Title: Sons of God, Seed of Abraham
Title: Lower than the Elohim
These two chapters deal with (1) our union with Christ—the theological ideas of divine sonship of the believer, also known as glorification / deification / apotheosis—as the logical outcome of God’s original Edenic intention for humanity; and (2) our participation in the divine council as divine children and heirs with Jesus. The latter discussion features Hebrews 1-2. They are considered in tandem on this site.
Bibliography included in the book
Brendan Byrne, “Sons of God”-“Seed of Abraham”: A Study of the Idea of the Sonship of God of All Christians in Paul Against the Jewish Background (Analecta Biblica 83; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute Press, 1979)
James M. Scott, Adoption as Sons of God: An Exegetical Investigation Into the Background of Yiothesia in the Pauline Corpus (WUNT 48; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992)
Matthew Vellanichal, The Divine Sonship of Christians in the Johannine Writings (Analecta Biblica 72; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute Press, 1977)
Michael Peppard, “Adopted and Begotten Sons of God: Paul and John on Divine Sonship,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 73:1 (Jan 2011): 92-110
James Tabor, “Firstborn of Many Brothers: A Pauline Notion of Apotheosis,” (Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 21; Chico: Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984), 295-303
Crispin Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Studies in the Texts of the Deserts of Judah 42; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002)
Guy Williams, The Spirit World in the Letters of Paul the Apostle: A Critical Examination of the Role of Spiritual Beings in the Authentic Pauline Epistles (FRLANT 231; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009)
G. A. Anderson, “The Exultation of Adam and the Fall of Satan,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy (1997): 105–134 (= Literature on Adam and Eve. Collected Essays, ed. G. Anderson, M.E. Stone, and J. Trump [SVTP 15; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2000], 83–110)
C. L. Patton, “Adam as the Image of God: An Exploration of the Fall of Satan in the Life of Adam and Eve,” Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 33 (ed. E.H. Lovering, Jr.; Atlanta, 1994), 294–300
Robert Rakestraw, “Becoming Like God: An Evangelical Doctrine of Theosis,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (1997): 1-22
John McClean, “ ‘Perichoresis, Theosis’ and Union with Christ in the thought of John Calvin,” Reformed Theological Review 68:2 (2009): 130-141
Vladimir Kharlamov, “Theosis in Patristic Thought,” Theology Today 65:2 (2008): 158-168
S. T. Kimbrough, Jr., “Theosis in the Writings of Charles Wesley,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary Quarterly 52:2 (2008): 199-212
Daniel B. Clendenin, “Partakers of Divinity: The Orthodox Doctrine of Theosis,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37 (1994): 365-379
Michael J. Christensen and Jeffery A. Wittung (eds.), Partakers of the Divine Nature: The History and Development of Deification in the Christian Traditions (Baker Academic, 2008)
G. L. Bray, “Deification,” New Dictionary of Theology (ed. S. B. Ferguson, D. F. Wright and J. I. Packer; Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1988)
M. David Litwa, “2 Corinthians 3: 18 and Its Implications for ‘Theosis’,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 2 (2008): 117-34
M. David Litwa, We are Being Transformed: Deification in Paul’s Soteriology (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche 187; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2012)
Additional Bibliography
Stefan-Sebastian Maftei, “ ‘Sonship’ and its Relevance for Jewish and Non-Jewish Mystical Literatures,” Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 8, no. 23 (2010): 141-153
Carl Mosser, “The greatest possible blessing: Calvin and deification.” Scottish journal of theology 55, no. 01 (2002): 36-57
Johann Leemans, “ ‘God became human in order that humans might become God’: A Reflection on the Soteriological Doctrine of Divinization,” in The Myriad Christ: Plurality and the Quest for Unity in Contemporary Christology (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 152; Leuven University Press; Peeters), 207-216
Randall C. Gleason, “Angels and the Eschatology of Heb 1–2,” New Testament Studies 49, no. 01 (2003): 90-107
Kenneth J. Thomas, “The Old Testament Citations in Hebrews,” New Testament Studies 11, no. 04 (1965): 303-325
J. Daryl Charles, “The Angels, Sonship and Birthright in the Letter to the Hebrews,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 33 (1990): 171-178
T. F. Glasson, “ ‘Plurality of Divine Persons’ and the Quotations in Hebrews I. 6ff.,” New Testament Studies 12, no. 03 (1966): 270-272
Gert J. Steyn, “A quest for theVorlage of the” Song of Moses” (Deut 32) quotations in Hebrews,” Neotestamentica 34, no. 2 (2000): 263-272
Georg Gäbel, “Rivals in Heaven: Angels in the Epistle to the Hebrews,” (Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook; ed. by Friedrich V. Reiterer, Pancratius Cornelis Beentjes, Nuria Calduch-Benages, Benjamin G. Wright; Berlin: DeGruyter, 2007), 357–376
Kenneth L. Schenck, “A Celebration of the Enthroned Son: The Catena of Hebrews 1,” Journal of Biblical literature 120, no. 3 (2001): 469-485
Mikael C. Parsons, “Son and High Priest: A Study in the Christology of Hebrews,” Evangelical Quarterly 60, no. 3 (1988): 195-215
Gareth Lee Cockerill, “Hebrews 1: 6: Source and Significance,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 9 (1999): 51-64
Scott D. Mackie, “Ancient Jewish Mystical Motifs in Hebrews’ Theology of Access and Entry Exhortations,” New Testament Studies 58, no. 01 (2012): 88-104
Joshua W. Jipp, “The Son’s Entrance into the Heavenly World: The Soteriological Necessity of the Scriptural Catena in Hebrews 1.5-14,” New Testament Studies 56, no. 04 (2010): 557-575
Jody A., Barnard, The Mysticism of Hebrews: Exploring the Role of Jewish Apocalyptic Mysticism in the Epistle to the Hebrews (WUNT 331; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012)
Mark Kinzer, “‘All Things Under His Feet’: The Use of Psalm 8 in the New Testament in Light of Its Use in Other Jewish Literature of Late Antiquity,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1995
Hubert James Keener, A Canonical Exegesis of the Eighth Psalm: Yhwh’s Maintenance of the Created Order Through Divine Intervention (Eisenbrauns, 2014)
Eric Mason, ‘You are a Priest Forever’: Second Temple Jewish Messianism and the Priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Studies of the Texts of the Desert of Judah 74; E. J. Brill, 2008)
Amy L. Peeler, You are My Son: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Bloomsbury / T & T Clark, 2014)