Spurgeon On Sharing The Divine Nature — Evangelical Theosis?

Charles Spurgeon the preacher

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires (2 Peter 1:3-4, NLT).

I have been focussing on this verse quite a lot recently. Newton’s I once was blind but now I see expresses this same truth in a different way. The Christian as Tozer puts it really can be united with God!

What does this all mean for our workplaces, our homes, our churches? We need to meditate on this for some while, I think. How can we truly be Christ-like as managers? As employees? As friends? As family members?

Spurgeon wrote about this verse in his typical masterly blend of theological exposition and pastoral application. I have very lightly adapted his thoughts here, including NLT verses to aid our understanding:

Spurgeon on 2 Peter 1:4

To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect of essence; but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), so we, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense made in the image of the Most High, and are partakers of the divine nature.

We are, by grace, made like God. “God is love”; we become love:

“Let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love . . . All who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world” (1 John 4:16-17, NLT).

God is truth; we become true, and we love that which is true:

“We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” (Ephesians 4:14-15, NLT)

God is good, and he makes us good by his grace, so that we become the pure in heart who shall see God

“God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Moreover, we become partakers of the divine nature in even a higher sense than this—in fact, in as lofty a sense as can be conceived, short of our being absolutely divine.

Do we not become members of the body of the divine person of Christ? Yes, the same blood which flows in the head flows in the hand: and the same life which quickens Christ quickens his people:

^“For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory” (Colossians 3:3-4, NLT)

And as if this were not enough, we are married unto Christ:

I will make you my wife forever,
    showing you righteousness and justice,
    unfailing love and compassion.
I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
    and you will finally know me as the Lord (Hosea 2:19-20, NLT)

He has betrothed us to himself in righteousness and in faithfulness, and “the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17, NLT)

Oh! marvelous mystery! We look into it, but who shall understand it? One with Jesus—so one with him that the branch is not more one with the vine than we are a part of the Lord, our Saviour, and our Redeemer!

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NLT)

While we rejoice in this, let us remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature will manifest their high and holy relationship in their interactions with others. They will make it plain by their daily walk and conversations that they have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. O for more divine holiness of life!

Adapted from Spurgeon, C.H. (1896) Morning and evening: Daily readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster.

This all sounds remarkably like the 6th century definition of the doctrine of theosis which I found in a book I have been reading lately. It says the goal of a Christian is “being as much as possible like and in union with God.” The word theosis is not much used today by Western Christians, but is still used by the Orthodox and appears in the Early Church Fathers.

Evangelicals are usually very wary of speaking about the idea of us sharing in the divine nature. This is holy ground and we must tread carefully, but it is striking how far Spurgeon is willing to go with the idea that the Christian is renewed into the image of Christ, and in some mysterious sense becomes one with God himself.