THEOSISTheodoret of Cyrus
When those adversaries I have dispatched to you strip away your sovereign power, and when they bring about your death, can we still pridefully declare ourselves to be God, as if we could instill fear in them by invoking His name? This cannot be. For a shift in circumstances leads to a transformation in mindset. You will be wounded, hardened, and face death like your uncircumcised subjects, and you will recognize that you are merely a mortal and not divine. My judgment is firm and undeniable. God made this known when He proclaimed, ‘As I have spoken,’ says the Sovereign Lord. This declaration pertains to the destructive spirit that inspired the deceitful prince of Tyre. Hence, God threatens him with annihilation at the hands of outsiders and destroyers from various nations.
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Such were those who embraced and received the knowledge of God through the ancient Gospel. The Apostle also reminds us: at times we were foolish, disobedient, and led astray, indulging in various desires, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating each other (Titus 3:3). Furthermore, God through His servant Moses said, ‘They have provoked Me to anger with that which is not God; they have moved Me to jealousy with their vain idols: and I will provoke them to anger with those who are not a people; I will move them to jealousy with a foolish nation’ (Deuteronomy 32:21). Thus, through these formerly unwise, senseless, and abominable outsiders and Gentiles, the prophetic word foretells the devil’s defeat. It may be observed that the term ‘strangers’ is used to refer to the faithful who have come to believe. For it is written, ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near’ (Ephesians 2:13). God declares that with their swords they will obliterate the malice of the devil’s cunning; they will dismantle your schemes, put an end to your wicked plots against humanity, and destroy the altars you constructed for your service. They will metaphorically bury you in oblivion, taking the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and all your power (Luke 10:19). You will ultimately discover that your false assurances of divinity to people were in vain. This fate befalls you because your wisdom remains uncircumcised, and you have not severed the painful root of pride that resides within you.