Deification and the Rule of Faith
The Communication of the Gospel in Hellenistic Culture
by
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Both Irenaeus and Athanasius interpret scripture through the lens of the rule of faith or respectively the scope, which resembles their respective descriptions of deification in content and encompasses the stages of creation, the Fall, redemption, and the resurrection. Further, both Fathers use this holistic perspective of scriptural interpretation to explain specific passages that relate humanity to divinity. The only way that humanity becomes a god or partakes in the divine nature is through Christ, who provides for humanity’s deification according to the requirements of the divine oikonomia.
Many of the second and third century Church Fathers like Justin, Irenaeus, Theophilus, Cyprian, and even Tertullian use language that describes Christians as gods, and they predominantly relate this illustration with scripture. Tertullian, who so vehemently opposes philosophy, writes, “If the scripture has not been afraid to designate as gods human beings, who have become sons of God by faith, you may be sure that the same scripture has with greater propriety conferred the name of the Lord on the true and one-only Son of God.”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]--> When the Church Fathers of the second century refer to Christians as gods, they do so many times in reference to Ps 82:6, in which the Psalmist writes, “I said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High’” (NASB).
Irenaeus relates Ps 82:6 to his descriptions of deification in three instances, claiming in the first instance that this passage refers to those who are gods and receive the grace of adoption. He is cautious in using language that one ascribes for divinity to describe sanctified humanity, realizing the misconception that could arise since he is not referring directly to the Incarnate Christ; therefore, he carefully qualifies exactly what he means. Irenaeus asserts in his interpretation of Ps 82:6 that there is only one God or Lord, the one who proclaims to Moses, “I am that I am.” It is through his Son, Christ the Lord, and through him alone, that one becomes a god by adoption.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[2]<!--[endif]--> Humanity is separate ontologically from the one true God, “I Am;” but through God as the Incarnate Christ and by receiving his grace, one may become a god and a fellow heir with Christ through adoption.
In another passage, Irenaeus relates Ps 82:6–7 with deification to describe how humanity is not made a god at first but progresses towards this end, being a god or more accurately being made after the image and likeness of God. In this citation, he emphasizes the process of deification, which occurs over the entire oikonomia. He writes, “For we cast blame upon Him, because we have not been made gods from the beginning, but at first merely men, then at length gods.”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[3]<!--[endif]-->
In a third passage, Irenaeus references Ps 82:6 with his description of deification and adds verse seven for the purpose of relating “gods who die like men” to those who have not received the gift of adoption and, therefore, have not received deification. These men deny the Incarnation and “defraud human nature of promotion into God,” which can only be possible through the Incarnate Christ. Irenaeus goes on to explain how true deification occurs. He writes,
He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God. For by no other means could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality, unless we had been united to incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be joined to incorruptibility and immortality, unless, first, incorruptibility and immortality has become that which we also are, so that the corruptible might be swallowed up by incorruptibility, and the mortal by immortality, that we might receive the adoption of sons?
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About the Book
Evangelicals are often surprised or maybe even shocked whenever they encounter the early Church Fathers’ description of salvation in terms of deification, divinization, or apotheosis. It was Athanasius, the black dwarf, the champion of Nicene orthodoxy, who coined the phrase in his On the Incarnation, “God became man that man might become god.” Hundreds of years before Athanasius, Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp, disciple of the Apostle John, wrote of Christ’s salvific provision for humanity using similar deification type concepts.
Why did these Church Fathers use such seemingly foreign biblical concepts? Could it be that influential theologian, Adolf Harnack, is right and these church Fathers’ implementation of deification reveal that the gospel changed from what Jesus originally intended after being exposed to Hellenistic culture? Not at all, at least, that is what this work argues. It does so, first, by comparing an overall understanding of deification in both Athanasius’ and Irenaeus’ respective writings. This section encompasses the first three chapters, which exhibit how the Fathers’ use of deification is immersed in their respective descriptions of salvation history, the Trinity, and Christology. Further, this work assesses Harnack’s proposal by comparing the Fathers’ respective descriptions of deification with that of many Greek and Roman philosophers. Finally, this work seeks to propose that both Irenaeus and Athanasius contextualize the gospel by comparing the Father’s respective descriptions of deification with their respective understandings of scriptural authority and the rule of faith.
About the Author
Daniel E.Wilson is the senior pastor of Plainview Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina. He and his wife Ginny have one daughter, Lydia. Daniel grew up on the outskirts of a small town in Northwest Arkansas, Siloam Springs, where he and his four siblings enjoyed the breathtaking foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Daniel graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Animal Science only to find that he would pursue a MDiv and then PhD at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Eventually, Daniel graduated with his PhD in 2005. His dissertation, A Comparison of Irenaeus’ and Athanasius’ Respective Descriptions of Deification in Relation to Adolf Harnack’s History of Dogma, is a culmination of his doctoral studies regarding the doctrine of deification in the Patristic period of the church.