Page 642
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2026 6:38 pm
Origin:
The term itself does not appear in the text of the New Testament. However,
specific indications are present:
“...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they
also may be one in Us.”
John 17:21
And even more specifically:
“...by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may 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 “theosis.” It appears in the 4th
century in a letter from Gregory the Theologian to Basil the Great. Some researchers
consider the formula of Athanasius the Great (a 4th-century Father of the Church) —
“God became man so that man might become god” — to be the classic and,
in essence, merely a clearer formulation of a thought already belonging to Irenaeus
of Lyons (2nd century).
Theosis is a ceaseless action, a striving of man toward God, a moral
assimilation to Him:
“Be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16
As theosis progresses and nature is transformed, a person is granted the fruits
of the Holy Spirit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Galatians 5:22–24
The term itself does not appear in the text of the New Testament. However,
specific indications are present:
“...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they
also may be one in Us.”
John 17:21
And even more specifically:
“...by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may 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 “theosis.” It appears in the 4th
century in a letter from Gregory the Theologian to Basil the Great. Some researchers
consider the formula of Athanasius the Great (a 4th-century Father of the Church) —
“God became man so that man might become god” — to be the classic and,
in essence, merely a clearer formulation of a thought already belonging to Irenaeus
of Lyons (2nd century).
Theosis is a ceaseless action, a striving of man toward God, a moral
assimilation to Him:
“Be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16
As theosis progresses and nature is transformed, a person is granted the fruits
of the Holy Spirit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Galatians 5:22–24