THEOSISTheophylact of Bulgaria
Everyone who transgresses the teaching of Christ and does not abide in it does not have God. On the contrary, everyone who transgresses His commandment, that is, the commandment of Christ who came in the flesh, and does not abide in His teaching, does not have God.
For if he looks with contempt upon the One who came to teach men perfect knowledge of God, how can he still be pious when he despises the Teacher Himself? No, such a man is godless. Likewise, the one who is firm in the teaching of Christ belongs to God and is beloved of God. He has within himself the whole fullness of the Godhead, that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Christ teaches concerning the Father when He says: "All that the Father has is Mine" (Jn 16:15). In many places He teaches concerning Himself and the Father, that the Father is one and the Son another. He teaches concerning the Spirit when He says: "The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father" (Jn 15:26). He speaks still more plainly when He says: "Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19).
If the disciple of the Lord here spoke only of the Father and the Son, and was silent about the Holy Spirit, do not be at all troubled by this. Here it was proper to speak only of this, that is, of the Father and the Son. "He who abides in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son."
The one who abides in the teaching of Christ, that is, in the evangelical teaching, is he who thinks according to it, teaches according to it, acts according to it, and conforms to it his whole inner and outer life. But the one who withdraws from it is godless.
For the man who lives exactly according to this teaching makes himself God's own, like Abraham, who for this reason heard from Him: "I am your God" (Gen 17:1). So the man who does not live according to the evangelical commandment lives without God, because he has removed himself from God.
But while the one alienated from the divine teaching lives without God, the one who abides in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. Concerning this the Son also said: "We will come to him and make Our abode with him," that is, together with the Father (Jn 14:23). Through keeping the commandments he has made himself a temple and dwelling place of God, and God has made His dwelling in him.
The words to have God are used in two senses. It is said that all creatures have God, as the Apostle Paul expressed it: "In Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). This is said with regard to existence.
Again, when someone serves God by virtues, it is said that he has God. In this sense God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of the Hebrews beloved of God generally. To what has now been said one must add: he who has the Son also has the Father. For he who has seen the Son, as He Himself said, has seen the Father. He also said: "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me" (Jn 14:9-10). Therefore from this also the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son is known.
But if someone says, "In that case, the one who receives the disciples also has the Father and the Son, because it is said, 'He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me'" (Mt 10:40), let him know that he speaks wrongly and understands incorrectly.
For this was said about the teaching. The one who willingly received the Apostles and their teaching, through them received the Father and the Son as teachers. And in another way, the one who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. The Apostles abode in the teaching, because they preached it. Therefore the one who received them, as temples of God, through the very reception of them has the Son and the Father abiding in them.