by Alan Rathbun
I used to be one of those people who said, “My favorite Scripture passage is…” and then concluded with a different Scripture passage every time I said it. Depending on your perspective, you could assume I have a lot of favorite Scripture passages or that I really don’t understand what the word “favorite” means.
I can assure you that I do understand what the word “favorite” means and that I now finish this statement in alignment with the meaning of the word: My favorite Scripture passage is 2 Peter 1:3-4:
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. (ESV)
When I read this passage, I am captivated by the first part of verse 4, “He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.
Stop. Let the sheer weight of this last phrase sink into your mind and heart.
We get to become partakers of the divine nature. A more literal translation of this phrase may be that we get to “become of the divine sharer’s nature.”
God is a good and generous God. He is so good and so generous that it is not enough for Him to forgive our sin. It’s not enough for Him to give us the righteousness of Christ and to provide us with everlasting life in the new heaven and new earth. He actually makes it possible for us to share in His eternal and divine nature now and forever. We get to share in the life of God.
How is this possible?
Peter tells us it starts with us knowing God, not through informational knowledge, but through experiential knowledge. We are invited through Jesus to know God in a very similar way to how we know a human being, by interacting with Him as He reveals and demonstrates Himself to us.
Our sharing in the life of God continues through the precious and very great promises He has given us. Peter is talking about the promises of the gospel. We can share in the life of God because, among many other things, God has promised us through Jesus the complete forgiveness of our sins with absolutely no shame or condemnation; full acceptance as dearly loved children of God; and the gift of the Holy Spirit who now lives in us and imparts the life of God to us so that we can live as people who have escaped from corruption of this world.
I hope your head is spinning with mine and that your heart is beating with joy and hope because of this great gospel opportunity that has been given to us. Through His gospel, Jesus renews us to be free and fruitful.
I have no greater desire for 2021 than to embrace this opportunity by learning more and more how to live all of my life with God and to share in His generous and perfectly good, divine nature. This is my prayer and desire for you as well.