The Deification of Man
by Robert Rosskopf
To sit on the throne of God is to become a god. In Revelations 3:21, the faithful are promised that they will share the throne of Jesus Christ, just as he shares the throne of his father.
The early Christian fathers also taught that we can become Gods.
"we have not been made gods from the beginning, but at first merely men, then at length gods" |
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"all men are deemed worthy of becoming gods, and of having power to become sons of the Highest" |
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| "The
Word was made flesh in order that we might be enabled to be made gods. .
. . Just as the Lord, putting on the body, became a man, so also we men
are both deified through his flesh, and henceforth inherit everlasting
life."
(Athanasius, Against the Arians, 1.39, 3.39. ) |
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"But
he himself that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons
of God. 'For he has given them power to become the sons of God' [John
1:12]. If then we have been made sons of god, we have also been made
gods."
(Augustine, On the Psalms, 50:2). |
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"worthy men are called by the appellation of gods, being destined to sit on the thrones with the other gods that have been first put in their places by the Savior" "yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god." |
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"[God] made man for that purpose, that from men they may become gods." |
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"Now it is possible that some may dislike what we have said representing the Father as the one true God, but admitting other beings besides the true god, who have become gods by having a share of god.. as then there are many gods, but to us there is but one God the Father, and many Lords, but to us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ." |
Dominican Catholic priest Jordan Vajda investigated the claims of the LDS teaching of the deification of man. He had this to say at the end of his 1998 thesis at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley:
| “What has resulted from taking another look at The God Makers? The Mormons are truly god makers, as the doctrine of exaltation explains. The fullness of human salvation means becoming a god, yet, what was meant to be a term of ridicule has turned out to be a term of approbation, for the witness of the Greek Fathers of the Church is that they also believe that salvation meant becoming a god. It seems that if one’s soteriology cannot accommodate a doctrine of human divinization, then he has, at least implicitly, if not explicitly, rejected the heritage of the early Christian Church and departed from the faith of first millennium Christianity. However, if that is the case, those that would espouse such a soteriology also believe, in fact, that Christianity from about the second century on has apostatized and gotten it wrong on this core issue of human salvation. Thus ironically, those who would excoriate Mormons for believing the doctrine of exaltation actually agree with them that the early Church experienced a great apostasy on fundamental questions. And the supreme irony is that such persons should probably investigate the claims of the LDS Church, which proclaims that from within itself can be found the restoration of all things.” |
This doctrine was lost over the intervening centuries until restored by revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
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"19
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word,
which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is
sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed,
unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this
priesthood...then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that
he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye
abide in my covenant, ...
20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them." (D & C 132) |