Irenaeus on Eternal Progression

Irenaeus

Irenaeus

eternal progressionchristian authoritiestheosis

Do we cast blame on him [God] because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as gods? Although God has adopted this course out of his pure benevolence, that no one may charge him with discrimination or stinginess, he declares, “I have said, ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the Most High.” . . . For it was necessary at first that nature be exhibited, then after that what was mortal would be conquered and swallowed up in immortality.

Against Heresies, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, pages Book 4, Chapter 38, Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994

Related Quotes

C.S. LewisC.S. Lewis

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.

Orson PrattOrson Pratt

The Gods who dwell in heaven . . . were once in a fallen state . . . they were exalted also, from fallen men to celestial Gods.

Clement of AlexandriaClement of Alexandria

If one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God…. His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes a god, since God wills it. So Heraclitus was right when he said, “Men are gods, and gods are men.”

More from Irenaeus