DEIFICATION : Mankind's Progression On Becoming Divine
DEIFICATION : Mankind's Progression On Becoming Divine
By Bro. Nathan
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Mt. 5:48) KJV
Sa Plano ni Heavenly Father para sa atin ay He wants us to become like Him. Heavenly Father is fully Divine, He is all knowing, all powerful, rules all things and all Divine attributes is in His Divine Nature. He as the king and ruler of the universe—who is above all, wants us to become like Him, to learn things, to progress, and to partake divinity. this means you can become a god. you can become deity. this is also the purpose of why humans are here on earth—that we might progress to become divine. we call this doctrine Deification, or much widely known as Theosis or Exaltation. the Church of Jesus Christ—in both ancient and modern taught this doctrine on man's progression. so you always encounter as a Latter Day Saint ang mga critiques who ask you "bakit ba naniniwala ang mga 'mormons' na magiging diyos sila?","nasa Bible ba yan?". in this article ay we will all deal with the doctrine of Deification at kung nasaan ba ito sa Bible at sa ibang Early Christian Literature at scholarly commentaries and lexicons.
—Joint Heirs—
A loving and successful parent always wants his/her children to have a better life; to be prosperous, and to be happy. in other words ay gusto ng parent na maging kagaya niya ang kanyang mga anak. Same does kay Heavenly Father kaya niya prinesent sa atin ang Plan of Happiness that we might become like Him, to be glorified like Him, to be great like Him, and to Divine like Him. the Bible says na tayo ay ang mga literal na mga sons and dauthers of God (Jn. 20:17; Acts 17:29; Heb. 12:9). you and i is a son and daughter of someone who is the greatest among all, and we are literally of the same genes as God. He is the Father of your spirits (Heb. 12:9) literally. thus, we have to potential to be a partaker of that nature. In Acts 17 when Paul visited in Athens and preached, he said regarding Divinity ay :
"Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising." (Acts 17:29) NKJV
Sa verse na ito ay ginamit ang Greek word na γένος (genos) which is defined in scholarly lexicons which means "ancestral stock", "descendant". ang Greek word na ito ay ang pinanggalingan ng word natin ngayon na "genes" or "genetic" which this shows na tayo ay mga literal na spiritual na mga anak ng Diyos. as furthermore defined by some Lexicons, it supports Latter Day Saint theology. take for example ay Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains ni Louw and Nida at ang BDAG (Bauer, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich : A Greek-English Lexicon Of The New Testament And Other Early Christian Literature) at ang Vocabulary Of The New Testament ni Moulton and Miligan —defines the Greek word as the following :
Louw-Nida
10.32 γένος, ους n: a non-immediate descendant (possibly involving a gap of several generations), either male or female - 'descendant, offspring.' ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ῥίζα καὶ τὸ γένος Δαυίδ 'I am the root and descendant of David' Re 22.16. Here ῥίζα (10.33) and γένος are very similar in meaning, and it is often best to coalesce the two terms into a single expression, for example, 'I am a descendant of David' or 'I belong to the lineage of David.'
BDAG
1629 γένος
• γένος, ους, τό (Hom.+; loanw. in rabb.) a noun expressive of relationship of various degrees and kinds.
1. ancestral stock, descendant ἐκ γένους ἀρχιερατικοῦ of high-priestly descent (s. Jos., Ant. 15, 40) Ac 4:6 (PTebt 291, 36 ἀπέδειξας σεαυτὸν γένους ὄντα ἱερατικοῦ, cp. 293, 14; 18; BGU 82, 7 al. pap). υἱοὶ γένους Ἀβραάμ 13:26 (s. Demetr.: 722 fgm. 2, 1 Jac.; Jos., Ant. 5, 113; Just., D. 23, 3 ἀπὸ γένους τοῦ ᾽Α); γ. Δαυίδ Rv 22:16; IEph 20:2; ITr 9:1; ISm 1:1. τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν we, too, are descended from him Ac 17:28 (quoted fr. Arat., Phaenom. 5; perh. as early as Epimenides [RHarris, Exp. 8th ser. IV, 1912, 348-53; CBruston, RTQR 21, 1913, 533-35; DFrøvig, SymbOsl 15/16, ’36, 44ff; MZerwick, VD 20, ’40, 307-21; EPlaces, Ac 17:28: Biblica 43, ’62, 388-95]. Cp. also IG XIV, 641; 638 in Norden, Agn. Th. 194 n.; Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus 4 [Stoic. I 537] ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ γένος …; Dio Chrys. 80 [30], 26 ἀπὸ τ. θεῶν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος; Ep. 44 of Apollonius of Tyana [Philostrat. I 354, 22] γένος ὄντες θεοῦ; Hierocles 25, 474, vs. 63 of the Carmen Aur.: θεῖον γένος ἐστὶ βροτοῖσιν), cp. Ac 17:29.—Also of an individual descendant, scion (Hom.; Soph., Ant. 1117 Bacchus is Διὸς γ.). Jesus is τὸ γένος Δαυίδ Rv 22:16 (cp. Epimenides [VI BC]: 457 fgm. 3 Jac., the saying of Musaeus: ἐγὼ γένος εἰμι Σελήνης; Quint. Smyrn. 1, 191 σεῖο θεοῦ γένος ἐστί).
N-NSN: Noun, Nom Sing Neut
γένος
γένος
γένος is common in the papyri with reference to a species or class of things. Thus P Fay 21.10 (A.D. 134) εἴτ᾽ ἐν γένεσιν εἴτ᾽ ἐν ἀργυρίῳ, “whether in kind or in money,” with reference to payments, ib. 90.11 (A.D. 234) χ[ρῆ]σιν ἐγ γένι λαχανοσπέρμου ἀρτάβας τρ[ῖ]ς, “a loan in kind of three artabas of vegetable seed,” P Oxy VIII. 1134.13 (A.D. 421) περὶ ἄλλου τινὸς εἴδους ἢ γένους, “of any other sort or kind.” In P Grenf II. 44.11 (A.D. 101) the word occurs in connexion with the transport of “goods,” and in P Oxy IV. 727.20 (A.D. 154) an agent is authorized γένη διαπωλήσοντα ἃ ἐὰν δέον ᾖ τῇ αὐτοῦ πίστει, “to sell off produce as may be needful on his own authority” : cf. ib. I. 54.16 (A.D. 201) εἰς τειμὴν γενῶν, “for the price of materials” for the repair of public buildings, and ib. 101.16 (A. D. 142) where γένεσι = “crops.” Similarly P Amh II. 91.15 (A.D. 159) οἷς ἐὰν αἱρῶμαι γένεσι πλὴν κνήκου, “with any crops I choose except cnecus” (Edd.). In P Oxy IX. 1202.20 (A.D. 217) κατ᾽ ἀκολουθείαν τῶν ἐτῶν καὶ τοῦ γένους, the word is used = “parentage” : cf. BGU I. 140.26 (B.C. 119) τοῖς πρὸς [γ]ένους συνγενέσι, “to the legitimate parents.” With γένος = “offspring,” as in Act 17:28, cf. IG XIV. 641 (Thurii) καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὑμῶν γένος ὄλβιον εὔχομαι εἶμεν . . . Ὄλβιε καὶ μακαριστέ, θεὸς δ᾽εσῃ ἀντὶ βροτοῖο, and 638 γῆς παῖς εἰμὶ καὶ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος, αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ γένος οὐράνιον (both cited by Norden Agnostos Theos, p. 194). Act 4:6 has a close parallel in P Tebt II. 291.36 (A.D. 162) ἀ]π̣εδ̣[ι]ξας σεαυτὸν γένους [ὄ]ντα ἱερατικοῦ. In OGIS 470.5 (time of Augustus) a certain Theophron describes himself as priest διὰ γένου τῆς Ἀναΐτιδος Ἀρτέμιδος, “hereditary” priest. In ib. 513.10 (iii/A.D.) γένους τῶν Ἐπι(λ)αϊδῶν, and 635.4 (Palmyra, A.D. 1789) οἱ ἐγ γένους Ζαβδιβωλείων, it answers to gens, a tribe or clan. For the common τῷ γένει in descriptions, cf. Syll 852.2 (ii/B.C.) σῶμα ἀνδρεῖον ὧι ὄνομα Κύπριος τὸ γένος Κύπριον. In Vettius Valens, p. 86.26, εἰς γένος εἰσελθών is used of a manumitted slave : cf. p. 106.11.
Cognate: G1078, G1081, G1085, G1096, G3824, G581
In the context ay ginamit ni Paul ang mga Greek poets to support what he teaches. In Acts 17, Paul taught na ang Diyos ay hindi nagdwedwell sa temples na idolatrous (vv. 24-25) at na ginawa ng Diyos ang tao in order na ang tao ay mag-seek after Him (vv. 26-27) at ang relationship ng tao sa Diyos as ang Kanyang "offspring", at na ang Divinity is not by material things e.g idols (vv. 28-29). ang material things ay hindi kasama sa ating γένος thus is foreign and does not represent or is not Divinity/Deity. It is not to be appropriately worshipped. ang "poets" sa v. 28 na minention ni Paul ay ang mga stoic philosopers particularly si Aratus Phaenomena na isang student ni Zeno of Citium (ang founder ng stoicism). nagquote si Paul mula sa kanyang poem and he did it to support the doctrine that he's teaching, that mankind are of the same species as God. furthermore, Dr. Daniel Peterson, a Latter Day Saint scholar wrote the following on Acts 17:29 :
The word rendered “offspring” by the King James translators is the Greek genos, which is cognate with the Latin genus and means “family” or “race,” or “kind,” or, even, and most especially interesting for our present purpose, “descendants of a common ancestor.”285 Paul was saying that human beings are akin to God—the word kin is itself related to genos—or, to put it differently, that he and they are of the same genus. (The Latin Vulgate rendering of the same passage uses exactly that word, genus.) What does this mean? The great third-century philosopher Porphyry of Tyre explained in his Isagoge, one of the most important and widely read treatises on logic from the ancient world, that the primary meaning of the term genos or genus refers toa collection of things related to one another because each is related to some one thing in a particular way. In this sense, the Heraclids are said to be a family [genos] because of the relationship of descent from one man, Heracles. The many people related to each other because of this kinship deriving from Heracles are called the family of the Heraclids since they as a family are separate from other families.286Porphyry’s explanation that the nature of a genus consists at least partly in its separation from other genera seems to accord very well with the argument at Acts 17:29, where Paul contends that, because we and God are of the same genus, “we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” Such things, such genera, he says, are separate from our genus, and, hence, are not appropriately worshiped by human beings. They are beneath us.“The basic language of the Bible and of the Christian religion,” wrote G. Ernest Wright, albeit in another context,is an anthropomorphic language, drawn from the categories of personality and community. Confusion with metaphors drawn from other realms should be avoided because there is a basic relatedness and kinship between God and human life which does not exist in the same sense between God and nature.287Aratus’s declaration, which Paul endorsed, may perhaps represent a quite venerable position among Greek thinkers. “One is the race of men with the gods,” wrote the great fifth-century B.C. lyric poet Pindar, using the same word, genos, that appears in Acts 17.288 The so-called lamellai, or “Golden Plates,” found in tombs in Thessaly, Crete, and Italy are among the most intriguing documents from antiquity and provide still further evidence. These lamellai were apparently placed in the hands of the dead to remind the soul of powerful phrases that it was to use when confronting the powers of the underworld; they would thus help the soul to attain salvation. Among them is a plate from Petelia, dating to the mid-fourth century before Christ, that seems to make a point rather similar to Paul’s own. Describing the terrain and the guards that the deceased soul will encounter in the spirit world, the text advises him to declare, “I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven; but my race [genos] is of Heaven alone.”289In other words, the deceased person belongs there, in heaven; he is akin to heavenly things and not to the mundane objects of earth.
Notes for the Above
285. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 4th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 155; see Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 1:684–85. For the meaning of the term in classical or pagan Greek (which is identical), see any of the numerous editions of the standard Liddell and Scott lexicon. The same term, genos, is used in the modern Greek translation of the Bible (Athens: Biblike Hetairia, 1971).
286. Porphyry the Phoenician, Isagoge, trans. Edward W. Warren (Toronto: The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975), 28–29. Compare Plotinus, Enneads 6.1.3.
287. Wright, “The Faith of Israel,” 359.
288. Pindar, Nemean Odes 6.1. The phrase is admittedly ambiguous. It could also mean “one is the race of men, another the race of the gods,” and is frequently, if not generally, so rendered. However, I follow the interpretation of the passage advanced by John C. Lawson, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals (New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1964), 65 and 65 n. 1, and endorsed by Stylianos V. Spyridakis, “Reflections on Hellenic Theanthropism,” in TO EΛΛHNIKON: Studies in Honor of Speros Vryonis Jr., ed. John S. Langdon et al. (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Coratzas, 1993), 1:9, 16 n. 2. Dawson W. Turner, The Odes of Pindar Literally Translated into English Prose (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1852), 371, gives the passage as “Men and the Gods above one race compose.”
289. The Greek text of the plate, in both transcription and reconstruction, is published at Günther Zuntz, Persephone: Three Essays on Religion and Thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971), 358–59.
Further comments by Joseph Fizmyer are the following :
" ‘For we too are his offspring.’ These words are quoted from the third-century astronomical poem of the Stoic, Aratus, who was born in Soli (in Cilicia) ca. 315 B.C., tou gar kai genos eimen, “of him we too are offspring” (Phaenomena 5). Luke may have changed the Ionic eimen to Attic semen, but he more likely found it so in a source, because the Attic form was current. It appears also in frg. 4 of the second-century B.C. Jewish apologist, Aristobulus, quoted in Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica 13.12.6 (GCS 8/2.194). In quoting this verse, the Lucan Paul makes a new point in part III of his address: God is not only near to human beings, but they are related to him as kin. Paul understands the Stoic idea in a biblical sense; c. Psalm 139; Luke 3:38." (Adam as God’s son). (Joseph A. Fizmyer, The Acts of the Apostles: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AB 31; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1998], 611; emphasis added)
—Perfected—
In the Bible, it is commanded that we should strive to become perfect and holy like God (Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7-26; Mt. 5:48; 1 Pt. 1:15-16). for we are, and we have the potential, and should strive. in Psalm 82, the Lord said :
" I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High." (Ps. 82:6) NKJV
Jesus, while defending his deity against sa mga Jews ay he himself quoted that verse for Jews who want to stone him for claiming to be God (Jn. 10:34). with this, Jesus can claim deity without having the issue ng blasphemy. Jesus furthermore said :
" If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)," (Jn. 10:35) NKJV
Norman Russell commented :
" Deification has several senses in patristic literature, but at its most profound it refers to the transformative effect of participation in Christ. Of the various terms the Father use to express the work of Christ—salvation, redemption, reconciliation, recapitulation, recreation, restoration, and so forth—deification is the one that seems least rooted in the language of the New Testament. The word first appears as θεοποιησις in the late second century, and in its most familiar form, θεωσις, only in the mid-fourth century. Yet what the word expresses lies at the heart of the early Church’s kerygma, namely, that ‘God sent his only Son into the world that we might live through him’ (1 John 4:9).
In John’s Gospel there is a report of a critical debate between Jesus and ‘the Jews’ that took place in the Temple at Jerusalem, in the portico of Solomon (John 10:22-39). In the course of the debate (at verse 34), Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, ‘I said, you are gods’, to demonstrate a fortiori that if those to whom the word of God came in the past could be addressed as gods, he could call himself the unique Son of God without blasphemy. This verse was later used by Justin Martyr who adapts a Rabbinic exegesis of Psalm 82:6 (the ‘gods’ are those who obey the Torah) to argue that in fact they are those who obey the commandments of Christ. Not only afterwards this exegesis was taken up by Irenaeus who identified the gods specifically with those who had put on Christ through baptism, thus launching the verse on its career as a key text supporting the notion of deification. Irenaeus was prompted by his exegesis of the ‘gods’ as the baptized to enunciate the ‘exchange’ formula: the Son of God ‘became what we are in order to make us what he is himself’ (Haer. 5, praef.; trans. mine). The rich implications of this two-way traffic were to influence Christological thinking. Both the self-emptying of the divine without loss of divine impassability and the deification of the human without loss of human finitude are required for Christ to fulfil his salvific role." (Norman Russell, “The Work of Christ in Patristic Theology,” in Francesca Aran Murphy, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Christology [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, 2018], 154-66, here, pp. 162-65)
Furthermore, in the Sermon on the mount, Jesus said :
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Mt. 5:48) KJV
Now sa verse na ito ay ginagamit dito ang Greek word na τέλειος (teleios) which means "complete" and is derived from the word na τέλος (telos) which means "end". ang Greek word na ito na nangangahulugan with it's infinitive form na "to reach a distant end" or "to be matured" or "achieving a distant objective" or "complete" which shows that the Greek word na ito shows progression into maturity. Furthermore, the Prophet Russell M. Nelson comments on the grammar ng Greek word na ito sa Matthew 5:48 at sa Luke 12:32 with the use ng word na ito to show na si Jesus Christ also progressed here on earth (cf. Mt. 28:18-20; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 5:8-9). the following comments made by the Prophet Russell M. Nelson reads :
" Recently I studied the English and Greek editions of the New Testament, concentrating on each use of the term perfect and its derivatives. Studying both languages together provided some interesting insights, since Greek was the original language of the New Testament.
In Matthew 5:48, the term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios, which means “complete.” Teleios is an adjective derived from the noun telos, which means “end.” The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono, which means “to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.” Please note that the word does not imply “freedom from error”; it implies “achieving a distant objective.” In fact, when writers of the Greek New Testament wished to describe perfection of behaviour—precision or excellence of human effort—they did not employ a form of teleios; instead, they chose different words.
Teleios is not a total stranger to us. From it comes the prefix tele—that we use every day. Telephone literally means “distant talk.” Television means “to see distantly.” Telephoto means “distant light,” and so on.
With that background in mind, let us consider another highly significant statement made by the Lord. Just prior to His Crucifixion, He said that on “the third day I shall be perfected” (Luke 13:32; emphasis added). Think of that! The sinless, errorless Lord—already perfect by our mortal standards—proclaimed His own state of perfection yet to be in the future. His eternal perfection would follow His Resurrection and receipt of “all power . . . . in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18)." (“Perfection Pending,” Ensign, November 1995) (pp. 250-51)
At si Apostle Peter sa kanyang general epistle, kanyang sinabi na may potential tayo na makapagpartake ng nature na mayroon sa Diyos :
" who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you," (2 Pt. 1:2-4) NRSV
And other apostles gaya ni Apostle Paul, as he said na tayo ay "mga anak ng Diyos" ay puwede tayo na maging "mga tagapagmana sa Diyos, at mga kasamang tagapagmana ni Cristo" (Rom. 8:14-15; Gal. 4:7). mamanahin natin ang "lahat ng bagay" (Rev. 21:7). Sinabi din ni apostle John na tayo ay ang "mga anak ng Diyos," na "na kung siya'y mahayag, tayo'y magiging katulad niya: sapagka't siya'y ating makikitang gaya ng kaniyang sarili." at na "sinomang mayroon ng pagasang ito sa kaniya ay naglilinis sa kaniyang sarili, gaya naman niyang malinis." (1 Jn. 3:1-3). but in that relationship, even though ang exalted Saint will be joint heirs with Christ, Sasabihin ng Tagapagligtas na "ako'y magiging Diyos niya at siya'y magiging anak ko." (Rev. 21:6-7; cf. 1 Cor. 3:21-23). At that state ay makakasama natin siya to rule all things on heaven and earth (Lk. 12:43-44; Rev. 3:21), magiging isa sa Diyos at sa Tagapagligtas (Jn. 17:20-23); magkakaroon ng glorified immortalized body kagaya ng sa Diyos (1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:21; 1 Jn. 3:2) at makakatanggap ng kaluwalhatian mula sa Diyos—Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 3:18.
—Patrological Evidences—
This very same doctrine that was taught in the scriptures ay itinuro din ng mga Early Christian Church Fathers. consider the following statements made by the Church Fathers :
Irenaeus (ca. AD 115 - 202) — Saint Irenaeus, who may justly be called the first Biblical theologian among the ancient Christians, was a disciple of the great Polycarp, who was a direct disciple of John the Revelator. Irenaeus is not a heretic or unorthodox in traditional Christian circles, yet he shares a belief in theosis:
"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."
"there is none other called God by the Scriptures except the Father of all, and the Son, and those who possess the adoption....Since, therefore, this is sure and stedfast, that no other God or Lord was announced by the Spirit, except Him who, as God, rules over all, together with His Word, and those who receive the Spirit of adoption."
" We were not made gods at our beginning, but first we were made men, then, in the end, gods."....Also:...." 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." And:....." Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, of his boundless love, became what we are that he might make us what he himself is.” And:...." But of what gods [does he speak]? [Of those] to whom He says, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the Most High." To those, no doubt, who have received the grace of the "adoption, by which we cry, Abba Father."
".....For he who holds, without pride and boasting, the true glory (opinion) regarding created things and the Creator, who is the Almighty God of all, and who has granted existence to all; [such an one, ] continuing in His love and subjection, and giving of thanks, shall also receive from Him the greater glory of promotion, looking forward to the time when he shall become like Him who died for him, for He, too, "was made in the likeness of sinful flesh," to condemn sin, and to cast it, as now a condemned thing, away beyond the flesh, but that He might call man forth into His own likeness, assigning him as [His own] imitator to God, and imposing on him His Father's law, in order that he may see God, and granting him power to receive the Father; [being] the Word of God who dwelt in man, and became the Son of man, that He might accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in man, according to the good pleasure of the Father."
Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215) — Sinabi ni Clement of Alexandria na isa sa mga purpose ng incarnation ni Jesus Christ ay para matulungan tayo na matuto kung papaano ma-deify.
"yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god."...And.."...if one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God...His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes god, since God wills it. So Heraclitus was right when he said, "Men are gods, and gods are men."
"Those who have been perfected are given their reward and their honors. They have done with their purification, they have done with the rest of their service, though it be a holy service, with the holy; now they become pure in heart, and because of their close intimacy with the Lord there awaits them a restoration to eternal contemplation; and they have received the title of "gods" since they are destined to be enthroned with the other "gods" who are ranked next below the Savior. "
Augustine (AD 354-430) — Augustine, considered one of the greatest Christian Fathers, said :
" but He himself that justifies also deifies, for by justifying He makes sons of God. For He has given them power to become the sons of God, (Jn. 1:12). If then we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods."
Others :
"And we have learned that those only are deified who have lived near to God in holiness and virtue" (Justin Martyr, ca. 160, First Apology 21, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:170)
"all men are deemed worthy of becoming 'gods,' and of having power to become sons of the Highest" (Justin Martyr, ca. 160, Dialogue With Trypho 124, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:262)
"Neither, then, immortal nor yet mortal did He make him, but, as we have said above, capable of both; so that if he should incline to the things of immortality, keeping the commandment of God, he should receive as reward from Him immortality, and should become God" (Theophilus, ca. 180, To Autolycus 2:27, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 2:105)
" Irenaeus taught that "at the resurrection of the just," men will be "passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God" (Irenaeus, ca. 180, Against Heresies 5:36:3, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:567)
"Being baptized, we are illuminated; illuminated, we become sons; being made sons, we are made perfect; being made perfect, we are made immortal. 'I,' says He, 'have said that ye are gods, and all sons of the Highest.' [Psalms 82:6]"
(Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1:6, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 2:215)
"On this wise it is possible for the [true] Gnostic already to have become God. 'I said, Ye are gods, and sons of the highest.' [Psalms 82:6]" (Clement of Alexandria, ca. 195, Stromata 4:23, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 2:437)
"it will be impossible that another god should be admitted, when it is permitted to no other being to possess anything of God. Well, then, you say, we ourselves at that rate possess nothing of God. But indeed we do, and shall continue to do—only it is from Him that we receive it, and not from ourselves. For we shall be even gods, if we shall deserve to be among those of whom He declared, 'I have said, Ye are gods,' [Psalms 82:6] and, 'God standeth in the congregation of the gods.' [Psalms 82:1] But this comes of His own grace, not from any property in us, because it is He alone who can make gods." (Tertullian, ca. 200, Against Hermogenes 5, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 3:480)
"I am of opinion that the expression, by which God is said to be 'all in all,' means that He is 'all' in each individual person. Now He will be 'all' in each individual in this way: when all which any rational understanding, cleansed from the dregs of every sort of vice, and with every cloud of wickedness completely swept away, can either feel, or understand, or think, will be wholly God; . . . when God will be the measure and standard of all its movements; and thus God will be 'all,' for there will no longer be any distinction of good and evil, seeing evil nowhere exists;" (Origen, ca. 225, De Principiis 3:6:3, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 4:345)
“Now it is possible that some may dislike what we have said representing the Father as the one true God, but admitting other beings besides the true God, who have become gods by having a share of God. They may fear that the glory of Him who surpasses all creation may be lowered to the level of those other beings called gods. We drew this distinction between Him and them that we showed God the Word to be to all the other gods the minister of their divinity . . . As, then, there are many gods, but to us there is but one God the Father, and many Lords, but to us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ” (Origen, Commentary on John 2:3, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 9:323)
"What man is, Christ was willing to be, that man also may be what Christ is." (Cyprian, ca. 250, Treatises 6:11, in Ante-Nicene Fathers 5:468)
"[The chaste man will become] identical in all respects with God" (Lactantius, ca. 304-313, Divine Institutes 6:23, in The Mystery-Religions 106-107)
"the saints also can enjoy precisely the same kind of fellowship with the Father [as Jesus Christ.]" (Eusebius, in Early Christian Doctrines 226)
"[God] made man for that purpose, that from men they may become gods." (Jerome, The Homilies of Saint Jerome 1:106)
"I too might be made God so far as He is made Man." (Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 29:19, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Series 2, 7:308)
And there are many more Early Christian Fathers and theologians that believe in the doctrine of deification. as said, the deification of man will never replace God or Jesus. God will always be our God, Jesus will always be our Savior. we will remain subordinate to them. we are in eternal subjection to God, the Eternal Father (D&C 76:21-119). We will always be subordinate sa kanila at hindi natin sila kailanman mapapalitan. Heavenly Father provided His great and loving plan for us in order for Mankind to be like Him and to inherit all things that he has. This is the purpose of why mankind is here on Earth—to progress and this is the destiny of mankind. This doctrine is not new to the Scriptures and is taught throughout the Scriptures and by the Early Christian church and was Restored and revealed to our times. I know these things are true and it came from God, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Like and support our Facebook page : Latter Day Stripling Warriors
Visit our blog : Ldswarriors2000.blogspot.com
Visit my Quora profile : Quora.com/Nathan-Lerr
