Disputatio VII: De Participatione et Ontologia Theoseos

On Participation and the Ontology of Theosis

Quaeritur

Utrum theosis non intelligatur ut ascensus creaturae in deitatem, sed ut participatio realis in actu divino quo Deus se communicat; et utrum haec participatio fundetur in causalitate constitutiva Spiritus Sancti, per quam creaturae fiunt capaces gloriae, ita ut theosis sit consummatio illius participationis in qua creatura suum esse, intelligibilitatem, et veritatem accipit.

Whether theosis should be understood not as the creature’s ascent into deity but as a real participation in the divine act by which God communicates Himself; and whether this participation is grounded in the constitutive causality of the Holy Spirit, by whom creatures become capable of glory, so that theosis is the consummation of the participation through which the creature receives its being, intelligibility, and truth.

Thesis

Theosis is not the divinization of the creature by nature but the perfection of creaturely participation in the divine life. The same Spirit who constitutes creatures in their being and renders their speech capable of divine truth also draws them into the life of God. Participation is therefore the ontological ground of theosis, and theosis is the eschatological fulfillment of participation. The creature remains creaturely, yet becomes fully luminous with the divine life it receives.

Locus classicus

2 Peter 1:4
ἵνα γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως.
“that you may become partakers of the divine nature.”
Participation (κοινωνία) is here the formal structure of salvation.

Psalm 36:9 (Vulgate)
Quoniam apud te est fons vitae, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen.
“For with You is the fountain of life, and in Your light we shall see light.”
Knowledge, life, and glory are received, not possessed.

Athanasius, De Incarnatione 54
Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς θεοποιηθῶμεν.
“He became human that we might be made divine.”
Theosis is grounded in the Incarnation, not in creaturely ascent.

Explicatio

The doctrine of theosis arises wherever the Church confesses that salvation is not merely the correction of defect but the communication of divine life. Yet such communication requires a metaphysical ground: the creature must be capable of receiving divine life without losing its creatureliness. Participation provides this ground. For the creature receives its being, its intelligibility, and its orientation toward truth from the constitutive causality of the Holy Spirit. There is no creaturely actuality that is not first a divine gift. This dependence is not merely extrinsic; it is metaphysical, determining the very mode of creaturely existence. The creature is constituted as a participant in the divine generosity that grants being.

Participation in being is the first movement. The Spirit grants the creature its actus essendi, by which it subsists as a real nature with determinate capacities. Participation in intelligibility is the second movement. The Spirit grants the creature a share in the light by which it is knowable. Participation in verity is the third movement. The Spirit grants to the creature a relation to truth, both as an object of knowledge and as a bearer of meaning. These movements correspond to creation, illumination, and sanctification, and together they constitute the fundamental ontology of participation. Theosis emerges when these participations reach their eschatological fulfillment.

Yet participation must be distinguished from identity. The creature does not become God; it receives from God. The divine perfections remain incommunicable in their mode. What is communicated is not the divine essence but a real share in the divine life. The causal vector is always from God to the creature:

Dg​⇒Dc​(x)

where D_G denotes a divine perfection and D_c(x) the creaturely participation of that perfection in the mode proper to x. Theosis is the maximal intensity of this causal relation. It is not a fusion of natures but the consummation of participation.

This participatory structure clarifies why theosis is Christological in origin and pneumatic in execution. In the Incarnation the divine Word assumes human nature, thereby joining divine life to creaturely existence without confusion or division. The humanity of Christ becomes the first and perfect site of theosis. Through the Spirit this communication extends to all who are united to Christ. Thus theosis is not a metaphysical privilege of a select few but the eschatological destiny of all who are incorporated into the body of Christ. Union with Christ is the formal cause of theosis; the Spirit is its efficient cause.

The nova lingua developed in Disputatio IX presupposes this participatory ontology. The reason theological predicates can bear divine truth is that language itself participates in the expressive act of the Word through the Spirit’s authorization. The Spirit who renders finite speech capable of infinite truth is the same Spirit who renders finite being capable of infinite life. The grammar of participation becomes the grammar of theosis.

Likewise, the knowledge of God described in Disputatio X presupposes the same metaphysical structure. The intellect knows God not by its own power but through illumination. Illumination is already a form of participation and anticipates the final theosis in which the intellect will know God in the unmediated light of glory. In statu viae revelation grants participation in truth; in statu gloriae participation becomes vision.

Thus theosis is not a theological addendum but the horizon that unifies the ordo theologiae. Grammar leads to modeling, modeling to felicity, felicity to truth, truth to causality, causality to participation, and participation to manifestation. Theosis is simply the name for the creature’s consummate participation in the divine life—the perfection toward which the entire theological system tends.

This consummation does not erase creaturely finitude. The creature remains finite, yet its finitude becomes wholly luminous, wholly actual, wholly alive with the divine presence. Finitude does not become infinitude; it becomes transparent. Participation does not destroy distinction; it perfects communion. Theosis is therefore the metaphysical realization of what has always been true: the creature is constituted by the divine generosity in which it eternally participates.

Objectiones

Ob I. Participation appears too weak a notion to account for the radical transformation implied by theosis. If the creature remains creaturely, how can it be said to share in divine life?

Ob II. If theosis is grounded in constitutive causality, then all creatures already participate maximally in God. Theosis becomes indistinguishable from ordinary creaturely being.

Ob III. If the Spirit communicates divine life, then the divine nature seems divisible or communicable, contrary to classical doctrine.

Ob IV. Participation seems to collapse into metaphor, lacking the metaphysical precision needed to distinguish real theosis from moral or symbolic likeness.

Responsiones

Ad I. Participation is not a weak notion but the metaphysical means by which the creature receives divine life without ceasing to be creaturely. Theosis intensifies participation without transgressing the boundary between Creator and creature.

Ad II. Constitutive causality grants creatures their being, but theosis concerns the eschatological perfection of that being. All creatures participate in God as Creator, but only the redeemed participate in God as Life and Light unto glory.

Ad III. The divine nature is not communicated in its essence but according to a mode of participation proper to the creature. The Spirit communicates not God’s essence but a real share in divine life. There is no division of deity, only extension of divine generosity.

Ad IV. Participation is not metaphorical but real, grounded in the causal procession from divine perfection to creaturely participation. Theosis is therefore not likeness by imitation but likeness by communion.

Nota

Disputatio VII stands at the center of the theological system. Constitutive causality (VI) grounds participation; the nova lingua (IX) expresses participation; revelation (X) grants knowledge through participation; manifestation (VIII) fulfills participation. Theosis is therefore the metaphysical horizon of theology: the creature drawn into God without confusion, and God present in the creature without diminution.

Determinatio

1. Theosis is the eschatological fulfillment of creaturely participation in divine life.

2. Participation arises from the constitutive causality of the Spirit, who grants being and intelligibility.

3. Theosis does not efface creaturely finitude but perfects it.

4. Participation is real, causal, and metaphysical—not symbolic or merely moral.

5. The Incarnation grounds the possibility of theosis; the Spirit accomplishes it.

6. Theosis unifies the ordo theologiae by revealing its final horizon: communion with the living God.

Transitus ad Disputationem VIII

If theosis is the consummation of participation, then participation must have a mode of historical appearance. The divine life that perfects the creature must already be manifest within history, though under signs and veils. The question now concerns the nature of that manifestation. How does divine life become visible, tangible, sacramental, and efficacious within the order of faith?

We therefore advance to Disputationem VIII: De Manifestatione Eschatologica Veritatis, where the word of faith is considered in its teleological orientation toward the vision of God.