The Gift of Divinity

I wasn’t joking in my previous blog when I said 2 Peter 1:3-11 was my favourite Bible passage (at least at the moment tehe).

We discussed verse 3 which essentially taught us that through Christ and our knowledge of Him, we have everything we need to practically live this life.

In Him, we have everything we need to live.

With that being said, here is what verses 3-4 says;

³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ 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 1:3-4 ESV

As you may have already predicted, verse 4 will be the focus of this post.

1. God’s Promises to Belivers

The first statements of verse 4 is a continuation of what was written in verse 3.

Through the divine power of Christ, believers have been fully granted with the promises of God.

In other words, we are no longer alienated from all of God’s promises mentioned in scripture, but rather partakers of them.

Hint…

There are many…

MANY promises God has declared for His children and they are all good.

Matter of fact, I won’t even mention any of them, because they are all so deep (and may be found totally and exhaustively in the Bible).

2. Partakers of the Divine Nature

Ok, so through Jesus Christ, we have been granted his precious and very great promises…

What’s the big woop?

The next statement in verse 4 begins with the words “so that”, thus implying that THIS very statement is the reason/ significance of the preceding verses (2 Peter 1:1-2).

Are you ready? Here it is:

“… so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature … ”

Simply put, to partake means to “take” or “have a part” or “have a share” in something.

In the original Greek…

“Divine” translates to ” theias” which comes from “theos” which means God

“Nature ” translates to “phuseōs ” which comes from ” phuó” which means to bring forth, produce

God graciously shares his very nature to those who believe in Christ, through His precious and very great promises.

In other words, through the promises of Christ, Christians are provided the opportunity to share of the very nature of God.

Through these promises, believers are able bring forth and produce a character of godliness!

This in itself is an amazing promise. Coincidentally, it is reflective of the promise that was already stated in verse 3

” His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and GODLINESS…“

So practically, what does it look like to be partakers of this divine nature?

3. Free from the Bondage of Sin

…having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire

In one sense, being partakers of God’s nature means that we have been set free from the captivity of corruption in the world.

So what does this exactly mean?

I believe the key word to focus on in that statement is “sinful desire”.

The amplified version reads:

“so that by them you may escape from the immoral freedom that is in the world because of disreputable desire, and become sharers of the divine nature”

The tone of this passage is very similar to those of John 8:31-36 and Romans 8:1-3 which emphasize on the freedom that followers of Christ have from their former sinful nature.

Essentially, through Christ’s divine power (expressed in the form of the Holy Spirit), those who follow Him are free from being slaves to their natural inclination to satisfy fleshly desires, but rather pursuit greater joys in pleasing God.

This is a SUPERNATURAL transformation.

Also a very gracious gift from God.

For me personally, this portion of scripture tells me two things.

1. Sin is powerful and the cause of all corruption in the world today…but
2. Christ is greater and has given us the ability to be free from this corruption 

Freedom in this life is only attainable by truly being image bearers of God.

Freedom in this life is only possible through the amazing gift of divinity.

This is only attainable by placing our faith in the Giver of this gift.

Jesus Christ