Is this teaching biblical?
Houston's statement that 'Jesus became you so that you could become Him' echoes the Word of Faith 'little gods' doctrine. While 2 Corinthians 5:21 teaches that Christ took on our sin so we could receive His righteousness (imputation), it does NOT teach that we become Christ Himself. There is an infinite, unbridgeable gap between Creator and creature. Christ's work on the cross grants us forgiveness and adoption — not deification.
What did Brian Houston say?
"You see on the cross, Jesus became you, so that you could become Him... He took on your fallibility, your weakness, your vulnerability on the cross, so that you could become Him."
Speaker: Brian Houston
Source: Sermon: The Power of Weakness, Hillsong London, March 2018 — video later scrubbed
What does Scripture actually teach?
2 Corinthians 5:21
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
— NKJV
The actual verse Houston is distorting. It says we become 'the righteousness of God IN HIM' — meaning Christ's righteousness is credited to us through faith. It does NOT say we 'become Him.' We receive His righteousness by imputation; we do not become God incarnate. Houston's twist converts the doctrine of justification into the heresy of deification.
Isaiah 45:5
"I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me."
— NKJV
There is only ONE God. Humans do not 'become Him.' The idea that believers can become Christ is a fundamental assault on the uniqueness of God. This is not humility or awe — it is the serpent's original lie repackaged in Christian language.
Romans 8:29
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
— NKJV
We are conformed to Christ's IMAGE — His character, holiness, and love — not His being. We become LIKE Him in moral character, not identical TO Him in divine nature. Houston's language collapses this crucial distinction between sanctification and deification.