For what purpose did the Lord save you, calling you unto Himself? Ultimately, it was for His glorification. That God would take – that God could take – a child of the devil like me, and call me “His child,” is certainly a blessing beyond understanding. But it magnifies the Lord much more than it does me. That King David would seek to find a grandson of the man who hated him, and would set that young man among his family, feeding him from his table, says much more about David than it does Mephibosheth.
But think about this: Despite the glory brought to God in saving us, what would it say about the Lord if we continued to live like children of the devil? What if there was no change in us? Would that magnify God’s name? What if we continued to be rebels, constantly seeking to overthrow the King, like David’s son Absalom, who from time to time sat at the royal table across from Mephiboseth? The Lord has saved us, not only for His sake, but that we might display “glory and virtue” – verse 3.
Peter introduces his epistle, pointing to “them that have obtained like precious faith with us…” By divine power, God has “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” Furthermore He has “given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.”
But, again, for what purpose? Why did God save us? Verse 4 – “that by these (we) might be partakers of the divine nature.” Summarizing the conclusion we’ll come to in a few minutes: We have been saved – we have been made a part of God’s family – that… “God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.” To put it another way – we have been born again that we might reflect the person of the Lord Jesus. But I am getting ahead of myself.
After reading this paragraph a couple dozen times, a certain preposition finally jumped out at me. The word “through” is found four times in these four verses; once in each verse. It eventually occurred to me that each time it is used, the word introduces a little parenthesis. I’m not saying that we should make it permanent, but if we skip over what that word introduces, it simplifies Peter’s thought. See if you agree. “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us… Grace and peace be multiplied unto you… According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness… Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature…” We have been given saving faith and multiplied grace that we might be recipients of the nature of God.
WHO ought we to be?
We have been called by the Holy Spirit and given saving faith in order to be “partakers of the divine nature.” That is tremendously exciting – “partakers of the DIVINE nature.” The word “partakers” is used only ten times in the Bible. It is translated “partaker” five times and almost as many times it is rendered “partner” or “companion.” Just think about that: We have been given “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these we might be PARTNERS and COMPANIONS in the divine nature…” That is both tremendously exciting and difficult to grasp. But I have to warn you not to get too excited. “Partakers of the divine nature” does not mean that we will ever become gods. Our salvation and subsequent spiritual growth do not automatically give us miraculous power, let alone omnipotence. Despite what some televangelists say of themselves, while in this world Christians will never become all-knowing – omniscient.
Omniscience and omnipotence, along with omnipresence, are “incommunicable attributes of God.” In other words, they can’t be given by God to anyone else. Some of the other incommunicable attributes of God are independence, immutability, and infinity. None of us could exist for another moment, if it were not for the sustaining blessing of Jehovah. By Christ all things consist, or continue to exist – Colossians 1:7. While WE desperately need GOD, Jehovah doesn’t need anything from His creation, including from us. He doesn’t draw life from the sun or from any other source, because He is life. He doesn’t have to eat; He doesn’t devour the sacrifices we give to him. And Jehovah Elohim doesn’t ever change, but you and I change constantly. He is infinite and timeless, while we are finite and limited in body and time.
There are, however, certain attributes of God which CAN be communicated or shared. Some of these are given by the Lord to His adopted children instantly; they come automatically with salvation. One of the first things among them is eternal life. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” The Apostle John reminded us of the Lord’s promise: “even eternal life” – I John 2:25. I possess eternal life, because that is a part of the divine nature God has graciously shared with me, as he has with all those who have repented and turned to Him. To eternal life we could add things like love. God is love, and His children can love with the same kind of love that He has and is. But we are incapable of agape love until we are born again. “We love Him, and we can love others, because He first love us.” Justice, mercy and lovingkindness are more of the attributes of God which He passes on to His people.
And some of these divine attributes not only we can possess but we are expected to possess them.
Our new lives in Christ ought to be expressed in clearly defined Christian ways.
Notice verse 3 once again, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto LIFE…” One of things our new life in Christ ought to do – is give evidence of new life. This isn’t just eternal life – “just” eternal life – but also an abundance of life. It is more than just an eternal length of life; it is an unfathomable depth of life. In John 10 Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” We haven’t been given precious faith in order to live like lichen stuck to the face of a rock. The life we have isn’t like that of the earthworm or the slug. We have been created to soar; to metamorphize; to dazzle the eye of other creatures.
I read an interesting thought the other day about butterflies. I don’t know how caterpillars become butterflies, and this short article said that scientists don’t either. I can’t say whether or not that is actually true. We all know that the caterpillar wraps itself in a chrysalis and rests for a few days or weeks. Then when the time is right, it emerges in an entirely different form. I’m surprised that I never did it as a kid, because I loved butterflies; I was an amateur “lepidopterist.” But this article said that when the scientist cuts into a cocoon at the proper moment, he doesn’t find either the caterpillar or the butterfly. I read that there is a point when there is nothing in that cocoon but a puddle of slimy goo. As I say, that is not something I ever discovered, and I can’t corroborate the statement. It went on to quote one biologist who says that the caterpillar and the butterfly are two separate creatures. That is Interesting. And at the very least there is a parallel with salvation in this story. We go into salvation as one creature, but we come out as a different creature yet with the same DNA. We come out beautiful in the eyes of our Creator/Saviour and even with some of His attributes.
For example, one of the key characteristics of Jehovah is His holiness. Like many other people, I place God’s holiness higher than even His sovereignty or power in importance. But it is He who has said, “Be YE holy, as I am holy.” Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and… put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” True holiness is that kind of holiness which could have no other source but from Him who is holy. Peter, here, says, God’s “divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…” As God’s Christian butterflies, we have no choice but to be godly – holy. It is not optional; it is not debatable.
Verse 3 says that God has “called us to glory and VIRTUE.” How would you define the word “virtue?” The average dictionary says something about “having high moral standards,” and I won’t quarrel with that. But the Greek word from which this is translated lifts the definition a notch or two. For example, I Peter 2:9 reminds us that “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the PRAISES of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” In that verse the word “virtue” is translated “praises.” Which says to me that true virtue is PRAISEWORTHY. And one of the few other places where we have this word is here in verse 5 – “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.” Add to your faith acts which are praise-worthy; and to your praise-worthy deeds add knowledge.
What Peter is telling us is that when God saved us it was with some special life-time purpose.
And HOW ought we to get to what we ought to become?
“By his divine power hath we been given all things that pertain to life and godliness.” How large is the brain of a caterpillar? How much schooling does it get from its parents? Does the caterpillar know from learning or experience how to metamorphize into a butterfly? I am reasonably sure that it does not. Once again evolutionary science doesn’t have an explanation, but I believe that I do. God works the natural miracle that emanates in that butterfly. And yet, the raw material is still within that caterpillar.
“According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue…” We are not caterpillars or butterflies. We are children – God’s children. We are fashioned differently. We were created differently in the beginning. Even though the caterpillar isn’t required to add anything to its metamorphisis, you and I are. “Through the knowledge of him that hath called us.”
Here is where the brethren to whom Peter was writing all came together. No Christian, especially the new born babe in Christ, is going to prosper if he doesn’t have other Christians to help him to see and understand what God expects of his child. We need this letter from Peter to teach us what we need to know of the Lord and His will for us. We need to regularly hear Biblical preaching, and we need the fellowship of more mature saints. Sure, we can read of God’s exceeding great and precious promises on our own, but will we? Babes in Christ aren’t much different from adolescents in our families – they aren’t going to apply themselves to the things they need to flourish and grow without encouragement. We need our churches. We need our Bible teachers. We need Christian fellowship.
And one of the things about which we need to be taught is the corruption that is in the world. We need to have our own lusts exposed, and I’m not confining my thoughts to immorality. We need our pride, and our lust for position, to be publically abased. We need to learn that our thoughts and desires are not God’s thoughts. They need to be put in their place. We need to “escape the corruption that is in the world through lust” so that we may partake, and grow, in the divine nature we ought to have.
Of course, there is a day coming when our Saviour shall appear, and we shall be like Him. This church believes in the imminent return of Christ, the possibility that those who are alive and remain upon the earth will see their Saviour and be instantly translated into glory. That has not yet taken place, and we don’t know when it will. In the mean time, the Biblical exhortation is: “and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as Christ Jesus is pure.”
So this is another of the purposes of Peter’s second epistle. As we shall see in the next paragraph, there is yet much to add to our faith in Christ. If we don’t want to be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have yet a lot to add to our faith. Are you ready to grow? Are you ready to become the beautiful creature God meant for you to be?