Deification
If one accepts the idea of a pre-existent creation of humanity, that in some way we are the offspring of Deity (Acts 17:28), and if one adds to this Jesus' commandment that we be perfect as the Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), then one might argue that we have the potential to become like our creator, at least in some ways and to some degree. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith, the promise is made that those who are faithful will be given all things which the Father has (D&C 84:38), including, one may presume, all his knowledge, power and glory. This then is basis for the radical but truly glorious Latter-day Saint belief that God's highest aspiration is for his creatures to become like Him, and that His greatest glory is in sharing His glory with us, His sons and daughters. This is what it means in Latter-day Saint doctrine to become gods. Joseph Smith taught that those who fully keep God's law will "be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them." (D&C 132:20) Perhaps nothing in Mormon doctrine has so shocked and dismayed the Christian world, even though the Latter-day Saints believe that we will always be the sons and daughters of God, subordinate and dependent upon Him.269
Deification in the Bible
Latter-day Saints find a great deal of support for their belief about exaltation to godhood within the pages of the Bible itself. While not explicitly stating the doctrine, many scriptures point toward it. For example, John wrote, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2.) And Jesus Christ told John that, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:21) Also, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." (Revelation 21:7) Paul wrote to the Romans, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ . . ." (Romans 8:16-17) 270
Deification in Early Christianity
Can these verses be interpreted to mean that men can become beings like God Himself? A host of early Christian writers testify that this is exactly what the early Christian Church believed. Indeed, Kelly explains that the doctrine that the final Christian hope was deification and "participation in the divine nature" permeated the early theology of Christianity.271
Perhaps this important belief is best summed up by Irenaeus, who wrote in the latter half of the second century that "we have not been made gods from the beginning, but at first merely men, then at length gods . . . ."272 He also wrote, "our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself."273 Justin Martyr, in the middle of the second century, said that "all men are deemed worthy of becoming 'gods,' and of having power to become sons of the Highest . . . ."274 Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, wrote that God, "made man for that purpose, that from men they may become gods."275 Clement of Alexandria explained that true knowledge of the divine leads to godhood:
Whence at last . . . it is that knowledge is committed to those fit and selected for it. It leads us to the endless and perfect end, teaching us beforehand the future life that we shall lead, according to God, and with gods; after we are freed from all punishment and penalty which we undergo, in consequence of our sins, for salutary discipline. After which redemption the reward and the honours are assigned to those who have become perfect; when they have got done with purification, and ceased from all service, though it be holy service, and among saints. Then become pure in heart, and near to the Lord, there awaits them restoration to everlasting contemplation; and they are called by the appellation of gods, being destined to sit on thrones with the other gods that have been first put in their places by the Saviour.276
Although mainline Christians often scoff at the Latter-day Saints for interpreting 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 to mean that there are actually beings "in heaven" who "are called gods" other than the One God we worship, Origen agreed that the passage does not have reference only to false gods:
Now it is possible that some may dislike what we have said representing the Father as the one true God, but admitting other beings besides the true God, who have become gods by having a share of God. They may fear that the glory of Him who surpasses all creation may be lowered to the level of those other beings called gods. We drew this distinction between Him and them that we showed God the Word to be to all the other gods the minister of their divinity . . . . As, then, there are many gods, but to us there is but one God the Father, and many Lords, but to us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ . . . .277
Statements such as these led Christian scholar G.L. Prestige to conclude that the ancient Christians "taught that the destiny of man was to become like God, and even to become deified."278
Was God the Father a part of this eternal process? Did he "become deified" by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, just like you hope to be? Did someone lay hands on Him and ordain him to the Godhead?