintegration into the life of God remains central in all understandings of theosis" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49; pH. 3:16-19; 4:13-15) Rakestraw, Robert V., "Becoming Like God: An Evangelical Doctrine of Theosis"
St. Jerome testifies "That we are gods is not so by nature, but by grace. ‘But to as many as receive Him he gave power of becoming sons of God"
St. Athanasius himself attested to the unity of the Cross and theosis: "The Word became flesh in order both to offer this sacrifice and that we, participating in His Spirit, might be deified.” This reveals a tight connection between theosis and salvation, if not an actual definition.
In Augustine’s own words, "God wishes to make you a god, not by nature like him whom he begat, but by his gift and adoption. For as he through humanity became partaker of your mortality, so through exaltation he makes you partaker of his immortality" (serm. 166.4)
St. Athanasius could hardly escape blame, since theosis figured prominently in his soteriology [12]. In his masterpiece On the Incarnation of the Word of God (54:3), he wrote the classic statement for theosis: "He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God.” In fact, theosis was used by him in his defense of the full deity of Christ against the Arians: "The Word could never have divinized us if He were merely divine by participation and were not Himself the essential Godhead, the Father’s veritable image.” He argues in like manner against the Tropici sect concerning the Holy Spirit’s divinity, stating that "If, by a partakability of the Spirit we shall become partakers of the divine nature, it would be madness then afterwards to call the Spirit an originated entity, and not of God; for on account of this also those who are in him are made divine. But then if he makes man divine, it is not dubious to say his nature is of God"
January 1, 2008 5:03 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:03
page 2.
Gerald Bonner explains: "There is, however, in Augustine’s spirituality another element, perceived as a consequence of Christ’s taking human nature upon himself; for it is in Christ and through Christ, and only in and through Christ, that man becomes a partaker of God’s nature: ‘He who was God was made man to make gods those who were men’ (serm. 192.1, 1). These words, which parallel the more-often-quoted words of St Athanasius in his De Incarnatione, show that Augustine did not shrink from using the language of deification, often said to be peculiar to the Greek Fathers."
In fact, as G.W.H. Lampe points out, "Augustine repeats more often, perhaps, than any of the Greek theologians, the theme of the ‘interchange of places.’ ‘The Word,’ he says, became what we are that we might attain what we are not. For we are not God; but we can see God with the mind and interior eye of the heart’… ‘God hates you as you are, in order to make you what you are not yet. You will be what he is;’ but Augustine hastens to add that this means that we shall be God’s image in the sense in which a man’s reflection in a mirror is his image inasmuch as it is like him, not in the sense in which a man’s son is his image inasmuch as he is actually what his father is ‘according to substance.’"
Gerald Bonner stresses that "the notion of deification is to be found in Augustine, not as something added to his system as an afterthought, but as an integral whole. In itself, the notion of deification is no more than what is implied by the New Testament term uiothesia – sonship by adoption – by grace, that is to say, and not by nature. It is, indeed, the consequence of human flesh being assumed by the divinity in the Incarnation: that flesh has been taken into heaven by the ascended Christ, and if men participate in Him through membership of the Church, the Body of Christ, they too may hope, after death, to enjoy the divinisation effected by His flesh-taking. So Augustine writes, in the last chapter of the last book of The City of God: ‘We ourselves shall become that seventh day [i.e. the eternal Sabbath], when we have been replenished and restored by His blessing and sanctification. There we shall have leisure to be still, and we shall see that He is God, whereas we wished to be that ourselves when we fell away from Him, after listening to the seducer saying: You will be like gods. Then we abandoned the true God, by whose creative help we should have become gods, but by participating in Him, not by deserting Him"
January 1, 2008 5:02 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:02
I was disappointed by responses to the challenge offered by Rene regarding deification in the early church fathers, I have recently been reading up on theosis. Hope it helps someone out there. I also recommend the book by Richard Abanes, “Becoming Gods” in which a whole chapter is devoted to the issue. The Mormons that I have dialogued with seem to have a tendency of pulling things out of their context.
Historically, the word theosis was employed both in pre-Christian Greek antiquity, and also in pagan quarters existing contemporaneously with the early Christian Church, as F.W. Norris notes: "The use of theosis was daring. Non-Christians employed it to speak of pagan gods deifying creatures. The philosophers Iamblichus and Proclus, the poet Callimachus and the dreaded Julian the Apostate had used theoo in that way. It was not first a Christian word nor always employed by only Christians after they made it central. From within his deep contemplative life and from previous Church Tradition the Theologian picked it up, cleaned it up and filled it up with Christian sense. He and his fellow theologians took it captive and used it to speak about Christian realities" [2].
So the Church Fathers were careful to contrast their views with those of pagan thinkers who spoke in similar language (see Note-C). For example, St. Athanasius, who, as we shall see, testifies to theosis on innumerable occasions in his writings, notes that "We are as God by imitation, not by nature" [3]; and "Albeit we cannot become like God in essence, yet by progress in virtue imitate God" [4]. Jaroslav Pelikan, Church historian, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University and recent convert to Orthodoxy, explains that: "All of this Christian language about a humanity made divine was a part of a total Cappadocian system in which the Classical religion of deified men and women and of anthropomorphic gods and goddesses was described as ‘the superstition of polytheism’ and as the error of those mere mortals who had ‘turned aside the honor of God to themselves.’ Therefore, the Cappadocians insisted that it was as essential for theosis as it was for the incarnation itself not to be viewed as analogous to Classical theories about the promotion of human beings to divine rank, and in that sense not to be defined by natural theology at all; on such errors they pronounced their ‘Anathema!’"
January 1, 2008 5:00 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 17:00
I have two responses to bring to the table on this happy new year.
To my atheist friends who slight theological discussions, it is easy to mock something that is not understood.
January 1, 2008 4:38 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on January 1, 2008 16:38
My Christmas message to all who read this, 12-24-2007:
In earlier posts I've mentioned how that the early Christian doctrine and belief about Christ going to other nations in pre-Christian times, and during his post-resurrection world wide trek, eventually faded off into much later legendized versions of this in Santa Claus' world wide trek.
I'd like to get into more details on how this can be traced through the centuries.
In the 1891, The Strand Magazine, published a drawing of a small female descending through the
woods to a town below. She was called "Santa Claus." Note how “santa,” is the female title, for a female saint, for i