Life by His divine power.
‘‘According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.’’ 2 Pet. 1:3
Additional reading: John 2:11; Gal. 1:6; 1 Thess. 2:12; 1 Pet.1:5; 2 Pet. 1:5
I did say yesterday that we are God’s type having His intrinsic (basic features) or essential qualities (character), that in short, man was created with God’s character, basic features or essential qualities. I summarised by saying that man is God’s direct specie possessing His character. I will go a step further today to illustrate the truth that man was created possessing God’s intrinsic qualities or character.
In his second letter to the church, Apostle Peter wrote saying: ‘‘According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.’’ This verse of scripture seems to tell us that there is something unique and especially divine in every Christian.
According as his divine [theios: godlike(neuter as noun, divinity):- divine, godhead] power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called [kaleo: to ‘call’’ (properly aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise):- bid, call, (forth), …] us to glory and virtue [arête: properly manliness (valor), excellent (intrinsic or attributed):- praise, virtue].’’
By this verse we can say that God by His divine power has given us all we need to live a godly life. That He Himself has invited us to share His glory and essential qualities (virtue). The implication is very simple: because God desires us to live godly lives, He has given us those essential qualities peculiar to Him so that we in turn could please Him through our godly lifestyle despite daily temptations or human and spiritual challenges.
‘‘God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity.’’ (God’s Word). ‘‘We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learnt that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness.’’ (CEV). ‘‘God’s divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share his glory and goodness.’’ (GNB).
Let me put it this other way: by God’s divine power (enablement or ability) we have all we need to live a life holy and acceptable by God. This was made possible through the knowledge of the one, i.e. at the point we accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. At the point of our salvation, Jesus personally invited us all to share in His glory and qualities. Just as we were created with God’s divine character (i.e. in His image and likeness), but lost it to sin when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the lost godly virtue was restored through Jesus Christ, thus, we can once again manifest His divine attributes restored to us through our knowledge of Jesus Christ…just as it was from the beginning.
The next verse explains why God gave us this ability to live a godly life: ‘‘God made great and marvellous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.’’ (CEV). Except we live a godly life on earth, we may not inherit God’s coming eternal Kingdom. As you well know, one condition for being a partaker for the second coming of Jesus Christ is righteousness and holiness for no sinner shall inherit His Kingdom or see His face. Interestingly, these are some of His promises — the second coming of Jesus Christ and God’s eternal Kingdom. To ensure that we partake of His future Kingdom, God through His Son shared with us His glory and His essential qualities (integrity—full nature). He did this deliberately so that we could overcome our sinful desires and corrupt influences of this world. He shared His nature with us just to see us through to His Kingdom.
Meditation: God actually shared His divine nature with me to get me into His Kingdom!
Prayer: What else should I say but thank You LORD. Thank You for sharing Your nature with me. Thank You LORD for Your unconditional and unexplainable love.
Question: (1) How well has this study helped you understand God’s redemptive plan for man? (2) In what ways has this study challenged your perspective of Christian life?
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