Chosen to be deified

Recently I was reading from Ephesians 1:3-14, and from the Orthodox Study Bible, I understood that this is a significant passage that deals with the work of the Holy Trinity in our salvation.

In the beginning itself, the blessed St. Paul talks about the joyful privilege we have been given with as the children of God - "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." And it is true. Indeed, God has blessed us so much, and hence the Christian life is a response to God’s initiative, especially that of the Father but also that of the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The heavenly places talked about here, are the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit within us, which are experienced in Christ, that is when one is joined with Christ in baptism. This is the born-again life, the eternal life that we experience in the present because the Kingdom of God is now within us. Because this is a lifestyle that can only be experienced rather than described, attempting to do so here would be an injustice.

Chosen for a purpose - In verse 4, St. Paul reminds us that like Israel of old, we have been chosen for a purpose. "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself." Here we see God’s intent for the Incarnation was to adopt us humans as the sons of God, that is deification. We are already the children of God but through the Incarnation, Christ, who is God by nature, became man by choice, and so like St. Athanasius said (God became man that men might become god), we who are human in nature, can how partake in the divine nature by choice. And so now we get to be transformed be like Christ, as the true sons of God, because we can now partake of His very nature!

What a privilege given to lowly mortals, that we can be divine! This is what the ancients referred to as 'theosis', and is the lifelong goal of the orthodox Christian life.

St. Paul further tells us that we have been redeemed, forgiven of our sins and also been given eternal life, the life of God. This life 'zoe' is given to us the moment we were baptized through the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us (v. 13). It is this eternal life within us that is part of the process whereby we partake of the divine nature.

So becoming a Christian is a supernatural process. It involves an invisible transformation of our spirit and natures into the divine nature of God. This is a lifetime process and one that we must work towards till the end of our lives. Our goal is to become more and more like Christ.

So now the question remains - how do we partake in this? By constantly being in communion with Christ and His Church, and living like Christ. Being a Christian is not so much inviting Christ into our life (as some churches say) but getting oneself into Christ’s life. This is accomplished personally through daily reading the Scriptures, praying and following the spiritual traditions, and corporately through attending Church, partaking of the Eucharist and other spiritual and mission activities of the Church.

If you don't want to partake in these, you can't grow spiritually, and your nature will not be renewed or transformed. Remember, that this transformation is a life-long process, and the more we are part of the Church, the Body of Christ, the more we become like Christ and more of eternal life, and hence more of the divine nature.

So let us remember that we have been pre-destined and chosen by God to be saved. And if we don’t take our spiritual lives seriously, how can we become all that we are meant to be? Remember the words of St. Augustine of Hippo - "Thou has made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee". So if we don't take our spiritual lives seriously, we will be lost because we have gone away from the focal purpose of our lives.

Chosen to bring about redemption to creation: At the end of this passage, the blessed Apostle adds the final purpose of why we have been chosen. We are part of the Church, the Body of Christ, which is the mystery of salvation that is meant for all of Creation itself. In other words, the original creation which was tainted and corrupted by Adam's sin is going to be now renewed through the Church. So we have been united in Christ not just for ourselves but for the redemption of all creation, affecting this age and the age to come.

So here's what all this is about. The Body of Christ is the center and life of all. And we are a part of it. Now usually for us spiritual activities and church life (tithing, prayer meetings) is just a parcel or portion of our lives, at least in our thinking. We divide it into secular, spiritual and other percentages, and we allocate importance/emphases to our spiritual lives as per our emotions and the way we feel. But understand that ultimately, in the culmination of all things, there won’t be anything else other than the Church!. The entire creation is going to revolve around it. Jews, Gentiles, humanity and all of creation is going restored – and it is all going to be done through Christ of whom we are part of.

So what we may think of today as important is actually the only important thing in life, and in time and eternity! At the end of time, nothing else will matter. All that matters will be us, the Church, creation and God. So let us ponder on these things, and always walk in humility before God, seeking His mercy, and let us actively restore our spiritual lives, and prayer times at home, church, our fellowships and other attendances, so that we may continue to partake of the divine nature, and become all that we are meant to be. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.