The Divine Nature

2 Peter 1:1-4

I love how peter opens his letter by addressing his audience…only. Peter is writing to a select group of people, to ” those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ.” Is this arrogant? No, Peter tells us that he and every person who has true faith has it because of the righteousness of God and Christ. But, in this statement he reveals that there is a version of faith that may be more shallow or ineffective than other versions. It is not the size of faith which matters, only a mustard seed size of faith is necessary to do great things and to be saved, but the quality of faith does indeed matter. James says “even the demons believe in God” and Timothy also reminds believers that, “in the last days grievous times shall come, men will hold to a form of godliness, but deny the power of God” Jesus himself says, that “many will come in his name saying Lord Lord…did we not do miracles in your name and he will say go away i never knew you.” We can conclude therefore, based on these and similar scriptures that Peters letter is for those who have a true, authentic faith that can only come from God, not mustered up by worldly desires or trends. This is in perfect alignment with Peter’s theme of predestination, in his first letter of . It is these very people who will receive God’s divine nature, which is the theme of these next few verses.

His divine power has granted us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him, who called us to His glory and excellence. God’s promises are for us, but they are all about Him. They come from him, they are found in Him, and they are to reveal Him in us! His eternal nature is part of our inheritance.

By his excellence, God granted us promises, so that those who have this faith, may become partakers of the divine nature. Think on this, God has so ordained, planned and purposed that those who have true faith, which comes from him, do so, on the bases that they can live for all eternity with him! It is this true faith in Jesus blood, which washes us clean, it is this true faith in his power, love, grace and mercy which transforms us from children of wrath into children of God.

Corruption is in the world because of sinful desires. The first being the forbidden fruit; “Eve saw that the tree was desired to make one wise.” We can escape sinful desires and corruption when we become partakers God’s nature opposed to partaking of the nature of man, the sin nature, the nature which has been corrupted and is fading away. Sin will eat away at our soul, devouring us just as a virus or disease that consumes our bodies will do. God told Adam in the day you disobey you will die. Death and sin entered after that first bite and the curse God laid upon Satan in the form of the serpent was this , HE WOULD CONSUME the dust of the earth. Mankind is the dust of the earth. Which is why later, Jesus says about Satan the serpent, he is also Satan the lion who prowls about seeking someone to devour. HE cannot devour those with the divine nature of God. He can devour those with a nature like his own.

Our destiny, because of Adam, is to be consumed by corruption and sin, but there are some who will partake of the divine nature. God didn’t let his divine nature be shared in the Garden. He cast Adam and Even out, so that they COULD NOT eat from the tree of life and live forever in their sinful state. Christ the son of God had to come down first and wash away and take away that outer corrupt part. The tree of life had to become the tree of death. Eternal life had to descend on a tree of death and conquer all the sins, making a way, a divine way, that those who partook of that divine nature would live again, would live forever, this time however, without sin. Now that Christ has come the sinful nature could be washed away with his blood in those who have faith.

The divine nature is eternal and immune to corruption and sin. God has promised this to those who trust in him, belong to him, those who are chosen and elect and set apart for him. How do we get from here to there? Peter says, through the knowledge of God. It is through the knowing and the knowledge of God, our creator, our father, our savior Jesus Christ. Knowing who he is and believing what he has done this is how we partake of his nature. As we press into these aspects of the nature and person of God through his word, the word became flesh, the person of Jesus Christ is the word of God. We are granted all things – pertaining to life and godliness when we partake of his word, his nature, his exact representation of his nature. All things is not all things our flesh desires but all things that are eternal and godly. God doesn’t grant us the lottery, riches, fame, success and beauty or even good things we desire. It means God gives us all things pertaining to eternal life and things we need to be godly in this temporary existence. It also means those things which produce in us the fruit of the spirit, eternal living, truth. He equips us with such things for our good because of His goodness and excellence. As we seek him in his word, we become well acquainted with his promises .

The promises of God involve his nature, character and excellence, which we partake of, as if eating a healthy and nutritious meal. our godly nature is what we get here, eternal life is what we get later. Our nature becomes incorruptible and divine when we consume God’s word rather then permitting the devil to consume us. This is the exact reason Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, “whoever drinks of the waters which I give will spring up in an eternal well”. and why he told his disciples in John 6 that he himself is the bread of life and those who partook of this bread would never die. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Through the promises of God, namely Jesus Christ, we become partakers of his nature, the eternal, everlasting, never dying nature of God. Satan can eat our flesh and consume the dust which we turn into, but our souls, our spirit, the parts of us that God made eternal will live on, these things are of divine substance , Jesus reactivated our first nature which is in the likeness of God, when we trust in him.