The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification
Made to be Godly 69 their perverse imitation and desire for self-rule, experience only autonomy and separation from God:
Whoever wants to be like God so as to stand in his presence, and guard his strength in relation to him, as it is written (cf. Ps. 58:10), let him not recede from him, let him cling to him as wax is sealed by a signet-ring, let him have God's image affixed to him, realizing what is written, Adhering to my God is my good, truly guarding the likeness and image which God made. But if one will have perversely imitated God who is neither formed by nor ruled by anyone else, then this one desires to be like God, desiring to live as if formed by no one, ruled by no one. But what occurs, brothers and sisters, is that in withdrawing from God's warmth this one grows numb, receding from Truth this one vanishes, receding from God who supremely and unchangeably is, this one deteriorates, changed into something inferior.90
Communion with God is described in very strong terms here: cohaerere, adhaerere, affixus—a closeness illustrated by the impression a ring makes onto a wax seal. The opposite description is equally stark: recedere, uanescere, deterius—a loss illustrated by the "coolness" of the self turned away from light. What is striking about both of these movements and subsequent states is that they are both a matter of the imitation of God. But while the human person is called to be like God, the one attribute he cannot seek is God's own "autonomy." Humanity's divine likeness must always be a matter of participation. Only the perversion of sin seeks to be perfect in isolation from perfection's only origin.
90. en. Ps. 70, exp. 2.6: "Ergo quisquis ita uult esse similis Deo, ut ad illum stet, fortitudinemque suam, sicut scriptum est, ad illum custodiat, non ab illo recedat: ei cohaerendo signetur tamquam ex annulo cera, illi affixus habeat imaginem eius, faciens quod dictum est: Mihi adhaerere Deo bonum est, uere custodit similitudinem et imaginem ad quam factus est. Porro autem si peruerse uoluerit imitari Deum, ut quomodo Deus non habet a quo formetur, non habet a quo regatur, sic ipse uelit sua potestate uti, ut quomodo Deus, nullo formante, nullo regente uiuat; quid restat, fratres, nisi ut recedens ab eius calore torpescat, recedens a ueritate uanescat, recedens ab eo quod summe atque incommutabiliter est, in deterius mutatus deficiat"; CCL39.965. Notice how strongly, albeit over zealously, Boulding reads this passage in terms of divine union, translating ut ad illum as, "we can stand fast in close union with God"; Expositions (III/17), 444.