Incarnation and Deification

We have been created in the image of God and to be like God, and though it has often been tarnished and obscured, the divine image nonetheless remains. God has never backed away from his purpose. Indeed, Jesus Christ has himself become the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in him we are made complete (Colossians 1:15; 2:9-10). 

By his Incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, and through the work of the Cross reveals both what it means to be human and what it means to be divine. So the Incarnation shows that human nature was meant to be the bearer of divinity. We are expressly created for it.

Deification is the fulfillment of what it means to be human. It is to become in Christ, “partakers of the divine nature.” To be like God, becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. To be conformed to the image of the Son, who is himself the image of the Father. To be who we truly and inherently are, what God planned for us even from before the foundation of the world. To enjoy in Christ the relationship he has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. For it is the gracious work of the Father, through the faithfulness of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:4)

Gratitude is Humility is Happiness

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His Love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1)

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

We Cannot Be Saved Without Him

If we do not forgive our brother for his own sake, then we do not yet understand. For he is our brother, with whom we are intimately and inextricably connected — and we cannot be saved without him.

We are all united by Creation and Incarnation. For all are created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ, and in Christ, and all consist and hold together in Christ (Colossians 1:16-17).

By the Incarnation, Christ has united God with all humankind. He became not just one of us but one with us. Indeed, Christ has become Human Being, the only Human Being there is, and of which we all participate. He is precisely what it means to be human.

Christ has become intimately and inextricably with humankind, and so we are intimately and inextricably united with each other. This union we have with each other cannot be undone any more than the Incarnation can be undone. Therefore, we must forgive one another, for we cannot be saved without one another.

The Salvation to Which We Are Called

The Salvation to which we are called and by which we are delivered is the Way of the Cross, the Way of Dying to ourselves and Living unto God.

We see this in the Sacrament of Baptism. St. Paul teaches that in baptism we are immersed into the death of Christ and buried with him, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have become one with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be one with him in his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). The early Church understood this as the New Birth. Paul continues:

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8-11)

Salvation is not an abstract thing, some other where and other when. It is tangible, livable, even edible. It is the life we live now in the body as we yield to the life Christ now lives in us. This is the paradox Paul declares in Galatians 2:20.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Salvation is the faithfulness of Christ in us, the life of Christ energizing us, transforming us. It is participating in the divine nature, being conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. So it is always giving up all we have and are, and following Christ. The extent that we have not yet done so is the extent the we have yet to be saved and that our faith is still lacking.

A Retributive Deity is Abominable

A retributive deity is a petty deity, and one that is endlessly retributive even moreso. Such a being is not worthy of worship. It is  not a being who is love, and so not a being that can truly be called God. For the revelation of God we have in Jesus Christ is this: God is Love (1 John 4:8). Love is not merely something God has, or brings into play from time to time. No, Love is what God is. It is the very nature of God to love, at all times and in all circumstances. There is nothing God has created that is not also the object of God’s love.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. If we have seen him, we have seen the Father. There is nothing retributive or retaliatory, for God is Love, and love is not retributive or retaliatory. God does not seek revenge. Even as he was being crucified, the prayer of Lord Jesus was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

To view God as a retributive deity, one has to ignore what Lord Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. This is not retribution. This is the boundless love of the God who is love. St. Paul describes this love of us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Retribution and retaliation have no place at all here. That would be self-seeking. That would be keeping record of being wronged, and holding grudges. That is not love but pettiness. But love never fails, never gives up, but perseveres for the sake of the loved one — even for one’s enemies!

Even in Romans 12:17-21, where we read of “wrath” and “vengeance” of God, it is no less about the love of God. For God is love, so even the wrath and vengeance of God must be the manifestation of the God’s love even towards the wicked. It is not retributive but restorative, to put things right.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It is not our job to put things right; we would skew to self-interest and try to even the score. Leave it to God, who always acts in righteousness. It is God’s to handle.

How does God repay? Evil for evil; “You did something against me, now I’ll do something against you”? No, God does not retaliate, does not exact retribution. That would be no better than a petty deity, a Zeus-like being.

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil,” Paul says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Why does he say that? Because that is the way God is, and that is the way of Love. God is Love and so does not repay evil for evil, does not retaliate or seek revenge, but overcomes evil with good. Behold the Cross.

Therefore, with St. Isaac of Nineveh, 7th century Christian Bishop, we say, “Even to think this of God and to suppose that retribution for evil acts is to be found with Him is abominable.”

The Highest Authority for Christian Truth?

Sola Scriptura is the Protestant doctrine that makes one’s own interpretation of Scripture the highest authority for Christian faith and life, and by which interpretation, one is competent to reprove and correct the teaching of the early Church. It is the doctrine by which Protestants allow themselves the right of private interpretation by which they may judge anything and everything in the Church. They may not mean the doctrine to do that; it is certainly not defined that way, but that is how it turns out — the logic of it leads inexorably to that conclusion. 

Now, it is often held in some forms of Sola Scriptura that that there are other forms of authority in the Church, but that they all must be subject to the Scriptures — and indeed they do! But in Sola Scriptura, what this actually ends up meaning, sooner or later, that all other such forms of authority must be subject to one’s private interpretation of the Scriptures. So the interpreter becomes his own highest authority on what must be the faith and life of the Church.

Some have recognized the problem and titled it Solo Scriptura as a safeguard against Sola Scriptura. It is the recognition that, yes, there are other legitimate authorities in the Church that must be considered. But that does not solve the problem because it does not recognize that the nature of Scripture is such that it must be interpreted if it is to have any meaning or have authority. But if Scripture must be interpreted in order to have authority, and there is no authoritative interpretation of Scripture, then it is incoherent to speak of Scripture as being authoritative.

On the other hand, if there are other legitimate Church authorities, as many/most proponents of Sola Scriptura affirm, but they are authoritative only insofar as they agree with Scripture — as I have heard may proponents say — then how does one determine which of those authorities truly agree with Scripture except by comparing it against one’s own interpretation. We may say we are testing it against Scripture, but what does that really mean except that we are testing it against our interpretation of Scripture.

There are yet others who, seeing the problem of Solo Scriptura, but finding Sola Scriptura for whatever reason inadequate, have proposed Prima Scriptura. Whether that is a sufficient view depends on how it is defined:

• It affirms Scripture as primary, but how does it relate to the authority of Church and Tradition (what has been handed down from the beginning)?
• Is Scripture seen as separate from the Church, or as within the Church, arising through and from the Church?
• Is it seen as separate from the Tradition (what has been handed down from the beginning), or as within Tradition, handed down with all the apostles handed down once for all to the saints?
• Is it to be interpreted apart from the Church, or interpreted by the Church, by the "rule of faith," what was handed down (traditioned) from the apostles?

Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky, in Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View, put forth a view that might be an ecclesial Prima Scriptura: Scripture is primary; tradition witnesses to it; the Church interprets; private judgment contrary to the Church is rejected. Not Scripture alone apart from the Church, but Scripture first and always — in the Church and by the Spirit.

It should be worth nothing that the early Church Fathers never had a doctrine of Sola Scriptura or anything like it. They clearly affirmed the sufficiency of Scripture — but only as interpreted by the Church, the “rule of faith,” and what was handed down from the beginning.