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[Alexandr Korol]

“Deification is the Christian teaching about the union of man with God, the participation of a created human in the uncreated divine life through the action of divine grace. The essence of deification is briefly expressed in the statement of Athanasius the Great: “God became man so that man might become God” — which signifies the potential possibility for every person, even during their lifetime, to attain salvation in spiritual unity with God.

Origin In the text of the New Testament, this term is absent. However, certain indications are present: that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.

John 17:21
And even more specifically: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 1:4
It is not known exactly who first used the term “deification.” It appears in the 4th century in one of Gregory the Theologian’s letters to Basil the Great. Some scholars refer to the formula of Athanasius the Great (a Church Father of the 4th century), “God became man so that man might become God,” as classic, and essentially just a clearer formulation of a thought that already belonged to Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd century). Deification is a continual action, the striving of man toward God, a moral likeness to Him: Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:16
As a person is deified, as their nature is transfigured, they receive the fruits of the Holy Spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

Galatians 5:22–24
All the qualities of Adam before the Fall are restored: communion with God, dominion over all creation, and others. Gregory the Theologian points out that when man is freed from sin, he becomes a visible God: