Θεὸν
γενεσθαι. The
thought has its most famous expression in Ath. de Incar.
§ 54. He was made man that we might be made
God—Θεοποιηθῶμεν. cf. De Decretis, § 14, and
other passages of Ath. Irenæus (Adv. Hær. iv. 38
[lxxv.]) writes “non ab initio dii facti sumus, sed
primo quidem homines, tunc demum dii.” “Secundum enim
benignitatem suam bene dedit bonum, et similes sibi suæ potestatis
homines fecit;” and Origen (contra Celsum, iii.
28), “That the human nature by fellowship with the more divine
might be made divine, not in Jesus only, but also in all those who with
faith take up the life which Jesus taught;” and Greg. Naz.
Or. xxx. § 14, “Till by the power of the incarnation
he make me God.”
In Basil adv. Eunom. ii. 4. we have, “They
who are perfect in virtue are deemed worthy of the title of
God.”
cf. 2 Pet. i. 4: “That ye might be partakers
of the divine nature.”