In this article we will be looking at “The New Age” religion and a few of its beliefs. First, it is NOT related to Christianity! It is said that this religion promotes the development of the person’s own power or divinity. Divinity is the quality or state of being Divine! Being Divine is the same as being God! In the New Testament there is one Greek word translated both “Godhead” and “divine.” First, when Paul was at Athens, he declares to them what they worshipped what they called “the unknown God.” In doing so, he said: “God (theos) that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord (kurios) of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; (Acts 17:24-25). He then followed with: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (verse 28). This brings us to verse 29: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God (theos), we ought not to think that the Godhead (theios) is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” Just a point here before moving on, Paul’s argument is: 1) we are not made of gold, silver, and graven by art and man’s device, therefore, 2) neither is the God of who we are his offspring! No, man is much more than these physical items; as he who made us and whose “offspring” we are, is not such!
It is the Greek word “theios,” translated “Godhead” that we are here interested in. The reason is that Peter also used this same Greek word: “According as his divine (theios) power hath given unto us (the apostles, frw) all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3). Then, Peter informs us that he gave to the apostles, “all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” in order that we “might be partakers of the divine (theios) nature” (verse 4). We, who obey the gospel of Christ, do not become God, but we do become “partakers of the divine nature!” It is the natural order of becoming “partakers of the divine nature,” that our “nature” becomes like the “nature” of God. The word “nature” is the Greek “phusis” which means: “growth (by germination or expansion), that is, (by implication) natural production (lineal descent).” Here it would be good to recall the way God created man in the beginning: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: …” (Gen. 1:26). In obeying the gospel of Christ, we have the opportunity to become once more, what we were as made by God in the beginning! Man was in the beginning, germinated by God and in obeying the gospel, we are, in a sense, re-germinated by God; as Peter wrote: “Being born again (begotten, frw), not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:23).
Now, with these thoughts in our mind, let us return to what is called: “The New Age” religion. Remember from our opening statement: “It is said that this religion promotes the development of the person’s own power or divinity.” Divinity is the quality or state of being Divine!” Having now looked at the word “Divine,” and the word “Godhead,” both being the same Greek word, which is “spoken of the only and true God” (Thayer). For the “New Age” folks which “promotes the development of the person’s own power or divinity,” is to declare they are “gods!” There is a great difference between being “made in the image and likeness” of God and claiming to be god! Here I quote: “A person in New Age would see themselves as deity, the cosmos, the universe” (EveryStudent.com). This reminds me of a woman I heard on a FOX NEWS program, as the woman said, “We are whatever we want to be.” She went as far to say; a white American male can be an Hawaiian female. Here is a good answer to such: “Each of the major religions doesn’t have a different path up the same mountain — they are not even on the same mountain!”
“The teaching of Christ” is the one true religion; as it has within of, the one true and living God! In “the teaching of Christ,” no one is what he just says so! Peter wrote: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born (begotten, frw) again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:22-23).
Frank R. Williams