by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.- 2 Peter 1v4
We come across another one of those ‘how can this be possible’ passages. God has given us ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ itself would be an amazing and incomprehensible truth. Why would God give us ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ to start with? He is God after all, and we are, well, us. I know that I don’t deserve any kind of promise from Him, much less exceeding and precious ones.
It is the next phrase that really gets me though. Peter writes that we may be ‘partakers of the divine nature.’ This reminds me of the passage in Hebrews that talks about being ‘partakers of His holiness.’ How do we partake, or share, or partner with God divine nature? What allows us to have anything at all to do with His holiness? How can sinful man share in a perfect God’s nature?
I think the only answer is that we become partakers of His nature when we become His children. Before that time there is nothing good is us, nothing that merits His favour. The practical application of this is tough, and something that I think we all need to examine. If we are indeed partakers of His nature, does that not suggest that we should behave as though we have that nature? Our lives should reflect His. Our behaviour should indicate that we are His children.
What is the blessing of that diving nature? We have already escaped the corruption that the world deals with that is caused by fleshly lusts. We are reminded yet again that the corruption of this world has no real power over us. When we give in to worldly lusts and live in its corruption it is simply because we choose to, because at that moment we would rather live in the corruption than in the divine nature.
We are blessed exceedingly with the blessing of being permitted to share in His divine nature. Are we willing to live like we share in His nature?
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