Hi Sean,

Thanks for your question.

In quoting:

CCC 460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":
(2 Peter 1:4) "For this is why the Word became man, 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, Adv. haeres. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1, 939) "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." (St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3: PG 25, 192B) "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)

You said:
I just cannot understand this.

My knee-jerk response, and I don't mean to be facetious, was: that just means you are normal.

• What do I mean?

If you read on in the Catechism past CCC 460 it talks about the mystery of the Incarnation:

2 Peter 1:4 says:

Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.

Our Blessed Lord instituted the Blessed Eucharist and it is through the Eucharist that we physically partake in His divine nature. (John 6:51-69) We are not divine nature apart from Christ.

Notice that, in quoting Thomas Aquinas, the last portion of CCC 460 said:

"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."

The word "gods" is not capitalized.

• Jesus is a Divine Person with a Divine and Human nature — neither nature confusing the other, but united in the One Person of God's Son.
• We are a Human people with human natures that partake in that divine nature.

All Christians make up the Body of Christ, but all are also called to participate in it fully through the Eucharist. We will be evaluated at our particular judgment to the extent to which we have participated in Jesus' life and in the Eucharist.

Our Blessed Lord has chosen us to assist in His plan of salvation for mankind; we do this by our words and actions in the secular world and are given the courage to do it through our participation in His Divine nature in the Blessed Eucharist. From the Catechism:

When one thinks about partaking in the divine nature of God Himself, one can't help but be amazed at the honor.

On the other side of the coin, when one meditates on the fact that Jesus was 100% man, and
a man like us in all things but sin, one also can't help but be amazed.

This means that God can understand every sinless, but human thing we do in life, because He did it Himself! I don't mean to defame the Name of our Lord, but if Jesus was a man like us in all things but sin, this means he even did the basics like:

• going to the bathroom
• taking a shower
• having to obey His earthly parents
• and ....... being tempted by sin and understanding the struggles of human temptations!

Hope the helps to answer your question.

Stop by again any time you have a question about the Church.

That's what we are here for.

Mike

Hi, Sean —

This awe-inspiring teaching, which sounds wonderfully scandalous, describes essentially how we are saved. It is variously called theosis, deification, and divinization. It means that we become
by grace what God is by nature. What an awesome gift!

In the Eastern churches, they speak of participating in the energies of God, as opposed to his essence. We don't become one in being (essence) with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; we don't join the Holy Trinity. Rather we participate in their created energies. We become saved by being transformed into his likeness from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). In other words, we become more and more like Him, until finally we see Him face to face:

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)

This is what is spoken of in the Roman liturgy when the priest mixes the water and wine and says,

"May we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity."

This echoes St. Athanasius' words,

"God became man so that man might become God" (or, men become gods).

A good booklet on this is published by Conciliar Press:

Theosis: Partakers of the Divine Nature [In a 5-pack]

Also worth checking out is this Wikipedia article:

Theosis

You can also do a web search on "theosis" and you're sure to find pertinent works on the subject.

Hope this helps,

Eric Ewanco

Hi Sean,

Christ became man to give us a share in His divinity. The early Fathers said we are divinized.

Grace is the transforming indwelling of the Holy Trinity — the power of the Spirit who makes us sons of the Father by conforming us to the Son, all of this made possible by the Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ.

His humanity was taken up into the Godhead at the Ascension, and through His Risen, Glorified Body, extended in the Church, we receive a share in His divine life.

We therefore become gods only analogously. We actually become united to God in a real way, through the humanity of Christ.

Hope this helps,

Mary Ann

You said:
Now that I have:

• read your responses
• read the article on Wikipedia, and
• read further in the Catechism

I think I have a better understanding of how we share in Jesus's divine nature

Great!

but I still have a problem with those gods with the lower case g.

• What about John 10:32-36?

Jesus effectively makes the argument (to the Pharisees, who want to stone him) that since God in the Old Testament said to the men to whom the word of God came "I have said you are gods" (Psalm 82:6), how can they stone him for claiming to be God's son?

God calls men gods in a certain sense in Psalm 82, and Jesus uses this to defend his divinity. Ergo, the use of the term gods is appropriate.

In any case, the aphorism is equally expressed as:

"God became men so that men might become God".

You said:
Finally, if I can make a suggestion.

• Could each of you, and your colleagues, name the ten or twenty books on theology that learners such as myself should read and publish the list on your web site?

I don't mean books on spirituality or how to pray. I don't mean the Holy Bible. I don't mean the Catechism. I mean books that both challenge and educate. The kind of books that you read when studying for a degree in theology.

Thank you again and may God bless your ministry.

This is a good idea.  However, as far as I know, none of us has studied theology, and those sorts of books might not be the kind of books you or other lay people might find most profitable to read.  Our site is geared more toward apologetics, and it is those books which we might like to focus on, but I'll see what my colleagues say.

Hope this helps,

Eric

Hi Sean,

I have two theology degrees, and a degree equivalent in philosophy, which doesn't necessarily mean much.

My first degree was taken back at a time and place when primary sources were used. My second degree used text books even for graduate studies, all of them American and most of them awful.

Instead of study texts, I would recommend books by the masters:

• the shorter works by Aquinas
• a nice compendium of the Fathers (who are easy reading), and
• the documents of Vatican II.

Also, you can find good resources at Ignatius Press and at Roman Catholic Books. Some of the present day commentators, like Peter Kreeft and Scott Hahn, can be very good in explaining traditional belief without being too scholarly.

Too many people, in trying to discover authentic Catholicism, go only to the 17th-19th century, and they lose sight of the wonderful things of Vatican II, as well as the wonderful early and medieval giants.

Mary Ann

Hi Sean,

For a novice interested in an introduction to theology, I would recommend two books:

• Theology for Beginners [Paperback] by Frank J. Sheed
• Theology and Sanity [Paperback] by Frank J. Sheed

• Recommended books on the Early Church Fathers

The Early Church Fathers were the very first Christians of the Church.

Mike