Paul’s Theology of

Redemption
Eph 2:1 And you he made
Eph 2:1
when you
were dead
through the
trespasses
and sins
Eph 2:2 in which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
1
the course of this world
the course of this world
the course of this world
Jam 1:14-15 but each
person is tempted
when he is lured and
enticed by his own
desire.
Jam 1:15 Then desire
when it has conceived
gives birth to sin; and
sin when it is full-
grown brings forth
death.
 the prince of the power of the air,

I beheld falling as lighning from heaven - Jesus

Casting Down of the Rebellious Angels
by Gustave Dore'
 the prince of the power of the air,
I will ascend to heaven.
I will raise my throne above
the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of the
assembly in the recesses of
the north.
I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds.
I will make myself like the
Most High.
 the prince of the power of the air,

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil

prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to
devour.
Heavenlies

Atmosphere

Earth
Atziluth – Divine Realm
-Archetypal World (World of Emanations) or
Divine World
Briah- Spiritual Realsm
Creative World or World of Thrones
Yetsirah- Mental Realm
Formative World
Assiah- Material Realm
Manifest World
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown

Trinity Fall of Lucifer Divine

Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels
Prince of the Power of Air
Mental
Angels

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown
Divine
Trinity Third Heaven
Cherubim &
Seraphim Spiritual
Second Heaven
Arch angels
Mental
Angels First Heaven
"I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago, (whether in
the body, I cannot tell; or
Zoologicals Material
whether out of the body, I cannot
tell: God knoweth;) such an one
caught up to the third heaven" (2
following - the spirit that is now at
2 work in the sons of
Eph 2:3 Among these we all once
lived in

the passions
of our flesh,
 Eph 2:3
3
following the

desires of
Body
and
mind,
Eph 2:3
and so we were by nature children
of wrath,

like the rest of mankind.

Eph 2:4

But God,
Eph 2:4
who is rich in mercy,
Eph 2:4
out of the great love

with which

he
loved us,
Eph 2:5
even when we were
dead through our trespasses,
Eph 2:5
even when
we were
dead
through
our
trespasses,
Eph 2:5
made us alive together
with Christ
 1. Suzoopoieo
συζωοποιέω
Sun = With
Zoo = Alive
Poieo = Make

Make alive with Christ. Col 2:13

Eph 2:5
(by grace you have been
saved),
 2. Sunegerio
συνεγείρω
Sun = with
Egerio = energized,
alive,
awaken,
lifted up
Eph 2:6 and
raised us
up with him,
Eph 2:6
and made us
sit with him
 3. Sunkathizo

συγκαθίζω

Sun = with
Kathiso = cause to sit down
Eph 2:6
in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus,
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Joh 1:12 But to all who

received him, who believed in Christ Material
Zoologicals
his name, he gave power to
become children of God
Pauline Theology of Redemption

The Secret Mystical Teaching of Israel

 "They have not
known, and they do
not understand; In
darkness they keep
walking about; All
the foundations of
the earth are made
Psalms 82:5
to totter. have
I myself
said, 'You are
gods, And all
of you are
sons of the
Psalms 82:5
Most High."
 Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
Venetian, 1727 - 1804
Christ Leading Peter, James, and John to the
Transfiguration
 THAT THEY MAY ALL
John 17: 21

BE ONE; EVEN AS YOU,

FATHER, ARE IN ME, AND I
IN YOU, THAT THEY ALSO
MAY BE IN US,
21 ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν͵ καθὼς
σύ͵ πάτερ͵ ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν
σοί͵ ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν
 THAT
John 17: 22

THEY MAY BE
ONE; EVEN AS
WE ARE ONE,
ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν
καθὼς ἡμεῖς
ἕν͵
2 Peter 1:3

YOU MAY BECOME PARTAKERS of

the DIVINE NATURE [and] escape from

the corruption that is in the world because of

passion.

γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως͵

My dear people, we are already the children of God but
what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all
we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him
because we shall see him as he really is. —
I John 3:2
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting
person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it
now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . . “
The Weight of Glory
(God) said that we were "gods" and He is going to make good
His words. If we let Him-for we can prevent Him if we choose—
He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or
goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all
through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we
cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back
to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own
boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be
long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. —C.
S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 174-5

God said to this hairless monkey, "get on with it, become a god."
—C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
Jesus answered: Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are
gods? So the Law uses the word gods of those to whom the
word of God was addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected.
John 10:34-35
. . . the Spirit and our spirit bear united witness that we are
children of God. And if we are children we are heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his
glory." Rom. 8:15-17
. . the two will become one body. . . This mystery applies to
Christ and the Church. Eph. 5:31-32
They (those who love him) are the ones he chose specially
long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so
that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. — Rom
By Christ, God) hath given us most great and precious
promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine
nature: flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in
the world." (II Peter 1:4)
"For whom (God) forknew, he also predestinated to be made
conformable to the image of His Son, that he might be the
firstborn amongst many brethren." (Romans 8:29)
"We all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are
transformed into the same image from glory into glory, as by
the Spirit of the Lord." (II Corinthians 3:18)
"We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to
face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am
known." (I Corinthians 13:12)
"It hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that, whe
he shall appear, we shall be like to Him because we shall see
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom. And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like
mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter
as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work
of the Lord who is Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17-18
I am the light of the world. —Jesus, John 8:12
You are the light of the world. —Jesus, Matt. 5:14
...if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.
Gal. 4:7
 Gregory of
Nazianzen
(c 330-391)

"God brings the dead to life as partakers of fire or light.

But whether even all shall hereafter partake of God, let it
be elsewhere discussed."
 Saint Gregory Nazianzen,
The Risen Christ "still pleads even
now as Man for my salvation, for He
continues to wear the Body which He
assumed, until He makes me God by
the power of His Incarnation" 4.

330–390, Cappadocian theologian, Doctor of the Church, one of the Four

Fathers of the Greek Church. He is sometimes called Gregory Theologus. He
studied widely in his youth and was from his student days a friend of St. Basil
the Great. Basil appointed the unwilling Gregory to a bishopric, and Gregory
succeeded him as principal leader of the conciliatory party in the church
struggle against Arianism. In 379, Gregory was chosen bishop of
Constantinople. By his preaching he wrought a great revival of orthodoxy
there.
He has called men gods that are deified of His Grace,
not born of His Substance.
St. Augustine

354-430 AD
By 396 he had become bishop of Hippo
Souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit,
themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to
others. Hence comes . . . abiding in God, the being made like to
God, and, highest of all, the being made God. —St. Basil the
Great, On the Spirit.

Greek bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia after A.D. 370 and

a vigorous opponent of Arianism.
The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of
the divine nature”: (2 Pet 1:4) “For this is why
the Word became man, [1265, 1391] and the Son of
God became the Son of man: so that man, by
entering into communion with the Word and
thus receiving divine sonship, might become a
son of God.” (St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses
. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1.939)
St. Irenaeus (A.D. 125-202) was born around the year A.D. 125, a
native of Asia Minor. While very young, St. Irenaeus became the pupil
of St. Polycarp in Smyrna. St. Polycarp is one of the Apostolic Fathers,
having been a pupil of the Apostle St. John. St. Irenaeus became a
priest of the Church of Lyons during the prosecution of Marcus
Aurelius. In A.D. 177, Irenaeus was sent to Rome. St. Irenaeus returned
to Lyons to occupy the vacant bishopric, by which time the persecutions
had ceased. Almost all of writings of St. Irenaeus were directed against
Gnosticism,
 “For the Son of God became man
so that we might BECOME
GOD.”
(St. Athanasius, De inc., 54, 3:
PG 25, 192B)

ST ATHANASIUS,
PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA,
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
the great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis of the 4th century.
[God] gave himself to us through his
Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit,
we become communicants in the divine
[460]
nature [...] For this reason, THOSE
IN WHOM THE SPIRIT DWELLS
ARE DIVINIZED.
(St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1, 24: PG
26.585 & 588)
 “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make
us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so
that he, made man, might MAKE MEN GODS.”
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57: 1-4).

1225–1274.
Italian Dominican friar, theologian, and philosopher. The most
influential thinker of the medieval period,
Redeemed
 "The main tenet of the
Orthodox faith is the belief
that salvation is by being
united with Christ who is
Isvara incarnate. By being
united with Him, we are to
grow into God's image by
becoming more and more
god-like in character, in
love, in goodness and in
wisdom. This process of
transformation is called
theosis or divinization."

Paulos Mar
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown
Let us make Man in
Trinity our own image.
Divine
Cherubim & Gen 1:26-28
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown
Let us make Man in
Trinity our own image.
Divine
Cherubim & Gen 1:26-28
Seraphim Psa 8:5 thou hast made him little
less than God, and dost crown him
Spiritual
Arch angels with glory and honor.

Mental
Angels

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Gen 3:24 He drove out the man; and at
Spiritual
Arch angels the east of the garden of Eden he placed
the cherubim, and a flaming sword which
Angels turned every way, to guard the Mental
way to the
tree of life.

Material
Zoologicals
After the fall A Cherubim
protected the tree of life
until Man was ready to enter
and partake of it.
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels
Heb 2:7 Thou didst make him for a little while
lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him
Mental
Angels
with glory and honor,

Material
Zoologicals
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were confined under

Material
theZoologicals
law, kept under restraint until faith should be
revealed.
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels
Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were confined under
the law, kept under restraint until faith should be
revealed.
Zoologicals Material
 The Unknown

Trinity Divine
Cherubim &
Seraphim
Spiritual
Arch angels

Mental
Angels

Joh 1:12 But to all who

received him, who believed in Christ Material
Zoologicals
his name, he gave power to
become children of God
Rom 8:14-17 For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you have received
the spirit of sonship.
When we cry, "Abba! Father!"
It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with
our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and
fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that
we may also be glorified with him.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all
ministering spirits sent forth to
serve, for the sake of those who are
to obtain salvation?
The Tree contains ten centers called sephiroth, individually sephira,
which are connected by 22 paths.
Eph 2:7 that in the
coming ages he might
show the immeasurable
riches of his grace
in kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus.
 The real anthropological meaning of deification is

Christification.
Christ as "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all
creation" (Col 1:15),
"every man" to become "mature in Christ" (Col 1:28),
"have come to fullness of life in Him" (Col. 2:10).
"to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13),
to acquire "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16), the heart of Christ
(cf. Eph 3:17)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of His
fullness we have all received..." (John 1:14, 16).

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor, that you through His poverty might become rich"
(II Corinthians 8:9).

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those

who are in Christ Jesus... But you are not in the flesh
but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in
you.” Romans 8:1
"it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we
know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is," (I John 3:2).
 When we unite ourselves unto Christ we become
"transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just
as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).
"And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man"
(I Corinthians 15:49).
The Purpose of
Being
is
to Become
After Darwin, people came to realize that God has not
finished the creation of the world. He is still creating.
Tilhard DeChardin, the great anthropologist, believed
that the destiny of man is to rise toward spiritual
perfection until at last he is united with God.
Bishop Maximos Aghiorgiussis writes, "The fathers
make a distinction between the image of God in man,
and his likeness to God; image is the potential given
to man, through which he can obtain the life of theosis
(communion with God). Likeness with God is the
actualization of this potential; it is becoming more and
more what one already is: becoming more and more
God's image, more and more God-like. The distinction
between image and likeness is, in other words, the
distinction between being and becoming."
Theosis in no way means that human beings "become
God" in a pantheistic sense.
God is by nature unknowable in His essence. He
becomes knowable through His energies, which are the
ways by which He, in His grace, has opened Himself to
us. "No one has seen God at any time. The only
begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He
has declared Him" (John 1:18). Although not capable of
knowing God in His essence, we are capable of
knowing Him through His energies, since He is present
in each of His energies.
The New Age lie
St. Basil "We know our God from His energies, but
we do not claim that we can draw near to His
essence, for His energies come down to us, but His
essence remains unapproachable.“
Man's knowledge of God can be only of His
energies, not of His essence.
Humanization
"We are not human beings;
we are human becomings"

M.M.Thomas