Second Epistle of Peter
PRECIOUS PROMISES & DIVINE NATURE
Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV)
"Whereby"
The word translated "whereby" in this verse is in the plural, indicating that it refers back to more than just the last statement of our last verse. It is not that His call "to glory and virtue" alone give us these "exceeding great and precious promises," and cause us to become "partakers of the divine nature," but it is through His "divine power" and the "knowledge of him." It would perhaps be better to start the verse with the expression "through which," so making it plural and applying it to the whole of verse 3. It is through His call, His power and our knowledge of Him that the blessings of verse 4 come to us.
"promises"
The "promises" of our verse are not itemized; no particular ones are mentioned. Judging from the rest of the verse, it is especially the promises in connection with salvation that Peter may has in mind. As we heed the call of the Lord Jesus, and put out trust and obedience in Him, we receive "the divine nature," and escape "the corruption that is in the world through lust." What a great promise we have in John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Of course, the promises of salvation, pardon, eternal life, etc., are conditional. They can only be made real as one feels his need, and is willing to trust his soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus. While the Gospel promises are good to any human, the conditions of faith must be met before they can be claimed. Unless a person realizes the seriousness of his sin, he will never flee to and obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and salvation.
While these promises probably refer to our great and precious salvation, Peter may have had the thousands of promises to the Lord's own in mind also. There are unconditional promises to every child of God and also many that are conditional upon their faith and obedience. The Bible is so full of promises of every kind, that we might almost call it a book of promises. Besides the promise to pardon from sin, there are promises to sustain in time of trial, promises of guidance in time of darkness, promises of strength in time of weakness, promises to aid in time of need, promises to protect in time of danger, promises to comfort in time of sorrow, promises of His presence in life and the distant future. To those who die in Christ there are promises of resurrection and immortality. How dark all would be apart from these promises.
"exceeding great...promises"
The promises of the Lord are "exceeding great" and "exceeding precious." They are made by an exceeding great and loving God. If the greatness of them would really grip us, we could not help but shout "Hallelujah." Almost every page of the New Testament contains some exceeding great promise. For instance, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28). He is coming back again for His own. Christians then shall experience that complete salvation; and the sin question will not again be brought up. He took care of that on the cross at the time of His first appearing. Here is another great promise, "Where I am, there shall also my servant be" (John 12:26). If we serve Him now, we will be with Him forever. That means Christians will be exalted to a place to which no one in this world has ever attained or ever dreamed of attaining. Christians will be with the Ruler of the universe forever.
"precious promises"
The promises are not only exceeding great, but also very "precious." In verse 1, we have "precious faith" and now "precious promises." Only as we live by faith and obedience in the Lord will the promises be for us, and only as we put faith in the promises will we appropriate them to ourselves and enjoy them. To make a promise precious, the thing promised must be precious, but it still will not be precious to us if we do not accept and believe that the one who made the promise can and will keep his promise. Thank the Lord, He is both willing and able and this is what makes them especially sweet. There would be no hope in sorrow, trial, sickness, or death apart from these promises; they bring the sunshine through the rift in the clouds and this makes them sweet. Only in Christ and the many promises of the Word can a troubled soul find peace.
One has defined a promise as an assurance on the part of another of some good for which we are dependent on him. The promise is of no value if the one who made the promise is not able to give. A promise is not compulsory beyond the fact that the one who makes the promise is expected to be a man of his word.
If the Lord promises anything, we can be sure He will do it. "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: bath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Num. 23:19). "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Cor. 1:20). The story is told of a man who constantly put his name in his Bible as he read it. For instance, "Let not your heart be troubled [Jerry]; believe also in me [Jerry]." He said that in that way he made every promise as well as every exhortation his own. Every promise of the Lord is made binding by the Word of Him who cannot lie. Let us trust them all simply and wholly.
The Lord Jesus once said to His disciples, "Let us pass over unto the other side" (Mark 4:35). This was a definite statement and a guarantee that they would pass over the sea and reach the other side. However, He fell asleep on the boat and a great storm arose; and the waves dashed into it. The disciples were afraid, and awoke Him saying, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" In calm dignity He arose, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" We too, are making a journey across the sea of time. Storms are bound to come but remember He is with us and will see us safely to the other side. If we are fearful, He will need to chide us as He did the disciples. He said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). Just believe and trust His promises!
Many examples could be given of how the Lord applies promises in a personal way to a Christian. At the end of his career, an old preacher wrote, "When I first went into full time service for the Lord I had big ideas of becoming a great and well-known preacher. However, mingled with this often came fears that I might not be able to continue in the work because of lack of financial support. There was a little church supporting me but with a very small amount and there was no guarantee that it would continue. One day two prominent missionaries and I were together and one of them told of the wonderful tent meetings he had recently enjoyed. As he talked, thoughts came into my mind of how wonderful it would be if I could be like that. About that time the conversation drifted to a little box of cards in my office on which were printed various Scripture verses. Each one of us drew one from the box. The others read great promises from the Word of God but
I slipped mine back into the box without reading it to them. It said, 'And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest' (Jer. 45:5). What a rebuke it was to me, but it also helped to remove the fear of financial support as I sought to serve the Lord. By the last part of the verse the Lord definitely promised to take care of me as I sought to serve Him. And, in all the years thereafter He never failed me."
The Bible is full of promises, but it also contains threats. To those who refuse Christ the Word pronounces punishment. There is the law with its thunder and lightning. Blessings were pronounced upon the children of Israel if they obeyed, but curses, if they did not. To the Christian who does not live for self and the world, there is the promise of salvation, but yet so as by fire. All his works will be burned (1 Cor. 3:12-15). Advice to the unsaved: flee to Christ – trust and obey Him; be born again. Advice to Christians: "Be obedient children, and rejoice in the Lord and His promises."
"by these ye might be partakers"
The expression "by these" perhaps refers back to exactly the same things as the expression "whereby" in the first part of the verse. It is by His divine power, and by our call by Him, and our knowledge of Him, that we become partakers of the divine nature. The promises do not give us the new nature, but faith in these promises will cause us to grow more Christ-like and so manifest the new nature. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).
The Greek word here translated "partakers" is often found in the New Testament. It is also translated as "companion," "partner," and "fellowship." Perhaps the simplest translation would be "sharer; "sharers of the divine nature." In 1 Peter 4:13 we read "partakers of Christ's sufferings," and in 1 Peter 5:1, "a partaker of the glory." How closely this all links up with our Lord Jesus.
"partakers of the divine nature"
As we noticed in connection with out last verse, "divine" means "Godlike." It does not, as often interpreted, mean that we are given a "God nature," but rather, a God-like nature. This is an amazing statement. When we become children of God we become "sharers of the God-like nature."
There is nothing in man whereby he can lift himself above the natural. If he is to receive a new God-like nature, he must receive it by the power of God. Before we could receive this new nature, the Son of God had to take upon Himself our form of manhood. God became like us, that we might be made like God. The divine one became partaker of the human so the human might become partaker of the divine. He not only had to become man, but He had to die on the cross to pay for our sins, or we never could have become sharers of His God-like nature. Now the vilest sinner can put his trust in and obey the Lord Jesus, and receive this God-like nature, and so become fit companions for our Lord.
The Christian has two natures; his old fleshly nature and the new God-like one. The Scripture sometimes calls these natures, the old man and the new man. The old nature is what we have from our birth. It is prone to do evil. It is the only nature the unconverted sinner has. Some have tried to teach that when one is born again, and receives the new nature, that then he can hold this old nature in check, and that we should consider it dead. Colossians 3:9, 10 says, "Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." Various exhortations in the Word indicate that this putting off of the old man and putting on the new, does not mean that we can be totally rid of the old, but it rather means to put it off the place of authority and prominence, and to put this new man in this place. We can keep sin from having dominion over us (Rom. 6:14), but we will not be wholly rid of it, or rid of our old nature. Only when we are at home with the Lord Jesus will we be free from sin and rid of our old nature. Then we will be like Him forever.
The Lord's desire is that we be more and more conformed to His image even now. This new image should be given a greater place all the time. It will be fully manifested in glory. We see some of that glory now, but the prospects for the future are most glorious. Then that God-like nature will be manifested in all its Christ-likeness.
"having escaped the corruption"
It is the divine or God-like nature in us that enables us to "escape the corruption that is in the world." This new nature knows no lust or sin, and as we submit to it, rather than to our old nature, we escape the pollutions of the world. With divine power to aid us and a divine nature to resist evil, there really is no excuse for a child of God to be again entangled in the pollutions of this world (2 Pet. 2:20). Let us show that we really possess a God-like nature by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27). This is the only way we can prove to the world that we have this divine nature.
This part of our verse is written in the past tense, "Having escaped the corruption that is in the world." Chapter 2:20 tells us that it is possible to be entangled in it again. Some seem hardly to have escaped it at all. If we are to be able to keep clear, we must find refuge in Christ.
Christ could not escape; He had to go to the cross. They taunted Him, "He saved others; himself He cannot save" (Mark 15:31). They were wrong in that they questioned His power to come down from the cross, but if He would save us, He could not come down from the cross. Only through Him and His sacrifice on the cross are we able to escape the corruptions that are in the world.
Lot escaped from Sodom and all its corruption, but he had to flee. His wife looked back; her heart was there; she turned into a pillar of salt.
The children of Israel escaped the slavery of Egypt. They were protected by the blood sprinkled on the door posts, and then escaped by passing through the Red Sea. Their passage through the Sea speaks of our passage through death, burial and resurrection, raised up from baptism to walk in newness of life, thus putting a separation between us and the world.
Many thousands "have escaped the corruption that is in the world" through fleeing to Christ. Have you escaped by fleeing to Christ the Deliver?
"corruption that is in the world"
This world is corrupt. We see it in politics; in courts with judges being bribed; in movies; in fornication, adultery, pornography and kindred pollutions – all such are common today. Man's thoughts, tongue and hands are corrupt. A heart surrendered and obedient to the divine nature and strong faith in the promises of God will deliver us from the corruptions that are in the world.
"through lust"
It is the lust of the human heart which brings "the corruption that is in the world." "Lust" is an unlawful desire for worldly things and pleasures, and also unlawful coveting for satisfaction of the passions. The new nature stands opposed to all this lust and corruption, but the old nature being weak craves it. It is our bounded duty to hold down these cravings of this old nature, and heed the voice of the new. Peter says, "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God" (1 Pet. 4:2).
The "new man" in a Christian cannot enjoy the world. If a Christian permits his old nature to drag him into it, he will be a very unhappy man. His new nature will keep him from enjoying the world, and his old nature will keep him from enjoying the Lord. So let us be wise and not grasp for the world, its pleasures, its wealth, its ambitions, but let us seek to love and to live for the Lord. "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness" (1 Tim. 6:11).
"Love not the world" (1 John 2:15-17).
