Torrance weaves theosis into a Reformed account of church and sacraments by treating the church as the locus of participatory union with Christ and Baptism/Eucharist as Spirit‑used means by which believers share in the Son’s deified humanity—without making the sacraments independent “sources” of deification.[1][2]
## Church as locus of theosis
– The church is the **body of Christ**, that is, the community ontologically joined to the incarnate, crucified, risen, and ascended Christ, and so the place where the Spirit actualizes our participation in his filial life.[3][4]
– Habets notes that for Torrance the Spirit is “the bond of communion who constitutes the church as the locus of theosis,” since the Spirit unites believers to the incarnate Son and draws them into the Triune life.[2][1]
## Union with Christ: carnal and spiritual
– Torrance distinguishes (following Scottish Reformed sources) a “carnal” union—Christ’s incarnational, objective solidarity with all humanity—from the “spiritual” union actualized in believers by the Spirit.[4][3]
– Theosis names the Spirit‑given participation in this one objective union: we are grafted into the humanity in which Christ has already judged sin, reconciled, sanctified, and exalted human nature.[5][4]
## Sacraments as mediating acts of theosis
– Habets argues that in Torrance “the central ecclesial acts in which theosis occurs” are **Baptism and Eucharist**; participation in the sacraments is “the path to participation in the divine nature.”[1][2]
– Torrance understands sacraments as **mediating**, not constitutive, forms of God’s saving action: they are concrete events where the Spirit unites us to Christ’s once‑for‑all vicarious work and so into his deifying life.[2]
### Baptism
– Baptism is “the liturgical mediation of forgiveness,” inaugurating theosis as believers are plunged into Christ’s death‑resurrection and into his theopoiesis (deifying assumption and sanctification of our humanity).[2]
– It publicly and liturgically situates a person within the church’s objective union with Christ, so that their personal participation in his filial life can unfold in the Spirit.[4][2]
### Eucharist
– Habets cites Torrance’s strong claim that no union, “save that of the Persons of the Holy Trinity,” is closer than that between Christ and his church enacted in the Eucharist, underlining its role as a climactic act of theosis.[2]
– In the Supper, believers feed on Christ’s body and blood and so deepen their Spirit‑given share in his sanctified, glorified humanity; the Eucharist is thus a privileged enactment of deifying union, not a bare memorial.[6][2]
## Reformed shape of this sacramental theosis
– Torrance retains a **Reformed** sacramental instinct: the sacraments have no independent efficacy apart from the Word, the once‑for‑all work of Christ, and the free operation of the Spirit.[7][1]
– Justification, sanctification, and theosis are all benefits of union with Christ; sacraments serve that union rather than operate as parallel channels of grace, which keeps his theotic ecclesiology within a recognizably Reformed framework.[5][1]
Sources
[1] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance | Myk Habets https://www.taylorfrancis.com/
[2] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance: A Review | https://jasongoroncy.com/2010/
[3] T. F. Torrance and Union with Christ in Scottish Theology https://growrag.wordpress.com/
[4] T.F. Torrance: Union with Christ through the Communion of the Spirit http://www.scielo.org.za/
[5] T. F. Torrance on theosis and universal salvation https://www.cambridge.org/
[6] Thomas Forsyth Torrance | Qualitative Theology https://qualitativetheology.
[7] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance (Ebk) https://cincinnatistate.
[8] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance: Special Offer https://growrag.wordpress.com/
[9] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance – 1st Edition – Myk Habets https://www.routledge.com/
[10] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance https://elmhurst.ecampus.com/
[11] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance – Google Books https://books.google.com/
[12] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance https://www.fontaines-axo.com/
[13] [PDF] Carnal union with Christ in the theology of T.F. Torrance – ERA https://era.ed.ac.uk/
[14] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance – Better World Books https://www.betterworldbooks.
[15] Union with Christ in Paul’s Theology, referencing Torrance’s work https://www.facebook.com/
