Clement of Alexandria
Yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god.
AthanasiusGod became man that man might become God.
Augustine of HippoBut he himself that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons of God. “For he has given them power to become the sons of God.” If then we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods.
IrenaeusIf the Word became a man, it was so men may become gods.
If one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God…. His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes a god, since God wills it. So Heraclitus was right when he said, “Men are gods, and gods are men.”
The man of God is consequently divine and is already holy. He is God-bearing and God-borne.
It leads us to the endless and perfect end, teaching us beforehand the future life that we shall lead, according to God, and with gods; after we are freed from all punishment and penalty which we undergo, in consequence of our sins, for salutary discipline.