The enjoyment of the divine nature is mainly to enjoy the divine love and the divine life. Peter did not stress the divine life but the divine love. The ultimate development of the divine nature is love, agape, and this love issues in holiness. John mentions that God is love, but he does not stress love that much. Rather, he stresses light which is the nature of the divine expression. John tells us in his first Epistle that he preached the eternal life to others that they might be brought into the divine fellowship (1:2-3). Through this life, you have received the divine fellowship and if you remain in the divine fellowship, you will enjoy God as light (1:5-7). The message which John heard from God and announced to others was that God is light. John stressed that when we enjoy the divine nature, God becomes light to us and we enjoy God as light.
This light issues in righteousness. Righteousness is the expression of the life partaking of the divine nature. In Peter’s line love issues in holiness and in John’s line light issues in righteousness. Peter stresses holiness; John stresses righteousness. In his first Epistle he calls the Lord the Righteous One (2:1). Righteousness is the issue of light. When you are in the light, you do everything right. If you do everything wrongly and foolishly, this means that you are in darkness. You do not know where you are going, what you are doing, or what you are speaking because you are in darkness. However, when you are in the light, everything becomes crystal clear to you. You know where you are, what you are doing, where you should go, what you should do, and what you should speak.
In John’s writing, he was trying to inoculate the believers against a heresy which taught that the believers did not have sin and that they did not need to make any confession of their sins. John proved in his Epistle that even though we have been regenerated, we still have sin within us and there is the possibility that we will commit sins (1 John 1:8—2:1). John indicates that if we remain in the fellowship and enjoy God as light there is no way that we can say that we are not sinful anymore. We still have a sinful nature and there is still some possibility that we may fall into sin. Therefore, we need to confess our sins. John then goes on to talk about righteousness which is the opposite of sin. Anything that is unrighteous is sin. He says that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). To cleanse us from all unrighteousness is to make us right.
First John 2:29 says, “If you have known that He is righteous, you know also that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten of Him.” Then 1 John 3:7 tells us that “he who practices righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous.” Verses like these indicate clearly that enjoying God as light issues in righteousness. Love separates us from being common, and light makes us right in everything.
When we are in darkness, we do everything wrong. Light regulates us. If the place in which we are is in darkness, our walk is not regulated since we cannot see where we are going. Light always regulates us and keeps us in order. Righteousness comes out of the enjoyment of God as light. Light is the nature of the divine expression and righteousness is the expression of the life partaking of the divine nature, the expression of the life that enjoys God. If you are in the light and are enjoying God as light, you will have an expression that you are right in everything and with everyone. When you do things wrongly and when you do wrong things to others, this is a strong indication that you are not in the light.
We can prove this by our experiences. Nothing else tests or proves our Christian life as much as the marriage life. How good or how bad a husband is is always proved in the eyes of his wife. No one knows a brother as thoroughly as his wife does. Whether or not he has stayed with the Lord and remained in fellowship with the Lord is known by her. Whenever a husband loses his temper with his wife, he knows nothing, he is the most foolish person, and he speaks nonsense. He is absolutely not right because he is in darkness. However, when a brother stays with the Lord, remaining in His fellowship and enjoying Him as love and as light, he becomes holy and righteous in the sight of his wife. As an issue of being in the light the husband does everything right and says everything right. It is possible for one to pretend to be something in others’ eyes, but you cannot pretend to be anything in the eyes of your spouse. He or she knows the real situation. When you stay in the divine fellowship, however, the other party of your marriage knows and can testify that you are different. The enjoyment of God as love makes us holy and the enjoyment of God as light makes us right. Light is the essence of righteousness, and righteousness is the shining of light.
In conclusion, holiness is the issue of the enjoyment of the divine love and righteousness is the issue of the enjoyment of the divine light. The ultimate consummation of holiness is the enjoyment of God as love, and the ultimate consummation of righteousness is the enjoyment of God as light. The issue of our partaking of and enjoying the divine nature is holiness and righteousness.