God’s Divine Nature

Strong and Courageous

Dec. 7, 2018

I have been reading thru the New Testament in 60 days as part of my current reading plan. This has been a delightful journey to be reading fairly large blocks of text. Reading familiar passages brings both joy and challenges to my thought processes. Also, it’s pretty amazing to me of how much of the texts read like they are brand new as if I had not discovered it before.

I would like to share one of those “brand new” texts with you today. 2^nd Peter Chapter 1 vs. 1-4

 “ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

This passage is so rich in revealing to us how great our inheritance in Christ is. It is interesting to note that this text was written during a period of great persecution and physical suffering of the saints. Life application bible study notes on this passage says that “2 Peter was written three years after 1^st Peter, during this time Emperor Nero intensified the persecution of Christians.” This divine power to grant them all things in this context of difficulty is truly inspiring to me.

In vs. 4, Peter describes that we are partakers of God’s divine nature. How cool is that? By the power residing in us through the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to escape the corruption on the world. We certainly cannot do this in our own strength alone.

The bible study notes further say “The power to grow doesn’t come from within us, but from God. Because we don’t have the resources to be truly Godly, God allows us to participate in the divine nature in order to keep us from sin and help us live for Him. When we are born again, God by His Spirit empowers us with his own moral goodness.” Our justification is found only by faith alone, any self-righteous of our own can become idolatrous and can never be good enough for entering into the Kingdom of God. The substitution of Christ’s sacrifice and atonement for our sins is a total game changer. We become a new creation daily because of His great sacrifice!

“Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts! Zechariah 4:6