Vita vera in ipso Deo : The Promise as Deification in Martin Luther's Theology

Abstract This article takes its cue from the two models of justification—imputative and transformative—dominant in Western theology and argued for, often in opposition to each other, in the theology of Martin Luther. It proposes that the concept of promise, frequently deployed by Luther, possesses the analytical architectonic to maintain the two models’ mutual entailment without their unwitting collapse into each other. In the course of this investigation, the concept of promise emerges as not only an integrative notion but also the center of what might be termed “fundamental ontology” that defines Luther's theological vision. Within the fundamental ontology that it posits, the promise advances reasons, intrinsic to its architectonic, that account for why justification entails faith, forgiveness and imputation, to the exclusion of human works. It then accounts for why justification must, nevertheless, involve nothing short of deification and provides a precise realist account of the latter (rather than seeing theosis as nominal or ethical).