Predestination of the Saints: Conformity to the Image of the Son of God
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Enoch B Mnisi, DD
The Ultimate Purpose of the Christian Life
The ultimate purpose of the Christian life, as ordained by God before the foundation of the world, is the profound transformation known as TheosisTheōsisNot that we become God by nature, but that by grace we are drawn into His life: “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). — a participatory entrance into the divine nature through conformation to the image of Jesus Christ. This essay explores the theological foundations of that truth, arguing that its neglect in contemporary Western Christianity has produced a severe spiritual crisis. It further examines the practical, incarnational means by which this divine destiny is to be pursued. By establishing Christianity as a divine mystery, unveiling the centrality of the Incarnate LogosLogosThe eternal Word of God, through whom all things were made, who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1–14). and the Church, and framing the doctrine of predestination as its governing structure, this work illuminates the path toward the believer's ultimate glorification.
Theosis is not a human ideology but a divine conception, born from God's desire for fellowship with humanity — a participation in the Godhead itself. It addresses the most fundamental questions of existence: What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose? The answer it gives is communion with God — a destiny not of mere moral improvement but of ontological transformation, a becoming that makes believers genuine participants in the "God kind." This is the economy of grace through which the believer may truly know God and be changed from within.
A grave problem afflicts much of the Western church: a widespread ignorance of this foundational truth. In its absence, many believers have abandoned the deep things of the faith and turned instead to the superficial consolations of secularism, materialism, and worldliness to supply what the Holy Scriptures are designed to give. Without a clear understanding of their ultimate destination, they live as though their God is not mighty — seeking purpose in worldly ideologies and suffering a spiritual frustration that their divine inheritance was always meant to resolve.
To address this deficiency, the essay proceeds with a deliberate logic. It begins by framing Christianity not as a public religion but as a divine mystery, accessible only through spiritual initiation. From there, it establishes the Church as the divinely appointed vessel for that mystery, with the Incarnate Logos — Jesus Christ — at its center. It then examines the doctrine of predestination as the eternal blueprint for transformation, before arriving at the practical means of its attainment through the Word and the Sacraments. The neglect of this foundational truth carries profound consequences, and understanding its architecture is of first importance for every believer.
Christianity is a Divine Mystery
Theosis is not readily apparent to the casual observer, precisely because Christianity itself is a divine mystery — fundamentally inaccessible to carnal understanding or worldly wisdom. It is not a philosophy to be apprehended from the outside but a spiritual reality that requires initiation in order to be understood. Its truths cannot be grasped by the unrenewed human apparatus; they are spiritually discerned, addressed not to the soul in its natural condition but to the spirit of the believer.
Scripture presents Christianity as a "hidden" and "esoteric wisdom," which God concealed from the world and reserved for the saints. Had the "princes of this world" understood this divine plan, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. This wisdom, therefore, is not for public consumption — it is the exclusive inheritance of the initiated, intended for their ultimate glorification. To appreciate Christianity in its full import, one must be brought inside its sacred economy.
This initiation is essential because the faith can only be explained from within. The ultimate mystery of creation is the Incarnate Logos, Jesus Christ Himself, and therefore only the Logos can explain Christianity. It is a futile exercise to seek its depths through secular reasoning. To be a Christian is to be initiated into this mystery — to become part of the EcclesiaEkklēsiaThe assembly called out by God: the Body of Christ gathered in every place and every age., the called-out ones who have been planted and drawn into a mystery that the world cannot comprehend.
The believer thereby becomes a "steward of the mysteries of God," a status that renders them an enigma to the surrounding world. As Christ explained, those born of the Spirit are "like the wind," their origins and destinations unknown to those outside the faith — for they are governed by the Holy Spirit, whom the world cannot know. They are children of Christ, and like Him, they are secrets unto their own glory. This understanding of the faith as a revealed mystery leads directly to the institution that God has appointed as its earthly guardian.
The Role of the Church: The Earthly Depository of the Divine Mystery
The Church, or Ecclesia, holds a position of supreme strategic importance as the exclusive, divinely appointed institution for the revelation and administration of God's mysteries. Chief among those mysteries is Christ Himself. The Church is not merely a social gathering; it is the earthly headquarters for the distillation, expounding, and manifestation of Christ — the sole place where the mystery of the Incarnate Logos is fully revealed and understood.
A startling reality follows from this: if both men on earth and angels in heaven wish to know Christ, they must come to the Church. It is here, within this body of believers, that the depository of the mysteries of God is located. The Church is the physical manifestation of Christ, His body, and therefore the totality of that divine mystery is found within its spiritual and material reality. The greatest of all God's mysteries is Christ, and it is in the Church that He is revealed.
This gives rise to the staggering theological claim that the Church is "the fullness of him that filleth all in all." The implication is not merely poetic but ontological: Christ, the Head, finds His completeness in the Church, His body. Without the Church, Christ is incomplete in His manifest fullness; the mystery of God — the unification of God and man — remains unfulfilled. The Church is an essential and non-negotiable component in the representative image of this mystery as it is presented before all creation.
This cosmic function is explicitly detailed in Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God" (Ephesians 3:10, KJV). This "manifold wisdom" is Christ Himself, revealed in His multi-dimensional forms — as the one "whose voice is like the sound of many waters," as the "lamb slain," and as the victorious rider on a white horse. The Church is the university of all creation, and its singular curriculum is Christ. This role is not an afterthought but central to God's ultimate design, established "in accordance to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ our Lord" — a purpose grounded, at its foundation, in the doctrine of predestination.
Eternal Purpose: Predestination unto Conformation
The doctrine of predestination must be understood not as a point of contentious theological debate but as the foundational blueprint for Theosis. It reveals that God's eternal purpose for the saints was not a reaction to the Fall but a pre-determined plan established before creation. This divine pre-ordination declares the ultimate destiny for which every believer is called: to be conformed to the very image of the Son.
Romans 8:29 (KJV) unveils the architecture of this plan: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Each element of this sentence carries profound theological weight. To be foreknown (proginosko) is to be known by God before one's existence as matter — known in spirit form, before becoming a physical creature. To be predestinated is to have one's ultimate destiny set in advance: the boundaries of one's purpose, decided before creation. And to be conformed (symmorphos) is the very substance of that predestination — to be altered, to share the same form, nature, and character as the Son.
The ultimate implication is a calling to participate in the Godhead itself. The Son is God (Theos); therefore, to be conformed to His image is to be predestined for Theosis. This is not a summons to mere morality or any specific earthly vocation. Forget being a lawyer. Forget being a doctor. Forget being an apostle. The destiny for which every saint was pre-ordained was conformation to the image of the Son. This is the believer's true and ultimate identity.
This eternal purpose unfolds in a divinely orchestrated sequence. As Romans 8:30 (KJV) describes, those who were predestined are also called; those called are justified; and those justified are glorified. This glorification is the ultimate fulfillment of Theosis. The glory of Christ was God Himself, and thus the glory of the believer is Christ — the final destination being a genuine participation in the very glory of God, which is Christ dwelling in and filling the believer. The question that remains, then, is how this profound, pre-ordained transformation is to be practically pursued.
The Path of Participation: Incarnational Means of Transformation
The destiny of Theosis is not achieved through abstract belief or passive waiting but through active and diligent engagement with the tangible, incarnational means that God has provided. These instruments are not symbolic gestures — they are divinely instituted channels that mediate eternal reality and facilitate the believer's transformation. The same God who became material in the Incarnation to save the material world continues to work through material means to bring about this conformation.
The Primacy of the Logos (The Written Word)
The Logos — both living, as Christ, and written, as Scripture — is the primary connection point between God and humanity, the key that grants believers their "participation rights" in divine communion. The Bible is not a mere book of history or ethics; it is the "incarnational iconic manifestation of the wisdom of God" — divine wisdom made material, active, and powerful. Just as the tablets of the Old Covenant were inscribed by the very "finger of God," the New Covenant Scriptures, written through the finger of man, serve as incarnational representations of Jesus. Deep engagement with the Word — meditating upon it, wrestling with it, studying it with disciplined attention — is the primary work of the believer in their pursuit of transformation. The first task of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life is to draw them to this divine mirror, for it is only by beholding the incarnate Word that metamorphosis can occur.
The Role of the Sacramental Mysteries (Eucharist and Baptism)
The Sacraments of the Eucharist and Baptism function as "incarnational evidences" — established means by which the believer accesses divine reality. The theological rationale is rooted directly in the Incarnation: through God becoming matter, He saved matter; by taking on a physical body, He sanctified the material realm and made it a legitimate vehicle of salvation. Therefore, when Christ took the material elements of bread and wine and declared, "This is my body... This is my blood," He was not speaking in mere metaphor. He was instituting a means of real, incarnational impartation. Participation in the Eucharist is a genuine participation in His body and blood — not merely symbolic, but truly substantial. Likewise, Baptism is an incarnational means by which the reality of salvation is accessed and received. These are the established materials through which the believer engages the eternal.
The lives of Enoch and Noah stand as historical evidence of the reality of Theosis. Enoch "walked with God and he was not," escaping death and corruption through his communion with God. Noah, who also walked with God, was preserved from the destruction of the world. Their lives demonstrate that Theosis is both the means by which believers are preserved from the corruption of this age and the path by which they are translated into the glory of the next — a journey made possible through the practical, God-given means of grace.
Embracing the Practice of Predestination
The Christian faith is an initiation into the profound mystery of Theosis — a divinely predestined journey of transformation into the very image of Jesus Christ. This is not an ancillary aspect of belief but its ultimate purpose, the destination for which every saint was foreknown and called before the beginning of time. It is a summons to move beyond superficial religiosity and embrace a life of deep, transformative communion with God.
The Church stands as the sacred vessel for this mystery — the earthly institution where the manifold wisdom of God, which is Christ Himself, is revealed. Within this context, God has provided incarnational materials — the written Logos and the Sacraments — as the essential, non-negotiable tools for this transformative work. They are the means by which the divine nature is imparted and the believer is progressively conformed to the likeness of the Son.
The implications are immense. A believer who understands that their destiny is Theosis lives with a purpose that transcends worldly ambition and material accumulation. This knowledge provides an anchor against spiritual frustration, reorienting the soul from the transient to the eternal — replacing ignorance with a clear vision of the goal and a practical, disciplined path toward its attainment.
The final charge, therefore, is to embrace Christianity as the "practice of predestination." This is a call to a life of diligent, disciplined pursuit with eternal stakes — a radical commitment to the means of grace: to wrestle with the Scriptures in the early hours, to faithfully participate in the Sacramental mysteries, and to pursue an ever-deepening fellowship with the Incarnate Logos. It is an authoritative summons to aspire to the ultimate destination for which we were created and called — to be conformed to the image of the Son, and to be filled with all the fullness of God.
