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Read Introduction to 2 Peter

 

“By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

 

that through these

“These” are the promises of the previous phrase. As a result of using these assurances, we partake of the divine nature.

you may be [become] partakers

“May be” comes from a word meaning to become. The thrust is not primarily dealing with being but with becoming. The usual term for “be” means to exist. That would imply that we possess the divine nature, but that is not the point here. Since “be” here means becoming, this passage refers to becoming something we are not now. Becoming implies the idea of growth. We are not like Christ right now. We want to become more like Him. Becoming is not about receiving God’s nature at our spiritual birth but manifesting the nature we share with God. “Becoming” is not absorption into God, as the mystics would have us believe, but the application of positional truth to experience resulting in spiritual growth.

“Partakers” means companion, partner, or sharer. A sharer participates with someone else in some enterprise or joint matter of concern. Thus, the idea is a partner or associate. Christians partake in the divine nature; we join God in the common issue of manifesting His character in our lives.

PRINCIPLE:

We need to join with God in manifesting His character to the world.

APPLICATION:

We cannot lose our salvation, but we can lose plenty if we step out of fellowship with God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, catastrophe followed him for the next few years. Sin has a price tag. That price tag is ugly.

It is incumbent and mandatory for Christians to live a consistent Spirit-filled life and become mature believers. If we do not allow ourselves to be filled with the Spirit, we will fulfill the lusts of the flesh and revert to type. The old sin capacity cannot do anything right. The new capacity cannot do anything wrong. There is a struggle between the old and new capabilities.

If we struggle spiritually within, then that indicates we are born again. The non-Christian does not struggle with sin regularly because his conscience does not trouble him. His conscience is dead toward God and reliable as a rubber tape measure.

There is nothing spiritual within non-Christians because they are spiritually dead. Their Adamic capacity given to them by their parents completely monopolizes the direction of their lives. They are 100% flesh. Thus, they do anything they want to do. They look at anything they want. They listen to anything without discrimination. They touch anything they desire. They have no restraint or inhibition. There are no restrictions or prohibitions on them. They are without God and, therefore, without genuine internal spiritual standards.

Prov. 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man,

But its end is the way of death.”

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