You Participate in the Divine Nature

You Participate in the Divine Nature

The Apostle Peter said it first: 2Peter 1:2-4 (NASB) “2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

Someone might read this and think that since Peter is talking about promises he must mean that we participate in the nature of God only in the future—after our bodies are glorified and we shed this mortal coil. But Father’s promises are provided in Jesus Christ as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NASB) “20For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” It is important to remember that scripture teaches that God calls things that are not as though they were. He calls them into being. (see Romans 4:17b, especially in KJV or NIV) Father lives outside of time. He is not constrained by time. Therefore, the things Father has done for us spiritually are true of us now. Eternal life is one example. It is already accomplished.

By grace through faith, we become partakers of the nature of God. This is what rebirth is. John makes a startling statement in 1 John 3:9 (NASB) “9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” The Greek word translated seed here is sperma. We are born of the Spirit, so we inherit the traits of the Spirit and lose the proclivity to sin that we got from Adam. This is the reason scripture tells us that we are free from sin and dead to sin. (see Romans 6)

Some have questions about things that Jesus said, especially some of the hard things in Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. It seems to them that Jesus may be directing His statements to believers. In at least one case He calls those to whom He is speaking evil. (see Matthew 7:11) He says things like no one is good except for God, so how is it possible that we can share His nature?

Matthew Chapters five through seven comprises the Sermon on the Mount. It is important to keep in mind that much of what Jesus taught He taught to the Jews. He was speaking to the Jews under the Law. There is nothing in that sermon that indicates that He was speaking to believers and Jesus calls them evil, so they cannot be believers. In that sermon, Jesus was showing the Jews who thought they were keeping the Law that they were not honoring the Law. This is why He said things like you have heard that adultery is bad, but I tell you that looking at a woman with lust is adultery. Things like if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out, or if it is your arm, cut it off. He even goes so far as to tell them they must be perfect like God is perfect. None of these things was possible for them. Neither are any of them possible for us. Therefore, we are in need of help. We are in need of Jesus. What the Law could not do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did. (see Romans 8:3-4) There we also read that the righteous requirements of the Law are fulfilled in us because of what Jesus has done. If the requirements are fulfilled, then we must be righteous.

When Jesus said that there is none good but God, He was speaking to a Jewish religious leader and He was speaking while the Law was still in force. This man had asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life, so he was clearly not a believer. Here is the passage from Luke. Luke 18:18-19 “18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” (NASB)

After the cross, things changed. 2 Corinthians 5:21 makes it clear that Jesus was made to be sin so that we could be made righteous. Romans 6 talks a lot about things that took place at the cross. These include being immersed into the death of Jesus and being raised with Him to newness of life. Romans 6:6 say that our old man, our old self, died. Ask yourself, if that is not our old sinful Adamic nature, what is it that died?

We have been changed. We are not waiting for heaven before we can be compatible with God. The New Testament teaches it. Some examples where scripture points this out include:

Galatians 2:20 (NASB)

20“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Colossians 3:6–10 (NASB)

6For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—

Romans 8:9 (NASB) However, you are not in the flesh (Greek: sarx—not your physicality, but the way of responding to, and dealing with, life using our senses rather than faith—walking by sight rather than by the Spirit.) but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Parenthetical text is mine)

As believers, we know that we are in Christ. We know that the Spirit of God dwells in us.

Romans 8:10–11 (NASB) 10If Christ is in you, though the body (Greek: soma—our physicality) is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Our soma, or physical body, is dead because of sin. This simply means that because Adam sinned, our bodies are of a type that dies. For this reason we get glorified bodies when we pass from temporal life.) 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies (bodies here is soma—our temporal physicality) through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Parenthetical text is mine)

1 Corinthians 6:17 (NASB) 17But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. We know that God is holy, righteous, pure—perfect. If we are this close with God, so close that we are in Him and He is in us, how can we be less than fully righteous?

You may distinguish between our spirit and our body, and well you should. We are a spirit. That is our basic makeup. At our core, we are a spirit, just as God is a Spirit. We are a spirit. We have a soul, which is our mind, will, and emotions, and we live in a body. We see these three components mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NASB) “23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other places we see these talked about as our inner man (our spirit and soul) and our outer man (our body). The parts of us that cannot be seen and the part that can. The body we now have will die and we will get a new body when we pass out of temporal life.

If you are inclined to wonder just how close you are to God, take comfort in these verses from John 17:20–23 (NASB) “20“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”