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Scripture Reading: 2 Pet. 1:1-4
In the previous message we began to consider 1:1-4. We paid particular attention to the words “allotted” and “righteousness” in 1:1. Let us now go on to consider the meaning of faith in this verse.
Faith is the substantiation of the substance of the truth (Heb. 11:1), which is the reality of the contents of God’s New Testament economy. The contents of God’s New Testament economy are composed of the “all things which relate to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3), that is, the Triune God dispensing Himself into us as life within and godliness without. The like precious faith, allotted to us by God through the word of God’s New Testament economy and the Spirit, responds to the reality of such contents and ushers us into the reality, making its substance the very element of our Christian life and experience. Such a faith is allotted to all the believers in Christ as their portion, which is equally precious to all who have received it. As such a portion from God, this faith is objective to us in the divine truth. But it brings all the contents of its substantiation into us, thus making them all with itself (faith) subjective to us in our experience. It can be compared to the scenery (truth) and the seeing (faith) that are objective to the camera (us). But when the light (the Spirit) brings the scenery to the film (our spirit) within the camera, both the seeing and the scenery become subjective to it.
We have pointed out that faith is the substantiation of the substance of the truth. Let us take as an illustration the substantiating of the existence of a wooden table by a blind man through his sense of touch. Although the wooden table is substantial, the blind man cannot see it. But by touching the table with his hand, he substantiates that table to himself. In this way the wooden table becomes real to him. Therefore, his touching is the substantiating, and this substantiating makes the substance of the table real to him. This may be used as an illustration of faith being the substantiation of the substance of the truth.
In God’s New Testament inheritance there are many riches, many blessings. However, our natural mentality is blind to all these riches and blessings. Therefore, God would say, “Exercise your faith. Let your faith substantiate the substance of all of My New Testament blessings.” The reality or substance of God’s New Testament blessings is the truth. Faith is actually the substantiation of the reality of the substance of the truth, and the truth itself is the content of God’s New Testament economy.
Many of us are familiar with the term “God’s economy.” The Greek word for economy, oikonomia, means household management, arrangement, hence, dispensation, plan. God’s economy, God’s plan, is to dispense Himself into us. Therefore, God’s New Testament economy is simply for God’s dispensing. This economy has a content, this content has a reality, and this reality is the truth revealed in the Bible. The Bible is not merely a book of doctrine; it is a revelation of the truth, which is the reality of the content of God’s dispensation. This reality has a substance. Only faith can substantiate this substance. Hence, we see once again that faith is the substantiation of the substance of the reality of the New Testament dispensation.
The content of God’s New Testament economy is composed of the “all things which relate to life and godliness” (1:3). We have seen that this is actually the Triune God dispensing Himself into us as our life within and godliness without. In the Life-study of 1 Timothy we pointed out that the faith is the content of the complete gospel according to God’s New Testament economy. Hence, the faith is objective, as mentioned in 1 Tim. 1:19; 2:7; 3:9; 4:1, 6; 5:8; 6:10, 12, 21; 2 Tim. 2:18; 3:8; 4:7 and Titus 1:13. The truth is the reality of the content of the faith, as mentioned in 1 Tim. 2:4, 7; 3:15; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18, 25; 3:7, 8; 4:4; Titus 1:1 and Titus 1:14. Godliness is a living that is the expression of God, as mentioned in 1 Tim. 2:2, 10; 3:16; 4:7, 8; 5:4; 6:3, 5, 6, 11; 2 Tim. 3:5, 12; Titus 1:1 and Titus 2:12. The faith equals the content of God’s economy, of His dispensation. The truth is the content, the reality, of the faith according to God’s economy. Eternal life is the means and power to carry out the divine realities of the faith, and godliness is a living that expresses the divine reality, an expression of God in all His riches. Subjective faith is the response to the truth of the objective faith; it receives and participates in the divine realities.
The like precious faith, allotted to us by God through the word of God’s New Testament economy and the Spirit, responds to the reality of such a content and ushers us into this reality. It makes the substance of God’s economy the element of our Christian life and experience. Such a faith is allotted to all the believers in Christ as their portion. This faith is objective to us in the divine truth, but it brings all the content of its substantiation into us. The substantiating is the faith, and this faith brings into us whatever it substantiates. In this way, faith causes everything substantiated by it to become subjective to us in our experience.
We may use a camera as an illustration. Suppose you want to photograph a particular scene. The scene corresponds to the truth, and our experience of seeing this scene corresponds to faith. Both the scene and the seeing are objective to the camera, for neither has come into the camera. But light makes it possible for the scene to be impressed on the film. The light corresponds to the Spirit, and the film corresponds to our spirit. In this way both the scene and the seeing enter into the camera and become subjective to it. The camera “clicks,” the light gets in, and the scene is brought into the camera and impressed on the film. We are the “camera,” and our spirit is the film. Now the scene and the seeing are subjective to us. This is faith.
Faith implies all the items in the “scenery” of the New Testament inheritance according to the New Testament economy. In the New Testament we see a complete picture of this scenery. But this scenery is outside of us. How can it get into us? It comes in through our seeing and through the Spirit’s work. This was our experience when we were saved and regenerated. We heard the preaching of the gospel, there was a “click” of the shutter of the “camera,” and the light came into us. As a result, the divine scenery was impressed on our spirit.
Sometimes we preach the gospel to others, and they do not experience this “click.” As we are preaching, some may say to themselves, “I don’t agree with what you are saying.” Others may tell us, “I don’t care about this.” Still others may respond, “This person is crazy. What is he talking about?” There is no positive response. But eventually, by the Lord’s mercy, the divine light with the divine scenery may enter into certain ones. The scenery is then impressed on the film and can never be erased. Even if we try to change our minds, we cannot remove the scene that has been impressed on the “film” of our spirit.
Many of us can testify that we came to believe in the Lord for no apparent reason. We heard the preaching of the gospel, and there was a “click” within us. Spontaneously we believed in the Lord. Formerly, we may have argued about God and Christ. We may have said, “Is there really a God? Perhaps there is a God, but how can Jesus of Nazareth be God in the flesh? I don’t believe that the man Jesus is God.” Nevertheless, when we experienced a “click,” we automatically began to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Then we could confess, “I don’t know why, but now I believe that Jesus is God. Hallelujah, Jesus Christ is my God! Praise the Lord!”
Many of us can testify that we have had this kind of experience. At a certain time there was a “click” within us. At that very moment, God’s allotment of like precious faith came into us. From that time onward, we have had faith in the Lord.
I experienced this “click” of faith when I was saved and regenerated. Although I was born into Christianity, I did not experience salvation until I was nineteen. One afternoon, out of curiosity, I went to hear a young woman preach the gospel. While she was speaking, I experienced “click” after “click.” That day I was strongly and thoroughly saved.
We all have had the experience of the divine scenery being impressed on the film of our spirit through the click of the camera. The degree may differ, but the essence is the same. We all have had that little “click,” and now we all have the like precious faith.
This faith is the real portion of God’s allotment. It is the reality of the New Testament economy allotted to us in and by the righteousness of God, which is also the righteousness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This twofold righteousness — the righteousness of God and of Christ — is the sphere in which and the means by which the New Testament portion has been allotted to us.
In verse 2 Peter goes on to say, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” The first part of this verse may also be rendered, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you.” Grace and peace came to us through the God-allotted faith, which substantiates the life-blessing of the New Testament. This faith was infused into us through the word of God, which conveys to us the real knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In the sphere of, by means of, the full knowledge, the increasing and increased knowledge, of God and of Jesus our Lord, the grace and peace which we have received will be multiplied.
The full knowledge of the Triune God is for our participation and enjoyment in His divine life and divine nature. It is in contrast to the killing knowledge of the human logic of philosophy, which invaded the church in its apostasy.
In 1:3 Peter says, “As His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and virtue.” Chapter two shows that this Epistle, like 2 Timothy, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude, was written in the time of the church’s degradation and apostasy. Hence, apostasy was the background of this book. The burden of the writer was to inoculate the believers against the poison of apostasy. God’s salvation is to impart Himself in His Trinity into the believers to be their life and life supply. This is God’s economy, God’s dispensation. The apostasy distracted the believers from the economy of God by leading them into the human logic of puzzling philosophies. It was not the exercise of partaking of the tree of life that gives life, but of participating in the tree of knowledge that brings in death (Gen. 2:9, 16-17). Thus the serpent deceived and seduced Eve (Gen. 3:1-6). In order to inoculate against this death-poison in his healing Epistle, Peter first prescribed the divine power as the strongest and most effective antidote. This provides the believers with all things related to the generating and supplying divine life (not the killing knowledge) and the God-expressing godliness (not the show of human wisdom). This rich divine provision, which is covered in detail in the following verses 1:3-11), is more than sufficient for the believers to live a proper Christian life and overcome the satanic apostasy.
In 1:3 the word “divine” denotes the eternal, unlimited, and almighty divinity of God. Hence, divine power is the power of the divine life related to the divine nature.
Here the word “granted” means imparted, infused, planted. All things which relate to life and godliness have been imparted to us, infused into us, by the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who has regenerated us and who indwells us (2 Cor. 3:6, 17; John 3:6; Rom. 8:11).
All things relating to life and godliness are the various aspects of the divine life, typified by the riches of the produce of the good land in the Old Testament. These are the substance of our faith’s substantiation allotted to us by God as our portion for our inheritance. Life is within for us to live, and godliness is without as the outward expression of the inward life. Life is the inward energy, inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness, which leads to glory and results in glory.
The little word “as” at the beginning of verse 3 is significant. It indicates that grace and peace will be multiplied to us in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord as, or according to, the impartation of all things relating to life and godliness through the divine power. Grace and peace are multiplied to us according to what the divine power imparts to us. Without the imparting through the divine power there would be no way for grace and peace to be multiplied to us.
The word “through” in verse 3 indicates that the impartation into us of all the things of life is through the full knowledge of God, which is conveyed and revealed to us through His word. This becomes the faith (objective) in which our faith (subjective) is produced.
In 1:3 the pronoun “Him” refers to God who is our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ (vv. 1-2). He has called us to His glory and virtue by His glory and virtue. His disciples saw His glory and virtue (v. 16; John 1:14) and were attracted by them. Then through this glory and virtue they were called by Him to this very glory and virtue. It is the same with all believers in Christ.
Glory is the expression of God, God expressed in splendor. Literally, the Greek word rendered “virtue” means excellency. Virtue denotes the energy of life to overcome all obstacles and to carry out all excellent attributes. Glory is the divine goal; virtue is the energy and strength of life to reach the goal. This virtue with all things relating to life has been given to us by the divine power, but it needs to be developed on the way to glory.
In 1:4 Peter continues, “Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises, that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.” The Greek word translated “through” here is dia. It also means on account of, on the basis of, because of, and here is used in the instrumental sense becoming causal.
The relative pronoun “which” in this verse refers to glory and virtue in verse 3. Through and on the basis of, on account of, because of, the Lord’s glory and virtue, by and to which we have been called, He has given us His precious and exceedingly great promises, such as in Matt. 28:20; John 6:57; 7:38-39; 10:28-29; 14:19-20, 23; 15:5 and John 16:13-15. God has called us to His glory and virtue. Because of this glory and virtue, God has given us promises. All these promises are being carried out in His believers by His life-power, as the excellent virtue, unto His glory.
We have emphasized the fact that God has called us to His glory and virtue. But this calling is something that needs to be worked out. Although we have been called into God’s glory and virtue, are we actually in this glory, and are we participating in this virtue? The correct answer is that sometimes we are in the glory and sometimes we participate in this virtue. Therefore, how can God’s calling of us to His glory and virtue be worked out? It is worked out through His promises.
Through the precious and exceedingly great promises, we, the believers in Christ, who is our God and Savior, have become partakers of His divine nature in an organic union with Him. We have entered this union through faith and baptism (John 3:15; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19). The virtue (energy of life) of this divine nature carries us into His glory (godliness becoming the full expression of the Triune God).
Based upon the glory and virtue to which we have been called by God, God gives us promises. Furthermore, through this process, this procedure, God has given us promises. He promises us that He will be responsible to work out this glory and virtue. As we have seen, glory as the expression is the goal, and virtue is the energy of life. Virtue is the excellent attributes of God becoming to us the energy of life. This means that we have the energy and strength to reach glory. By God’s promises we have the energy to express His glory. One of these promises is found in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where the Lord says, “My grace is sufficient for you.” How great and how precious is this promise! Surely this promise is able to work out glory and virtue.
Through these promises we may become partakers of the divine nature. We receive the divine life simply by believing. There was a “click,” and the divine life came into us. The nature is the substance of the life. Although we received the life at the time we believed, the nature must be continually enjoyed by us. This enjoyment requires the grace of God. The more we enjoy the divine nature, the more we have His virtue, and the more we are brought into His glory.
To partake of the divine nature is to enjoy what God is. In order that we may enjoy all that He is, God will do many things for us according to His promises. This will enable us to enjoy His nature, what He is. We have seen that one of His promises is that His grace is sufficient for us. God’s sufficient grace will work within us day by day so that we may enjoy the divine nature.
Toward the end of verse 4 Peter speaks of “having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.” In his first Epistle Peter told the believers that Christ had redeemed them from their vain manner of life (1 Pet. 1:18-19), so that they should abstain from fleshly lusts (1 Pet. 2:11) and no longer live in the flesh in the lusts of men (1 Pet. 4:2). Now in his second Epistle he unveils to them the energy, the strength, by which they are enabled to escape the corruption in lust and the result of this escape. The energy is the virtue of the divine life, and the result is the partaking of the divine nature, the enjoying of all the riches of what the Triune God is. In partaking of the divine nature and in the enjoyment of all that God is, all the riches of the divine nature will be fully developed, as described in 1:5-7. Having escaped the corruption of lust in the world, the barriers to the growth of the divine life in us, we are freed to become partakers of the divine nature, enjoying its riches in its development to the fullest extent by the virtue of God unto His glory.
The divine nature refers to the riches of what God is. Whatever God is, is in His nature. Therefore, when we partake of the divine nature, we partake of the divine riches. Having received the divine life at the time of our regeneration, we must go on to enjoy what God is.
The riches of what God is are the content of the living hope mentioned in 1 Peter 1:3. According to His great mercy, God the Father has regenerated us unto a living hope. This living hope is actually a hope of life. Having this hope of life, we expect to enjoy daily the riches of the divine life. Actually, to enjoy the divine life is simply to partake of the divine nature. Therefore, partaking of the divine nature is related to our living hope of enjoying all the riches of the divine life.
When we were regenerated, we were enlivened by God, or we may say that we were “lifed” by Him. The divine life came into the center of our being. From that time onward, we have had a living hope, a hope of life. Our hope is that every part of our being will be enlivened. Regeneration, therefore, has brought in a living hope. Regeneration is unto the enjoyment of the riches of the divine life, and the riches of this life are the divine nature. Hence, to partake of the divine nature is to enjoy the riches of God.
This enjoyment is both for the present and for eternity. For eternity we shall continue to partake of the divine nature. This is illustrated by the tree of life and the river of water of life in Revelation 22:1 and 2. Out from the throne of God and the Lamb, the river of life flows. This signifies God flowing out to be the enjoyment of His redeemed ones. That flowing river will saturate the entire city of New Jerusalem. Furthermore, the tree of life that grows along the river will supply the redeemed ones with God as their life supply. This is a picture of what it means to partake of the divine nature.
