“Partakers of the Divine Nature”
(2 Peter 1:1-4)
Series: You’d Better Know the Truth (2 Peter)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
- Take your Bibles and join me in 2 Peter (page 817; YouVersion).
1 Peter was written just before persecution under Roman Emperor Nero began. 2 Peter was written a couple of years later when persecution was becoming intense, about the years AD 64-67. But where 1 Peter addresses concerns outside the church-namely suffering for the cause of Christ and enduring times of persecution, 2 Peter addresses concerns inside the church–namely the infiltration of false teachers.
So here is a short letter, just 3 chapters for a total of 61 verses. Yet the message is a message of urgency and warning. Peter is concerned that we brace ourselves to battle theological error and moral compromise.
Peter is probably writing from a Roman prison in the years AD 64-67, awaiting his execution. You can see with your Bibles open that Peter speaks of his approaching death in the first chapter, verses 12 and following. He refers to his physical body as a “tent,” saying there in verse 14, “knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as the Lord Jesus Christ showed me.” And then he adds in verse 15, “Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease,” after my departure, after I die.
And in one of the most memorable passages in this short letter Peter addresses his concern about false teachers inside the church. It is, in my opinion, the key passage in the letter. Look at chapter 2, verses 1 and following:
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
These verses address Peter’s major concern in this letter. He is concerned that we know the truth in order to combat error. That’s why our series in 2 Peter is entitled, “You’d Better Know the Truth.” The best way to combat that which is false is by knowing that which is true. So we could sum up Peter’s major concern in this brief letter with the paraphrase, “You’d Better Know the Truth.”
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 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.
- Pray.
Introduction:
A school teacher asked the question of her class, “What is false doctrine?” A little boy raised his hand immediately. But he had misheard the question. He thought his teacher asked, “What is false ‘doctoring.”” So he raised his hand and said, “It’s when the doctor gives the wrong stuff to people who are sick,” false doctoring.
And though he mistook “doctrine” for “doctoring,” that boy’s definition is about as close to Peter’s concern here in this letter: Giving the wrong stuff to people who are sick.
We are all sick. We are all sinners. We need help and the Bible addresses our need. But it can help us only as God intends when it is rightly interpreted, rightly understood, and rightly explained. Anything less will be “false doctoring,” giving the wrong stuff to people who are sick.
There is an awful lot of “false doctoring” going on today. False doctrine abounds on television, on the radio, on the internet, and in the church. False teaching and theological error was Peter’s major concern in his day and it remains a major concern in our day.
Again, the best way to recognize that which is false is to know that which is true. So Peter begins his letter with the foundational truth of the Christian experience. He speaks of the Christian’s being a “partaker of the divine nature.” See that there in verse 4? We read it a moment ago. It’s right in the middle of verse 4. Peter refers to Christians as, “Partakers of the divine nature.” You might underline that phrase.
It is a phrase that refers to the new birth. It’s similar to what Peter wrote in his previous letter, back in 1 Peter 1:23, where he refers to Christians as, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”
If you are a Christian, you are a “Partaker of the divine nature.” It’s not that you become a god or a little god. It’s not that somehow you enter into God, but rather that God enters into you. God indwells the Christian by His Holy Spirit when the Christian receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Paul says in Ephesians 1:13, “In Him…having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” God indwells you by His Holy Spirit. You are, then, Romans 8:1, “in Christ Jesus.” In that sense Christians are “Partakers of the divine nature.”
So in these first four verses Peter lays the foundational truth of the Christian experience. He is writing to Christians. The majority of you this morning profess to be Christians and so you will delight in hearing God’s word this morning.
Let’s point up three things for our consideration this morning. First:
I. Know Your Position in Christ (1-2)
Verses 1 and 2 are of course introductory, but they also speak to the Christian’s position. By this, we mean the Christian’s “standing,” the way God the Father sees the Christian, regards the Christian. Position. So look again at verse 1:
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
Writers of letters 2,000 years ago did what we ought to still do today in my opinion. They identified themselves at the beginning of the letter. So here is Peter saying, “I’m the guy. This letter comes to you by way of the guy in the Gospels who frequently spoke before thinking. But I’m a changed man now! I am—two things in verse 1–a “bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ.”
Note this: position before title. Peter could have said he was an apostle first. That’s what most of us would have done. We would have bragged about our title, quick to give out our business card, you know. But before he refers to his title, Peter refers to his position.
He says, “I am a bondservant,” a servant, a slave. We’re all slaves, every one of us is either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ. No one is ever truly free in the sense of never being under the power of another. We are born slaves to sin. Freedom means we exchange Masters. We once were slaves to sin, we now are slaves to Christ, the kind of slavery we were destined to enjoy, a slavery that is at once freedom, a supernatural paradox!
Then, Peter refers to himself as an “apostle of Jesus Christ.” Here is his authority. Apostles were called by God and had personally witnessed the resurrected Savior. SO position first, then title. And Peter adds he is writing:
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
So Peter is writing to Christians. Christians are “those who have obtained like precious faith.”
The word “precious” is a word that may conjure up a number of things, a “precious child” a “precious kitty cat,” or even Gollum from the Lord of the Ring’s, referring to the magical ring as his “Precious.”
The word here in the text is used to describe something of great value and worth, something so rare that a person would sell all that he had in order to obtain it. The word, “precious” modifies the word, “faith,” the Christian faith. The Christian faith is a precious faith.
“Those who have obtained” this faith are those, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13).” Christians have obtained this faith not by their own will, but as the result of God’s opening our their spiritual eyes to see. God’s work of regeneration gives the ability to understand and to receive Christ. This is one reason the faith is so precious!
But note this, too: the Christian faith is also an apostolic faith. Look again at verse one. As an apostle, Peter writes, “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us.” With us. That is, with those of us who are apostles.
Saving faith is apostolic faith, the faith “once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).” It is both a subjective and objective faith. In order to be saved, you must believe in the object or the content of what the apostles believed and proclaimed. See, the Christian faith is not merely a “personal” faith. It is personal, to be sure, but we must ask what kind of personal faith is it? And the answer is an apostolic faith. It is a faith that is the same faith as proclaimed by the apostles.
Again, verse one, “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us.” We’re not saved simply “by faith” as though faith were something we just drummed up ourselves or defined ourselves. Our faith is the faith of the apostles, the faith once for all delivered to the saints, an apostolic faith, defined specifically in the Bible as a faith in the life and work of Jesus Christ on the behalf of sinners. Peter further defines this faith in the next phrase.
Now, look at the next phrase in verse one: “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Here again is the Christian’s position in Christ.
What kind of faith is apostolic faith? It is a faith that credits to the Christian the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
God credits Christ’s righteousness to us. It’s not an “infused” righteousness as though righteousness were something injected into the Christian as a result of his sacramental works like being christened, or baptized, but rather an “imparted” righteousness, a righteousness credited to the Christian, freely credited, imparted to the Christian as a transfer, a transfer of Christ’s righteousness to the Christian. This is our position, our standing before God the Father.
So Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:19, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…” It’s not that their sins didn’t count. It is not even that God does not “count” their sins. It is that God does not count their sins against them. Well, then upon whom, does God count our sins? He counts them against His Son, Jesus Christ.
So “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).” It is a transfer of Christ’s righteousness. We give to Him our sin, He gives to us His righteousness. Here is the Christian’s standing.
And will you note also at the end of verse one that Jesus is called “God and Savior.” Paul writes of “our God and Savior Jesus Christ,” making this verse one of the clearest biblical declarations of the deity of Jesus Christ. He is “God and Savior.”
Some of you have been lied to by false teachers. Some of you have been told that the Bible never refers to Jesus Christ as God. Not true. The Bible refers to Christ as God and this is one of the clearest texts: “our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
The Second Person of the Holy Trinity has always existed. There never has been a time the Son of God was not. As RC Sproul says, “The second Person of the Trinity has no birthday.” Jesus Christ is God.
Well, we’ve yet to get beyond verse one! Verse 2:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
We’ve unpacked so much in verse 1 I think we’ll just let verse 2 speak for itself, a common Hebrew greeting of “Grace and peace” to the believers in the churches of Asia Minor.
We have made much of the Christian’s position in Christ. Let’s consider secondly, the Christian’s power in Christ.
II. Know Your Power in Christ (3)
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Let’s just meditate on this truth for a moment. Is this not wonderful?! Peter says, “His divine power has given to us–what?–all things that pertain to life and godliness,” Think of it! God has given to the Christian all things that pertain to life.
The NIV puts it this way: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life,”
The PHILLIPS translation puts it this way: “He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life,”
Know your power in Christ. In and by His power God has given you everything you need for living a godly life. In and by His power God has given you everything you need in your life–however that works out this week–through the knowledge of Christ.
God has given you everything you need in your workplace through the knowledge of Christ. God have given you everything you need in your current health challenge through the knowledge of Christ. God has given you everything you need in your present problem, your current grief, your present situation at school, your impending legal battle, court case, your faltering relationship, your life challenge, God has given you everything you need for life, everyone necessary for living–right now living–a truly godly life.
This divine power mentioned in verse 3 refers to present tense power, right now power. Christianity is not just a look back to when you were forgiven of sin and a looking forward to a better place. The Christian faith is also a present tense kind of living.
In the words of one pastor, Colin Smith, “Christianity is more than forgiveness for the past and heaven for the future…If the Gospel only addresses your past failures and your future hopes, it isn’t big enough for your life today.
The Gospel addresses your life today. “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life.”
So Christian, God will give you peace when you’re unsettled, love when you are hurt, comfort when you cry. By His divine power God is giving you all things that pertain to life and godliness–everything you need–God is giving you through the knowledge of Christ.
Now, remember: this is a promise that comes only to those who–verse 1–have obtained like precious faith with Peter and the Apostles. You must have this apostolic faith in verses 1 and 2 in order to enjoy the divine power in verse 3.
And then you must live your life, verse 3, as a life bound up with “godliness.” Do you see that word in verse 3? “Godliness” means God-centered living. So God grants us through His power everything we need to live this life that we live for the glory of God. Let me say that if you are not living for God, a life driven by passion for God, for delighting in God, then you are not living. Period.
The Christian life is a life lived for the glory of God. It is a life that we experience to the extent that we grow in “the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” See that in the last part of verse 3? We become more God-centered when we grow in our understanding of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
One of the ways we grow “through the knowledge of Him” is by knowing His Word, by knowing His precious promises, which takes us to verse 4 and our final point. We have said know your position in Christ, know your power in Christ, and now:
- Know Your Promises in Christ (4)
4 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.
God has granted to the Christian, “exceedingly great and precious promises,” and those promises have to do primarily with our salvation. The promises have to do primarily with what it means to be a “partaker of the divine nature,” to share in the nature of God and become increasingly like Jesus Christ.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”
Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”
Philippians 3:20-21, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.”
These promises include the power to overcome sin. This seems to be the idea behind Peter’s words in the last part of verse 4. He writes of the Christian’s, “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
When we are saved, we exchange masters. We once were slaves to sin, we now are slaves to Christ. Sin no longer has mastery over us. We still struggle, yes, but as “partakers of the divine nature,” we have the ability to overcome sin and temptation.
Sin is no longer your master! Don’t believe your adversary, the devil, who tells you you will forever be a failure, forever defeated, stuck in a cycle of never-ending sin. It’s not true. You have–says Peter in verse 4–you have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” You are a “partaker of the divine nature.”
So, as a “partaker of the divine nature,” thank God this morning for your position in Christ, your power in Christ, and your promises in Christ.
- Let’s stand for prayer.
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