One with God: Salvation As Deification and Justification

by Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

In recent decades the doctrine of salvation has become a key issue in international ecumenical conversations between Lutherans and Roman Catholics and also between Lutherans and Eastern Orthodox. The 1998 Joint Declaration on Justification between the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation is a historic milestone in those efforts. Advances in ecumenical conversations have challenged the traditional opinion according to which the Lutheran view of justification by faith has been thought to be opposed to both the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of theosis (deification) and the Roman Catholic view of justification, which also includes sanctification. In One With God Kärkkäinen points out that amidst all the differences between the East and West with regard to theological orientations and the language and concepts for soteriology, there is a common motif to be union with God. Both the Eastern understanding of theosis and the Western idea of justification have union as the ultimate goal. Chapters are Salvation as Union," *Justification in Recent New Testament Scholarship, - *Deification in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, - *Justification and Deification in Martin Luther's Theology, - *Deification, Union, and Sanctification in Later Protestant Theologies, - *Salvation as Towards an Ecumenical Convergence, - and *One with In Search of a Consensual View of Salvation. - Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, D.Theol. Habil., is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Genres: Theology, Christianity

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Veli-Matti Käkkäinen is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has published numerous articles in international journals of theology.

Reviews

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an wonderfully helpful book, to say the least. It combined current Luther scholarship being done by the so-called "Finnish school", which shows that Luther's own view of justification was much closer to that of Catholics, and could even be reconciled with the predominately-Eastern Orthodox paradigm of deification. It just made too much sense. It seems that confessional Lutherans, and as a result many other Protestant groups, really overemphasized a forensic view of justification that ended up negating or minimizing the process of sanctification in the whole picture of salvation. The Orthodox have always seen them as two parts of a whole, or more accurately, as an irrelevant distinction. Catholics have had to be more nuanced vis-a-vis Protestant protests to their process view of justification. Karkkainen shows that many diverse groups of Christians, even free church pentecostals, in practice, share a lot more in common with their high-church estranged brethren. I learned so much about ecumenism and the benefit of dialogue between communions. It really showed a way forward and a model that many confessions can agree upon. Anybody who gets a gag reflex when someone says, "ecumenical" really needs to read this book and think hard about what presuppositions and biases inevitably come with being a member of a denomination, and try to reconcile that with John 17.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kärkkäinen provides a brief, insightful analysis of the ecumenical conversation concerning the doctrine of salvation, framing his consensual perspective with historical and biblical (light) research.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and thought provoking book! Kärkkäinen takes the conversation of Justification and Deification to places I had not thought to go. I appreciated his immense knowledge of traditions outside of his own and his eagerness to see Christians unified. The ecumenical conversation amongst different Christian traditions is essential to shining brighter as a unified church.

I came away from this read feeling more hesitant about the doctrine of deification. I think this doctrine can lead to a dualistic and gnostic mentality that humans need to somehow get beyond their humanity. This worries me. Kärkkäinen quotes Athanasius who said, "Christ became human, so that humans could become God." I don't know the total context for this quote, but from what I read in Scripture, humanity is not on the trajectory of becoming God-like, but rather they are on the trajectory of becoming fully human through Christ's humanity. I think this conversation could have been helped if it brought in the Reformed view of Union with Christ more. An excellent conversation partner for Kärkkäinen may be Todd Billings.

Despite my thoughts on deification, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in seeing further ecumenical dialogue amongst Christian traditions.

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is salvation? That is a question Christians wrestle with, and there is really no consensus. Veli-Matti Karkkainen, takes up the question of salvation in the context of Lutheran-Orthodox dialogue. The focus is on the relationship of justification (Lutheran-emphasis) and Deification (Orthodox-Emphasis). Although not a lengthy book, the author helpfully explores the two concepts, and the way in which there is commonality.

For me, as one who is neither Orthodox nor Lutheran, I found this to be a very helpful discussion of theosis/deification, a concept or doctrine that could be transformative for Protestant churches who struggle with traditional Western paradigms that are rooted in legal concepts. Theosis essentially is union with God. It is not that we become gods, but that in union with Christ we are drawn into union with God. That, the author believes, is the goal of most all religions. What is helpful as well is the way in which we discover that the concept is already present in Wesley and Anabaptist theology, as well as Luther's own writings.

All in all, a very helpful read!

[Monte Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The thesis of this study is that amidst all the differences between the East and Wes with regard to theological orientations in general and . . . soteriology in particularly, there is a common motif to be found: union with God. Both the Eastern understanding of theosis and the Western idea of justification have union as the ultimate goal. In the west, later Protestant soteriologies such as Anabaptism, Methodism, and most recently Pentecostalism have also expressed the idea of union, creatively combining Western and Eastern terminology and approaches. Finally, a corollary tentative proposal . . . suggest that the idea of union is that also the dominant motif of all religions. Thus the idea of union with God has profound implications not only wit regard to Christian ecumenicalism but also for a Christian theology of religions (the relationship of Christianity to other world religions.).” (4)

[Josh R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent concise (160 pg.) overview (including primary sources) of the history of "theosis" (becoming God through His communicability) in all the main early and modern Christian theological schools.

[Andrew Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting question addressed - does our salvation come from our being made one with God (ultimately, our deification)?

[David Mosley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent but overly simplistic look at connecting points between a deificatory view of salvation found firstly in Eastern Orthodoxy and a soteriology of justification in Lutheranism.