The Christian Doctrine of Man Becoming Like God

The Latter-day Saint doctrine of exaltation is perhaps our most criticized belief by non-LDS Christians. The doctrine of exaltation is the revealed truth that we have the potential to live eternally with our Heavenly Father and be like him.

For many Christians, the idea that we can be gods (or be like God) seems immediately blasphemous and heretical. However, a thorough investigation of the Bible reveals this to be a biblical doctrine. The belief was also present in early Christianity and exists prominently today in Eastern Orthodoxy, called theosis (Greek Θέωσις, "to make divine"). During the Great Apostasy, the doctrine lost its emphasis in Catholicism and is forgotten (and ironically condemned) by most Protestants.

For those Christians who consider this to be a blasphemous, heretical doctrine, consider the following evidence from scripture:

• Men were created in the very image of God. (Genesis 1:27)
• The children of God are gods themselves. (Psalm 82:6)
• Christ commanded all men to be "perfect, even as your Father." (Matthew 5:48)
  
• Men are the "offspring" of God. (Acts 17:29)
• God has promised us that we can partake of his divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)
• We can be joint-heirs with Christ, and inherit all that he has. (Romans 8:17)
• When Christ returns, we can be like him. (1 John 3:2)
• Those that overcome in the end will sit with God on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)

Few Christians today understand the plain meaning of those passages. Men are the offspring of God, and were created in his image. Because we are in his image, we are like him. The Psalmist boldly declares that the children of God are gods themselves--Jesus verifies this in the New Testament (see John 10:34). God has promised to share his divine nature with those who endure to the end. We can be equal heirs of God with Christ, who is a God himself. What do heirs do? They inherit. The Apostle John says that when Christ returns, we can be like him -- is not Christ divine himself? Finally, Jesus Christ tells John in his revelation that those who endure to the end will share the throne of Christ and the Father.

The doctrine of becoming like God was alive and well in the first few centuries of Christianity. St. Athanasius of Alexandria, an orthodox bishop, wrote in the fourth century, "God became man so that man might become god." Irenaeus, who lived in the second century and knew the disciples of the Apostles, wrote, "The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through his transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself."

It seems appalling that any believer in the Bible could disregard the open and clear meaning of the scriptures. The early Christians understood the meaning and were not shy about declaring it. Likewise they understood that it did not diminish from God's greatness that he would want his children to be like him. The Bible plainly states that we can become like God, if we endure to the end, for we were created in his image and are his children. That is what God ultimately wants for all of us -- to be like him.