3 of 3

Heavenly Adam, life divine,
Change my nature into thine;
Move and spread throughout my soul,
Actuate and fill the whole;
Be it I no longer now
Living in the flesh, but thou.

This is the reality with which the deification language of Orthodoxy is dealing, and I believe there is much there that can help us fill out our own understanding of salvation.

While evangelicals can learn from the Orthodox, it is fair to note that Orthodox believers can learn from us, too. The Eastern presentation of salvation can smudge the distinct steps of salvation. Justification and sanctification often get folded into the broader concept of theosis, and they become so blurred that Orthodox believers often don't know what to make of the terms. They would be well served by an explanation of how the steps of salvation as presented in apostolic teaching fit into the larger package of divinization.

For evangelicals, a new focus that begins with the ultimate goal of salvation could fill out our understanding and presentation of the gospel. Revivalist altar calls have given too many people the impression that anything beyond initial conversion is optional. The doctrine of theosis reminds us that in the altar call, the journey of salvation has but begun. We are indeed assured at that moment of our promised hope, but it also then becomes an ongoing call to renewed, abundant life—a return to the path God put us on to become like him.

Further, salvation viewed in terms of deification impels us to struggle against temptation and sin. After declaring that on the final day we shall see Christ and be like him, the apostle John says, "Everyone who has this hope in [Christ] purifies himself, just as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). Our destiny calls us to give ourselves fully and faithfully to God and his service, and to seek conformity to Christ at every point. It calls us to grow in godliness, striving to become more and more like our Savior.

Most important, the Orthodox understanding of theosis reminds us that salvation is less about what we get than about what God gets. It is about his purposes being accomplished in us. As the Reformed credo states: It is by his grace, for our good, to his glory.

James R. Payton Jr. is professor of history at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, and author of Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition (IVP Academic, 2007).

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Previous Christianity Today articles on theology can be found here.

first page |  3 of 3

share this page

October 2008, Vol. 52, No. 10