# Do We Become Gods Theosis (Heiser) > [!question] Lingering Questions > - The Deuteronomy 32:8 "sons of God" (Dead Sea Scrolls) vs. "sons of Israel" (Masoretic Text) textual question: Heiser presents the DSS reading as what "all translations should" use — a genuine majority position but not unanimous, and the episode doesn't flag the dissent. > - Heiser is explicit he's not naming names for the "little gods" teaching he critiques — intellectually honest but means the argument is tested against a composite position rather than a specific published text, weakening falsifiability. > - How exactly does "already but not yet" glorification interact with present-tense dominion claims? The episode asserts the tension but doesn't fully resolve what believers can claim about authority now vs. at the resurrection — precisely the gap NAR dominionism exploits. > [!tip] Article Ideas > - A portable two-axis test (timing: present vs. eschatological; ontology: shared essence vs. shared role) for evaluating any "little gods" or dominion-authority claim — built directly from Heiser's own reductio method, generalized past this one episode. > [!link] Cross Reference > - [[3. Resources/MOCs/NAR and Charismatic Authority Critique MOC]] — this transcript never names the NAR, C. Peter Wagner, or Genesis 1:28 dominion theology; the overlap with dominionist "little gods" language is this note's synthesis, not Heiser's claim, but the structural match is exact > - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/How To Recognize a NAR Church (Jed Hartley)]] — same episode batch; Hartley's structural diagnostic and Heiser's timing/ontology diagnostic are complementary tools for the same underlying problem > [!quote] Vocabulary > - **theosis** — Eastern Orthodox term for the same phenomenon Protestants call "glorification"/"sanctification": partaking of the divine nature by grace and relationship, without erasing the Creator/creature distinction > - **Elohim** — a species term ("the class of beings who inhabit the divine realm"), not an attributes term, per the divine council worldview Heiser recaps ## Metadata - Source: [[3. Resources/Readwise/Articles/Do We Become Gods A Look at Theosis With Dr. Michael Heiser|Do We Become Gods? A Look at Theosis with Dr. Michael Heiser]] - Author: Dr. Michael Heiser, interviewed by Joshua Lewis (The Remnant Radio) - Type: podcast/video - URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7OKTgHhmiM ## Author's thesis Theosis, properly bounded, is the fulfillment of Genesis 1's original design — humans imaging and co-ruling with God, ultimately replacing the fallen "sons of God" as stewards of a renewed Eden — realized through representation and glorification rather than a merger of essence; the Creator/creature line survives intact through both present sanctification and future resurrection glory. The portable contribution isn't a new proof text but a method: test any "shared essence" claim by asking what else would have to be true, and let the position's own internal contradictions do the refuting. ## Key arguments (≤3) 1. **Theosis means Christlikeness, not becoming Yahweh**: the Athanasian formula ("God became man so that man might become God") is the most-reused soundbite across orthodox and heretical theosis claims alike; its bounding clause — partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), not equal in essence — is the load-bearing part, not the quote itself. 2. **Glorification never erases the creator-creature distinction**: this is the operational boundary condition every other claim in the episode must pass, including Heiser's own "we replace the fallen sons of God" language, which uses vocabulary structurally adjacent to NAR dominionism but locates the fulfillment eschatologically rather than in the present tense. 3. **Same-essence sonship claims fail a punishment test**: if Adam's essence were identical to God's, how could God — of equal essence — justly punish him? The reductio applies to any "little gods" or dominion-authority claim built on shared biblical sonship titles (Adam, Israel, Jesus, believers) without checking whether the title implies shared essence or only shared role. ## Claim atoms ### Theosis means Christlikeness, not becoming Yahweh > [!quote] ID:rw_01kyhz0_1 > God become man so that man can become God. The Athanasian formula, immediately bounded in the same breath by Heiser's "we're not Mormons" qualifier — the bounding clause is load-bearing, not the quote itself. [~15:15] ### Glorification never erases the creator-creature distinction > [!quote] ID:rw_01kyhz0_2 > I don't see an ontological transformation that culminates in erasing the creature creator distinction. Heiser's direct response to the Eastern Orthodox "metal in fire" analogy — the operational boundary condition for every claim in the episode. [~30:31] ### Same-essence sonship claims fail a punishment test > [!quote] ID:rw_01kyhz0_3 > Adam was of the same essence of God that the punishment of Adam by God would be impossible. The episode's single most reusable apologetic move — a portable falsification test for any ontological-sameness claim. [~48:07] ## Permanent candidates - **Same-essence sonship claims fail a punishment test** — a portable, checkable apologetic method independent of which specific movement is being evaluated (Word of Faith "little gods," Mormon eternal progression, or NAR dominion-authority claims that quietly drop the timing qualifier). Promoted below. ## Processing checklist - [x] Verify no existing Literature Note covers this doc (checked, none found) - [x] Extract claim atoms and permanent candidate from the existing deep-read - [ ] Check whether Heiser has published the timing-axis (present vs. eschatological) test more formally elsewhere, to cite the fuller argument - [x] Connect into the relevant MOC — [[3. Resources/MOCs/Faith & Theology MOC]] ## Links - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Faith & Theology MOC]] — primary home for the theological/exegetical argument - [[3. Resources/MOCs/NAR and Charismatic Authority Critique MOC]] — the timing/ontology diagnostic transfers directly to evaluating dominionist "now, on earth" authority claims