Theosis: Partaking of The Divine Nature
Theosis: Partaking of The Divine Nature
Theosis: Partaking of The Divine Nature
Partaking of the
Divine Nature
MARK SHUTTLEWORTH
A N C I E N T FA I T H TO PI C A L S E R I E S
Theosis
Partaking of the
Divine Nature
MARK SHUTTLEWORTH
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T
his is a verse that most Protestants do
not underline in their Bibles. What on
earth does it mean—“you are gods”?
Doesn’t our faith teach that there is only one
God, in three Persons? How can human beings
be gods?
In the Orthodox Church, this concept is
neither new nor startling. It even has a name:
theosis. Theosis is the understanding that human
beings can have real union with God, and so
become like God to such a degree that we par-
ticipate in the divine nature. Also referred to
as deification, divinization, or illumination, it
is a concept derived from the New Testament
regarding the goal of our relationship with the
Triune God. (Theosis and deification may be used
1
interchangeably. We will avoid the term divin-
ization, since it could be misread for divination,
which is another thing altogether!)
Many Protestants, and even some Roman
Catholics, might find the Orthodox concept of
theosis unnerving. Especially when they read a
quote such as this one from St. Athanasius: “God
became man so that men might become gods,”
they immediately fear an influence of Eastern
mysticism from Hinduism or pantheism.
But such an influence could not be further
from the Orthodox understanding. The human
person does not merge with some sort of imper-
sonal divine force, losing individual identity or
consciousness. Intrinsic divinity is never ascribed
to humankind or any part of the creation, and
no created thing is confused with the being of
God. Most certainly, humans are not accorded
ontological equality with God, nor are they con-
sidered to merge or co-mingle with the being of
God as He is in His essence.
In fact, to safeguard against any sort of mis-
understanding of this kind, Orthodox theolo-
gians have been careful to distinguish between
God’s essence and His energies. God is incom-
prehensible in His essence. But God, who is
love, allows us to know Him through His divine
2
energies, those actions whereby He reveals Him-
self to us in creation, providence, and redemp-
tion. It is through the divine energies, therefore,
that we achieve union with God.
We become united with God by grace in the
Person of Christ, who is God come in the flesh.
The means of becoming “like God” is through
perfection in holiness, the continuous process
of acquiring the Holy Spirit by grace through
ascetic devotion. Some Protestants might refer
to this process as sanctification. Another term for
it, perhaps more familiar to Western Christians,
would be mortification—putting sin to death
within ourselves.
In fact, deification is very akin to the Wes-
leyan understanding of holiness or perfection,
with the added element of our mystical union
with God in Christ as both the means and
the motive for attaining perfection. Fr. David
Hester, in his booklet, The Jesus Prayer, identifies
theosis as “the gradual process by which a person
is renewed and unified so completely with God
that he becomes by grace what God is by nature.”
Another way of stating it is “sharing in the divine
nature through grace.”
St. Maximos the Confessor, as Fr. Hester
notes, defined theosis as “total participation in
3
Jesus Christ.” Careful to maintain the ontologi-
cal safeguard noted above, St. Maximos further
stated, “All that God is, except for an identity
in being, one becomes when one is deified by
grace.”
C. S. Lewis understood this concept and
expressed it compellingly in Mere Christianity:
4
are in for. Nothing less. He meant what
he said. (Macmillan, 1952, p. 174)
SUGGESTED READING
At the Corner of East and Now, by Frederica
Mathewes-Green.
She writes clearly, with wit and charm. But
she also communicates the majesty and
beauty and profound glory of Orthodox
worship and life.
The Jesus Prayer, by Fr. John Hester.
This booklet is an excellent overview of the
Jesus Prayer, its history, and its influence in
the process of deification.
Living Icons, by Fr. Michael Plekon.
The book begins with a wonderful chapter
on St. Seraphim of Sarov and stresses his
impact on the lives and thought of so
many Russian émigrés after the Bolshevik
Revolution.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity, by Daniel B.
Clendenin.
This is an insightful and mostly sympathetic
examination of Orthodoxy by a Protestant
scholar.
18
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Shuttleworth lives in Pittsburgh, PA. He
and his wife, Sara, are members of the Holy Virgin
Orthodox Church (OCA) in Carnegie, PA. Mark
was raised in an evangelical Protestant family,
earned a Master of Divinity at Gordon-Conwell
Seminary, was ordained and served for over ten
years as a Presbyterian youth minister. Mark’s jour-
ney to Orthodoxy began in late 2002. He and his
wife were chrismated in spring 2004.
19
Other Topical Booklets
available from Ancient Faith Publishing:
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By Fr. Jon E. Braun
Scripture and Tradition
By Fr. Thomas Zell
The Original Christian Gospel
By Fr. A James Bernstein
What Orthodox Christians Believe
An Ancient Faith Compendium
Heaven and Hell
By Fr. A. James Bernstein
Mary, Ever Virgin?
By Fr. John Hainsworth
Prayer and the Departed Saints
By Dr. David C. Ford, Ph.D.
No Graven Image
By Fr. Jack N. Sparks
Confession: The Healing Sacrament
By Jim Forest
Practical Prayer
By Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
Forgiveness and Reconciliation
By Metropolitan Jonah
and more. . .
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