Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Peter 1:4
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.
4. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises ] Better, the verb being the same as in the previous verse, through which (the glory and the virtue just mentioned) He hath given unto us. The nature of the promises is indicated by the words that follow. They included pardon, peace, eternal life, participation in the Divine Nature. In the word “precious” we note a reproduction of the phraseology of the First Epistle (1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 1:19), but it should be noted that the apparent parallelism with 1Pe 2:7 is in the English only, and not in the Greek.
that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature ] The words seem bold, but they simply shew how deeply St Peter had entered into the meaning of more familiar phrases. If men were “partakers of Christ,” brought by His own ordinance into communion and fellowship with Him (1Co 1:9; 2Co 1:7) and with the Father (Joh 14:20-23; Joh 17:21-23; 1Jn 1:3) and with the Holy Ghost (2Co 13:14), did not this involve their partaking in that Divine Nature which was common to the Three Persons of the Godhead? Christ was one with them and with the Father, dwelling in them by the power of the Spirit.
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust ] The verb, which occurs again in chap. 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 2:20, is peculiar to this Epistle in the New Testament. The word for “corruption,” though not peculiar, is yet characteristic (chap. 2Pe 2:12; 2Pe 2:19). The “corruption” has its seat outwardly, as contrasted with the kingdom of God, in the world that lies in wickedness (1Jn 5:19); inwardly in the element of desire (“lust” in its widest sense), which makes men live to themselves and not to God. The moment of escape must be thought of as that of conversion, of which baptism was the outward sign.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Whereby – Di’ hon. Through which – in the plural number, referring either to the glory and virtue in the previous verse, and meaning that it was by that glorious divine efficiency that these promises were given; or, to all the things mentioned in the previous verse, meaning that it was through those arrangements, and in order to their completion, that these great and glorious promises were made. The promises given are in connection with the plan of securing life and godliness, and are a part of the gracious arrangements for that object.
Exceeding great and precious promises – A promise is an assurance on the part of another of some good for which we are dependent on him. It implies:
(1)That the thing is in his power;
(2)That he may bestow it or not, as he pleases;
(3)That we cannot infer from any process of reasoning that it is his purpose to bestow it on us;
(4)That it is a favor which we can obtain only from him, and not by any independent effort of our own.
The promises here referred to are those which pertain to salvation. Peter had in his eye probably all that then had been revealed which contemplated the salvation of the people of God. They are called exceeding great and precious, because of their value in supporting and comforting the soul, and of the honor and felicity which they unfold to us. The promises referred to are doubtless those which are made in connection with the plan of salvation revealed in the gospel, for there are no other promises made to man. They refer to the pardon of sin; strength, comfort, and support in trial; a glorious resurrection; and a happy immortality. If we look at the greatness and glory of the objects, we shall see that the promises are in fact exceedingly precious; or if we look at their influence in supporting and elevating the soul, we shall have as distinct a view of their value. The promise goes beyond our reasoning powers; enters a field which we could not otherwise penetrate – the distant future; and relates to what we could not otherwise obtain.
All that we need in trial, is the simple promise of God that he will sustain us; all that we need in the hour of death, is the assurance of our God that we I shall be happy forever. What would this world be without a promise? How impossible to penetrate the future! How dark that which is to come would be! How bereft we should be of consolation! The past has gone, and its departed joys and hopes can never be recalled to cheer us again; the present may be an hour of pain, and sadness, and disappointment, and gloom, with perhaps not a ray of comfort; the future only opens fields of happiness to our vision, and everything there depends on the will of God, and all that we can know of it is from his promises. Cut off from these we have no way either of obtaining the blessings which we desire, or of ascertaining that they can be ours. For the promises of God, therefore, we should be in the highest degree grateful, and in the trials of life we should cling to them with unwavering confidence as the only things which can be an anchor to the soul.
That by these – Greek, through these. That is, these constitute the basis of your hopes of becoming partakers of the divine nature. Compare the notes at 2Co 7:1.
Partakers of the divine nature – This is a very important and a difficult phrase. An expression somewhat similar occurs in Heb 12:10; That we might be partakers of his holiness. See the notes at that verse. In regard to the language here used, it may be observed:
(1) That it is directly contrary to all the notions of Pantheism – or the belief that all things are now God, or a part of God – for it is said that the object of the promise is, that we may become partakers of the divine nature, not that we are now.
(2) It cannot be taken in so literal a sense as to mean that we can ever partake of the divine essence, or that we shall be absorbed into the divine nature so as to lose our individuality. This idea is held by the Budhists; and the perfection of being is supposed by them to consist in such absorption, or in losing their own individuality, and their ideas of happiness are graduated by the approximation which may be made to that state. But this cannot be the meaning here, because:
(a) It is in the nature of the case impossible. There must be forever an essential difference between a created and an uncreated mind.
(b) This would argue that the Divine Mind is not perfect. If this absorption was necessary to the completeness of the character and happiness of the Divine Being, then he was imperfect before; if before perfect, he would not be after the absorption of an infinite number of finite and imperfect minds.
(c) In all the representations of heaven in the Bible, the idea of individuality is one that is prominent. Individuals are represented everywhere as worshippers there, and there is no intimation that the separate existence of the redeemed is to be absorbed and lost in the essence of the Deity. Whatever is to be the condition of man hereafter, he is to have a separate and individual existence, and the number of intelligent beings is never to be diminished either by annihilation, or by their being united to any other spirit so that they shall become one.
The reference then, in this place, must be to the moral nature of God; and the meaning is, that they who are renewed become participants of the same moral nature; that is, of the same views, feelings, thoughts, purposes, principles of action. Their nature as they are born, is sinful, and prone to evil Eph 2:3, their nature as they are born again, becomes like that of God. They are made like God; and this resemblance will increase more and more forever, until in a much higher sense than can be true in this world, they may be said to have become partakers of the divine nature. Let us remark, then,
(a) That man only, of all the dwellers on the earth, is capable of rising to this condition. The nature of all the other orders of creatures here below is incapable of any such transformation that it can be said that they become partakers of the divine nature.
(b) It is impossible now to estimate the degree of approximation to which man may yet rise toward God, or the exalted sense in which the term may yet be applicable to him; but the prospect before the believer in this respect is most glorious. Two or three circumstances may be referred to here as mere hints of what we may yet be:
(1) Let anyone reflect on the amazing advances made by himself since the period of infancy. But a few, very few years ago, he knew nothing. He was in his cradle, a poor, helpless infant. He knew not the use of eyes, or ears, or hands, or feet. He knew not the name or use of anything, not even the name of father or mother. He could neither walk, nor talk, nor creep. He did not know even that a candle would burn him if he put his finger there. He knew not how to grasp or hold a rattle, or what was its sound, or whence that sound or any other sound came. Let him think what he is at twenty, or forty, in comparison with this; and then, if his improvement in every similar number of years hereafter should be equal to this, who can tell the height to which he will rise?
(2) We are here limited in our own powers of learning about God or his works. We become acquainted with him through his works – by means of the senses. But by the appointment of this method of becoming acquainted with the external world, the design seems to have been to accomplish a double work quite contradictory – one to help us, and the other to hinder us. One is to give us the means of communicating with the external world – by the sight, the hearing, the smell, the touch, the taste; the other is to shut us out from the external world, except by these. The body is a casement, an enclosure, a prison in which the soul is incarcerated, from which we can look out on the universe only through these organs. But suppose, as may be the case in a future state, there shall be no such enclosure, and that the whole soul may look directly on the works of God – on spiritual existences, on God himself – who can then calculate the height to which man may attain in becoming a partaker of the divine nature?
(3) We shall have an eternity before us to grow in knowledge, and in holiness, and in conformity to God. Here, we attempt to climb the hill of knowledge, and having gone a few steps – while the top is still lost in the clouds – we lie down and die. We look at a few things; become acquainted with a few elementary principles; make a little progress in virtue, and then all our studies and efforts are suspended, and we fly away. In the future world we shall have an eternity before us to make progress in knowledge, and virtue, and holiness, uninterrupted; and who can tell in what exalted sense it may yet be true that we shall be partakers of the divine nature, or what attainments we may yet make?
Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust – The world is full of corruption. It is the design of the Christian plan of redemption to deliver us from that, and to make us holy; and the means by which we are to be made like God, is by rescuing us from its dominion.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Whereby are given unto us] By his own glorious power he hath freely given unto us exceeding great and invaluable promises. The Jews were distinguished in a very particular manner by the promises which they received from God; the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. God promised to be their God; to protect, support, and save them; to give them what was emphatically called the promised land; and to cause the Messiah to spring from their race. St. Peter intimates to these Gentiles that God had also given unto them exceeding great promises; indeed all that he had given to the Jews, the mere settlement in the promised land excepted; and this also he had given in all its spiritual meaning and force. And besides , these superlatively great promises, which distinguished the Mosaic dispensation, he had given them ; the valuable promises, those which came through the great price; enrolment with the Church of God, redemption in and through the blood of the cross, the continual indwelling influence of the Holy Ghost, the resurrection of the body, and eternal rest at the right hand of God. It was of considerable consequence to the comfort of the Gentiles that these promises were made to them, and that salvation was not exclusively of the Jews.
That by these ye might be partakers] The object of all God’s promises and dispensations was to bring fallen man back to the image of God, which he had lost. This, indeed, is the sum and substance of the religion of Christ. We have partaken of an earthly, sensual, and devilish nature; the design of God by Christ is to remove this, and to make us partakers of the Divine nature; and save us from all the corruption in principle and fact which is in the world; the source of which is lust, , irregular, unreasonable, in ordinate, and impure desire; desire to have, to do, and to be, what God has prohibited, and what would be ruinous and destructive to us were the desire to be granted.
Lust, or irregular, impure desire, is the source whence all the corruption which is in the world springs. Lust conceives and brings forth sin; sin is finished or brought into act, and then brings forth death. This destructive principle is to be rooted out; and love to God and man is to be implanted in its place. This is every Christian’s privilege; God has promised to purify our hearts by faith; and that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so shall grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life; that here we are to be delivered out of the hands of all our enemies, and have even “the thoughts of our hearts so cleansed by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, that we shall perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his holy name.”
This blessing may be expected by those who are continually escaping, , flying from, the corruption that is in the world and in themselves. God purifies no heart in which sin is indulged. Get pardon through the blood of the Lamb; feel your need of being purified in heart; seek that with all your soul; plead the exceeding great and invaluable promises that refer to this point; abhor your inward self; abstain from every appearance of evil; flee from self and sin to God; and the very God of peace will sanctify you through body, soul, and spirit, make you burning and shining lights here below, (a proof that he can save to the uttermost ail that come to him by Christ,) and afterwards, having guided you by his counsel through life, will receive you into his eternal glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whereby: this word may be rendered, in that, for that, inasmuch as, and then this is an explication of the things that pertain to life and godliness, to glory and virtue, all those things being contained in the promises; or whereby may be understood of the glory and virtue last mentioned, taking them in the latter sense explained, 2Pe 1:3; q.d. By which glorious goodness and mercy to us.
Are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: by promises we may understand either the matter of the promises, the things promised, Heb 10:36, such as redemption by Christ, reconciliation, adoption, &c., and then they are called
exceeding great and precious, in comparison of all temporal and worldly things; or else the promises themselves, which are called great because of the excellency of the things contained in them, and precious in relation to us; great things being not only contained in the promises, but by them secured to us.
That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature: we are said to be partakers of the Divine nature, not by any communication of the Divine essence to us, but by Gods impressing upon us, and infusing into us, those divine qualities and dispositions (knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness) which do express and resemble the perfections of God, and are called his image, Eph 4:24; Col 3:10. And we are said to be made partakers of this Divine nature by the promises of the gospel, because they are the effectual means of our regeneration, (in which that Divine nature is communicated to us), by reason of that quickening Spirit which accompanieth them, 2Co 3:6, works by them, and forms in us the image of that wisdom, righteousness, and holiness of God, which appear in them; or of that glory of the Lord, which when by faith we behold in the glass of gospel promises, we are changed into the same image, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2Co 3:18. Or,
the Divine nature may be understood of the glory and immortality of the other life, wherein we shall be conformed to God, and whereof by the promises we are made partakers.
Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; either by
corruption here we are to understand:
1. Destruction, to which the greatest part of the world is obnoxious through lust, and then corruption must be opposed to life and peace before, and lust to virtue and godliness: or rather:
2. All the pravity or wickedness of human nature, which is here said to be, i.e. to reign and prevail, in the world, or worldly men, through lust, or habitual concupiscence, which is the spring and root from which it proceeds; and then the sense is the same as Gal 5:24. This corruption through lust is opposed to the Divine nature before, and escaping this corruption agrees with being partakers of that Divine nature: see Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:9,10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Whereby, c.By His gloryand virtue: His glory making the “promises”to be exceeding great His virtue making them “precious”[BENGEL]. Preciouspromises are the object of precious faith.
givenThe promisesthemselves are a gift: for God’s promises are as sureas if they were fulfilled.
by thesepromises.They are the object of faith, and even now have a sanctifying effecton the believer, assimilating him to God. Still more so, when theyshall be fulfilled.
might, c.Greek,“that ye MAY becomepartakers of the divine nature,” even now in part hereafterperfectly; 1Jo 3:2, “Weshall be like Him.”
the divine naturenotGod’s essence, but His holiness, including His “glory”and “virtue,” 2Pe 1:3;the opposite to “corruption through lust.” Sanctificationis the imparting to us of God Himself by the Holy Spirit inthe soul. We by faith partake also of the material nature of Jesus(Eph 5:30). The “divinepower” enables us to be partakers of “the divinenature.”
escaped the corruptionwhichinvolves in, and with itself, destruction at last of soul andbody; on “escaped” as from a condemned cell, compare2Pe 2:18-20; Gen 19:17;Col 1:13.
throughGreek,“in.” “The corruption in the world” has its seat,not so much in the surrounding elements, as in the “lust”or concupiscence of men’s hearts.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whereby are given unto us,…. Or “by which”, that is, glory and virtue; by the glorious power of Christ, or by the glorious and powerful Gospel of Christ; and so the Arabic version renders it, “by both of which”; or “by whom”, as the Vulgate Latin version reads; that is, by Christ; for as in him are all the promises of God, so they are at his dispose, and by him are given unto the saints:
exceeding great and precious promises; meaning the promises of the new and everlasting covenant, of which Christ is the Mediator, surety, and messenger; and which are “exceeding great”, if we consider the author of them, who is the great God of heaven and earth, and who was under no obligation to make promises of anything to his creatures; and therefore must arise from great grace and favour, of which they are largely expressive, and are like himself; are such as become his greatness and goodness, and are confirmed by his oath, and made good by his power and faithfulness: and they are also great, as to the nature and matter of them; they are better promises than those of the covenant of works; they are not merely temporal ones, nor are they conditional and legal; but as they relate to things spiritual and eternal, to grace here and glory hereafter, so they are absolute, free, and unconditional, and are irreversible and unchangeable; and they answer great ends and purposes, the glory of God, and the everlasting good and happiness of his people; and therefore must be “precious”, of more value and worth than thousands of gold and silver, and to be rejoiced at more than at the finding of a great spoil, being every way suited to the cases of God’s people, and which never fail. The end of giving them is,
that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature; not essentially, or of the essence of God, so as to be deified, this is impossible, for the nature, perfections, and glory of God, are incommunicable to creatures; nor, hypostatically and personally, so as the human nature of Christ, in union with the Son of God, is a partaker of the divine nature in him; but by way of resemblance and likeness, the new man or principle of grace, being formed in the heart in regeneration, after the image of God, and bearing a likeness to the image of his Son, and this is styled, Christ formed in the heart, into which image and likeness the saints are more and more changed, from glory to glory, through the application of the Gospel, and the promises of it, by which they have such sights of Christ as do transform them, and assimilate them to him; and which resemblance will be perfected hereafter, when they shall be entirely like him, and see him as he is:
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; not the corruption and depravity of nature, which is never escaped by any, nor got rid of so long as the saints are in the world; but the corrupt manners of the world, or those corruptions and vices which, are prevalent in the world, and under the power and dominion of which the world lies; and particularly the sins of uncleanness, adultery, incest, sodomy, and such like filthy and unnatural lusts, which abounded in the world, and among some that called themselves Christians, and especially the followers of Simon Magus. Now the Gospel, and the precious promises, being graciously bestowed and powerfully applied, have an influence on purity of heart and conversation, and teach men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly; such are the powerful effects of Gospel promises, under divine influence, as to make men inwardly partakers of the divine nature, and outwardly to abstain from and avoid the prevailing corruptions and vices of the times.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whereby (‘ ). Probably the “glory and virtue” just mentioned, though it is possible to take it with , etc., or with (unto us, meaning “through whom”).
He hath granted (). Perfect middle indicative of , for which see verse 3.
His precious and exceeding great promises ( ). is an old word (from ) in place of the common , in N.T. only here and 3:13. (precious, from , value), three times by Peter (1Pe 1:7 of faith; 1:19 of the blood of Christ; 2Pe 1:4 of Christ’s promises). is the elative superlative used along with a positive adjective ().
That ye may become ( ). Purpose clause with and second aorist middle subjunctive of .
Through these ( ). The promises.
Partakers (). Partners, sharers in, for which word see 1Pe 5:1.
Of the divine nature ( ). This phrase, like in Ac 17:29, “belongs rather to Hellenism than to the Bible” (Bigg). It is a Stoic phrase, but not with the Stoic meaning. Peter is referring to the new birth as 1Pe 1:23 (). The same phrase occurs in an inscription possibly under the influence of Mithraism (Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary).
Having escaped (). Second aorist active participle of , old compound verb, in N.T. only here and 2:18-20, with the ablative here (, old word from , moral decay as in 2:12) and the accusative there.
By lust ( ). Caused by, consisting in, lust. “Man becomes either regenerate or degenerate” (Strachan).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Whereby [ ] . Lit., through which; viz., his glory and virtue. Note the three occurrences of dia, through, in vv. 3, 4.
Are given [] . Middle voice; not passive, as A. V. Hence Rev., correctly, he hath granted. See on ver. 3.
Exceeding great and precious promises. Rev., his exceeding great, etc., by way of rendering the definite article, ta.
Precious [] . The word occurs fourteen times in the New Testament. In eight instances it is used of material things, as stones, fruit, wood. In Peter it occurs three times : 1Pe 1:7, of tried faith; 1Pe 1:19, of the blood of Christ; and here, of God ‘s promises.
Promises [] . Only in this epistle. In classical Greek the distinction is made between ejpaggelmata, promises voluntarily or spontaneously made, and uJposceseiv, promises made in response to a petition.
Might be partakers [ ] . Rev., more correctly, may become, conveying the idea of a growth. See note on koinwnov, partaker, 1Pe 5:1; and compare Heb 12:10.
Having escaped [] . Only in this epistle. To escape by flight. Through lust [ ] . Rev. renders by lust, as the instrument of the corruption. Others, in lust, as the sphere of the corruption, or as that in which it is grounded.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Whereby are given to us.” (Greek di on) through which” five things: grace, peace, knowledge, power, and calling of God He has given or doled out to us by unmerited favor or grace.
2) “Exceeding great and precious promises.” not merely great, but (Greek megista) “exceeding great” and (tima) precious or highly honorable promises -promises He has made and is able, willing, and trustworthy to keep, 1Ki 8:56; Rom 4:21; Heb 13:5.
3) “That by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” Based on a knowledge of the trustworthy character, attributes, and promises of God, Peter wrote that the brethren addressed might be or progressively become (Greek theias koinoi phuseos) sharers of the godly nature of fleshly conduct of Jesus, living as He lived, imitating His life, Mar 8:34; 1Co 11:1; Heb 12:10.
4) “Having escaped the corruption.” Salvation delivers the soul from eternal corruption and the saved are called to live the life of virtue, holiness, above corruption, the goal is perfection, though never attained in the flesh, Mat 5:48; 1Co 9:26-27; 2Pe 2:18.
5) “That is in the world through lust “ In the (kosmo) world order or system, under the taint and power of sin and Satan, Rom 8:20-22. This world system shall pass and the lust (Greek epithumia phthoras) (deranged desires) of it. 1Jn 2:15; 1Jn 2:17. Peter, therefore like our Lord, Paul, and John, admonishes brethren to seek to live the higher life, to walk the narrow way that blesses men and honors God. Mat 7:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. Whereby are given to us. It is doubtful whether he refers only to glory and power, or to the preceding things also. The whole difficulty arises from this, — that what is here said is not suitable to the glory and virtue which God confers on us; but if we read, “by his own glory and power,” there will be no ambiguity nor perplexity. For what things have been promised to us by God, ought to be properly and justly deemed to be the effects of his power and glory. (148)
At the same time the copies vary here also; for some have δι ᾿ ὃν, “on account of whom;” so the reference may be to Christ. Whichsoever of the two readings you choose, still the meaning will be, that first the promises of God ought to be most highly valued; and, secondly, that they are gratuitous, because they are offered to us as gifts. And he then shews the excellency of the promises, that they make us partakers of the divine nature, than which nothing can be conceived better.
For we must consider from whence it is that God raises us up to such a height of honor. We know how abject is the condition of our nature; that God, then, should make himself ours, so that all his things should in a manner become our things, the greatness of his grace cannot be sufficiently conceived by our minds. Therefore this consideration alone ought to be abundantly sufficient to make us to renounce the world and to carry us aloft to heaven. Let us then mark, that the end of the gospel is, to render us eventually conformable to God, and, if we may so speak, to deify us.
But the word nature is not here essence but quality. The Manicheans formerly dreamt that we are a part of God, and that, after having run the race of life we shall at length revert to our original. There are also at this day fanatics who imagine that we thus pass over into the nature of God, so that his swallows up our nature. Thus they explain what Paul says, that God will be all in all (1Co 15:28,) and in the same sense they take this passage. But such a delirium as this never entered the minds of the holy Apostles; they only intended to say that when divested of all the vices of the flesh, we shall be partakers of divine and blessed immortality and glory, so as to be as it were one with God as far as our capacities will allow.
This doctrine was not altogether unknown to Plato, who everywhere defines the chief good of man to be an entire conformity to God; but as he was involved in the mists of errors, he afterwards glided off to his own inventions. But we, disregarding empty speculations, ought to be satisfied with this one thing, — that the image of God in holiness and righteousness is restored to us for this end, that we may at length be partakers of eternal life and glory as far as it will be necessary for our complete felicity.
Having escaped We have already explained that the design of the Apostle was, to set before us the dignity of the glory of heaven, to which God invites us, and thus to draw us away from the vanity of this world. Moreover, he sets the corruption of the world in opposition to the divine nature; but he shews that this corruption is not in the elements which surround us, but in our heart, because there vicious and depraved affections prevail, the fountain and root of which he points out by the word lust. Corruption, then, is thus placed in the world, that we may know that the world is in us.
(148) The received text no doubt contains the true rending. The word ἀρετὴ never means “power” either in the classics, or in the Sept. , or in the New Testament. Beza and also Schleusner, regard διὰ as expressing the final cause, to; it is also used in the sense of “for the sake of,” or, “on account of.” “Glory and virtue” are in a similar order as the previous words, “life and godliness,” and also in the same order with the concluding words of the next verse, “partakers of the divine nature,” and “escaping the corruptions of the world.” So that there is a correspondence as to the order of the words throughout the whole passage.
With respect to δι ᾿ ὦν, the rendering may be, “for the sake of which,” that is, for the purpose of leading us to “glory and virtue,”“ many and precious promises have been given; and then the conclusion of the verse states the object in other words, that we might by these promises become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the pollutions of the world. Escaping the corruption of the world is “godliness,” is “virtue;” and partaking of the divine nature is “life,” is “glory.” This complete correspondence confirms the meaning which Beza and our version give to the preposition διὰ at the end of the third verse. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
2Pe. 1:4 whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Expanded Translation
Through which (glories and virtues) he has freely given us the precious (properly, held as of great price) and very great promises, in order that through them you might become sharers (partakers, fellowshippers) in the divine nature, having fled and escaped from the (moral, spiritual) corruption and destruction that is in the world through lust (strong passions of the flesh).
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whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises
Promises it is well for us to stop and enumerate frequently. The word doreomai (hath granted) which also occurred in 2Pe. 1:3, means to give freely, present, bestow; conveying the idea of generosity. In its only other New Testament appearance it is used, strangely enough, of the Roman procurator Pilate, when he granted the corpse of Jesus to Joseph of Arimathaea (Mar. 15:45).
God always fulfills his promises, for he cannot lie (see Tit. 1:2). Solomon could say in his prayer as he dedicated the temple, Blessed be Jehovah, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised; there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant (1Ki. 8:56).
that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature
Peter had previously stated that he was a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed (1Pe. 5:1). The word koinonos means basically to be a partner or fellow (so koinonia, fellowship); then, to be a sharer, partaker, participant. We, as Gods children, should partake in the nature of our Father, becoming like him in holiness (1Pe. 1:14-19).
having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust
The word apopheugo is an emphatic form of the common word pheugo (to flee, seek safety by flight). It is used only by Peter in the New Testament (here, 2Pe. 2:18; 2Pe. 2:20), always with reference to those who have fled from the world, its people, or its defilements. Many, alas, are still behind Satans Iron Curtain and have never escaped to the freedom that is in Christ.
CORRUPTIONphthora, signifies a bringing or being brought into a worse condition, a destruction or corruption. Mankind has deteriorated in its morals and spiritual character. But how? Through its lustsits strong cravings for evil, its submission to the desires of the fleshly mind. We either become degenerate or regenerate!
Gods Children are those who have fled from and escaped the corruption of this world. They are no longer dominated by the flesh. Some, however, have claimed to be partakers of the divine nature, but have never escaped the lusts of their human nature. The strong desires for admiration, prestige, excessive food, strong drink, fornication, and material possessions are still within their hearts and minds. They have not yet escaped; they are still in bondage!
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(4) Whereby.By Gods glory and virtue; not by all things that pertain unto life and godliness, although the latter is possible, and is preferred by some.
Are given unto us.Better, He hath given unto us, viz., He who called us, God. Wiclif, He gaf; Rheims, He hath given.
Promises.The Greek word occurs here and in 2Pe. 3:13 only. Its termination indicates the things promised rather than the act of promising. They are exceeding great, or rather the greatest, because they contain an earnest of the completion and perfection of the Christian life; they are very precious, because this earnest is in itself something real, and not mere empty words. Not the promises of the Old Testament are meant, that Christ should come; but those of the New Testament, that Christ should come again. The certainty of Christs return to reward the righteous and punish the wicked is one of the main subjects of the Epistle.
That by these.These is variously referred (1) to all things that pertain unto life and godliness, (2) to glory and virtue, (3) to promises. The last is most likely, the second least likely to be right. The hope expressed in this verse, and again 3:13, is distinctly parallel to that in 1Pe. 1:4.
Ye might be partakers.Better, become partakers. Rheims, be made. This idea of close relationship to God and escape from corruption is found in 1Pe. 1:23. The change from the first person plural to the second is easy enough both in Greek and English: by it what is true of all Christians is applied specially to those whom the writer is addressing. We have a similar change in 1Pe. 1:3-4; 1Pe. 2:21; 1Pe. 2:24.
Through lust.Rather (as in 2Pe. 1:1-2; 2Pe. 1:13; 2Pe. 2:3) in lust. It is in lust that the corruption has its root. (Comp. 1Pe. 1:22.) The word escaped indicates that bondage of corruption (Rom. 8:21) from which even the Christian is not wholly free, so long as he is in the body; and in which others are hopelessly held. A comparison of this last clause with 2Pe. 3:13 will confirm us in the view that by these refers to the promises. We see there what the things promised are. Instead of merely having escaped evil, we, according to His promise, look for better things; for, from the corruption that is in the world in lust we turn to new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. There should be no full-stop at the end of this verse; the sentence continues unbroken from the beginning of 2Pe. 1:3 to the end of 2Pe. 1:7.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Whereby By which, namely, his own glory and virtue.
Are given Better, He hath given. He who called us has also, by the same instruments, supplied the means of attaining the object of the call.
Exceeding great Rather, the greatest; greater cannot easily be conceived.
Precious Of inestimable value in themselves, and costly in their price. The promises are not Old Testament promises of gospel blessings, but general promises contained in the gospel itself, such as of pardon of sin to the penitent, the ever-availing atonement and powerful intercession of Christ, and the renewing and sanctifying Spirit.
That by these By means of these promises, heartily believed in and fulfilled.
Ye might be Rather, Ye may become; for it is to be completed as well as begun. The apostle now changes from the us hitherto used, meaning Christians in general, to ye, bringing the grand aim of these glorious promises directly home to his readers.
Partakers of the divine nature Pantheism holds that we, and indeed all things, are a part of God. Buddhism teaches the highest perfection to be absorption into God, ultimating in nonentity. Christianity, by the divine presence in us, makes us like God in holiness, love, and all the characteristics of his moral nature. This is Christian perfection. Beginning in the new birth, its advancement and completion are by the promises, which belong to the all things; so that most truly does divine power work out for faithful believers the divine nature. Fundamental to all, however, is the fleeing away from, the renunciation of, the moral corruption that so widely befouls the world, and that has its source in base, wicked lust. God’s call is to purity: that of the false teachers is to corruption. 2Pe 2:18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘By which he has granted to us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.’
Because we have been called in His glory and in virtue of His powerful excellence, and because we have come to know Him in that glory and excellence, (compare 1Pe 2:9), He has granted us certain hugely effective and precious promises, as a result of which we have become partakers of the divine nature. These great and precious promises were outlined in his first letter. It is through His resurrection that we have been begotten again of incorruptible seed (1Pe 1:23) to a living hope (1Pe 1:4). It is through His cross and subsequent victory that we have certainty for the future and can live unto righteousness (1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18-22; 1Pe 4:1-2). We do not have to distinguish here whether the ‘He’ is God or Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ has already been revealed as ‘our God and Saviour’. The ‘He’ has in mind the whole of the Godhead inclusive of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
There may be in mind in the ‘divine begetting’ mentioned here the claims of some Hellenistic religions which promised some kind of ‘divine begetting’, but if so it has been taken over and given new content and a new perspective. The point is not that we become divine, but that the seed of the divine word has been implanted within us, so that we have been made one with the divine Christ (compare Joh 15:1-6). The result will be that as a result of the work of the Spirit within we will grow up to become trees of righteousness and the planting of the Lord (1Pe 1:2). It is a totally Biblical idea. See for example Isaiah 61:13; and compare Isa 55:10-13; Isa 44:1-5; Eze 36:26-27.
It should be noted that the Christian’s partaking of the divine nature is not seen as resulting from emotional ritual acts (that was a later perversion), it is seen as being through ‘knowing Christ’ and as a result of the activity of God through His word. It results from God reaching down to man in Christ, not man reaching up to God.
The ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ relate to all the precious promises which link us with the precious ‘living foundation stone’ (1Pe 2:4). It is through His dying for us, and His power released through His resurrection, that we can be delivered from the corruption of the world (1Pe 2:24-25; 1Pe 3:18-22). It is through ‘knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable to His death, if by any means we might attain to the resurrection from the dead’ (Php 3:10-11). In other words it is when we can each say, ‘I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and yet it is not I who live, but Christ Who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Gal 2:20).
And the result of participating in His divine nature through dying with Him and rising with Him in newness of life, is that we are delivered from the corruption that is in the world as a result of men’s evil desires. We are lifted out of the filth and the morass of evil and worldly living (1Jn 2:15-17), and made into citizens of Heaven (Php 3:20). This in stark contrast to the false teachers in chapter 2.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Pe 1:4. Whereby By means of which; namely, of the illustrious seal of the Spirit set to the declaration of the gospel. By partaking of the divine nature, we are to understand a participation of the divine holiness; or a being holy, as the Lord our God is holy; enjoying such communion with God in his holiness, as, on account of its resemblance of him, derivation from him, tendency towards him, and complacency in him, may be called a divine nature. Thus it will connect with what follows: “That you might be holy as God is holy, having escaped the corruption that is in the world, through lust; that is having renounced, and fled away, with vigour and abhorrence, from all the corrupt principles and practices, which spread and prevail amongthe men of this world, through the power of their depraved inclinations and inordinate affections to carnal things.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Pe 1:4 must not, as a simple intervening clause, be enclosed in parentheses; for although 2Pe 1:5 is the principal clause standing related to the participial clause in 2Pe 1:3 , still the latter is determined, in the thought of it, by 2Pe 1:4 .
] does not refer to the immediately preceding . (Dietlein, Wiesinger, Brckner, this comment.), for it cannot be said that Christ has given us the through the . of His Father, but to . . . (Hofmann). Beza inaccurately interprets by ex eo quod.
] , besides here, occurs only in chap. 2Pe 3:13 , where it is used in connection with the new heaven and new earth in the future. By it is to be understood, not the promises of the prophets of the O. C. fulfilled in Christ for us, nor those things promised us, of which we are made partakers in Christ (Hornejus: bona et beneficia omnia, quae Deus per Christum offert et exhibet omnibus, qui in ipsum credunt; Wiesinger, Schott); but, according to 2Pe 1:12 ff., chap. 2Pe 3:4 , 2Pe 3:12 , the prophecies of the of Christ and the future consummation of His kingdom, as contained in the gospel (Brckner). Dietlein is wrong in saying that [25] are not only promises of what is future, but announcements of what is present and eternal. He goes still farther astray when he substitutes for this idea the different one: “the granting of favours which proclaim themselves.” The word (except in 1Ti 2:10 ; 1Ti 6:21 ) has constantly in the N. T. the meaning: “ to promise ,” never simply: “to proclaim.” These promises are called “ precious ,” not because they are “no mere empty words” (Schott), but because they promise that which is of the greatest value (Hofmann). The dative from its position should be connected more probably with than with .
] is here also not passive (Dietlein), but middle (all modern interpreters). Gualther erroneously explains it: donatae i. e. impletae sunt. What is here referred to is the communication, not the fulfilment of the promises, which are a free gift of divine grace.
The subject to . is not (as formerly in this commentary), but the same as that to the foregoing .
] Calvin, de Wette-Brckner, Hofmann, understand to refer to . . . as the leading thought; this construction Wiesinger justly calls “a distortion of the structure, justifiable only if all other references were impossible.” Incorrect also is the application to (Bengel). From its position it can apply only to (Dietlein, Wiesinger, Schott), and not in like manner to (Fronmller). has here its proper signification, not equal to “because of them” (Jachmann), nor to “incited by them;” as elsewhere the gospel is spoken of as the objective means through which the divine life is communicated, so here the , which, according to the conception of Second Peter, form the essential element of the gospel.
] not: that ye may become partakers, but: that ye might be , etc. (Wiesinger). The aorist shows that the author does not look upon the , which for the Christian is aimed at in the bestowal of the promises, as something entirely future (Vorstius: quorum vi tandem divinae naturae in ilia beata immortalitate vos quoque participes efficiemini), but as something of which he should even now be partaker. [26] The thought that man is intended to be partaker of the divine nature, or to be transfigured into the divine being, which is accomplished in him through faith in the promises, is, though in other terms, often enough expressed in the N. T. (Heb 12:10 ; 1Pe 1:23 ; Joh 1:12-13 , and many other passages). Hemming justly remarks: vocat hic divinam naturam id quod divina praesentia efficit in nobis i. e. conformitatem nostri cum Deo, seu imaginem Dei, quae in nobis reformatur per divinam praesentiam in nobis. When Hofmann urges the expression against this view, because a distinction must be drawn between the of man and the personal life of man, the former remaining even in him who is regenerate always the same, until this is changed from a to a , he fails to observe that it is not the human , but the divine that is here spoken of, and in God there can be no difference made between natural and personal life. The expression is here quite inappropriately pressed by Hofmann. As opposed to the mystic “deification,” it must be remarked, with the older interpreters, that the expression conveys the thought, not so much of the substantia, as rather of the qualitas. Grotius’ interpretation dilutes the idea: ut fieretis imitatores divinae bonitatis. The second person ( ) serves to appropriate to the readers in particular that which belongs to all Christians ( ). [27]
[ ] ] These words do not express the condition on which the Christian becomes partaker of the divine nature, but the negative element which is most intimately connected with the positive aim. Accordingly, the translation is incorrect: “if you escape” (Luther, Brckner); is to be translated: “escaping, eluding;” the aor. part. is put because the verb is closely conjoined with the preceding aorist . It is to be resolved into: in order that ye might be partakers of the divine nature, in that ye escape the . [28] With , cf. chap. 2Pe 2:12 , and especially Rom 8:21 ; Gal 6:8 (see Meyer on the last passage). By it is to be understood not simply perishableness, but more generally corruption. The term is here more nearly defined as , i.e. the corruption which dwells in the (unredeemed) world, and to which all thereto belonging is a prey. The further more precise definition: , states that this has its origin in the evil lust, opposed to what is divine, which has its sway in the world (1Jn 2:16-17 ).
, here c. gen.; chap. 2Pe 2:18 ; 2Pe 2:20 , cum accus. constr.
The sequence of thought in 2Pe 1:3-4 is: Christ hath granted us everything that is serviceable to salvation and holiness, and that by the knowledge of God who hath called us by His glory; through it he has given us the most glorious promises, the design of which is the communication of the divine life.
[25] Schott’s assertion, that , according to the form of the word, must mean: “promised things ,” is opposed by chap. 2Pe 3:13 ; but why the promises as such should not, as Wiesinger supposes, be the means of effecting the , it is difficult to understand.
[26] Hornejus: incipit ea in hac vita per gratiam, sed perficietur in altera per gloriam; si enim jam hic in ista imbecillitate divinae naturae consortes sumus per fidem, quanto magis illic erimus per adspectum et si hic per gratiam id adipiscimur, quanto magis illic per gloriam, ubi Deus ipse erit omnia in omnibus.
[27] Hofmann arbitrarily objects to this interpretation, that a change of persons could not take place in a clause expressive of a design; rather does it simply depend on the will of the writer, where he wishes it to take place. When the writer of a letter wishes to state the purpose of anything which has been imparted to all, should he not in particular apply it to those to whom he addresses his letter? Augusti strangely presses the change of persons, by applying to the Jews, to the heathen-converts, and understanding of the divine descent of the Jews.
[28] Bengel: haec fuga non tam ut officium nostrum, quam ut beneficium divinum, communionem cum Deo comitans, h. l. ponitur. Dietlein: “ . contains no demand and condition, but only the other side of the fact: Ye have entered the kingdom of the divine nature, therefore ye have left the kingdom of the worldly nature.” By transferring to the future, Schott gives an erroneous (linguistically) interpretation of as future also: “Ye shall become partakers of the divine nature, as such who have ( shall have ) precisely thus escaped .”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2418
THE PRECIOUSNESS OF THE PROMISES
2Pe 1:4. 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.
COMMENTATORS are not agreed with respect to the connexion of these words. Some connect whereby with glory and virtue, in the preceding verse; and understand it thus: By which glorious energy of the Gospel are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. Others, understanding the third verse parenthetically, connect my text with God and Christ, in the second verse, and translate the passage thus: By whom are given unto us, and so on. But, for the use which I am about to make of the passage, it is of no importance to determine precisely what the connexion is. It is to the greatness and preciousness of the promises that I propose to direct your attention: and, therefore, waving any further notice of the context, I will open to you the promises of God, and shew you,
I.
Their intrinsic worth
But how shall I attempt this ? Shall I bring them all in order before your eyes ? Many hours would not be sufficient for this arduous undertaking: let it suffice, then, to say,
They extend to all the necessities of sinful man
[Even the things of this life are frequently and fully comprehended in them: for St. Paul says, Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come [Note: 1Ti 4:8.]. And our blessed Lord has assured us, that, if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all needful things shall be added unto us [Note: Mat 6:33.]. But the things which pertain unto life and godliness [Note: ver. 3.] are those which are more immediately referred to in my text: and there is no want which an immortal soul can feel, in reference either to time or to eternity, which is not richly provided for in the promises of our God. Pardon, and peace, and holiness, and glory, are all secured to us, in terms the most explicit that language can afford. Nor, if men had been permitted to dictate unto God what things should be made over to them, or how freely they should be bestowed, could they ever have ventured to express what God has expressed, or to ask them on such easy terms: for all the promises are to be apprehended simply by faith, and to be possessed by all who will truly and unfeignedly rest upon them [Note: Such a passage as Jer 31:33-34, may be adduced as a brief specimen.].]
But fully to declare their worth is impossible
[Who shall appreciate a deliverance from the torments which are endured by those who are now cast into the lake of fire and brimstone ? or, who shall form a correct estimate of the glory and felicity of heaven ? None but those who have experienced the one or the other can form any just conception of either: nor could any one fully and adequately comprehend what salvation imports, unless he have both endured the evil from which a condemned soul is rescued, and partaken of the blessedness to which a glorified soul is exalted before the throne of God. Eternity will be too short to count the inestimable worth of the exceeding great and precious promises which are contained in the Gospel of Christ.]
Let us pass on to consider,
II.
Their sanctifying efficacy
We must not imagine that any sinner can so partake of the Divine nature as really to be united to the Divine essence. That is impossible. But to partake of all the communicable perfections of the Deity, is the privilege of all who believe in Christ
We are exalted to bear a strict resemblance to the Deity
[In mind, in will, in our whole character, we may resemble God: for, in conversion, we are renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created us [Note: Col 3:10.]; so that we view every thing no longer according to the apprehensions of our corrupt nature, but as taught of God, and enlightened by his Holy Spirit. With a renovated understanding we receive also a new heart; so that, instead of finding our will opposed to the will of God, we delight in the law of God after our inward man [Note: Rom 7:22.], and desire to do his will even as it is done in heaven. I say not too much, if I add, that the very character of God is imparted to his saints, even as the impression of a seal to the melted wax; so that, through the operation of his grace upon them, they become holy, even as he is holy, and perfect, even as their Father which is in heaven is perfect. As for the corruptions that are in the world through lust and inordinate desire, the true believer escapes from them: he renounces the world and all its vanities: he becomes crucified to it by the cross of Christ [Note: Gal 6:14.]: he rises above it, keeps himself unspotted from it [Note: Jam 1:27. Rev 3:4.], and has his conversation altogether in heaven [Note: Php 3:20.].]
And by what is all this effected, but by the promises of God ?
[By these we become partakers of the Divine nature, and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. St. Paul is particularly careful in marking this important truth. He traces not any of these benefits to mere human efforts, but simply to faith in the Lord Jesus, which alone can overcome the world [Note: 1Jn 5:4.], and purify the heart [Note: Act 15:9.]. Hear his words; and mark especially the order which he prescribes for the attainment of these blessings: Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2Co 7:1.]. Here, at the same time that he specifies the extent to which the promises will effect this change, he shews us, that we are not to attain the change first, and then lay hold on the promises; but first to lay hold on the promises, and by them to attain the change. Now, this is a point of extreme importance; and it was marked with singular precision in the Jewish law. In the ordinance for the cleansing of the leper, it was appointed that the blood of his sacrifice should be put upon the tip of his right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot [Note: Lev 14:14; Lev 14:28.]; which was to shew, that, in all his faculties, whereby he either received or executed the will of God, even from head to foot, he needed an application of the blood of atonement, to cleanse him from his guilt: and then oil was not only to be applied by the priest to the same places, but to be put upon the very place of the blood of the trespass-offering And what was this intended to shew ? I hesitate not to say, it was intended to declare the very same thing which is intimated in my text; namely, that our justification by the blood of atonement must be first sought, and then our sanctification by the Holy Spirit; that the blood of atonement must be the foundation of our sanctification; and that, though the two are never to be separated, they must be sought in their due order, and be put each in its appointed and appropriate place. In a word, we must first go to God as sinners, to obtain mercy through the blood of Christ; and then shall we be made saints, by the operation of the Spirit of Christ upon our souls.]
Infer
1.
How desirable is an interest in Christ Jesus!
[It is in Christ that all the promises are treasured up for us [Note: 2Ti 1:1.]; and in Him alone are they ratified and confirmed to us [Note: 2Co 1:20.]. Unless as found in him, and united unto him by faith, we have no part in any one of them: but all are ours, when we are Christs [Note: 1Co 3:21-23.]. How earnest, then, should we be, in fleeing to him, that we may receive out of his fulness all the blessings both of grace and glory ! I pray you, brethren, neglect him not; but seek him with your whole hearts, and cleave unto him with your whole souls.]
2.
How truly blessed are they who are united to him by faith !
[To them God has secured every thing, not by promise only, but by oath also! And this he has done in order that they might be assured of the immutability of his counsel, and enjoy the richer consolation in their own souls [Note: Heb 6:18.]. Take the word of God, my dear brethren: cull out of it every promise it contains, and carry it to the throne of grace, and plead it before God; and verily you shall, in your dying hour, be able to say with Solomon, Blessed be the Lord, who hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses, or by all his prophets from the foundation of the world [Note: 1Ki 8:26.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Ver. 4. Exceeding great and precious ] Every precious stone hath an egregious virtue in it; so hath every promise. The promises, saith Cardan, are a precious book, every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. The weak Christian cannot open, read, apply it; Christ can, and will for him.
That by these ye might be partakers ] As the sun when it applies its beams to a filthy disposed matter, and stays upon it, begins to beget life and motion, and makes a living creature; so do the promises applied to the heart make a new creature. See2Co 3:62Co 3:6 .
Of the divine nature ] That is, of those divine qualities, called elsewhere “the image of God, the life of God,” &c., whereby we resemble God, not only as a picture doth a man in outward lineaments, but as the child doth his father in countenance and conditions. It was no absurd speech of him that said, That the high parts that are seen in heroic persons, do plainly show that here is a God. Neither can I here but insert the saying of another, Well may grace be called the divine nature; for as God brings light out of darkness, comfort out of sorrow, riches out of poverty, and glory out of shame; so doth grace turn the dirt of disgrace into gold. As Moses’ hand, it turns a serpent into a rod. In fine, to be made partaker of the divine nature, noteth two things, saith a reverend man: 1. A fellowship with God in his holiness; the purity which is eminently and infinitely in God’s most holy nature, is formally of secundum modum creaturae, fashioned in us. 2. A fellowship with God in his blessedness, viz. in the beatific vision and brightness of glory. (Dr Reynolds.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 .] through which (His attributes and energies) He hath given to us ( again middle in sense, see above: not as E. V., passive: the subject is ) the [or, His ] greatest and precious promises ( , as in ch. 2Pe 3:13 , promises : not, things promised (Est., Beng., al.), still less, as Dietlein, proclamations of Christian doctrine, which the word cannot mean. Benson’s idea, that by are meant the Apostles, and that the second person refers to the Gentile Christians, seems quite beside the purpose), that by means of these (promises: i. e. their fulfilment: not to be referred, as Calv., Benson, De Wette, to . . . as the antecedent: nor, as Beng., to : shews pointedly that the last-mentioned noun is the antecedent) ye may become (aor., but not on that account to be rendered, as Huther, wurdet , that ye might be , adding, that the Writer assumes the participation to have already taken place: for the aor. is continually thus used of future contingencies without any such intent: e. g. , , Joh 12:36 . The account of this usage of the aor. has not been any where, that I have seen, sufficiently given. It is untranslateable in most cases, but seems to serve in the Greek to express that the aim was not the procedure, but the completion, of that indicated: not the , the carrying on of the process, but the , its accomplishment) 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: “vocat hic divinam naturam id quod divina prsentia efficit in nobis, i. e. conformitatem nostri cum Deo, seu imaginem Dei qu in nobis reformatur per divinam prsentiam in nobis.” Hemming in Huther: which is only so far wrong, that it confounds our in the divine nature, of which the above would be a right description, with that nature itself), having escaped (not a conditional participial clause, but like in 1Pe 5:10 , merely a note of matter of fact, bringing out in this case the negative side of the Christian life, as the former clause did the positive: ‘when ye have escaped’) from (the construction, of with a gen. is not very usual. Matthi gives a similar instance from Xen. An. i. 3. 2, , and another from Soph. Antig. 488, . In Philoct. 1034 we have . These last instances shew that the gen. here is due, not to the preposition , but to the idea of separation and distance implied in the sense of the verbs) the corruption (= destruction, of soul and body) which is in the world in (consisting in, as its element and ground) lust (Calvin: “hanc non in elementis qu nos circumstant, sed in corde nostro esse ostendit, quia illic regnant vitiosi et pravi affectus, quorum fontem vel radicem voce concupiscenti notat. Ergo ita locatur in mundo corruptio, ut sciamus in nobis esse mundum”).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Pe 1:4 . . Reference is to (so Khl, Dietlein, Wiesinger, Brckner, Mayor) = “promised blessings”. No doubt what 2 Peter has chiefly in view is the particular comprehensive of His Second Coming ( cf. 2Pe 3:4 , and 2Pe 3:13 ). The Parousia will be the vindication of all moral and spiritual effort. Christ promised forgiveness to the sinful, rest to the weary, comfort to the sad, hope to the dying and life to the dead. If the reference adopted above of is correct, the sense would be that in the character and deeds of the Incarnate One, we have a revelation that is itself a promise. The are given, not only in word but also in deed. The very life of Christ among men, with its and is itself the Promise of Life, and the Parousia expectation is also a faith that He lives and reigns in grace, having “received gifts for men”. . Passive, see note on 2Pe 1:3 . . refers to . The hope and faith kindled in us by the promises are a source of moral power. “The history of the material progress of the race is the history of the growing power of man, arising from the gradual extension of his alliances with the forces which surround him. He arms himself with the strength of the winds and the tides. He liberates the latent energy which has been condensed and treasured up in coal, transforms it into heat, generates steam, and sweeps across a continent without weariness, and with the swiftness of a bird. Moving freely among the stupendous energies by which he is encompassed, he is strong in their strength, and they give to his volitions powerless apart from them a large and effective expression. The history of man’s triumphs in the province of his higher and spiritual life is also the history of the gradual extension of his alliance with a Force which is not his own. In Christ we are ‘made partakers of the divine nature’ ” (Dale, Atonement , pp. 416, 417). is originally a philosophic term, cf. Plat. Symp. ii. 6, Philo (ed. Mangey), ii. pp. 51, 647; ii. 22, 143, 329, 343. is found in a papyrus of 232 A.D. = “imperial” (Deissmann, op. cit. p. 218, note 2). Probably 2 Peter is here again making use of a current religious expression ( cf. note on , 2Pe 1:3 ). . The aorist participle is used of coincident action. Moral emancipation is part of the . The idea of participation in the Divine Nature is set between the two pictures, one of hope, , the other of despair, . The way to God is through the Redemption of Christ. The approach to God is an “escape,” and not an act of intellectual effort. in philosophic writers is the counterpart of , cf. Plat. Rep. 546A, Phaed. 95E. Aristot. Phys. 5, 5, 6. It expresses not sudden but gradual dissolution and destruction. The scriptural meaning alternates between destruction in the moral, and in the physical sense. In the N.T. the significance is physical, in 1Co 15:42 ; 1Co 15:50 , Col 2:22 , Gal 6:8 , 2Pe 2:12 ; moral here, as in 2Pe 2:19 , Rom 8:21 . Man becomes either regenerate or degenerate. Either his spiritual and moral powers are subject to slow decay and death, the wages of sin ( ), or he rises to full participation in the Divine. , a compact phrase. The corruption consists in , which may be interpreted in the widest sense of inordinate affection for earthly things. ; cf. Rom 8:21 . becomes personified as a world-wide power to which all creation including man is subject. In Mayor’s edition there is a valuable study of and cognates (pp. 175 ff.). The idea contained in , moral decay, is illustrated in Tennyson’s “Palace of Art,” and “Vision of Sin”; also in Byron, e.g. , “Stanzas for Music”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
2 Peter
PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE
2Pe 1:4 .
‘Partakers of the Divine nature.’ These are bold words, and may be so understood as to excite the wildest and most presumptuous dreams. But bold as they are, and startling as they may sound to some of us, they are only putting into other language the teaching of which the whole New Testament is full, that men may, and do, by their faith, receive into their spirits a real communication of the life of God. What else does the language about being ‘the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty’ mean? What else does the teaching of regeneration mean? What else mean Christ’s frequent declarations that He dwells in us and we in Him, as the branch in the vine, as the members in the body? What else does ‘he that is joined to the Lord in one spirit’ mean? Do not all teach that in some most real sense the very purpose of Christianity, for which God has sent His Son, and His Son has come, is that we, poor, sinful, weak, limited, ignorant creatures as we are, may be lifted up into that solemn and awful elevation, and receive in our trembling and yet strengthened souls a spark of God? ‘That ye may be partakers of the Divine nature’ means more than ‘that you may share in the blessings which that nature bestows.’ It means that into us may come the very God Himself.
I. So I want you to look with me, first, at this lofty purpose which is here presented as being the very aim and end of God’s gift in the gospel.
The human nature and the Divine are both kindred and contrary. And the whole Bible is remarkable for the emphasis with which it insists upon both these elements of the comparison, declaring, on the one hand, as no other religion has ever declared, the supreme sovereign, unapproachable elevation of the infinite Being above all creatures, and on the other hand, holding forth the hope, as no other religion has ever ventured to do, of the possible union of the loftiest and the lowest, and the lifting of the creature into union with God Himself. There are no gods of the heathen so far away from their worshippers, and there are none so near them, as our God. There is no god that men have bowed before, so unlike the devotee; and there is no system which recognises that, as is the Maker so are the made, in such thorough-going fashion as the Bible does. The arched heaven, though high above us, it is not inaccessible in its serene and cloudless beauty, but it touches earth all round the horizon, and man is made in the image of God.
True, that divine nature of which the ideal man is the possessor has faded away from humanity. But still the human is kindred with the divine. The drop of water is of one nature with the boundless ocean that rolls shoreless beyond the horizon, and stretches plumbless into the abysses. The tiniest spark of flame is of the same nature as those leaping, hydrogen spears of illuminated gas that spring hundreds of thousands of miles high in a second or two in the great central sun.
And though on the one hand there be finiteness and on the other infinitude: though we have to talk, in big words, of which we have very little grasp, about ‘Omniscience,’ and ‘Omnipresence,’ and ‘Eternity,’ and such like, these things may be deducted and yet the Divine nature may be retained; and the poor, ignorant, finite, dying creature, that perishes before the moth, may say, ‘I am kindred with Him whose years know no end; whose wisdom knows no uncertainty nor growth; whose power is Omnipotence; and whose presence is everywhere.’ He that can say, ‘I am,’ is of the same nature as His whose mighty proclamation of Himself is ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ He who can say ‘I will’ is of the same nature as He who willeth and it is done.
But that kindred, belonging to every soul of man, abject as well as loftiest, is not the ‘partaking’ of which my text speaks; though it is the basis and possibility of it; for my text speaks of men as ‘becoming partakers,’ and of that participation as the result, not of humanity, but of God’s gift of ‘exceeding great and precious promises.’ That creation in the image and likeness of God, which is represented as crowned by the very breath of God breathed into man’s nostrils implies not only kindred with God in personality and self-conscious will, but also in purity and holiness. The moral kindred has darkened into unlikeness, but the other remains. It is not the gift here spoken of, but it supplies the basis which makes that gift possible. A dog could not become possessor of the Divine nature, in the sense in which my text speaks of it. Any man, however bad, however foolish, however degraded, abject and savage, can become a partaker of it, and yet no man has it without something else than the fact of his humanity.
What, then, is it? No mere absorption, as extravagant mystics have dreamed, into that Divine nature, as a drop goes back into the ocean and is lost. There will always be ‘I’ and ‘thou,’ or else there were no blessedness, nor worship, nor joy. We must so partake of the Divine nature as that the bounds between the bestowing God and the partaking man shall never be broken down. But that being presupposed, union as close as is possible, the individuality of the giver and the receiver being untampered with is the great hope that all Christian men and women ought consciously to cherish.
Only mark, the beginning of the whole is the communication of a Divine life which is manifested mainly in what we call moral likeness. Or to put it into plain words, the teaching of my text is no dreamy teaching, such as an eastern mystic might proclaim, of absorption into an impersonal Divine. There is no notion here of any partaking of these great though secondary attributes of the Divine mind which to many men are the most Godlike parts of His nature. But what my text mainly means is, you may, if you like, become ‘holy as God is holy.’ You may become loving as God is loving, and with a breath of His own life breathed into your hearts. The central Divinity in the Divine, if I may so say, is the amalgam of holiness and love. That is God; the rest is what belongs to God. God has power; God is love. That is the regnant attribute, the spring that sets everything agoing. And so, when my text talks about making us all, if we will, partakers of a Divine nature, what it means, mainly, is this–that into every human spirit there may pass a seed of Divine life which will unfold itself there in all purity of holiness, in all tenderness and gentleness of love. ‘God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.’ Partakers we shall be in the measure in which by our faith we have drawn from Him the pure and the hearty love of whatever things are fair and noble; the measure in which we love righteousness and hate iniquity.
And then remember also that this lofty purpose which is here set forth is a purpose growingly realised in man. The Apostle puts great stress upon that word in my text, which, unfortunately, is not rendered adequately in our Bible, ‘that by these ye might become partakers of the Divine nature.’ He is not talking about a being, but about a becoming. That is to say, God must ever be passing, moment by moment, into our hearts if there is to be anything godly there. No more certainly must this building, if we are to see, be continually filled with light-beams that are urged from the central sun by its impelling force than the spirit must be receiving, by momentary communication, the gift of life from God if it is to live. Cut off the sunbeam from the sun and it dies, and the house is dark; cut off the life from the root and it withers, and the creature shrivels. The Christian man lives only by continual derivation of life from God; and for ever and ever the secret of his being and of his blessedness is not that he has become a possessor, but that he has become a partaker, of the Divine nature.
And that participation ought to, and will, be a growing thing. By daily increase we shall be made capable of daily increase. Life is growth; the Divine life in Him is not growth, but in us it does grow, and our infancy will be turned into youth; and our youth into maturity; and, blessed be His name, the maturity will be a growing one, to which grey hairs and feebleness will never come, nor a term ever be set. More and more of God we may receive every day we live, and through the endless ages of eternity; and if we have Him in our hearts, we shall live as long as there is anything more to pass from God to us. Until the fountain has poured its whole fulness into the cistern, the cistern will never be broken. He who becomes partaker of the Divine nature can never die. So as Christ taught us the great argument for immortality is the present relation between God and us, and the fact that He is the God of Abraham points to the resurrection life.
II. Look, in the second place, at the costly and sufficient means employed for the realisation of this great purpose. ‘He hath given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might become partakers,’ etc.
Of course the mere words of a promise will not communicate this Divine life to men’s souls. ‘Promises’ here must necessarily, I think, be employed in the sense of fulfilment of the promises. And so we might think of all the great and wondrous words which God has spoken in the past, promises of deliverance, of forgiveness, and the like; but I am rather disposed to believe that the extreme emphasis of the epithets which the Apostle selects to describe these promised things now fulfilled suggests another interpretation.
I believe that by these ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ is meant the unspeakable gift of God’s own Son, and the gift therein and thereafter of God’s life-giving Spirit. For is not this the meaning of the central fact of Christianity, the incarnation–that the Divine becomes partaker of the human in order that the human may partake of the Divine? Is not Christ’s coming the great proof that however high the heavens may stretch above the flat, sad earth, still the Divine nature and the human are so kindred that God can enter into humanity and be manifest in the flesh? Contrariety vanishes; the difference between the creature and the Creator disappears. These mere distinctions of power and weakness, of infinitude and finiteness, of wisdom and of ignorance, of undying being and decaying life, vanish, as of secondary consequence, when we can say, ‘the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’ There can be no insuperable obstacle to man’s being lifted up into a union with the Divine, since the Divine found no insuperable obstacle in descending to enter into union with the human.
So then, because God has given us His Son it is clear that we may become partakers of the Divine nature; inasmuch as He, the Divine, has become partaker of the children’s flesh and blood, and in that coming of the Divine into the human there was brought the seed and the germ of a life which can be granted to us all. Brethren! there is one way, and one way only, by which any of us can partake of this great and wondrous gift of a share in God, and it is through Jesus Christ. ‘No man hath ascended up into Heaven,’ nor ever will either climb or fly there, ‘save He that came down from Heaven; even the Son of man which is in Heaven.’ And in Him we may ascend, and in Him we may receive God.
Christ is the true Prometheus, if I may so speak, who brings to earth in the fragile reed of his humanity the sacred and immortal fire which may be kindled in every heart. Open your hearts to Him by faith and He will come in, and with Him the rejoicing life which will triumph over the death of self and sin, and give to you a share in the nature of God.
III. Let me say, lastly, that this great text adds a human accompaniment of that Divine gift: ‘Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’
The only condition of receiving this Divine nature is the opening of the heart by faith to Him, the Divine human Christ, who is the bond between men and God, and gives it to us. But that condition being presupposed, this important clause supplies the conduct which attends and attests the possession of the Divine nature.
Notice, here is human nature without God, described as ‘the corruption that is in the world in lust.’ It is like a fungus, foul-smelling, slimy, poisonous; whose growth looks rather the working of decay than of vitality. And, says my text, that is the kind of thing that human nature is if God is not in it. There is an ‘either’ and ‘or’ here. On the one hand we must have a share in the Divine nature, or, on the other, we have a share in the putrescence ‘that is in the world through lust.’
Corruption is initial destruction, though of course other forms of life may come from it; destruction is complete corruption. The word means both. A man either escapes from lust and evil, or he is destroyed by it.
And the root of this rotting fungus is ‘in lust,’ which word, of course, is used in a much wider meaning than the fleshly sense in which we employ it in modern times. It means ‘desire’ of all sorts. The root of the world’s corruption is my own and my brothers’ unbridled and godless desires.
So there are two states–a life plunged in putridity, or a heart touched with the Divine nature. Which is it to be? It cannot be both. It must be one or the other. Which?
A man that has got the life of God, in however feeble measure, in him, will flee away from this corruption like Lot out of Sodom. And how will he flee out of it? By subduing his own desires; not by changing position, not by shirking duty, not by withdrawing himself into unwholesome isolation from men and men’s ways. The corruption is not only ‘in the world,’ so that you could get rid of it by getting out of the world, but it is ‘in the world in lust,’ so that you carry the fountain of it within yourself. The only way to escape is by no outward flight, but by casting out the unclean thing from our own souls.
Depend upon it, the measure in which a man has the love of God in him can be very fairly estimated by the extent to which he is doing this. There is a test for you Christian people. There have been plenty of men and women in all ages of the Church, and they abound in this generation, who will make no scruple of declaring that they possess a portion of this Divine Spirit and a spark of God in their souls. Well then, I say, here is the test, bring it all to this–does that life within you cast out your own evil desires? If it does, well; if it does not, the less you say about Christ in your hearts the less likely you will be to become either a hypocrite, or a self-deceiver.
And so, brethren, remember, one last word, viz., that whilst on the one hand whoever has the life of God in his heart will be fleeing from this corruption, on the other hand you can weaken–ay! and you can kill the Divine life by not so fleeing. You have got it, if you have it, to nourish, to cherish, and to do that most of all by obeying it. If you do not obey, and if habitually you keep the plant with all its buds picked off one after another as they begin to form, you will kill it sooner or later. You Christian men and women take warning. God has given you Jesus Christ. It was worth while for Christ to live; it was worth while for Christ to die, in order that into the souls of all sinful, God-forgetting, devil-following men there might pass this Promethean spark of the true fire.
You get it, if you will, by simple faith. You will not keep it unless you obey it. Mind you do not quench the Holy Spirit, and extinguish the very life of God in your souls.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Whereby = By (App-104. 2Pe 1:1) which.
exceeding = the exceeding.
promises. Greek. epangelma. Only here and 2Pe 3:13.
that = in order that. Greek. hina.
by. App-104. 2Pe 1:1.
be = become.
partakers. See 1Co 10:18.
escaped. Greek. apopheugo. Only here and 2Pe 2:18, 2Pe 2:20.
corruption. Greek. phthora. See Rom 8:21.
in. App-104.
world. App-129.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] through which (His attributes and energies) He hath given to us ( again middle in sense, see above: not as E. V., passive: the subject is ) the [or, His] greatest and precious promises (, as in ch. 2Pe 3:13, promises: not, things promised (Est., Beng., al.), still less, as Dietlein, proclamations of Christian doctrine, which the word cannot mean. Bensons idea, that by are meant the Apostles, and that the second person refers to the Gentile Christians, seems quite beside the purpose), that by means of these (promises: i. e. their fulfilment: not to be referred, as Calv., Benson, De Wette, to … as the antecedent: nor, as Beng., to : shews pointedly that the last-mentioned noun is the antecedent) ye may become (aor., but not on that account to be rendered, as Huther, wurdet, that ye might be, adding, that the Writer assumes the participation to have already taken place: for the aor. is continually thus used of future contingencies without any such intent: e. g. , , Joh 12:36. The account of this usage of the aor. has not been any where, that I have seen, sufficiently given. It is untranslateable in most cases, but seems to serve in the Greek to express that the aim was not the procedure, but the completion, of that indicated: not the , the carrying on of the process, but the , its accomplishment) 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: vocat hic divinam naturam id quod divina prsentia efficit in nobis, i. e. conformitatem nostri cum Deo, seu imaginem Dei qu in nobis reformatur per divinam prsentiam in nobis. Hemming in Huther: which is only so far wrong, that it confounds our in the divine nature, of which the above would be a right description, with that nature itself), having escaped (not a conditional participial clause, but like in 1Pe 5:10, merely a note of matter of fact, bringing out in this case the negative side of the Christian life, as the former clause did the positive:-when ye have escaped) from (the construction, of with a gen. is not very usual. Matthi gives a similar instance from Xen. An. i. 3. 2, , and another from Soph. Antig. 488, . In Philoct. 1034 we have . These last instances shew that the gen. here is due, not to the preposition , but to the idea of separation and distance implied in the sense of the verbs) the corruption (= destruction, of soul and body) which is in the world in (consisting in, as its element and ground) lust (Calvin: hanc non in elementis qu nos circumstant, sed in corde nostro esse ostendit, quia illic regnant vitiosi et pravi affectus, quorum fontem vel radicem voce concupiscenti notat. Ergo ita locatur in mundo corruptio, ut sciamus in nobis esse mundum).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Pe 1:4. , by which) that is, by His glory and virtue. His glory causes, that the promises are very great; His virtue, that they are precious.–, to us-ye might become) He now gradually approaches to the exhortation. And the expression, equally precious, in 2Pe 1:1, supports the change from the first person to the second.- , has given us promises) The promise itself is a gift; then also that which follows it, the thing promised. Peter, both when speaking in the Acts, and when writing in his Epistles, with great solemnity, , is accustomed to put substantives in the plural number.- , that by these) that is, by the glory and virtue of Him. Communion itself with God was promised: wherefore Peter might have said because; but he says that, with greater force. For the promise is given, that being allured by it, we may obtain the thing promised, which is great and precious.- , partakers of the Divine nature) The Divine nature is God Himself. Thus we have Divine power, 2Pe 1:3; excellent glory, 2Pe 1:17; the holiness of God, Heb 12:10, for God Himself. See Macarius, Homil. 39. In like manner, the nature of man, etc., is used, Jam 3:7. As escaping is opposed to partakers, so corruption through lust is opposed to the Divine nature. Moreover glory and corruption, virtue and lust, are contraries. And thus the title, the Divine nature, includes glory and virtue; and the same is called the Divine power, inasmuch as it is the origin of all that is good; and the Divine nature, inasmuch as it admits us to itself. But there is a gradation; and these two things differ as a part and the whole, namely, to receive the gifts of the Divine POWER (), and to he a partaker of the Divine NATURE, that is, to become holy; comp. Rom 1:20.-, escaping) hastily and swiftly. , I flee; , I flee from, escape. This flight is here put, not so much for our duty, as for a Divine benefit, accompanying communion with God: comp. ch. 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 2:20.- , the corruption which is in the world through lust) ch. 2Pe 2:20; 2Pe 2:18-19. The sentiment is: In the world is corruption through lust.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
world
kosmos = world-system. 2Pe 2:20; Joh 7:7 (See Scofield “Rev 13:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
are given: 2Pe 1:1, Eze 36:25-27, Rom 9:4, 2Co 1:20, 2Co 6:17, 2Co 6:18, 2Co 7:1, Gal 3:16, Heb 8:6-12, Heb 9:15, 1Jo 2:25
ye might: Joh 1:12, Joh 1:13, 2Co 3:18, Eph 4:23, Eph 4:24, Col 3:10, Heb 12:10, 1Jo 3:2
having: 2Pe 2:18-20, Gal 6:8, Jam 4:1-3, 1Pe 4:2, 1Pe 4:3, 1Jo 2:15, 1Jo 2:16
Reciprocal: Psa 36:7 – excellent Psa 56:10 – General Psa 108:7 – I will rejoice Son 1:10 – thy cheeks Mat 3:8 – forth Luk 1:75 – General Act 11:23 – seen Rom 6:4 – even Rom 12:2 – be not 1Co 15:58 – Therefore Gal 3:22 – that Phi 1:27 – let Phi 4:8 – virtue 1Ti 4:8 – having 2Ti 1:1 – the promise 2Ti 2:19 – depart Tit 2:12 – denying Heb 3:1 – partakers Jam 2:12 – speak 1Pe 1:7 – precious 1Pe 1:15 – so 1Pe 2:4 – precious 2Pe 1:9 – that he 2Pe 1:15 – these 2Pe 2:12 – perish 2Pe 2:20 – escaped 1Jo 2:29 – is born 1Jo 3:3 – purifieth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THINGS PRECIOUS
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.
2Pe 1:4
Precious is a very favourable word with the writers of the Bible, especially with St. Peter. He speaks of many things as precious.
I. Christ.Unto you therefore which believe He is precious (1Pe 2:7). Precious as a Saviour from sin, a present friend, and a final deliverer.
II. Faith.To them that have obtained like precious faith with us (2Pe 1:1). Now faith depends for its value upon that which calls it forth. Faith in man, in ordinances, in sacraments, in the Church cannot benefit us by giving us salvation. Faith is precious only as it embraces Christ and enables us to say, He is mine, and I am His.
III. The Precious Blood.The precious blood of Christ (1Pe 1:18-19). Blood of Christ refers to His life taken away and signifies His death, and is precious because it points to the central doctrine of the gospelthe atonement, which stands to all other doctrines in the Bible as the keystone of an arch to all the other stones which are built up upon it; or as the sun to the earth and all the other planets which revolve around it.
IV. The promises.Great and precious promises. In old time the Psalmist sang, How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O God! The promises are but the thoughts of God put into words, that we might be more able to grasp and understand them.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Pe 1:4. Whereby means that by the kind of life that is designated in the preceding verse, we may claim the exceeding great and precious promises. The things promised are great because no one but the Lord can grant such favors, and they are precious because all the wealth of the universe could not purchase them. The antecedent of these is the glory and virtue mentioned in the preceding verse. In addition to enjoying the precious promises offered in the Gospel, we may become partakers of the divine nature. Divine means godlike and nature refers to time qualities that distinguish that which is godlike from that which is not. The man who attains this personality through the Gospel is that much like God. The corruption that is in the world is brought about through lust of sinful men. When one obeys the Gospel he escapes from that corruption in the sense that he has been cleansed therefrom by the “divine power.” He is then prepared to proceed with the kind of life that such a person is expected to follow In his service for Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Pe 1:4. Whereby he has gifted us. The verb is to be put thus, as already in 2Pe 1:3, rather than in the passive form, are given, as the A. V. renders it. The whereby may refer either to the all things or to the glory and virtue, more probably to the latter. The Person said here to gift us is, according to some, the Christ whose Divine power has been already described as gifting; according to others (and this is on the whole more likely), it is the God who called us.
with the precious and exceedingly great promises. What are we to understand by these? Some say the promises recorded in the O. T. Others say the promises uttered by Christ Himself, or more generally those promises about His Second Advent and the end of the world which are given in the N. T., and to which also reference is supposed to be made in chap. 2Pe 3:13. The term promise, however, means at times not the verbal promise itself, but its fulfilment (comp. Luk 24:49; Heb 9:15; Heb 10:36; Heb 11:13; Heb 11:39). This sense is supported here, too, by the particular word used (occurring only once again in the whole N. T., viz. in chap. 2Pe 3:13), which differs from the ordinary term in being of a more concrete form. The promises in view, therefore, may be especially the two all inclusive fulfilments of Gods engagements, namely, the Advent of Messiah (comp. Luk 1:67-75), and the gift of the Spirit (which is described as the promise of the Father, Act 1:4). And there are defined as exceeding great and precious, or rather, in accordance with what is on the whole the better supported reading, as precious and exceeding (or very) great These two epithets combined exhibit the objects as at once indisputably real, and of the highest possible magnitude. The precious (an epithet which meets us in more than one form also in the First Epistle, 2Pe 1:7; 2Pe 1:19, 2Pe 2:7) seems here to point to the fact that these promises are more than pleasing words, and have been found indeed to be things tangible and of the most substantial worth. The clause as a whole, therefore, bears that by means of those same revealed and efficient perfections by which He called us, God has put us in actual possession of those incalculable bestowals of grace which are identified with the Coming of Christ and the gift of the Spirit
in order that through these ye might become partakers of the divine nature. Some take the through these to refer to the all things pertaining to life and godliness; others connect it immediately with the glory and virtue. It is most naturally referred, however, to the immediately preceding promises. The sentence, therefore, states the object which God has had in view in gifting us with the endowments of grace which are bound up with the Coming of the promised Christ, and the outpouring of the promised Spirit. His object was that through these (for only through these was it possible) the servants of the flesh might have a new life and a new destiny. The verb is so put (might become, rather than either might be, as in A. V., or may become, as in R. V.) as to imply that the participation in view is not a thing merely of the future, but realized so far in the present. The expression given to the life and destiny themselves is as singular as it is profoundpartakers of the (or perhaps a) Divine nature. This phrase Divine nature is peculiar to the present passage. It is not to be regarded as a mere synonym for justification, regeneration, or the mystical union. On the other hand, it is not quite the same as the phrase the being of God. As the phrase the nature of beasts (comp. Jas 3:7) denotes the sum of all the qualities characteristic of the brute creation, strength, fierceness, etc.; and the phrase human nature denotes the sum of the qualities distinction of man, so the Divine nature denotes the sum of the qualities, holiness, etc., which belong to God. What is meant, therefore, is a Divine order of moral nature, an inward life of a Godlike constitution, participation in qualities which are in God, and which may be in us so far as His Spirit is in us. Not that the believer is deified, as some of the Fathers ventured to say and Mystics have at times vainly dreamed, nor that there is any essential identity between the human nature and the Divine; but that God, who created us at first in His own image, designs through the Incarnation of His Son to make us like Himself, as children may be like a father, putting on us the new roan, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24; comp. also Joh 1:12).
having escaped the corruption that is in the world in lust. Luther, with some others, translates this if ye escape, as if it expressed a condition on which participation in the Divine nature depended. It rather states, however, simply the other side of the Divine intention, and might be rendered escaping, or, when ye escape. The verb translated escaped occurs only here and in chap. 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 2:20. It implies a complete rescue, and this is mentioned, as Bengel justly observes, not so much as a duty towards, but as a blessing from, God, which accompanies our communion with Him. The term corruption, or destruction, is one which occurs twice again in this Epistle (chap. 2Pe 2:12; 2Pe 2:19; for the idea comp. also 1Pe 1:4; 1Pe 1:18; 1Pe 1:23; 1Pe 3:4). Outside this Epistle it is used only by Paul (Rom 8:21; 1Co 15:45; 1Co 15:50; Gal 6:8; Col 2:22). It denotes the destroying, blighting principle of sin; which also is said to have the world for its seat or sphere of operation, and lust (on which see on 1Pe 1:14) for the element in which it moves, or perhaps, as the R. V. prefers, the instrument by which it works. Bengel notices the contrast between the escape and the partaking, and between the corruption in the world in lust and the Divine nature.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Whereby, or by whom, that is, through the knowledge of Christ in the gospel, God has given to us all things conducing to our present and future happiness; and, amongst the rest, the precious promises of the gospel, which so directly tend to make men partakers of the divine nature.
Note here, That the promises of the gospel are the Christian’s great and precious treasure; greatness and goodness are then most shining, when they meet in the same subject, but such a glorious conjunction is rarely found, either in persons or things; rarely are great men good, or good men great; pebbles are great, but not precious; pearls are precious, but not great, But the promises are both for quantity exceeding great, for quality exceeding precious, and that in respect of the author of them, God; the foundation of them, the blood of Christ: the manner of their dispensation, they are freely given; the means whereby they are apprehended and applied, precious faith, and exceeding precious the promises are in regard of the end of them, which is to make us partakers of the divine nature, not of the essence, but qualities of the divine nature, which enable us, in some measure, to resemble God; as the seal doth communicate its signature, but not its substance; so in the work of regeneration God doth not impart his essence, but infuse holy principles and gracious habits into the soul, whereby the Christian resembles him.
Learn hence, That the great end and effect of the promises, and the proper influence and efficacy which they ought to have upon the hearts and lives of men, is this, to make them partakers of the divine nature, and to render them daily more like unto God; Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Here note, 1. That the world is full, very full, of corruption, sin, and temptation; by reason of the lust of men, they rub their leprosy upon each other, and by the contagion of a bad example, infect and poison one another.
Note, 2. That by being made partakers of the divine nature, through the influence of the promises, we escape the pollution of fleshly lusts, which the world is defiled with, and would defile us by.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 4
That–ye might be partakers of the divine nature; that is, that ye might share in the purity and holiness of God.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:4 {4} Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the {e} divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
(4) An explanation of the former sentence, declaring the causes of so great benefits, that is, God and his free promise, from which all these benefits proceed, I say, these most excellent benefits, by which we are delivered from the corruption of this world, (that is, from the wicked lusts which we carry about in us) and are made like God himself.
(e) By the divine nature he means not the substance of the Godhead, but the partaking of those qualities, by which the image of God is restored in us.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord’s promises come to us through Christ’s divine power and the true knowledge of Him (2Pe 1:3). We learn of these promises as we get to know Him better, and the power for fulfilling what He has promised comes from Him. "Granted" translates a Greek word (doreomai), also found in 2Pe 1:3, that stresses the great worth of what God has given. "Promises" refers to promises that all believers can know about, not secret promises. They are in the Scriptures. The ones Peter referred to in his first epistle deal with our inheritance (1Pe 1:3-5) and the Lord’s return (1Pe 1:9; 1Pe 1:13). Here his reference is to all God’s promises. They are "precious" (Gr. timia) because of the great worth of the spiritual riches involved (cf. 1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 1:19; 1Pe 2:7). They are "magnificent" (Gr. megista, lit. greatest) because they are intrinsically excellent.
". . . one of the great lessons of 2 Peter is that to maintain a holy life in a world like ours, we must be deeply rooted in the prophetic promises of God’s word. Above all, we must hold fast to that ’blessed hope’ of the coming again of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [cf. Mat 24:48-50]." [Note: Zane C. Hodges, "Exposition of Second Peter," The KERUGMA Message 1:2 (July-August 1991):4.]
"Here, again, we have an instance of St. Peter’s habit of anticipation, and a link between the introduction and the third chapter. Already the author is thinking of the doubts about the Parousia." [Note: Bigg, p. 255.]
Christians become partakers of God’s very nature by faith in His promises. In our day, as in Peter’s, many people are interested in becoming partakers of "the divine nature," though they may conceive of the divine nature in non-Christian ways (Eastern mysticism, new age spirituality, etc.). [Note: See Robert V. Rakestraw, "Becoming Like God: An Evangelical Doctrine of Theosis," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (June 1997):257-69.] Peter evidently used this phrase to capture the interest of his formerly pagan Hellenistic readers, but he proceeded to invest it with distinctively Christian meaning. He was an effective communicator.
When God saved us by faith in His promise, He indwelt us, and we therefore possess the nature of God within us (cf. Joh 16:7; Act 2:39). God’s nature in us manifests the likeness of God and Christ through us. It also gives us power enabling us to overcome the temptations of lust that result in corruption (cf. Gal 5:16-17). Note that Peter did not say that we have the divine nature (which is true), from which we might infer that we no longer have a sinful human nature and do not sin. He said that we participate in the divine nature, from which we should infer that we experience some of God’s qualities but not all of them now.
Peter spoke of our having escaped this corruption in the past. He meant that our justification has assured our escape from this corruption, not that we escape it automatically simply because we are Christians. Another view is that Peter meant that Christians will become partakers of the divine nature when we die, having escaped the world’s corruption through death. [Note: See Bauckham, pp. 181-84.] Yet we already possess the divine nature through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. The temptations that we presently face characterize the world as a whole (cf. 1Jn 2:17). Assurance of ultimate victory over this corruption should encourage us to strive to overcome it now.
"Each man must make a choice. Either he becomes freed from sin, or he becomes further enslaved to sin." [Note: Louis Barbieri, First and Second Peter, p. 96.]
"Man becomes either regenerate or degenerate." [Note: Strachan, 5:126.]
Godliness, goodness (lit. virtue), divine nature, and corruption are all concepts that fascinated the philosophical false teachers of Peter’s day. Peter reminded his readers of God’s provisions for them that made them adequate and in need of nothing the false teachers, to whom he would refer later, said they could provide.