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Scripture Reading: 2 Pet. 1:1-4
In this message we shall continue the review of 1:1-4.
Second Peter 1:3 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.” The “all things” in this verse refer to all the aspects of the riches of the Triune God. These things pertain to the divine life, to zoe, not to the life that is for our pleasure. All things have been given, imparted, infused, into us so that we may live the divine life and also live out this life. The life is inward, but godliness is outward, for it is God Himself expressed.
In all of our living we should express God. We should testify of God and speak about Him. When God becomes our expression, this is godliness. In our conversation we should express God. If we are expressing God, surely we could not engage in gossip. We should have God in our being and also in our living. Our mind should be filled with Him, and the very fiber of our being should be constituted of Him. Then we shall have godliness, the outward expression of the inward life.
In 1:3 Peter uses the preposition “through” and says that the divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness “through the full knowledge of Him.” The impartation into us of all the things of life is through the full knowledge of God. This full knowledge is a deep, thorough, experiential knowledge.
The preposition “through” used in relation to full knowledge indicates that we need to pass through a process. If we have the practice of gossiping, this practice is an indication that we have not yet passed through the process leading to the full knowledge of the One who has called us. I do not think that if we have the full knowledge of the One who has called us to His glory and virtue, we shall waste our time gossiping.
The divine power has infused us with all things pertaining to life and godliness. However, this infusion, this impartation, requires that we have the full knowledge of God. If we do not pass through the process to gain the full knowledge, it will seem that what the divine power has planted in us has been in vain. The divine power is operating, but there is the need for us to cooperate with this operation.
Many Christians do not know anything about what the divine power has imparted to us. Likewise, many do not know that it is necessary for us to pass through the process to gain the full knowledge. There is the need for us to be trained by the Lord so that we may pass through the process to gain the full knowledge of the One who has called us. My desire in these messages is to help you pass through this process. We may use the illustration of a train and say that we are all on a train that is going through the passage of the deep, thorough, and experiential knowledge of the One who has called us.
In verse 3 Peter does not speak of the knowledge of God nor of the knowledge of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Instead, he speaks of the full knowledge of the One who has called us to His glory and virtue. Here Peter does not say that God has called us to heaven, nor even that He has called us to redemption or sanctification. In this verse Peter says that God has called us to His own glory and virtue. We need to have the full knowledge of this. We must not be content to know it superficially. We can know the One who has called us to His own glory and virtue only by passing through a long process. Regarding this, we should be like tourists taking a slow train ride through a beautiful countryside. Such tourists like to ride slowly in order to have a good view of the scenery. In like manner, we need to consider 1:1-4 thoroughly and slowly. You may read through these verses quickly again and again and not see anything. Therefore, as we read these verses, we need to consider carefully everything included in them.
We definitely need the full knowledge of the One who has called us for the purpose of bringing us into His glory and virtue. If we have such an experiential knowledge of Him, the divine power will operate in us effectively. Otherwise, the divine power will not be able to work in us. Even though this power is great, it will not be able to work in us if we do not fulfill the conditions for its operation. As we have seen, the condition we must fulfill is that of our cooperation with God’s operation.
Many Christians do not know that God has called them to His own glory and virtue. It seems that in their theology there is no room for 2 Peter 1:3. Although the divine power is present and is working, it does not operate in those who do not render the proper cooperation. If we do not pass through the process to gain the full knowledge of the One who has called us, the divine power will not be able to operate in us.
I can testify that the divine power is working in me and that daily I cooperate with God. In the morning I open to Him and say, “Lord, I am here before You. Go on, Lord. I would not hinder You. Rather, I would give You a free way within me. Lord, whatever You speak to me I will proclaim.” I can testify that the more I cooperate with the divine power within me, the more I am brought into God’s glory, enjoy His virtue, and express this virtue as godliness.
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.” We have seen that the preposition “through” here may also be rendered on account of or on the basis of. The relative pronoun “which” refers to the glory and virtue in verse 3. Through and on the basis of the Lord’s glory and virtue, by and to which we have been called, God has given us His precious and exceedingly great promises.
It is not easy to know the meaning of the words “through which” as they connect verses 3 and 4. In order to have the proper knowledge of this, we need experience and also spiritual understanding. Here Peter is saying that through the divine glory and virtue God has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises. This indicates that if God had not called us to His own glory and virtue, there would be no need for Him to give us promises. But God has called us to His own glory and virtue. This goal is great, vast, profound. Who is able to reach God’s own glory and virtue? None of us is able to arrive at this goal. Therefore, there is the need of God’s word of promise to assure us, encourage us, strengthen us, and speed us on our way toward this goal.
Suppose Peter had said that God has called us to heaven. If heaven were the goal of God’s calling, there would have been no need for God to give us promises. If heaven were the goal of God’s calling, we could simply be happy and rejoice, live according to our pleasure, and then wait for heaven.
However, Peter does not say that God has called us to heaven. He says that God has called us to His own glory and virtue. When we hear about this, we may wonder how we can attain to such a goal. Knowing our need for assurance, encouragement, and strength, God has given us precious and exceedingly great promises. An example of these promises is the Lord’s word to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” This promise was given to Paul to enable him to suffer the thorn in the flesh. In order to bear with a “thorn,” we need the Lord’s sufficient grace. This is an illustration of the fact that we need many promises to help us reach the goal of God’s glory and virtue.
All the promises of God have been given to us through the glory and virtue to which God has called us. This is the reason Peter begins verse 4 with the words “through which.” God’s promises are words of assurance and encouragement. Through the glory and virtue which are the goal to which we have been called, God has given us the promises we need.
We have pointed out that the Greek preposition translated “through” in verse 4 is dia and that its use here is in the instrumental sense becoming causal. We have rendered this word literally in order to make our translation correspond to the Greek text. It would also have been correct to translate this word “on the basis of which” to indicate that God grants us the precious and exceedingly great promises on the basis of the glory and virtue to which He has called us.
We cannot reach the high goal of God’s glory and virtue by ourselves. For this, we need the Lord. Because we do not know what lies ahead of us, God has given us precious promises. One of these great promises is in Matthew 28:20: “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” No doubt, this promise was an encouragement to all the disciples.
The Lord’s promises encouraged Peter and the other disciples on their way toward the goal of God’s glory and virtue. When Peter and the eleven stood up to preach on the day of Pentecost, God’s glory and virtue were with them. The disciples manifested divine virtues, not natural human virtues. In Acts 3 a poor man looked to Peter and John for a gift of money. Peter said to him, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Then Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up, and immediately the lame man was healed. “He leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God” (v. 8). What did Peter and John express on that occasion? They manifested God’s virtue and glory. This was carried out by the promise of the Lord that He would be with them all the days until the completion of this age.
In Matthew 28:20 the Lord seemed to be telling the disciples: “When you go out to disciple the nations, I shall go with you. Wherever you go, you will go with Me. You will be bringing Me with you.” Therefore, on the day of Pentecost the disciples stood up with the Lord to preach the gospel. Furthermore, in Acts 3 Peter and John brought the Lord Jesus to a lame man. This was a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to be with them all the days until the completion of the age. By means of the Lord’s promises the early disciples were encouraged to press on to reach God’s glory and attain the divine virtues.
According to 2 Peter 1:4, God has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises for a specific purpose. His purpose is that through these promises we may become partakers of the divine nature. Through the precious and exceedingly great promises, we, the believers in Christ, have become partakers of His divine nature in an organic union with Him. In Acts 2 and 3 Peter and the other disciples surely were partaking of the divine nature. It is no wonder then that when others looked at the disciples, they saw the expression of God. Because the disciples enjoyed God and partook of God, they were constituted of God.
Just as we are constituted physically of the food we eat, so the disciples were constituted of the God of which they partook. This should also be our experience today. If we enjoy God and partake of Him, we shall be constituted of Him. Of course, we shall never become God in the sense of attaining to the Godhead or becoming an object of worship. However, we may be thoroughly constituted of God’s nature.
We all are constituted physically of the food we eat. For example, someone may eat so much fish and be constituted of fish to such an extent that he even smells of fish. In like manner, we may become so constituted of God that we express God in all that we are and do. We may even give off a divine fragrance. If we partake of God day by day, eventually we shall partake of Him unconsciously. When others contact us, they will see in us the expression of the Triune God.
My desire is that all the saints in the Lord’s recovery would be fully saturated with the nature of God. The more we are saturated with God, the more we shall express Him.
To be a partaker of the divine nature is to be a partaker of the elements, the ingredients, of God’s being. When we partake of God, the aspects of what God is become our enjoyment. We partake of His righteousness, holiness, kindness, love, compassion. This is to enjoy the constituents of the divine nature. God’s purpose in giving us the precious and exceedingly great promises is that we may become partakers of the divine nature.
In 1:4 there is a condition for becoming partakers of the divine nature: it is “having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.” The more we escape this corruption, the more we shall enjoy the nature of God. Likewise, the more we partake of the divine nature, the more we shall escape the corruption that is in the world by lust. This is a cycle, a cycle of escaping and partaking and of partaking and escaping. I can testify that because this cycle of partaking and escaping works within me in a strong, rapid way, it is difficult for me to take in any of the corruption of the world. I partake of the divine nature, and this divine nature strengthens me to stay away from corruption. Then the more I stay away from the corruption of the world, the more I enjoy the riches of the divine nature. This is the experience of God’s economy. What we have in 1:1-4 is actually a full picture of our enjoyment of God’s economy.
