Partakers of His Divine Nature

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become the partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (II Peter 1:4)

Theologians since the time of the early Church fathers have attempted to explain the nature of the believer’s relationship with God. Through the centuries this issue has produced a broad spectrum of ideas. In our attempt to define and bring depth of understanding to God’s revealed truth we must take care to remain within the biblical boundaries. Some have taken the extreme position that believers are, by partaking of the divine nature, brought into a position of virtual equality with God. This view fails to adequately see the scriptural distinction between their union with God, in the divine life and nature, and the unique status of the Godhead possessed by the Trinity alone. They erroneously portray believers as in some way co-equal with God, assuming on some level His divine headship and authority. This appears to be the view of at least some in the “Word of Faith” movement. Their overreaching imprecise statements imply that “union with God” suggests equality with God, an absolute parity with God, and thus, some manner of participation in the Godhead and in those attributes of God which are incommunicable. [In fairness to these brothers, I do not believe they are trying to actually lay claim to a co-equal status with God. These men are not trained theologically and thus in “stretching” to express a truth that they believe they see in the Scriptures; they appear to violate orthodox theological boundaries. They do not place sufficient “fences” around some of their statements. In addition to that, they seem to lack a clear understanding of the sovereignty of God.]

On the other end of the spectrum we have those who only recognize the believer’s judicial relationship with God. This view holds that believers primarily imitate God’s divine communicable attributes rather than partake of them. They deny or dismiss any organic relationship between the Triune God and His redeemed. This teaching minimizes the relationship of the believer to the Father to mere legal status of adoption, wherein the adopted child imitates the adoptive parent’s behavior. I believe that this position is an over-reaction to the apparently extreme view they see as being perpetuated by the Word of Faith teachers. I believe that the Biblical truth lies between these two extremes, embracing the judicial aspect of the believer’s relationship to God and at the same time affirming his union with God in Christ. The Bible never elevates man to the status of equality with God. Even prior to the fall Adam was under God’s direction and authority. God is man’s Creator, and the Potter has non-negotiable power over the clay (Rom. 9:20-21).

A number of authors, in reaction to the exaggeration, confusion, and the error of the Word of Faith teachers, end up throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water. These authors have also rejected a number of essential biblical truths concerning the believer’s vital union and identification with God in life and nature. The believer’s relationship with God is more than legal, forensic, and outward. It is more than “union of fellowship,” as one author has called it. This is a limited view of our salvation. The Bible stresses that we are regenerated. According to I Corinthians 6:17: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” It is more than an “adoptive” status. God Himself indwells us (Rom. 8:9; Ephes. 4:6; Col. 1:27). Jesus told His disciples to expect the Spirit of the Father to be in them (Matt. 10:20). He declared that both He and the Father would be in His believers (John 17:21). It is true that the incommunicable attributes of God are not possessed by the believer – these being self-existence, immutability, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, eternality, and absolute sovereignty. Nevertheless, the Bible shows us that God has chosen to impart to believers His communicable attributes – these being compassion, graciousness, mercy, slowness to anger, truth, faithfulness, and forgiveness. [See Exodus 34:6-7.] It is incorrect to teach that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit indwell the believer apart from the divine life and nature; this would fragment the essence of God. God’s life and nature are received at the moment of regeneration. God brings about the transformation of believers into His image by causing His indwelling life and nature to grow and mature within them (II Cor. 3:17-18). Ultimately, at His return even the physical bodies of believers will be transformed to a glorified state reflectng the glory of Christ (II Thess. 1:10; I John 3:2).

It is scriptural to assert that believers participate in the divine nature, as long as it is made clear that we never become part of the Godhead and never evolve from creature to Creator. (This is the error of Mormonism, which teaches: “As man is, God once was; as God is, men may be.”) What did Peter mean by the statement, “You may become partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4)? Many of the early church fathers saw Peter’s statement as actual union and participation by believers in the divine nature. Origen equated this fellowship of the Spirit with our partaking of the divine nature. He stated, “What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? Peter describes this by calling it ‘sharing in the divine nature.’” Ambrose, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Novatian all said similar things commenting on II Peter 1:4. (See Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament Vol.11.) The Venerable Bede commented: “When God blesses us, He changes our very being so that whatever we were by nature is transformed by the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we may truly become partakers of His nature.”

Many modern Bible scholars have asserted in their writings that partaking of the divine nature is something real and inward. For example, Kenneth S. Wuest states, “The believer is made a partaker of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4). The life of God, surging through His being, causes him to hate sin and love holiness, and produces in him both the desire and the power to do God’s will.” A.T. Robertson considers regeneration as a partaking of the divine nature, as he says concerning II Peter 1:4, “Peter is referring to the new birth as I Peter 1:23.” Henry Alford goes so far to say that the perfect divine nature abides in the believer. He writes that believers are “partakers of the divine nature (i.e. of that holiness, and truth, and love, and, in a word, perfection), which dwells in God, and in you, by God dwelling in you.” I believe that I can say with certainty that none of these men would argue that believers are equal with God, but they have clearly affirmed that God dwells in the believer, bringing His divine nature into their being. God’s purpose in salvation was never to merely grant the forgiveness of sin. God’s purpose is to live in and through His redeemed community.

The whole redemptive work of Christ, from the Incarnation to the Resurrection and Ascension, as well as the work of the Holy Spirit culminate with the believer becoming a partaker of His divine nature as the completion of our salvation.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:18-21)

A.W. Tozer stated that, "The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing to ever appear among men." I find that as we grow in Christ our understanding of the cross continues to evolve and we find more and more how revolutionary the cross truly is. I am confident that my knowledge of what Christ has accomplished through the cross is incomplete, true but limited, correct, but not grasping the fullness of the truth. The cross of Christ is simple but complex. It is simple enough for a child to understand, yet complex enough for the greatest theological minds to “swim” in the depth of its meaning. I have “swam” in various theological streams as my understanding of the cross has grown and evolved. As I have come more and more to see the agape love of the Father demonstrated through the cross, I have begun to see how revolutionary the cross truly is.

Paul tells us that through the cross, “God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Does this not mean that we can declare to the vilest sinner that “God is not holding your sins against you?” Is Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)? Has a pardon has been issued to all of humanity? Has mercy triumphed over judgment (James 2:13)? Is Christ the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (I John 2:2)?

Paul tells that the ministry of reconciliation that has been given to us, as believers, is the proclamation of this message of God’s grace and mercy. God has, through Christ, reconciled the world to Himself. This is not universalism, but rather it is a declaration of the Father embracing all of fallen humanity. It is not inclusivism, which is the view that “all paths lead to God,” but rather it proclaims Christ, as the exclusive mediator, that reconciles fallen humanity to the Father. The cross of Christ is therefore, embracing, but exclusive.

The gospel is not about moralism. Sin and moral behavior is not the issue, God’s grace is. There is nobody in heaven but forgiven sinners, because there was nobody available to go to heaven except forgiven sinners, and there is nobody in hell except forgiven sinners. The difference is that in heaven they accept the forgiveness, in hell they reject it. That's it.

Another important text in this regard is found in Colossians 1:19-20, where Paul says:

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

What does it mean to "reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven" through the cross?

Some have interpreted it to mean that all be saved. This is the universalist interpretation. But because of the way Jesus spoke specifically about judgment, and because of the way the Bible generally treats the subject this interpretation would be in conflict with the whole of Scripture. But what is the text saying? The implications of what Paul says here in Colossians go beyond fallen humanity, but it undoubtedly must include it.

Oswald Chambers had a great deal to say in his writings on the cross. The following quote of his helped me to understand what Paul must be saying here:

“There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. He switched the whole human race back into right relationship to God and made the basis of human life Redemptive; consequently any member of the human race can get into touch with God now. It means not simply that men are saved from hell and put right for heaven, but that they are freed from the wrong disposition and can have imparted to them the very disposition of the Son of God, viz., Holy Spirit. . . .On that basis I can be forgiven, and through the forgiveness I can be turned into another man” (Biblical Ethics, 109).

Regarding Colossians 1:19-20, Oswald Chambers states, "We do not worship an austere, remote God; He is here in the thick of it. The Cross is a Reality, not a symbol--at the wall of the world stands God with His arms outstretched" (Biblical Ethics, 109).

I believe that Chambers phrase, "he switched the whole human race back into right relationship with God" gets very close to the point Paul making. It means there is a proper “universalism” in the New Testament even though judgment of faith in Christ is a fearful reality. If we viewed ourselves, and others, as living in a world in which the human race has been "switched" I wonder what this would mean in our dealings with others? How does this effect the way I view my fellow human beings? What does this do to the “us against them” mentality that permeates much of present-day evangelical Christianity. Of this I am certain - any kind of Christianity that roots its doctrine of Christ and the cross in the condemnation of people and the world is not the Christianity of the New Testament.

Ask yourself: Do I believe Jesus came into this world to save it or to condemn it (John 3:17)?

The Glorious Inheritance in Suffering

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Rom. 8:16-17)

Suffering is a very tough subject, yet one we are all called to face at some point in our lives. The problem of pain has spawned reams of material by Christian authors, from St. Augustine to C.S. Lewis.

In Romans 8, Paul encourages his fellow believers to persevere in their suffering. This would have meant a great deal coming from Paul because he knew what it was like to suffer. He had been beaten, stoned, thrown in prison, shipwrecked, rejected by his people. He knew hunger and thirst, exhaustion and poverty. He suffered some kind of thorn in his flesh, which might have been a painful illness or disability. Because he was a man who knew suffering in a personal way, each of us can find great encouragement by his letter.

What is suffering? Suffering is quite simply: What I don’t like. That’s all. It may be physical suffering or it may be mental/emotional suffering, but it is suffering because I don’t like it. If I liked it, it really wouldn’t be suffering. I don’t like suffering because it is suffering. But the Bible tells us that suffering is a necessary quality, and you can’t have “glory” without it.

If suffering is the means by which God brings us into His glory, we must ask the next question: What is God’s glory? I have heard people talk all my Christian life about the glory of God, and that God wants to manifest His glory in His people. But when the question is asked: What does the manifested glory of God look like? You generally get a blank stare. The reason being, we have made the “Glory of God” a far more abstract idea than the Bible shows it to be.

In Exodus 33:18, Moses asks to see God’s glory. God says to Moses, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But He said ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen’ (Exodus 33:19-23).

In Exodus 34 this comes to pass, and we are told in verse 6 a very interesting thing that gives us a particular understanding of God’s glory. “Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate, and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished . . . ‘ (Exodus 34:6-7). Here we have God’s description of Himself, by His listing seven characteristics:

1) Compassionate
2) Gracious
3) Slow to anger
4) Lovingkindness
5) Truth
6) Forgiveness
7) Justice

God revealed His glory in His character. It’s not all that mystical. And if the Church is to manifest God’s glory this is what it will manifest - these seven characteristics. Manifesting God’s glory is not about lightning coming off the tips of our fingers. It is about reflecting the character of God. When Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” what is it that he is referring to? He is declaring that we have failed to rise to the standard of these seven characteristics that reveal God’s nature.

For us as believers, that “glory” has already been given to us by Christ through the Holy Spirit (John 17:22), but we, both corporately and individually, often fail to manifest that glory. As Paul tells us, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (II Cor. 4:7). But like the “vessels” carried by Gideon’s 300, they had to be broken for the light contained inside to shine forth. This is where suffering comes in. Suffering is a means by which God “breaks the vessel,” so that His glory might be revealed, if we respond to it in a proper way. Paul Billheimer, in his book Don’t Waste Your Sorrows: A Study in Sainthood and Suffering, makes this statement, “No one ever becomes a saint without suffering because suffering, properly accepted, is the pathway to glory.”

Peter, I believe speaks to this very thing in his first epistle, when he states, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (I Peter 4:12-14). Peter, later in this same epistle, speaks of himself as a “witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed” (I Peter 5:1).

In Romans 8:18 Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” (NAS uses “to” rather than “in.”) Second Corinthians 4:17 states: “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” Second Timothy 2:12 says, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” Why is this important? Because according to Romans 5:3-5 suffering results in godly character and character is a prerequisite for rulership. Since there is no character development without suffering, suffering is a necessary preparation for rulership.

May God enable us to embrace suffering that the character of Christ (God’s glory) might be revealed in us.