“As man now is, God once was, and as God now is, man may become” --Lorenzo Snow.
“We have not been made gods from the beginning, but at first men, then at length gods but following the only true and steadfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself. -- Irenaeus 1
This is without a doubt one of the most borderline teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Not all Latter-day Saints accept the ideas which suggest a regression of divine beings. Mormon doctrine on this point is not clear, and mostly speculative. It does not play much of a role, one way or the other, in LDS worship or thought. I have never heard it taught in church, nor do I recall ever seeing it in church magazines. Nevertheless, one can make an appropriate claim that this has been taught in the past, not only in our church, but in the Bible as well.
There is much in ancient Christian literature to show a belief that man can become God (theosis), however, there is much less available to show that they believed or understood that God was once a man. Besides the above quote by Irenaeus, interesting examples are found in the Armenian literature. This material shows that at least some Christians may indeed have had a belief that God was once a man.
In one translation of an ancient Armenian Christian document which Michael Stone entitles “Concerning Adam, Eve and the Incarnation,” we find, following Eve’s telling Satan that they would die if they ate the fruit of the tree, that the serpent replies, “That is not so! God was a man like you. When he ate of the fruit of this tree he became God of all.” 2
Interestingly, there is biblical scripture that can be used to some degree to support concepts conducive to the idea that God was once a man. One of these is John 5:19-20. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth.”
It can be surmised the Father showed Christ a vision of his own experiences so that Christ could carry these details out. There is also scripture that can be used to potentially support the idea that God could have a physical body. One of these is Hebrews 1:3. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Christ could only be the exact representation of the Father if the Father himself possessed a body of some sort. In fact, some who wish to avoid what I feel is the plain meaning of Hebrews 1:3 actually go so far as to separate the natures of Christ or declare that the passage could not possibly infer that the Father is embodied.
I believe it is more correct to say that God is exactly as the Bible describes Him—an exalted Man.
The Savior says over and over again that he is the “Son of Man.” It is plain that Jesus is the Son of God; therefore, God must be a Man since God is His Father and Jesus is His Son.
God is our Eternal Father. He created us in his image, in His exact similitude. We are His offspring (Acts 17:29). If we are His offspring and made in His similitude, then He must be a Man.
Jesus said that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus was a man, therefore, if they are identical, God must also be a man. What else would, or could He be if He is the Father of Christ and if Christ is in His express image?
He said to Mary, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17) Among other things, this passage teaches that Jesus is not the same being as His and our Father. He is God’s Son, a separate and distinct being. If God were an omnipresent spirit, as some believe, then Christ would not have had to ascend to Him, because the Father would have been with Him already. And if He is Jesus’ Father and if He is Mary’s Father, what must He be? A Man obviously.
We are made in the image of God, therefore, God must be a man, He must look like us and we like Him. James says that men are made in “the similitude of God” (James 3:9).
Stephen saw a vision (view, sight, see, form, shape, appearance, position, location, etc.) of Jesus standing on the right hand (righthand side, not to the left, or beneath, or above, but to the side) of God the Father (a being, a person, someone who occupies space so that Jesus can be to the right of Him), not an amorphous, formless nothing, not an invisible spirit (Acts 7:56).
Since when are a Father and a Son fundamentally different? God is a man just like His Son. Straightforward and simple.
1- Against Heresies, Vol. 5: Preface; TANF vol. 1, p.526. In AH 4:38
2- Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Adam and Eve (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), 25.
