I am very troubled by this because I have NEVER been able to wrap my mind around the entirety of the concept! And I have even more difficulty trying to explain. "
Neither are all things unutterable nor all utterable; neither all unknowable nor all knowable".
But I DO KNOW that Theosis is real, not some metaphor or figure of speech. It's not a hyperbole for "being pure" or moral or living a good life. I wouldn't dare believe that Church Fathers and the Gospel use "hyperboles". It means exactly what it means.
And, no, we probably cannot comprehend it fully because "
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him".
On the one hand, we are created in the likeness of God and are called to become like God and be with God.
On the other hand, God is uncircumscribed. Since we humans are circumscribed we, by default, cannot
be God. Since we are created, we cannot "become uncreated". But by the work of God's uncreated energies - with whom we are called to "collaborate" - we are made able to
partake in and of His nature. Partake, borrow, true, but fully and in a real, literal sense. That is as best as I can think from my puny mind.
I think this was something I really enjoyed reading, but I forgot a lot of it:
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis-english.pdf
By the way, in the original post, there is something else that caught my eye: God does not become, He did not become what He is and He will not become something else: He is "
without beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreated, unchangeable, invariable" (St. John Damascene). I'm having some trouble even with God being "worthy" of Who He is. He simply is. He is incomprehensible, therefore comprehensible concepts, such as "worthiness" do not really apply. And if this implies Him having "earned" His status, that is not possible with God "
with whom can be no variation nor shadow of turning".
