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Scripture Reading: Acts 2:36; 3:13, 15; 10:36; James 1:17-18; 1 Pet. 1:2-3, 18-19, 23; 2:2-5, 7, 9, 25; 3:7; 4:10, 17; 5:2, 4, 10; 2 Pet. 1:1, 3-4, 17; 3:18; Jude 20-21, 24
In the past two chapters we saw God’s dispensation in the ministry of Paul. In this chapter we want to see His dispensation in the ministry of Peter, Jude, and James. Compared to Paul’s writings, Peter’s are very brief. Yet the crucial points in his writings are very similar to the crucial points in Paul’s writings. Paul, though, has at least two particular points that Peter does not mention. Paul specifically tells us that the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23). He also tells us that Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) and that the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Peter never tells us this, though he mentions the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1:11) and the Spirit of glory and of God (4:14). This indicates that according to Peter’s understanding, the Spirit of God in the New Testament age has become the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of glory.
Peter also has one precious point that Paul does not mention; that is, we are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). This item in the Bible is a big diamond. It means that we are enjoying the divine essence of what God is. We are partaking of the divine elements of God’s being. Such an expression, partakers of the divine nature, is very strong. I am so happy that Peter wrote this. Otherwise, in the entire Bible there would not be a word telling us that we are now enjoying the very essence of God. What a great lack there would be if this were not in the Bible! I surely would like to have a sign to hang in my room, saying, “Partakers of the divine nature.” Surely the biggest blessing in the whole universe is that we can partake of God’s nature and essence. This is far beyond our understanding and, even the more, is far beyond our ability to speak. We are short of the utterance to describe such a thing.
What does it mean to partake of the divine nature? Let me illustrate it in this way. Suppose you have a little creature, a chicken. A chicken lays eggs, but it never studied in an egg-laying school. To lay eggs is simply something of the chicken nature. By this illustration you may have a little apprehension of what it means for us to be partakers of the divine nature.
As soon as we were regenerated, there was a kind of nature within us that would not agree for us to do certain things. No one had to teach us not to do certain things. Something within our nature was telling us that as children of God we should not do that thing. Even as the chicken’s nature is in the chicken, so the divine nature is in those who have been born of God. We have been born of God with God’s divine life. Life and nature cannot be separated. Actually, the nature is the essence of the life. God’s nature is within God’s life, so the very divine life with which we have been born again has within it the divine nature. Right after our regeneration we began to partake of this nature, even unconsciously.
Let me give you another illustration concerning the divine nature. A little baby does not have any knowledge about bitterness or sweetness. He has not been taught what is bitter or what is sweet. Even he does not have such a vocabulary. But if you put something sweet into his mouth, he will swallow it, and if you put something bitter into his mouth, he will spit it out. Who taught him to do this? It comes out of his nature. His nature rejects the bitterness. Whatever is bitter is rejected by his human nature. Whatever is sweet is accepted by his human nature. Right after he has been delivered, even when he is very young, a baby rejects and accepts certain things.
Likewise, at our regeneration another nature came into us. This is the nature of God, the divine nature. We began to enjoy this divine nature right after our regeneration. As believers, we all are partakers of such a divine nature within us. Peter does not say that we have a divine nature but that we have become partakers of the divine nature. It is now within us, and we are partaking of it. That means that we are now enjoying it. And we enjoy it unconsciously and unintentionally. A little baby rejects the bitterness and receives the sweetness without intention. If you put something bitter into his mouth, he rejects it unintentionally. This is the action of his nature.
It is hard for us to describe and to know the nature, but we can surely discern the actions of the nature. It is hard to say what is the chicken nature, but we can discern the actions of the chicken nature. The main action of the chicken’s nature is to lay eggs.
We are children of God. We have been born of the divine life, and within the divine life there is the divine nature. Now we are partaking of this nature and enjoying this nature unintentionally. There are too many things that this divine nature within us rejects. Although no one teaches us to reject this thing or to reject that thing, as Christians we just reject it because we have partaken of the divine nature within us.
Now let us consider the aspects of Christ ministered by Peter for the dispensing of God into us. First, Peter ministered Christ as God. Second Peter 1:1 has the phrase in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This indicates that Jesus Christ our Savior is God. He is our God-Savior. He is our God to become our Savior. The main purpose of God being our Savior is so that He may dispense Himself into us as our life.
Peter also ministered Christ as the Son of God (Acts 3:13; 2 Pet. 1:17). Acts 3:13 refers to Christ’s resurrection, and 2 Peter 1:17 refers to His transfiguration. Both are for Christ’s glorification. Christ was glorified in His transfiguration on the mount, and Christ was glorified in His resurrection. On both occasions it was made clear that He was the Son of God. Such a Son of God is for the dispensing of God’s life. The New Testament tells us that if you have the Son of God, you have life. If you do not have the Son of God, you do not have life (1 John 5:11-12). God gives His Son to us so that we may have life. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” The reason the Son of God has been given to us is to dispense the eternal life of God into us.
Peter said that the Jewish leaders killed the Author of life but that God raised Him up (Acts 3:15). Eventually, their killing of the Author of life helped God’s dispensing. If the Author of life had not died, He could not have been released in resurrection for the dispensing of God into His chosen people.
In Acts 2:36 Peter said that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Then in Acts 10:36, while Peter was speaking in the house of Cornelius, he said, “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel in announcing the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (this One is Lord of all).” While speaking in the house of Cornelius, the Gentile ruler, Peter saw that the Lord Jesus is not only the Lord of the Jews but also the Lord of the Gentiles. So Peter said that He is Lord of all. In this verse the stress is not that He is the Lord of all things but that He is the Lord of all people. He is the Lord of all people so that He may give eternal life to them. John 17:2 says, “Even as You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.” To have authority over all flesh means to be the Lord of all people so that He may give eternal life to them. If Christ is not the Lord of all of us, He has no position to give us eternal life. But He is the Lord of all of us, so we are under Him. He has the position to dispense the eternal life to whomever God has chosen. The term Lord of all indicates the dispensing of God’s life into His chosen people.
Because the title Christ is so familiar to us, we may miss its real significance. In Greek Christ is Christos, which means “the anointed One who anoints.” He is the anointed One of God who anoints us. The anointing is for life giving, for God’s dispensing. Actually, Christ is the agent of God’s dispensing, who carries out God’s dispensing by being the anointed One to anoint everyone whom God has chosen. He anoints us with the Spirit of life so that we may have the divine life dispensed into us. By getting into the meaning of this title, we can see that Christ is for God’s dispensing.
The Savior is also for the dispensing of the divine life (2 Pet. 1:1; 3:18). Jesus is our Savior not just to save us from our sins but also to dispense the eternal life into our being for our subjective salvation. He is our Savior for us to have life. So the Savior is for God’s dispensing to bring God into us.
According to Peter, Christ is a Lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Pet. 1:19). This also is for life dispensing. We are sinful, and unless there is such a lamb without blemish and without spot, our sins could never be taken away. Furthermore, Christ’s redemption according to 1 Peter 1:18 is not just to redeem us from sin or from hell but to redeem us from our vain manner of life. His blood redeems us from our vain and corrupted life so that we may live a godly life. How could we live a godly life if we did not have a godly life? How could we have a godly life except through Christ’s redemption? By this view we see that even Christ being a Lamb without blemish and without spot is for life dispensing.
Peter ministered Christ as a living stone (2:4, 7). A living stone does not mean only a stone of life but a stone that is living, acting, and working. The very Christ who lives in us is such a stone. We have a piece of living stone within us. John 6 tells us that He is the living bread (v. 51). He is not only the bread of life but also the living bread, the bread that lives in us. The food that we take into our stomach is living and organic. After a few hours it becomes us. If the food were not living, it could not get into our blood and into our cells. If we eat a piece of stone, it will remain within us as a dead stone. When the bread is on the table, it is the bread of life. When it gets into us, it becomes the living bread. We need to see the difference. Where is Christ today? Outside of us He is the stone of life, but inside of us He becomes the living stone. Christ as a stone is organic and living. We can become a living stone because this living stone has been dispensed into us and lives in us to make us living. By this we can see that Christ is a living stone to dispense life into us.
The Lord Jesus is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4). As we have mentioned previously, the main point in taking care of the sheep is to feed them so that they may have more life. So the shepherding is also for life dispensing. The purpose of the overseer is to watch over the sheep so that they would not be hurt or carried away. Christ as the Shepherd first takes care of us to feed us and eventually becomes our Overseer to keep us always under the life dispensing. Every item of what Christ is, is a life-dispensing matter. Whatever Christ is, is for life dispensing.
The result of all the life dispensing by what Christ is, is that believers are produced. First, we are chosen by God (2:9a). Second, we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ (1:18-19). We are chosen and redeemed to receive life. Then we are sanctified, or separated, to receive life (v. 2). Finally, we are regenerated of the incorruptible seed of God to receive life (vv. 3, 23). On God’s side, regeneration is to dispense life, and on our side, it is to receive life. We all have been regenerated of the incorruptible seed of God. This is the word of life, which is really life itself. The divine life is the incorruptible seed of which we all have been born.
As those who have been born of the incorruptible seed, we are newborn babes who long for the guileless milk of the word (vv. 2-3). Newborn babes know how to do only one thing, and that is to take milk. They do not know how to improve their behavior, and they do not know how to care for their character. They only care for the milk. They do not even know the word milk, but something in their nature longs for the milk. Right after regeneration we become the newborn babes. We have to long for the guileless milk of the word. Every day and all the time we need to get into the Word. In the Word there is the milk. When a little baby is not happy, it means that he is short of milk. When we are not so happy, it means that we have not taken any milk from the Word. When I get into the Word, I get into the milk, and my face is so broad and shining. When we have just a little time of morning watch in the Word, we will come out of our room with our face shining. As newborn babes, we need the milk for growing.
By growing, we become the living stones to be built up as a spiritual house, into a holy and royal priesthood (vv. 5, 9; 4:17). This is the result of the life dispensing. It makes us living stones for the building up of God’s spiritual house. This spiritual house is a body of priests, a holy and royal priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God and to tell out the virtues of God.
Through the regeneration of the life of God, we also become the flock of God, which is always receiving the life nourishment from the Shepherd (5:2), and heirs of the grace of life, inheriting all the riches of life (3:7). Then we become stewards of the varied grace of God (4:10). We become not only heirs of grace to receive grace but also stewards of grace to minister grace to others. Because we are so full of grace, we become stewards of grace to serve others with grace. This is wonderful! Even your serving others with grace is a kind of life dispensing. In our Christian life we all are stewards. You are a steward to me, and I am a steward to you. You minister life to me, and I minister life to you. There is a mutual dispensing among us. Actually, our fellowship with one another is a mutual life dispensing. By this kind of life dispensing, we are partaking of and enjoying what God is. This is to partake of God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). For this purpose God has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness (v. 3) and has also granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises (v. 4). To partake of God’s divine nature is to enjoy God’s life dispensing.
Eventually, we will be perfected, established, strengthened, and grounded by God’s life dispensing so that we may be brought into God’s eternal glory (1 Pet. 5:10). Without God dispensing Himself into us as life, we could never be perfected, strengthened, established, grounded, and brought into God’s eternal glory. That is the ultimate issue of God’s dispensing of life.
Jude was surely a brother under God’s dispensing. In Jude there is the matter of building up ourselves upon our most holy faith (v. 20). What is faith? It is the impartation of Christ into us. This is our faith. We all have to be built up in this faith. This is to be built up in the divine life dispensing. Then we can pray in the Holy Spirit and keep ourselves in the love of God as we await the mercy of our Lord (vv. 20b-21). Here is the trinity of the Godhead: the Holy Spirit, God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. In the holy faith we have the Trinity for our enjoyment. This enjoyment of the Trinity is to partake of the divine dispensing of life. Eventually, this is unto eternal life and will set us before His glory without blemish in exultation (v. 24). To be built up in the faith, to pray in the Holy Spirit, to keep ourselves in the love of God, and to await the Lord’s mercy are altogether unto eternal life so that we may be set before God’s glory. This indicates clearly that to get involved with the Trinity is to enjoy the dispensing of life, which results unto eternal life and divine glory.
James also has a few good points. He says that all good giving and every perfect gift comes from the Father of lights (1:17). He also says that the Father of lights is the One who brought us forth by the word of truth (v. 18), purposing that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Firstfruits are surely something of life. Among all the creatures we believers are the first ones to receive and enjoy the divine life. Because God has begotten us and we have the eternal life, we are the firstfruits of life among all the created items. We have to respect and thank James because he told us something about God’s life dispensing. To beget is to dispense life. When our human father begot us, he dispensed his life into us. When the Father of lights begot us, He dispensed His life into our being to make us a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. This is the begetting for life dispensing.
