Abstract

Building on renewed interest in theosis generally, and particularly with respect to Paul, this essay argues that Romans is the first Christian treatise on theosis, an elaboration of the embryonic passages about theosis, including the "interchange" (Morna Hooker) texts, found in 2 Corinthians. Earlier work on theosis in Paul suggests that it means transformative participation in the kenotic, cruciform character of God through Spirit-enabled conformity to the incarnate, crucified, and resurrected/glorified Christ. This essay traces Paul's soteriology of restoring human dikaiosynē and doxa—fundamental elements of theosis—in Romans. For Paul, this restoration is accomplished by participation in the death and resurrection of the obedient and faithful Son. It is manifested in "righteoused," cruciform communities of Christlike Godlikeness in which Gentiles and Jews glorify God together as a partial and proleptic foreshadowing of the final glory of God and, at least implicitly, as a counterpoint to the pseudo-glory of Rome.

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