All Comments for: Keeping the End in View | Christianity Today

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > 2008 > October

Christianity Today, October, 2008 |

Keeping the End in View

How the strange yet familiar doctrine of theosis can invigorate the Christian life.

James R. Payton Jr. | posted 10/27/2008 09:19AM

Imagine Charles Wesley attending a Christmas morning service today and hearing that his great hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," would be sung. As the congregation started singing, he would be momentarily ...

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Rate and Comment on this article

Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 comments.

Page: 1

Show All

nicholas

Posted: November 02, 2008 12:44 AM

Louise Wilde, Look up Orthodox Churches in your are in phone book or on Google Local. There you will find the church you are looking for. Be warned, Orthodox parishes in this country sometimes struggle with being ethno-centric. If you don't have a great experience at one parish, try another. I would also suggest the books The Orthodox Church by Timothy Ware, and The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware (same guy, took the name Kallistos when he became a bishop) I will pray for you, that you find your way home.

Louise Wilde

Posted: October 31, 2008 8:09 AM

This theology, that by the power of God we are "transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory," is present every where in Scripture. The Scripture "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling" says salvation is "God working in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." Zechariah's prophecy says that the "horn of salvation" "enables us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days," Luke 1:75. It is everywhere in Scripture, but churches here teach sanctification as if it ends with the Holy Spirit bringing us to believe that Jesus is our Savior and, out of love for Him, obey the Commandments (which is all human effort according to the Apostle Paul)!!! The truth is that "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works," Eph. 2:10. Where can I find a church with this understanding of salvation?

Paul	Posted: October 30, 2008 2:30 PM

Verses to consider: Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Bo in NC

Posted: October 30, 2008 10:46 AM

I said I would be interested in seeing how evangelicals respond to this article and I was right. Some of you get it. Some are thrown completely off by Calvinist or other definitions of salvation. Wesley may not have been directly influenced by Orthodoxy, but surely he agreed with them that Protestants are A) right that we must be justified by the blood of Jesus, but B) hampered by a truncated understanding of total salvation. Total salvation (theosis, complete sanctification, glorification) comes as a process that the Holy Spirit works in us. The Eucharist is the primary, but not exclusive, channel of this sancitifying grace. Others are fellowship, spirituality (prayer and contemplation), social ministry etc. We should say we accept the doctrine of theosis with caveats, such as believing you have arrived. God is infinitely ahead of us, so we will never catch up. And Quentin, check with Orthodox scholars to learn the many differences from Platonism.

Rick	Posted: October 28, 2008 12:53 PM

Someone please correct me if my understanding is off but isn't eastern orthodox teaching not that we become like God but that we become God albeit not in the Godhead. C.S. Lewis didn't say we become Christlike. He said we become little Christs. Am I making a meaningless distinction? I noticed the Protestant evangelicals are not willing to cross this line. Just read Rick Warren's chapter in The Purpose Driven Life, "Created to Become Like Christ' for a perfect example. Why is this? Every now and then someone will come along and write something provocative as Paul Bilheimer did almost thirty years ago in his book, Destined for the Throne, but it seems that most evangelicals feel safer with saying we become like Christ.

FrGregACCA

Posted: October 28, 2008 12:10 PM


http://vagantepriest.blogspot.com/2008/10/evangelical-appreciates-theosis.h tml

Jim	Posted: October 28, 2008 12:00 PM


Since 90 percent of church goers in America are not born again this conversation is a mute point. -www.fleebabylon.com

Bev in UK

Posted: October 28, 2008 10:48 AM


Fantastic article. I got so much out of it, specifically the context of the difference between 'image' and 'likeness' and that differentiation alone gives so much revelation and understanding. This is a fruitful article, the depth of which can be plumbed as it is re read and digested. Thanks.

Bo in NC

Posted: October 28, 2008 10:10 AM

I am interested in reading how evangelicals respond to this article. Four points I would like to add to what Payton says here. 1) Wesley's view of sanctification was also based on Calvin's, which will come as a total shock to many Calvinists, 2) while it is true that theosis means we become like God, remember that God's advantages over us are infinite, so we will never, so to speak "catch up," 3) theosis is grossly misused by the Mormons, so beware! and 4) the Orthodox East (and I believe they are right about this) believe that since the Western Church has neglected sanctification and/or theosis as the major emphasis of salvation, we have tended to make justification overly "juridical," that is, leaning toward an image of God as a tempermental judge, ready to hand out life or eternal damnation too easily. Correct emphasis on theosis turns our image of God into that of a loving Father/Creator, one who truly "love the world so much."

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: October 28, 2008 7:49 AM

Although the fruit of the "tree that gives knowledge" was once described as a mixed bag of good and bad, there was less choice regarding its immediate end, i.e, spiritual death (Gen. 2:9,17)! The mark of false prophets, as taught by Jesus, is no different (Matt. 7:15-12). Trees in the Bible define the sources of our knowledge, viz.: "the tree that gives life"(good fruit bearing healthy tree) stands for God reliance; the counterpart for self-reliance. Although now lost to post-Apostolic Christianity, the life-giving tree is nothing but a type of the cross of Christ; its counterpart, obviously, theology with its theosis, "keeping the end in view", etc. paving the road to eternal death!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ziad	Posted: October 28, 2008 12:34 AM

I was born Orthodox and do not identify with the feelings of Ioann. I certainly learn from my Evangelical relatives. What is missing from the review is that the tools for theosis include the mysteries (aka sacraments) that many Evangelicals reject as later additions by the RC and OC. Without Christ's body and blood we have no Life in us. Christopher Hall, a fine Evangelical scholar, demonstrates that the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist was there from the very beginning (see Learning Theology with the Church Fathers, IVP). Unfortunately, most people don't realise that the "commemorative only" understanding is a relatively recent one. It makes me sad that someone, somewhere, has deprived people of what Ignatius of Antioch (a direct disciple of St John the Evangelist and martyr for Christ) called "the medicine of immortality".

Ioann

Posted: October 27, 2008 9:06 PM

Re: "While evangelicals can learn from the Orthodox, it is fair to note that Orthodox believers can learn from us, too." So very true, though in my case "unlearn" would be more appropriate. I was an Evangelical Protestant for over a decade and now I am approaching my first decade as a convert to Orthodox Christianity. At this stage in my life I feel (paraphrasing Abba Paul), "“I feel myself continually sunk up to my neck in the mud of the sins of Evangelicalism!" I'm grateful to the Holy Trinity for raising my head out of the mire so that I can at least cry out to my fellow man, "Stay clear of the mess of Evangelical Protestantism and hie thee to the Orthodox Church!" May God help me to unlearn and be free from the taint of the false gospels of the Evangelicals!

t.	Posted: October 27, 2008 5:22 PM

we can all pick holes and debate, so lets join the fun. Francis Geis seems to think that we are complete upon conversion which I disagree with; otherwise God's promise to complete what he has begun in us is an empty saying, devoid of reason. But on the other hand, the doctrine of divine election indicates that at least there is a modicum of truth in the assumption that we are in essence perfect, which is why we were set for heaven; by God's grace we were given salvation before we were born! Of course I think that this essence of perfection is in seed form when we are converted and while we might have everything we need, it comes as water, seed, soil and sunlight with the full crop only coming much later. This sense that we start as a shoot and grow into a leaf and bud and then an ear and then the harvest is more accurate than saying we are everything in all, all at once at conversion. This sense of working towards perfection comes out nicely in this essay by James R. Payton Jr

Francis H. Geis

Posted: October 27, 2008 4:55 PM

As one having studied the history of Christian doctrine, I have an appreciation of the Eastern Church fathers, especially as regards their contributions to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, as expressed in the Nicene Creed. However, having done some study on the theology of Paul and Peter in preparation for a commentary on 2 Peter, I came to the conclusion that it is an error to think that, as regards the Spirit's regeneration and sanctification of believers, there is a radical divergence as to what these two apostles regarded as the means, process and ultimate goal of salvation in Christ. And I think that the previous verse (v. 3), which can also be translated, "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Christ, who called us to share his own glory and goodness," indicates that Peter, like Paul, understood "theosis" in terms of being united with Christ and being fully transformed and conformed to his image.

Page: 1

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment