Deification In Christianity

1426 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Immortality of the soul in plato

A working definition of theosis
Marcelle Bartolo Abela, in his book, Deification of Man in Christianity, defines deification as the transformation of man into a god through the grace of God. An abstract of his writing appears here in his own words:
...it is the process of man becoming god and attaining theoria, seeing God, after purification of the heart and illumination of the soul have ensued through baptism in the Holy Spirit….

The issue of deification arises from various places in Scripture, which suggest some form of transformation or participation in divinity. We find, in 2 Peter 1:4, it’s written “…. For you are partakers of the divine nature…” It appears also in John 10:34 “and in Psalms 82:6 “I have said you are gods…”

The …show more content…

He created man out of the dust of the ground and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living creature (Gen. 2:7). The created man had the image of God since he was not tainted by sin. But when humanity disobeyed God’s commandment and sinned, he lost his connection with God and was alienated from God’s face (Gen. 3:23-24).

However, God’s love for humanity was so great that He did not want man to continue living in this state of alienation. He wanted to restore man to Himself. Therefore He chose to send His son to bring about this process of reconciliation between God and man and to restore man’s original image, the image of God. Because Christ was fully divine, he carried with him the untainted image of the divine and through his humanity, the divine was able to interact with the physical (material human created out of dust) and reconcile it back to …show more content…

He suggests that while the souls of true philosophers go to hades to dwell with the gods, souls of those who ignored the study of philosophy will either turn into wandering bees or lesser animals. As for the impure soul, he suggests that it will turn into a wandering phantom. As Tim Connolly summarizes:
A soul which is purified of bodily things, Socrates says, will make its way to the divine when the body dies, whereas an impure soul retains its share in the visible after death, becoming a wandering phantom. Of the impure souls, those who have been immoderate will later become donkeys or similar animals, the unjust will become wolves or hawks, those with only ordinary philosophical virtue will become social creatures such as bees or ants. The philosopher, on the other hand, will join the company of gods.

He also suggests that the soul which has been tainted and is impure at the time of departure will not be carried to these heights. Instead, it will be held first by the corporeal which the continual association and constant care of the body have wrought into

Show More
Related

  • Genesis: Creation, Dominion and Fall of Man

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Genesis 2:7 tells us that," the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” He place man in the garden eastward in Eden to guard and keep it. (Genesis 2:8,15) God said,”it is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him”. (Genesis

    Read More

  • Comparison Of The Babylonian Epic And Hesiod's Theogony

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    In placing humankind within this world, it is the intent of God that humans enjoy this world and flourish in it through a continuing relationship with Him. And God said, “Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness, to hold sway over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens and the cattle and the wild beasts and all the crawling things that crawl upon the earth” (Genesis 158-159). Therefore, He creates a human in His image, the image of God. God did not want man to be alone and decides to fashion a companion from the rib of man. “And the Lord God cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed over the flesh where it had been, and the Lord God built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman” (Genesis 160). Upon learning of this the human said, “This one at last, bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh, / This one shall be called Woman, / for from man was this one taken” (Genesis 160). Human beings occupy center stage in this account of the world’s origin, but are held in low regard in Mesopotamian and Greek creation stories. In Enuma Elish, Marduk spoke to Ea of his idea for the creation of humankind, but Ea was the actual creator who devised how it should come about. In the Sixth Tablet, Marduk says, “My blood will I take and bone will I fashion / I will make man, that man may… / I will create man who shall

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Apology, Crito And Phaedo

    2032 Words  | 5 Pages

    It starts with Phaedo, Simmias and Cebes, all interlocutors who recount the story of Socrates execution. This dialogue is unique because it contains discussions of the philosopher, a soul’s immortality through the opposites, recollection, affinity and the last argument. A philosopher is capable to relate to death and understand what happens to the soul. Socrates mentioned that those who called themselves philosophers should be ready to face death and not commit suicide or violently lay hands upon themselves. One should not commit suicide because men are looked after the Gods and “doing nothing in association with it unless we simply can’t avoid it, not letting it infect us with the kind of thing it is but purifying ourselves from its influence – until such time that the gods themselves set us free” (67a). Therefore, it would be impolite for one to end their life on their own terms before God willed it. A philosopher is “always eager to set the soul free” and sets the least value on the body (67d). A philosopher is someone who denies his self-pleasures, interests, wealth, and tries to spend his life to detach his soul from the body and its limitations. According to Socrates, the philosopher is on a journey to seek virtue, wisdom and knowledge. Moreover, if intelligence is a philosopher’s only goal then the body acts as a hindrance because of its

    Read More

  • Gospel Essentials Essay

    1491 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis1:1.) God’s perfect wisdom created everything. In Genesis 1 and 2 we can see that God has loving and gentile nature when He created the earth and heavens. God created man in his image and we are the only creation that God breathed in the breath of life for human beings (Genesis 2:7). God did not do this for any of other creations but only for humans. The Bible has many scriptures that tell us how creative God is. Genesis 1;26 states “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created all of this for us to have fellowship with him.

    Read More

  • Gospel Essentials Essay

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    Humans can think, feel, and reason which differentiate them from the rest of God’s creation. The ability to reason enables human beings to think and reflect on their own nature and the nature of God. The bible teaches us that God created man in his image and likeness. In the beginning of creation human nature was perfect because we were created by God. Genesis 1:31 describes Human beings were created very good by a loving God”. God created humans to operate their lives according to wisdom under God’s kingly reign (Diffey, 2014). God’s purpose in creating mankind was to work and serve (Genesis 2:15), and have dominion over earth (Genesis 1:26-28) The fall of Adam and Eve separated humanity from God and wisdom. This act plunged all of humanity into a history characterized by idolatry (Diffey, 2014), and is the root cause of all human

    Read More

  • Phaedo by Socrates

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...nd commit crimes. Men who are over attached to the body suffer in the underworld. Those who commit incurable crimes are thrown into Tartarus. This fate can be avoided by those who practice philosophy. The second way in which Socrates’ myth reinforces philosophy as care for the soul is by explaining the cycle which continues until the soul purifies itself through philosophy. This cycle only ends once the soul is purified by philosophy. The final way in which Socrates’ myth reinforces his recommendation of philosophy as care for the soul is by explaining how the pure souls of philosophers are rewarded. The souls of philosophers go to the ether to dwell among the gods. Philosophers attain the knowledge and truth which they spent their entire earthly life seeking when in the ether. Socrates’ myth serves to reinforce his recommendation of philosophy as care for the soul.

    Read More

  • Democritus, And Socrates: The Existence Of The Human Soul

    1603 Words  | 4 Pages

    A person’s body can change in appearance numerous times throughout his or her life, but who they are essentially does not change along with the outward appearance. He claims ownership of his body, and he uses his body, but his body is not the self, the soul is the self—the soul is in possession of the body. Socrates seems to agree to an extent with Democritus on the morality of the soul, to the extent that a soul can be good or vicious. Living well or living badly are all matters of the soul. If one wants to have a good soul then he or she should not place too much emphasis on external goods, and should focus on having areté of the soul instead. Areté consists of what we typically associate with good people; it is virtue, excellence, and being the best one can be. Socrates asserts that when one dies there are two possibilities; either you become nothing and unaware, or your soul goes on to an afterlife somewhere else. In death, when the soul separates from the temporary body, it goes into the afterlife exactly as it was in life. Meaning, if the soul has been taken care of during life then it will continue to be a healthy, happy soul in death. However, if it were neglected because the person placed too much importance on external goods during life, which causes damage, it will enter the afterlife as the same damaged soul it was in life. He seems to be saying that the people who typically only seek out the external goods are the ones with vicious souls, and that they think that they can compensate for the state of their soul by acquiring all of these external things. However, Socrates says that there is no hope for vicious souls; if a person has a vicious soul he or she has a damaged self, and there are no external goods or benefits that can compensate for

    Read More

  • Depth Analysis Of Socrates Argument In Plato's Phaedo

    2176 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since the gods do wish to lose their possession, when one dies he is bound to meet his masters (the gods). By this belief, Socrates believes that when he dies he will meet his masters and have a greater future amongst them. Therefore, if one is a true philosopher, he will believe in the notion of a future after death. But what is

    Read More

  • Biblical Worldview Of Genesis 1-11

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everything God created was perfect and in balance with one another. God made man in His own image and communicated with him. He created everything to have a purpose and meaning in life. He was involved in every aspect of creation and continues to be involved in creation today. “God continues to engage his creation by speaking to his creation” (Arand, 133). God made His creation and was well pleased. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31a, NIV). However, the perfect harmony between God and His creation did not last long. When Adam and Eve sinned, God put a curse on the natural world, which induced hardships for man. Creation and man do not have a peaceful relationship today. Men abuses creation and creation creates conflicts for men. Humans also abuse the creation’s purpose when they worship it instead of worshipping the creator. God gave us authority over creation, therefore, we should not abuse this responsibility. We are to take care of creation and not harm it. We should worship the Creator rather than the

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Socrates's View On Death

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Socrates discusses that people should not fear death because we do not know the qualities of death. Even though we do not know what death is, he makes some suggestions for the possibilities after death. He suggests that maybe death is just an endless sleep without dreaming, it is where we can finally come to peace with ourselves. He also suggest that maybe in the afterlife he will be able to meet heroic people in the past, where he can share his experience and question people to see whether they are wise. Even in death Socrates is still going to practice philosophy even if the place is bad. Even if he did not live a just life that he thought he did, he can examine what he did wrong and fix the problems in the after life. I agree with Socrates

    Read More

  • Karl Barth's Relational View of Imago Dei

    1866 Words  | 4 Pages

    “26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’” Genesis 1:26a, 1:27

    Read More

  • The Unique relationship between God & Mankind in Genesis

    1966 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ed a part to him. First we see God as omnipotent then we see God asking where Adam and Eve are hiding (Not being omnipotent). With the creation of mankind God loses some part of his Godliness and he gains some humanity. God has a little human in himself and we have a little God in us. But the main point still is the same, God is the authority over man and will remain this way. I also feel that the God in the bible is truly no different than the Gods of Greece for example. The God of ancient Greece acted just like humans, the only difference was that they were immortal. The God of the bible seems to act just like humans, shows love, anger, regret, learns from mistakes and so forth. So in the end God shows flaws and learns from mistakes. God is like humans, maybe this is why we don?t understand God sometimes because we can?t understand other people and their actions.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Socrates: The Imorality Of The Soul

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    But this would be impossible unless our soul had been somewhere before existing in this form of man; here then is another proof of the soul’s immortality.” (Phaedo,

    Read More

  • On the Incarnation

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book One the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius it talks about why Jesus became human for our salvation. Jesus had no reason not to enter into the world as a human, because “it was right that they should be thus attributed to his as man, in order to show that his body was a real one and not merely an appearance” (Athanasius 15). Showing that it was important for Jesus to be a human and spread his knowledge among us; to help us learn and be able to teach other through oral and written tradition. It was now necessary for Jesus to come for our salvation because “had he surrendered his body to death and then raised it at once…which showed him to be not only a man, but also a God the word” (Athanasius 14). This connects back to by why Jesus wants humans to believe that he died a human death.

    Read More

  • Summary of the Creation in Genesis

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every day God created something new and blesses it. God created nothing irrelevant or unworthy. Entirely everything he created served a purpose. Also all he had created came from nothing. The fish were undeniably produced out of the waters, and the beasts and man out of the earth; but that earth and those waters were made out of nothing. God created what is known as the world today and everything that exists on the earth. Reading Genesis 1 gives all mankind an idea of how life started and how the earth was formed to be this magnificent place. The earth is very complicated yet God could solve all of the problems and create blessings. He gave us light and darkness, day and night, water and land. He created all living creature including mankind.

    Read More

More about Deification In Christianity

Open Document