2 Peter 1.3-4 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, 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.
From these two verses we learn:
All things concerning life and godliness are given to us. They come from the greater (God) to the lesser (us). The promises are ‘granted’ to us. They cannot be earned. Something granted is given freely from the greater to the lesser.
We learn here, that it takes divine power to produce life and godliness in us. We are spiritually dead (Eph 2.1,2) so we are not in a condition to produce either life or godliness; neither emanate naturally from us. A gracious act of God’s power towards us is required. Life and godliness have to be created in us, not just developed.
God’s power operates through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In other words, our minds have to be powerfully opened and equipped to know ‘him who called us’. We don’t get life and godliness until we know Jesus, because they can’t be had separate from him. We can’t know Jesus unless divine power (the Holy Spirit) both opens our minds and presents him to our understanding. We are dependants. The biggest impediment or obstacle to you receiving God’s good in your life is YOU. If you will fall down before Jesus Christ, you will know him.
God imparts his life and godliness to us by introducing us to Jesus Christ. All of God’s precious and very great promises are YES in Jesus. The Spirit of God opens our minds when we read the Bible, as we hear it taught and as we see it operating in the lives of Christians. In this way, the Holy Spirit presents Jesus Christ to us.
The promises become ours when we receive them by faith. Faith is hunger and Christ is our food. Faith is empty and in Christ God has provided everything needed to fill us up. Faith is being in the dark and seeing the light in Christ. Faith is being simple and foolish and Christ is our wisdom and righteousness.
God’s promises are the method by which we become consumers of (partakers) and participants in the divine nature. VERSE 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.
We share in God’s life by receiving the precious and very great promises. We receive them by faith – we are the empty ones being filled by the inexhaustible One.
For every lack that we detect in ourselves, there is a corresponding godliness in Jesus Christ available for us. Compare the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, where that list of Christ’s character is contrasted with the list of our sinful nature.
It is God’s intention that these promises, held out to us in Christ, should become ours by the exercise of his divine power. In receiving Christ, we are receiving the treasury or reservoir of all the promises that will turn us into sharers of the divine nature. That is a pretty large promise!
The world of which we are a part is corrupted (polluted and ruined) by sinful desire (having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire). Everyone is driven by their sinful wants which lead everyone away from God. The promises offer us the way to escape the corruption that has hold of us and is dragging us down into death. We are redeemed (delivered by a payment made on our behalf). The promises connect us with Christ so that we have everything we need for life and godliness!
This is the large promise that starts off our Christian life: the promise that we can partake of the divine nature (that we can share God’s life). Without this promise activated in our lives we are still dead in our sin (corrupted by sinful desire). Once this promise is activated in us and we have begun to draw on the life of Christ, then our eternal life has begun and we are ready to draw down all the promises that follow for life direction, day to day assistance and for a part in God’s mega-plan.
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