by Leonard V Johnson
Why were you born? Were you born to be a ruler? Might the Creator of the universe have a plan for you in the future?
One doctrine of our Lord Jesus that most Protestants and Catholics alike label us as a “heretic” is our Lord’s clear teaching that His begotten children are going to become Gods. Additional information is available in our two sermons, “You Were Born to Rule!” and “You Were Born to Rule! – Part 2.”
This doctrine of our Lord Jesus is often called “unorthodox,” or “outside of mainstream Christianity.” But in truth, both God’s living word and early professors of Christ show that our Lord Jesus became a man so mankind could become part of the divine family. However, since the overall majority of people who claim to be Christian are actually ignorant of what God’s living word says, they simply do not properly understand that deification is taught by the LORD God.
In this article, I’d like to show that deification is biblical and the intended destiny of mankind.
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, teaches deification ──
“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32) Jesus answered them, ‘Many good works I have shown you from MY FATHER. For which of those works do you stone Me?’
33) The Jews answered Him, saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, BUT FOR BLASPHEMY, and because YOU, BEING A MAN, MAKE YOURSELF GOD.’
34) Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods’? 35) If He called them [speaking about the children of the Most High; Psalm 82:6], to whom the word of God came (and Scripture cannot be broken), 36) do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?’” – John 10:31-36.
In fact, the understanding of human deification──or rather, theosis──is a longstanding thread of Christian theology. Eastern Orthodox writers clearly see Psalm 82:6 (“I said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.”) as a promise that believers may partake in God’s nature. They also assert that our Lord Jesus, quoting the Book of Psalms, shows that humanity’s destiny is to become “like God,” not merely to just obey Him. The Old Testament usage of “gods” for human judges indeed alludes to this transformative understanding, which our Lord Jesus Christ directly addresses, with no allusion to claiming Sonship with the Father.
Father God wants godly offspring. And this is the reasoning behind why the LORD God created mankind male and female, created marriage, as the Prophet Malachi was inspired to record for us ──
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God [Elohim] created us? … 14) Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, … Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant [agreement]. 15) But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why ONE? He seeks godly offspring. …” – Malachi 2:10, 14, 15.
It’s sad that most Protestants, such as Lutherans, Anglicans, Reformed, Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, and many others, view deification as “outside of mainstream Christianity” because it isn’t part of their traditional soteriology. They teach that this doctrine blurs their understanding of justification, making salvation appear to be some kind of parlor trick or mystical transformation, and it undermines their core Protestant doctrines.
The Apostle Paul, standing upon the Areopagus speaking to some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (Acts 17:18-32) (AI-generated)
Our beloved Apostle Paul also taught that we are godly offspring ──
“for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29) Therefore, since WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.” – Acts 17:28-29.
The Apostle Paul, speaking to the Athenians gathered at the Areopagus, was likely echoing Greek poets ──most likely Aratus’s Phenomena or Cleanthes’s hymn to Zeus ──flipping the script here on the Athenians, pointing them to the true Creator of the heavens and of earth, not any idol they knew. He declares to them that God, who made the world, doesn’t dwell in any man-made temples and is the true source of all life. Paul likely quoted Aratus because his Phenomena was a well-known poem there in Athens at that time.
Additionally, concerning true Christians, the Apostle Paul specifically teaches us through his inspired writings, “ … But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:16b. Our Lord Jesus Christ “the firstborn among many brethren.” – Romans 8:29b.
O’ indeed, there are to be ‘many brethren’ (please read and study, “What Do You Mean… SALVATION? – Part I” and “Part II.”). The glorious offer of deification and eternal salvation is not going to be limited to only a few ── “as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: … 6) ‘And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” – Luke 3:4, 6. Although most will not be offered this glorious opportunity in this age.
As the LORD lives, “who He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, …” – Romans 8:29a.
Indeed, the LORD God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and it’s God that we are to be like!
Our Lord Jesus is our Elder Brother, our God, our Creator and High Priest ── and upon the glorious resurrection we are to be born-again children of God within the God family ── to be deified!
True Christians are to display the fruits of God’s Spirit, of ‘love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ to our families and to our neighbors, and to work on being perfect as God is perfect ──
“’ You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44) But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45) So that you yourselves may be the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46) For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the tax collectors practice the same thing? 47) And if you salute your brethren only, what have you done that is extraordinary? Do not the tax collectors practice the same thing?
48) Therefore, you shall be perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect.’” – Matthew 5:43-48, NET.
True Christians are to live as the LORD God wants us to live and to project and build the fruits of His Spirit! (Here’s a YouTube video called, “Does the World Know You Are a Christian?”).
The LORD God is holy (hagios, here meaning, of moral quality, consecrated, acceptable to God), and their begotten children are to be holy ──
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be [spiritually] sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14) as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to THE FORMER LUSTS, as in your ignorance; 15) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16) because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” – 1 Peter 1:13-16.
Let us notice that what occurred to our Lord and Savior is going to occur to us, God willing ──
“But now CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21) For since by man came death [the first death], by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23) But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” – 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.
“For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” – Romans 11:16.
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be [as in our profession], but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” – 1 John 3:1-2.
‘We shall be like Him, …’ and what is Christ Jesus like in His glory? Notice ──
“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13) and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14) His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15) His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; … 16) … and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.” – Revelation 1:12-14, 15, 16.
Let us also notice this part of a loving prayer that our Lord Jesus prayed to Father God ──
“’ I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10) And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11) Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.’” – John 17:9-11.
Our Lord and Savior prayed that those who were given to Him (for ‘we were bought with a price’ 1Corinthians 6:20) would become one as they are one. ONE DIVINE GOD FAMILY!
Illustration of the LORD God looking down upon the Earth, seeing their few of begotten children shining ‘as lights throughout a darkened world.’
Again, the Apostle Paul clearly teaches us ──
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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 by the Spirit of the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18.
“As God said: … 18) ‘I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.’” – 2 Corinthians 6:16, 18.
“Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15) that you may become blameless and harmless, CHILDREN OF GOD without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”- Philippians 2:14-15.
Our beloved Apostle John also clearly teaches us ──
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” – John 1:12, NET.
Indeed, “the children of man” are people ──a restatement of God’s living word, “sons of men” or “children of men.” The offspring of cows are calves. What are the offspring of God called? The children of God.
The beloved Apostle Peter also clearly teaches deification ──
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God [God the Father] and of Jesus our Lord. 3) as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4) by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, …” – 2 Peter 1:3, 4.
Truly, ‘partakers of the divine nature’ in its full ‘exceedingly great and precious promise’ is deification! Yet, this does not fully occur until we are ‘changed from mortal to immortal and our bodies are changed from corruptible to incorruptible’ at the resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:50-53).
To The Universe and Beyond!
God’s living word ── the Holy Bible that might very well be collecting dust on your shelf ── tells us that if we respond properly to the LORD God (either in this present evil age or the age to come), then co-ruling the universe is part of our destiny!
“For I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19) For the earnest expectation of THE CREATION [speaking here of the entirety of the universe and all that is in it] eagerly waits for the revealing of the [children of God]. 20) For THE CREATION was subjected to futility [meaning, pointlessness and uselessness; just as I’ve asked before, especially in my youth ── Why did God create so many planets through the universe that cannot sustain life? Note: All carbon-based life as we know it on Earth absolutely requires water to survive], not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21) because THE CREATION itself also will BE DELIVERED FROM THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22) For we know that THE WHOLE CREATION groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” – Romans 8:18-22.
Truly, co-ruling THE CREATION is indeed part of mankind’s destiny as born-again children of God! □