“According as His divine power — hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness — through the (full) knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue; (4) whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises — that by these — ye might be partakers of the divine nature — having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2Pe.1:3-4
The grace of God that makes a new creature of the true believing sinner is, indeed, a marvelous and wonderful thing! It is a divinely powerful thing! It affects everything that pertains to the life that is bent toward Godliness. The scriptures dogmatically declare from Rom.3:10 — that because we are born in sin — “there is none righteous -no not one”. This means that man from himself — by himself — is left completely unjustified before holy God.
How then can this be changed? Well, frankly, by us — it can’t! But, where the gospel of the glory of the divine power of God’s grace is concerned — things can be, by His doing — entirely different! Ro.4:5 delivers the wonderful news — “but to him that worketh not — but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly — his faith is counted for righteousness!”
This is what Peter is telling us when he says that through God’s divine power and His exceeding great and precious promises we have become partakers of His divine nature! It is in this way — we have escaped out of the awful grip of the corruption that is in this world through lust!
Of course, how all of this takes place in our lives and experiences is by virtue of the gospel truth that we have been placed by God — in His eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ — from before the foundation of the world! And, being a branch in Christ, the Vine, the justifying righteousness that we own — is His righteousness — because we are in Him. Being found in Him — God can find no fault in us! There are no accusations that can be truthfully made against us. Why? Because: “there is, therefore, now — no condemnation — to them that are in Christ Jesus…” “We are His workmanship — created in Christ Jesus — unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Pr.11:23 says: “The desire of the righteous — is only good!” Why is this the case? Even because as Ps.37:4 says: “Delight thyself also in the Lord — and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” By grace, His desires become our desires.
Whatever it may be that we have — that is good and Godly — we have because it has been graciously given unto us by God. 1Co.4:7 rightly asks it: “…what hast thou — that thou didst not receive? Now if, also, thou didst receive it — why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” This is good rich food for thought — for the new year!
For Christ’s Glory Only –
John Carpenter
