By it we become sharers in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), which is
the case since we are "God's children now:" (1 Jn. 3:2). Children
partake of the nature of their Father. He has already given us the
first payment or pledge, the Spirit, in our hearts(2 Cor 1:22). It
is only because the veil of flesh is still with us that we cannot
directly see Him, as we shall when it is removed, so that we see
Him face to face 1 Cor 13:12). But now we are temples of the Holy
Spirit who dwells within us (1 Cor 3:16 and 6:19). Even our bodies
can be called a temple of the Spirit (1 Cor 6:19 again) though the
full effect of it is to come in the future (Rom 8:19). The Spirit
within us is transforming us to be a new creation (2 Cor 5:17;Gal
6:15) so that in the next life we shall see Him "face to face"(1
Cor 13:12). That means see Him directly. But when I see a human
directly I do not take him into my mind, I take in an image.
However in seeing God face to face, there can be no image, for
images are finite; He is infinite. So He joins Himself directly to
the soul or intellect, without even an image in between. Hence the
need of real purity, for as Mal 23:2 says: "Who can stand when He
appears? For He is like a refiner's fire".
Contrast this with being total corruption- which logically leads to
what the Missouri Synod of Lutherans feared to face (<Brief
Doctrinal Position>, 1932, #14. ) saying "As to the question why
not all men are converted and saved, seeing that God's grace is
universal and all men are equally and utterly corrupt, we confess
that we cannot answer it." They could have answered, from Luther's
works, but refused to answer, for they saw it meant absolute blind
predestination: if all are equally corrupt, there is nothing on
which God could base a decision on who is saved, who is damned. But
Luther Himself was not so reticent. He said (<Bondage of the Will>
tr. J. Packer and O. Johnston, Revell, 1957p. 273) a human has no
free will and is like a horse. Either God or the devil will ride
him - and so he does good or evil - but he has no choice who rides.
Hence it is heaven or hell, without any choice on his part. (ibid.
pp. 103-04).
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