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The first and most basic temptations are to try to be like gods (Gn 3:5), or even to try to be gods. For example, Peter refused to be treated like a god (Acts 10:26), while Herod accepted the title "god" (Acts 12:22-23). Herod, therefore, "died eaten by worms" (Acts 12:23). When Paul and Barnabas heard the crowd calling them gods by the names of "Hermes" and "Zeus," they realized how dangerous this temptation was. "They tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd" in order to correct the people's mistaken attribution of divinity to them (Acts 14:14-15). Contrary to what some cults teach, we are not gods. Rather than each of us becoming one of the gods, God became one of us. He became a human being. Instead of making us man-gods, He became the God-Man. In this way, we don't become God, but we can have a share in His divine nature (2 Pt 1:4) and "become the very holiness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). We can even have God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, make Their dwelling place within us (Jn 14:23). We are not gods; we are tabernacles and temples of God (1 Cor 6:19). Be yourself. Be a human being transformed by the indwelling God. |
