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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.”
Today we are finishing our study of the doctrine of the Trinity as it has been explored through the study of Scripture in the categories of systematic theology. This will not mark the end of our consideration of Trinitarian doctrine entirely, for God is the Holy Trinity and source of theology, so we must reflect on Him under every heading of doctrine. Nevertheless, we will not be as focused on specific Trinitarian terms and concepts as we have been over the past few weeks.
Before we move on from our in-depth look at the doctrine of the Trinity, we want to consider the ultimate end for which God redeems us. To be sure, the Lord creates and saves His people to display and magnify His own glory (Isa. 43:1–7), but here we are not going to think of that truth as much as we will consider how we as redeemed people will experience and revel in the glory of God. The church has frequently turned to 2 Peter 1:3–4 to address this matter. In this text, the Apostle Peter explains that God has saved us so that through His “precious and very great promises” we “may become partakers of the divine nature.”
Partaking of the divine nature—what could that mean? It cannot entail that we become God or are absorbed into His essence. God is the transcendent Creator and we are mere creatures, so we can never become deity. He is “the Lord, and there is no other” (Isa. 45:5).
Yet Peter says that we partake of the divine nature in salvation, so there must be some sense in which we receive the very life of God Himself. Our adoption as God’s children helps us here. Through faith in Christ, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8:15). By the Spirit through the Son unto the Father, we are received as children of God (John 6:63–65; 14:6). Marvelously, in this adoption God loves us with the very same love by which the Father loves His only begotten Son (17:20–26). We do not partake of the divine nature so as to become the transcendent Creator; we partake of it so as to enjoy the same loving fellowship with God that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have enjoyed between Themselves from all eternity. This is entirely by grace and allows us to share in the life of God in a manner appropriate to creatures. Thus, we are perfected by God while remaining human. Indeed, by enjoying the loving fellowship that the persons of the Trinity enjoy among Themselves, we become most fully human, all that God made human beings to be.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Through faith in Christ, we are declared righteous in God’s sight and adopted as sons and daughters of God. We are loved with the same love with which the persons of the Trinity love one another, and this love fuels our growth in holiness and its eventual completion in our glorification. Those who are loved with the same love by which Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love one another cannot help but be conformed to the image of the Holy Trinity.
For further study
- 1 Corinthians 1:9
- 1 John 1:1–3
The bible in a year
- Numbers 23–25
- Mark 8:1–21
- Numbers 26–29
- Mark 8:22–9:29