Theosis. Группа авторов
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Название: Theosis

Автор: Группа авторов

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Религия: прочее

Серия: Princeton Theological Monograph Series

isbn: 9781621898078

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ be deified.21 His “life was the light of all people . . . The true light, which enlightens everyone” (John 1:4, 9). “The Son gives life” (John 5:21). For John, Jesus is light and life, and he imparts “the fullness of the knowledge of God.” 22

      The Rhetoric of Revelation

      Now it is necessary to take a step back from the exegesis of Johannine texts, and speculate about why the historical Jesus might have said these things, or something similar. Here we find a similar pattern in all four Gospels. There are many stories in the Synoptics in which Jesus, in response to ill-willed criticisms, will come back with surprising exegesis of the Scriptures that suggests new ideas. He may use a Scripture to refute the theology of his opponents, as when he cites the familiar “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” to show the Sadducees that God is “God not of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12:26–27). He will respond to a Sabbath-breaking accusation by citing a story that shows David breaking the Sabbath, and cap it with the radical saying, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:25–27). He will co-join two Scriptures to make a stunning statement about God’s openness to the Gentiles, and opposition to commerce in the Temple: “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17; cf. Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11). On every one of these occasions he says something that goes against or goes beyond the theology of his foes. Affirming the “you are gods” passage in the psalms does so, as well.

      Whether he is quoting Scriptures or not, Jesus makes his most astonishing theological statements either to selfish people, to those who are openly hostile to him, or to friends who misunderstand him. To his selfish family, interrupting his sermon, sending up notice that they are present, implying that he should pay them some homage, he makes the stunning reply “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). To the hostile Pharisees he says “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 NCV)—even within his enemies! To the clueless Apostle Philip who asks to be shown the Father, he says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). So when he quotes a psalm that calls some people gods (or engodded), it is in the same provocative and instructive spirit as these other responses. In every case he conveys a teaching. What else can it mean when humans are called elohim, than that they are taking on (some) divine qualities—being transformed?

      Taking on Power; Theosis Themes in Mark

      The recipients of healing are receiving divine power from Jesus. We see this in Luke: “All in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them” (Luke 6:19). We see the spreading of divine power in Mark as well: People who follow him around, or who know he is coming to their town, are healed by just touching “the fringe of his cloak” (Mark 6:56). When the hemorrhaging woman secretly touches his cloak, Jesus is “aware that power had gone forth from him” (Mark 5:30; similarly in Luke 8:46). There are theosis implications to this reception of divine power.

      The coming of divine power is promised in this: “there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” (Mark 9:1). Since this is followed by the Transfiguration, it may refer to Jesus’ own power, but it could also refer to the manifestation of divine power in the lives of believers. People who are touched by him are changed (Mark 1:41; 8:22; 9:27). The import of these, and even of passages where people refuse to be changed, is that contact with Jesus should bring about profound change, moving people to do the will of God, restoring a person’s sanity, turning proud people into servants of others (3:35; 5:15–19; 9:35; 10:43). Mark keeps his focus on Jesus, but the implication is that discipleship brings a powerful life-change.

      Theosis in Thomas and Mary

      We have already said that the idea of divinity within persons does not “belong” to the Gnostics. It should not be surrendered by the orthodox, any more than the ideas of revelation, illumination, or transformation should be abandoned, just because they happen to be honored by Gnostics. In fact, the sharp distinction between orthodox and Gnostic belongs to a period later than the composition of the earliest gospels—of which Thomas is one, with roots that may go back to the first century CE.