What is meant by “Partakers of the divine nature” in 2 Peter 1:4?

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So, what is meant by partakers of the divine nature in 2 Peter 1 .4?

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So what is meant by this phrase? A lot of people use it. The Mormons have used it. The Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox use it a lot.

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The verse says, 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 and escape the corruption that is in the world by lust.

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Does the phrase mean that we become divine or gods or obtain some supernatural abilities?

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Does it mean that we participate in the divinity somehow? Or does it mean that we are experiencing the power of God in our lives?

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In my opinion, it means escaping the corruption of the world's lusts by the sanctifying, empowering work of God who is indwelling us.

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I say that because that is the context. Let's look at the phrase and its context also.

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In Greek, it is theos koinonoi apsu eos. So we can see right here, as you look at it, in Greek, it is partakers of the divine nature, but it is a little bit different in how

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Greek works than English, theos koinonoi apsu eos. And so, it is of divine partakers of nature.

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And so, we have the genitive, nominative, and genitive again. Genitive just means possession. So, you know, like, of his.

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Nominative means it's a subject. Well, it's not a big deal. So, these words, I did a little research, and these individual words occur three times, occur three times, koinonoi occurs 10 times, and apsu eos 15 times.

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But the phrase, theos koinonoi apsu eos, only occurs once.

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When a phrase only occurs once in the Bible, and you want to know what the phrase means, it's a little bit difficult to determine that, in part because, well, there's no parallels with the phrases used, so you can see a broader scope of meaning, a broader scope of usage.

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And so, what we have to do is look at it in its context. So, the individual words are used elsewhere, but the phrase only here.

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So, let's look at this context. We're going to read a little bit more of the context than normal. It says here in 2

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Peter 1, 2 through 7, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our

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Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.

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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.

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Now, for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self -control, and in your self -control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

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So, as I said in the opening statement, I believe the phrase is about escaping the corruption of the world's lusts by God's sanctifying and empowering work.

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So, let me summarize this up here this way. In verse 3, it speaks of God's divine power being granted to us in regards to godliness to Jesus who called us by his own glory and excellence.

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Verse 4 mentions his promises, so that by them, the promises, we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the world's corruption.

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You can see it right there. Applying diligence in your faith, apply moral excellence and knowledge, along with self -control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.

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So, the context is dealing with our godliness, verse 3, moral excellence, and love, verses 5 through 7.

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Though God's promises, in verse 4, we actively apply these moral promises.

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We're to actively apply moral excellence, godliness, and love to ourselves. This is how we become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world, through God's promises and application of godliness.

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So, we're not becoming divine in any way at all.

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We're not becoming godlike. Now, in Catholicism, I've talked to many, many, many

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Catholics over the years, and they've used this verse to exalt Mary. And by saying that she has become partakers of the divine nature, therefore, this is important, she can hear millions of prayers simultaneously spoken and thought in different languages all over the world.

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But that would mean that Mary would have the qualities of God, and nothing in Scripture says this.

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Now, I've gotten this a lot from Roman Catholics and from Eastern Orthodoxy, too. Well, you know,

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Mary can do all these things, etc., etc. But anyway, I'm not going to get into it. So, the view that many

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Catholics have is contradicted by Catholicism regarding this verse, because a lot of times they will use this verse, partakers of the divine nature, and so that means that she has these abilities of divinity.

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So, paragraph in the Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church, excuse me, paragraph 1129, it says,

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The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the new covenant are necessary for salvation.

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Sacramental grace is the grace of the Holy Spirit given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.

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The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive Him by conforming them to the

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Son of God. The fruit of this sacramental life is that the Spirit of Adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in living union with the only

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Son, the Savior. So, the Spirit of Adoption, faithful partakers. So, you can see in there they're not holding to this view that the verse is used to exalt

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Mary. And this is one of the problems of Catholicism. The two main problems is the false gospel and the idolatry of Mary, but we won't get into that right here.

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Check this out in Eastern Orthodoxy, which I've also had Eastern Orthodox tell me the same thing, that 2

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Peter 1 .4, participation or participating in the divine nature of God partakers means that we can even become divine in nature.

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Now, the Eastern Orthodox have said this to me many, many times over the years, that it's theosis, becoming

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God -like. But they don't say become gods or divine. They don't say that. But they do teach through the energies of God, which is the graces from God that lead to good works.

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We become more God -like, and that's theosis, and are made partakers of the divine nature. Well, check this out from the

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Orthodox Study Bible. This is from their writings. Being renewed by God's power, we become partakers of the divine nature.

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This does not mean we become divine by nature. If we participated in God's essence, the distinction between God and man would be abolished.

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What this does mean is that we participate in God's energy, described by a number of terms in Scripture, such as glory, life, love, virtue, and power.

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We are to become like God in His grace and truly His adopted children, but never become

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God by nature. Now, that's good. That's good, okay? According to the church fathers, or to some church fathers, this especially occurs through the

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Eucharist, for when Christ's body and—oh, look at that. Why are there so many there? Sorry about that.

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I'll fix that later. And blood become one with ours. We become Christ -bearers and partakers of the divine nature.

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So, all right. So, they're not teaching that we become divine in any way at all. Also, let's check out some

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Protestant commentaries to see what it says. Participating in the divine nature simply means that as believers, through the power of the

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Spirit, we begin to change positively and demonstrate more and more the character of God in our lives.

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Now, that's what I hold to right there. That's what I think it really means in its context. And that is from the

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Holman New Testament commentary. And this is from a commentary on 2 Peter and Jude, an

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Introduction and Commentary, Volume 18. The divine nature and transcendent goodness manifested in Jesus both constitute and validate the call to come and participate in the divine nature.

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We are promised a share in his moral excellence during his life and his glory thereafter.

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For, taken together, the triple agency of the promises, the power, and the person of the Lord Jesus regenerate a man and make him a sharer in God's own nature so that the family likeness begins to be seen in him.

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Good. Good, good, good. All right. So, to become partakers of the divine nature does not mean that we become divine in any way.

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We do not adopt the divine nature of God, but it does mean that through the work of God we become more sanctified as a follower of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus. The character of God, the divine nature, is displayed in us through the work of Christ who indwells us.

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So, what we're saying here is that participating in the divine nature means to participate in the godliness that increases in us through the work and the presence of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. So, amen and amen to that. You can see these verses right here at the end.

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If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him.

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The Lord Jesus lives in us, and it says, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, in Ephesians 3, verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love, and it goes on.

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So, again, Christ living in us makes us more like him, and that's how we become partakers of the divine nature.