Atonement

RECOVERING BIBLICAL AT-ONE-MENT : M.
M. M. NINAN
while Romans 8:29 states that God “predestined [all believers] to be conformed to the likeness of his
Son.”
It is this the Eastern Churches call “Theosis” “Deification” etc. These words usually frightens the
Evangelical Christians because of the Hindu and Gnostic interpretations that man is essentialy God
and what is needed is realization. Theosis has no such interpretation. We are all part of the body of
God. All believers are part of the Body of Christ being his bride who will one day form his glorified
body. We are being transformed so that we will eventually be conformed to the likeness of
Jesus. Sanctification or holiness then, is conformity to the likeness of Jesus Christ. I have added this
note only to explain the meaning of Theosis. We are partakers and co-creators with Christ. It is to
this status Jesus bring us as the redeemed mankind - the new creation Man.
“So the Lord now manifestly came to his own, and born by his own created order, which he himself
bears; he, by his obedience on the tree, renewed [and reversed] what was done by disobedience in
[connection with] a tree.
John 17:20 - 22 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they
may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that
You sent Me. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;…
“He, therefore, completely renewed all things, both taking up the battle against our enemy, and
crushing him who at the beginning had led us captive in Adam, tramping on his head, as you find in
Genesis that God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
121