After being saved, the believers are also partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). A partaker is different from a receiver. We have not only received the divine nature-we also partake of the divine nature. To partake of God’s nature is to enjoy it and participate in it. As believers, we not only possess the divine nature but also partake of it, enjoy it, and participate in it. As we are partakers of the food we eat daily, we are also partakers of the divine nature. Through regeneration God has uplifted us to such a high level that we are now partakers of the divine nature.
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. This is to enjoy the constituents of the divine nature.
As partakers of the divine nature, we are now enjoying the riches of God’s nature. The divine nature refers to the riches of what God is. The riches of divinity are wrapped up with the divine nature. 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 now go on to enjoy what God is in His nature.
We enjoy the riches of the divine nature through God’s precious and exceedingly great promises. These promises usher us into the enjoyment of the divine nature. Second Peter 1:4 says, “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.” Through the precious and exceedingly great promises given by God, 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 into this union through faith and baptism (John 3:15; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19).
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 precious, exceedingly great promises. This will enable us to enjoy His nature, to enjoy what He is. One of God’s precious and exceedingly great promises is that His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9). God’s sufficient grace will work within us day by day so that we may enjoy His nature.
There is a difference between the divine life and the divine nature. The divine nature is what God is. We enjoy the divine nature by living the divine life, and we live the divine life by God’s promises. We need to live by the divine life so that we may be partakers of the divine nature. We receive the divine life simply by believing, and the divine nature is the substance of the divine life. Although we received the divine life at the time we believed, the divine nature must be continually enjoyed by us. To have eternal life is a matter once for all, but to partake of the divine nature is a continual matter. Although we have the divine life once for all, we cannot enjoy the divine nature once for all. During the entire course of our Christian life on earth and even in eternity, we shall be partaking of the divine nature.
In 2 Peter 1:4 we also see that becoming a partaker of the divine nature has a condition. This condition is that we escape the corruption which is in the world by lust. The corruption of today’s world is in conflict with our enjoying God’s nature. Lust is a barrier that keeps us from enjoying the divine nature. Christ died to redeem us from the vain manner of life (1 Pet. 1:18-19), and now we 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). As redeemed ones, we should abstain from lusts. This is to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
God has given us promises that He will work in us to enable us to partake of the divine nature. This is God’s operation. But God’s operation requires our cooperation, and our cooperation is to abstain from a lustful life and thereby escape the corruption which is in the world by lust. Having escaped this corruption, we are ready to become partakers of the divine nature. From this we see that escaping the corruption in the world qualifies us to partake of the divine nature.
The more we escape the corruption which is in the world by lust, the more we shall enjoy the divine nature. 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. If this cycle works within us in a strong, rapid way, it will be difficult for us to take in any of the corruption of the world. The divine nature will strengthen us to stay away from corruption. Then the more we stay away from the corruption of the world, the more we shall enjoy the riches of the divine nature.
As we partake of the divine nature, enjoying all that God is, the riches of the divine nature will be fully developed, as described in 2 Peter 1:5-7. Having escaped the corruption of lust in the world, the barrier 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 (2 Pet. 1:3). This is the experience of God’s New Testament economy.
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