Both Torrance and Witness Lee teach a robust, participatory deification, but Torrance frames theosis within Nicene–Reformed dogmatics (hypostatic union, vicarious humanity, union with Christ), while Witness Lee articulates an organic, “metabolic” deification in which believers “become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.”[1][2][3][4]
## 1. Basic definition of theosis
– Torrance: Theosis is participation, by the Spirit, in Christ’s vicarious, sanctified humanity and thus in the communion of the Trinity—“union with God in and through Christ” as the goal of reconciliation.[2][5][1]
– Witness Lee: Theosis is the believers’ becoming God “in life and nature but not in the Godhead,” as they are constituted with God’s life and nature through a progressive, inward transformation.[3][4][6]
## 2. Christological and ontological basis
– Torrance:
– Hypostatic union itself is a “dynamic atoning union” in which sinful human nature is sanctified and brought into “perfect sanctifying union” with God.[1]
– Christ’s incarnational “carnal union” with all humanity and his vicarious faith/obedience mean that in him an unbreakable ontological bond now exists between God and humanity.[7][1]
– Theosis is our Spirit‑given participation in this one ontological union and its fruits (justification, sanctification, adoption).[8][2][1]
– Witness Lee:
– Starts from incarnation too, but stresses that Christ as the God‑man embodies the mingling of divinity and humanity, which is then reproduced in believers.[9][3]
– Believers receive the “divine seed” and eternal life at regeneration; this seed grows within them as they partake of the divine nature.[3]
– Deification is organic and “metabolic”: the divine life spreads within the believers, constituting them with God’s life and nature.[6][9][3]
## 3. Creator–creature distinction and “becoming God”
– Torrance:
– Preserves a strict Creator–creature distinction; he does not say believers “become God,” but that they participate by grace in God’s life and communion through union with Christ.[5][2]
– Strongly rejects any suggestion that humans share in the divine essence or hypostatic status; participation is always mediated in and through Christ’s humanity in the Spirit.[2][1]
– Witness Lee:
– Repeatedly insists that believers do *not* become God in the Godhead—God alone is the unique object of worship; believers never share omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, or headship.[4][3]
– Yet he deliberately uses the formula “become God in life and nature” to stress how radical the participation is: an inward “mingling” of God’s nature with the believer’s human nature.[10][6][3]
– He explicitly frames “godliness” as the issue of partaking of the divine nature in a way that produces an organic “mingling,” not mere imitation.[9]
## 4. Mode of participation
– Torrance:
– Participation is fundamentally **Christological and ecclesial**: accomplished objectively in Christ’s vicarious humanity and subjectively given by the Spirit through union with Christ and the life of the church (Word and sacraments).[11][1][2]
– Emphasis falls on “real union” with Christ’s humanity (Calvin/Torrance) rather than an internal metaphysic of “mingling” in the believer’s psychology.[7][2]
– Witness Lee:
– Participation is **experiential and organic**: believers “enjoy” and “eat” God, the divine life spreads, and there is a “spiritual, practical, and experiential union…of the Spirit with our spirit.”[12][3]
– He uses “mingling” to describe the relation of God’s life and human life: not a confusion of essences or collapse of Godhead, but a deep interpenetration of life and nature.[3][9]
## 5. Ecclesial and corporate dimensions
– Torrance:
– The church is the body that shares in the one reconciling union Christ has with humanity; its existence is a theotic communion (“union with Christ through the communion of the Spirit”).[13][1][2]
– Theosis is communal, but articulated via classic catholic/Reformed categories: body of Christ, sacraments as means of union, participation in Christ’s priestly life and mission.[11][13]
– Witness Lee:
– The church (Body of Christ) is the “corporate expression” of God, the outcome of “God became man so that man may become God”; he even speaks of the body as a “four‑in‑one organic entity” (Triune God plus the believers).[14][6]
– Deification is explicitly corporate and eschatological: the aggregate of deified believers expresses God in life and nature (though never in Godhead).[6][10][14]
## 6. Comparative summary (for teaching)
– **Overlap:**
– Both affirm deification as the telos of salvation: sharing in God’s life and nature through Christ.[1][6]
– Both reject mere moral imitation or purely forensic categories; salvation is ontological and participatory.[9][1][3]
– **Key differences:**
– Torrance: Athanasian, Nicene‑Reformed, hypostatic‑union centered; avoids “become God” language; participation is strictly mediated through Christ’s humanity and stays within classical Western Creator–creature and Trinitarian grammar.[5][2][1]
– Witness Lee: Local‑church, experiential, “metabolic” emphasis; boldly uses “become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead,” with strong stress on inward mingling and organic constitution by the divine life.[4][10][6][3]
If you’d like, I can next give you a one‑page comparison table designed specifically for use in a seminar on Torrance and the Local Churches.
Sources
[1] T.F. Torrance: Union with Christ through the Communion of the Spirit https://indieskriflig.org.za/
[2] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance | Myk Habets https://www.taylorfrancis.com/
[3] [PDF] “In Life and Nature but not in the Godhead”: Witness Lee’s … https://an-open-letter.org/
[4] The truth concerning the ultimate goal of God’s economy https://bibleread.online/all-
[5] Torrance on theosis – The Surprising God https://thesurprisinggodblog.
[6] Becoming God in Life and Nature: Watchman Nee and Witness Lee … https://www.localchurch.kr/
[7] [PDF] Carnal union with Christ in the theology of T.F. Torrance – ERA https://era.ed.ac.uk/
[8] T. F. Torrance on theosis and universal salvation https://www.cambridge.org/
[9] ETS 2015: “In Life and Nature but Not in the Godhead” https://an-open-letter.org/en/
[10] God Created Man in His Image to make Man God in Life and Nature https://agodman.com/god-
[11] Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance: A Review | https://jasongoroncy.com/2010/
[12] MAN BECOMING GOD, HAVING GOD’S LIFE AND NATURE https://www.ministrysamples.
[13] T.F. Torrance: Union with Christ through the Communion of the Spirit http://www.scielo.org.za/
[14] Four-in-one: Witness Lee & Trinitarian Ecclesiology https://conversantfaith.com/
[15] Dennis Greeson: Herman Bavinck, Theosis & T.F. Torrance https://thelaymenslounge.com/
[16] Addressing the Open Letter’s Concerns On the Nature of Humanity … https://www.equip.org/
