When we become united with God does that mean that we actually change in our essence and become God or is there something more subtle going on? A key teaching among many church fathers was the doctrine of theosis – and indeed it still forms a key teaching within the Eastern Orthodox Church today. A famous quote by Athanasius will give a flavour of this theology: ‘God became man so that men might become gods’.

So back to my question – does this mean that we change in our very nature and become God when we are united with him? The simple answer is no. Key to arriving at this conclusion is the general thrust of Scripture which very clearly differentiates between the Creator and his creation. As human beings we fall within the creation side of the fence. To be sure we are the crowning glory of that creation and as we have been created in the image of God we have a very special aspect to our nature. But we are still a part of creation and God is still Creator – an extremely important difference. Any verse that suggests that we are God or gods needs to be interpreted in the light of this central biblical principle. By doing so we will avoid applying to humanity any sense that we have become God.

But if that is the case where does that leave the doctrine of theosis and the quote from Athanasius? The Eastern Orthodox faith explains it like this – it is a union without confusion. That is, we are in union with God without our nature becoming confused with his nature. This is also used to explain how God is three persons in one – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in perfect union with each other without their personhood actually being confused with one another. Father remains Father, Jesus remains Jesus, Spirit remains Spirit – despite the union between them. The same can be said about the dual nature of Jesus – both the human and the divine natures are fully united in one person – Jesus – but without being confused with each other.

So it is with us – we are fully united with God, one with him, but our nature has not been confused (or mixed up) with his nature. We are still human, he is still divine. One way of explaining this is to differentiate between the essence of God and the energies of God. God’s energies are his activities with him himself in those activities. So while we are united with his energies, we are not united with his essence (since that would make us God). It is still, however, a very real union with God, which is an amazing thought, is it not?

There are at least two dangers that stem from this discussion about humanity and our union with God. The first is that in wanting to emphasise our difference to God we can fall into the trap of having too low a view of humanity. This would be wrong for we have been created in God’s image and despite the fall into disobedience the image remains within us though it is marred. The second danger is that we emphasise the union with God to such an extent that we divinize ourselves to the extent that we lose that unique biblical emphasis on the goodness of our createdness. Both dangers actually end up with us being less than we really are – the highest part of God’s amazing creation in union with him.

Being human is not something to be ashamed of – but something to be celebrated. A point God made loud and clear when he became one of us in Jesus.


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