Abide in Him: 2 Peter 1:4

This week, we will add on to our previous verse. Before we jump into verse 4, let’s review verse 3: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence…” Verse 4 is the last part of the sentence we started to learn last time and it continues to explain why we should add to our faith in order to keep from being ineffective and lacking in the knowledge of Jesus.

I chose these verses for our memorization project because they serve as a good reminder of what we can do to strengthen our faith. Yes, the Holy Spirit works on our hearts and our minds, but we also have a role in our faith. We need to strengthen and grow. We do this through knowledge, perseverance, righteousness, and love.

Let’s get started!

The Verse

“by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

2 Peter 1:4 (ESV)

Application

Again, this is Paul’s letter to the church. He is encouraging them, and us, to firm up our faith and explaining why we should. In this second part, Peter explains that through God’s precious and very great promises, we can become partakers of His divine nature. I love how Peter describes the promises of God as precious and very great. The word precious can mean “great price” or “held in honor, esteemed, especially dear.” His promises are precious because they are from our Creator who loves us and cares for us. They are also very great or “greatest” – no one else can make a promise like God or follow through on a promise as He does.

What promises is Peter talking about? Every single one of God’s promises, but specifically, the promise of a Savior and the promise of the Holy Spirit. Why specifically these promises? Before answering that question, let’s look at what it means to partake in His divine nature.

To partake in something means to share in something. The Greek word for partakers is “koinonos” and it means “a sharer, associate, companion, partner.” Through His promises, we share His divine nature. This does not mean we are equal with God or that we become divine ourselves. It means we share in His attributes and His character. So, let’s look at our question again: How do we, through His promises of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, share the divine nature of God?

Throughout the entire Bible, beginning in Genesis, a Savior is promised to redeem and rescue those who believe in Him (see Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14 and 9:1-7; Zechariah 9:9 for examples). A Savior who will not only die for our sins, but also give us a new life (see John 3:16). His death and resurrection offers us the opportunity to share in God’s nature because our sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. We are now born again and made new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He promised His disciples (and us) the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our “Helper…who is from the Father (John 15:26). Once we are saved, we are given the Holy Spirit. As we grow in our faith and walk closely with God, we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:16-23). Notice how this fruit bears the character of God?

So, through the precious promises of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are given the opportunity to share in God’s divine nature because we are a new creation in Christ. Our old ways are now gone and because the Holy Spirit lives in us and helps us, we can begin to bear His character through the fruit of the Spirit. It is through these promises we are able to attain our divine nature. Without them, any attempt to attain God’s nature will be fruitless and in vain.

As a result of us knowing God, accepting His promises and sharing the divine nature of God, we have “escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” The word corruption means “moral decay,” while “sinful desire” means “a desire for what is forbidden, lust, craving.” Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we have escaped not only from what enslaved us – the sinful desire for the world’s ways which leads to moral decay – but also the penalty of death.

Grammar

Notice the word “may” as in “you may become partakers of the divine nature…” The original Greek word is “dunamai” and it means “to be able or possible.” Why am I pointing this out? To show you it is possible to partake in the divine nature of God, but it still requires something from us. We have to choose to take the opportunity and add to our faith. As we’ll see later, we need to supplement our faith to continue our growth in Jesus and to stay strong in His ways. It doesn’t happen automatically.

Final Thoughts

The Lord has promised us many things such as being with us at all times, drawing close to us, and giving us wisdom when we ask for it. Though every one of His promises are precious and very great, I think the greatest are the promise of His Son, our Savior and the promise of the Holy Spirit, our Helper. Without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we would still be lost in our ways, corrupted by the world, lusting after those things that would bring us death.

Take a moment and give thanks to the LORD for His promises of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, along with His other promises. Reflect upon what it means to be a “partaker of the divine nature.” Finally, join me back here in two weeks to find out what we need to do to supplement our faith.