(All scripture quotations are from the BSB unless otherwise noted.)
In my first article about holiness, I began laying the foundation that our intrinsic holiness, along with all the rest of God's promised Gospel gifts, must come from our share in or connection to God's nature. This concept is portrayed in many ways in the Apostolic record, but none so direct as 2 Peter 1. Thus, it is an imperative for this discussion that I dig deeper and study this passage. This is an often overlooked or skimmed over passage that truly communicates the central core of the Gospel.
A study of 2 Peter 1:3-4 — a direct foundation for my premise.
2 Peter 1:3-4 — 3-His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4-Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
This passage is a key to this entire discussion and is possibly the clearest delineation of this root of the gospel message. The concept of our intimate connection to Christ and His nature is portrayed many ways in the Epistles, but none quite as direct as this. I will attempt to succinctly summarize:
Note very clearly that whatever is being discussed here by Peter is ALL and only of Christ and His divine power. This is not of human will or power in the least. Our only part is submission to that power (faith); but, the power is all of God. This is a vital truth.
Note the completeness of this action for believers. “Everything we need” denotes nothing remains to seek. Whatever this is, we possess it already and need nothing else to live well other than faith in what we already have. If only believers could grasp this truth! Stop seeking more and rest by faith in the completeness of God's gift.
The mechanism for this state of being is “knowledge of Christ”. However, this is not normal knowledge like “learning”. In the Greek, normal learning is the single word gnṓsis. You may recognize this root of Gnosticism. Peter adds “epí” to gnṓsis here which intensifies it. It is an intense relational “knowing”; not book learning. You could easily translate this “through an intimate connection to Him” (Christ) and it would be fine. This word epígnōsis here often represents salvation or new birth when referencing Christ. It is a relational term — not just singular knowledge. Both are elements of walking well, but Peter here is describing “salvation” or the “new birth” as the mechanism by which we have all we need for life and godliness.
Again, whatever this is that Peter is describing not only comes from the power of Christ as God; but, the invitation to participate in it comes directly from Christ's “glory and excellence”. We will get into glory later, but these are both aspects of the “divine nature”. This phrase describes Christ’s holiness. It is the holiness of Christ that calls us to join in that perfect wholeness. His holiness attracts us once we recognize it for what it is.
In verse 4, Peter references all of the above as a source of the “precious and magnificent” promises of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel or good news! The Gospel is God's New Covenant promises enacted by Christ’s finished work — His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. These promises fully replace or fulfill all of the former promises (see nearly the entire book of Hebrews — the new covenant fully replaces the old!)
Peter continues and references again all of the above as the mechanism by which we are “partakers in the divine nature” — meaning the nature of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This is the lynchpin of the entire message! This is the objective of the Gospel and why Christ came. This is Life. Paul calls this “Christ in you” and “you in Christ”. This is described in multiple ways in the NT.
Peter finishes this astonishing statement by stating another astonishing fact. Because of everything he has just written, believers have (past tense) “escaped the corruption or decay in this world caused by sin”. This is what he directly says with no wiggle room! If your belief system doesn't align with this statement, then it is not the Gospel! What a truth!
Walk by Faith not Sight
This is quite the passage! There are a couple things I want to emphasize, starting in reverse. His last statement of FACT might not seem to be true, yet it is. This is something we must rely on by faith. We “walk by faith not sight”. Many forms of “works righteousness” have corrupted our thinking to such a degree that we might consider all of our failures and stumbles and wonder how in the world this can be true! Have we truly escaped the corruption of sin?
Yet, Peter’s statement is rooted in everything he just said. In none of it does our works come into play. It is Christ's work, His glory, His power, His excellence, His nature, and His promises. Because of Christ, we HAVE escaped the corruption of sin. Or as Paul puts it in Romans 6, we are no longer slaves of or connected to sin as a power. This is a gospel statement of fact! This is a powerful fact that certainly impacts our works; but our works, good or bad, have no role in making that fact true. As believers, this is a fact that is fully independent of our behavior — other than true faith.
If this is not true of you, then you are not “saved”. If you are “saved by grace through faith” then this fact is true for you. One is tied to the other. To be saved, you must have escaped the corruption of sin; been freed from it’s power; no longer a slave of sin. Faith in this truth about yourself is the key to performing legitimate good works.
In 2 Corinthians 5:7, where Paul makes the statement about walking by faith, the entire context is our struggle while being in our mortal fallen bodies. Thus, he discusses the firm promise of our resurrection body eventually; yet, we must “walk by faith not sight” while here on earth. Our God gifted holiness is not defined by our stumbles. It is defined by God's Gospel promises.
Translators, Ughh. Yet Again.
Don’t get distracted by the translation of “may become partakers of the divine nature” in verse 4. This “may become” is “aorist subjunctive” in the Greek. It does show dependency, hence the translation. But it is not portraying that this “may or may not” happen for believers! In fact, it is often translated “took place” or “was accomplished” in other places in scripture. Yes, it is an “if-then” statement: if you accept the intimate relationship Christ is offering by faith, then you will become a partaker in the divine nature. So, it may or may not happen for unbelievers, not believers. I cannot help but think there must be a better way to translate this, but I won’t consider that now. Just don’t be confused by the word “may”.
What Peter is relating is that believers becoming “partakers” — having a connection to and share in God’s nature — has a dependency of all the other things he mentioned. This comes by faith and through an intimate spiritually connected relationship with Jesus Christ (grace). Yet, it is Christ’s power, glory, excellence, and Gospel promises that make it happen! Christ initiates the call to this relationship and yes, we must accept it by faith. Once we do, it is our calling for all eternity. Yet, faith continues to be the faucet that turns this gift of sharing God’s nature on or off for its impact in our daily lives. We do have a role!
For believers, there is no doubt from scripture it has happened! We have a new heart and spirit — intimately and relationally connected to Christ — resulting in us sharing the very nature of God. Wow! Can you get any better “good news” than that? Is that the Gospel you know? If not, then you have a partial gospel that is hardly better than no gospel at all. And…this is not of our own works, it is all of Christ. What a gift! What a Gospel! This is the root truth that informs all other truth for believers. It changes everything!
Fakers who seem like they know Christ but don’t. Especially those who deliberately try to lead others away from the true Gospel.
2 Peter 2:12; 20-21 “12-These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.
20-If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. 21-It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. (emphasis mine)
Another thing to point out about Chapter 1 is how it is a direct contrast to Chapter 2. Peter addresses believers in Chapter 1 and then false teachers, fakers, and enemies of God in Chapter 2. In 2:20-21, Peter makes a hypothetical statement that sounds very much like the same language in the passage we just discussed. Yet, it is clear from the entire chapter 2 context that his subject is unbelievers, not believers. How can this be? Does this negate what I am writing about?
It would be easy to use Chapter 2 to negate what Peter is saying in Chapter 1. Yet, the implications of doing this are existentially damaging to the Gospel message. If he is referencing believers in Chapter 2, then it up-ends the entire Gospel message and makes it so we do have a “works righteousness” or salvation. Since this cannot be true, based on other clear Epistolic revelation, then Peter must have another concept in mind. Again, any interpretation that leads to “works righteousness” in any form is wrong. We must consider Peter’s objective.
What Peter is actually doing in Chapter 2 is demonstrating the utterly devious false front of fake believers. He parallels John in his Epistles with this concept. There is a “behavior modification” impact to being part of a group of believers, whether you are truly one or not. Just like any “club”, you are influenced to follow the “rules”, at least in front of the other club members. Further, many false teachers deliberately align their behaviors to match up with expected believer actions. Yet, again, this becomes a “form of godliness with no power” that Paul warns Timothy about. Yet, as both authors warn, ultimately their true colors will shine through. But, does any of this negate a believer’s new nature?
Peter’s hypothetical “believer” who is still a slave of sin and will be punished for their sin.
As Peter describes these false and fake folks masquerading as believers earlier in the chapter, he describes many things about them that do not apply to believers. He says, in many ways, they will be punished for their sins, even saying they will be “destroyed”. This directly opposes a core Gospel concept! But the best evidence these are unbelievers is he says they are a “slaves of sin”. (2:19) If these are believers, then this directly opposes what Paul says about believers in Romans 6:18 — that they “…have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness”. By these statements, we know Peter is clearly referencing unbelievers.
Peter is being purely hypothetical in his statements in 2 Peter 2:20 when he says “if” and then follows it by another strengthening word “gar”. This phrasing means Peter is making a contrast that questions the legitimacy of his own statement that his subject(s) in the passage truly have a relationship with Christ and have escaped the corruption of the world. His point is for his audience of true believers from Chapter 1 to recognize that these folks may appear to be genuine believers, but they are not. He is making an absurd hypothetical statement for emphasis.
The description of these fake false teachers he gives up until verse 20 remains true. He is not saying they intimately know or have a relationship with Christ. He is simply saying IF that were true and they still remained in their bondage to sin as he previously described, THEN they would be in a much worse situation as there would be no hope! This is the first part of his absurdity because it means that the Gospel is not true. If you “know” Christ, connected to Him, and have escaped the corruption; yet, still continue to be it's slave, then that is a horrible place to be. Peter's point though is this is not true. You either have escaped or you haven't. But, believers need to know they have! And unbelievers need to know they haven't if their trust is in their “good works”.
Having a book knowledge and acceptance of the Gospel is not the same as partaking in the divine nature.
The second part of his warning is this: a person who hears and understands the Gospel message, yet rejects it; or, for any other reason never becomes a child of God with a share in the divine nature; is quite literally in a worse situation than one who hasn't heard. At least for the one who hasn't heard there is a chance of them hearing and believing. The one who hears and rejects has a lower chance of changing their mind or repenting.
Even the one who has heard and not rejected, but still hasn't truly believed, is in a precarious state. Perhaps their participation in the “church club” and it's impact on their behavior makes them think they are “saved”, but they do not truly share in the divine nature. I have heard many stories of folks that heard the Gospel for years and are highly thought of in their church community; yet realize they never truly “knew Christ”. They are blessed as this realization is hard to come to once you already think you are “saved”!
This reminds me of Hebrews 6:4-8 where the author also describes unbelieving “Hebrews” who, in the analogy, “tasted” the Gospel message but never swallowed. They were Hebrews participating in a Christian group; but, in this case never believed and eventually turned back to the Mosaic Law to “save” them. The passage says they can never “repent” of this failure to believe in Christ. This is because only Christ can give you life — a share in the divine nature. Trying to keep the law never will. Thus, neither of these passages damage the Gospel message at all, you just have to understand them in their proper context. They are about unbelievers who have a deep exposure to the Gospel message; but, reject it or never truly accept it. They are not about believers.
This is meant to give assurance, not doubt!
In contrast to the well behaved fakers who may feel assured of “salvation” by their list keeping, many true believers agonize over their assurance and come to Christ over and over asking for what they already have. Perhaps they have heard some of these passages incorrectly taught and view any stumbles as proof they don't have Christ. The very passages meant to assure are used to damage faith! Yet often, it is the very concern about stumbles and their relationship with God that proves they already have one!
Neither Peter or other Apostolic authors are trying to make the true believers question or doubt their salvation. Quite the opposite. In 1 John 5:13 John says he writes so true believers will “know” they have “eternal life” or salvation. The purpose of these passages is to serve as a contrast between the fakery of self-improvement based religion (yes, even the Mosaic Law) and false teachers vs. the New Covenant Gospel and believers. As Paul says in Corinthians, the “test” is whether “Christ is in you”. That is a synonym for being a partaker of the divine nature.
If you are highly concerned that you might not truly know Christ, then that is a good sign that you do! These folks Peter describes have rejected Christ without a qualm and are dedicated undercover enemies of the cause of Christ and the Gospel. They have no doubts in their unworthy cause. And those who trust in the “church club” and their behavior improvement to “save” them also are not questioning their status, at least not until they come to the end of their own flesh based power to maintain that status.
The bottom line is that Peter, Paul, John and the other Apostolic authors want those who are truly children of God to fully realize what they have and who they are, and grow in that knowledge and belief of the truth. And that is why I write. Once you can wrap your mind around the fact that you are now connected to God's divine nature in such a way that it seeks to and can empower you to have the same love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and contentment as God, it changes everything. Yet, that is what the Gospel promises to God's children. The key is resting in that truth. Just let it happen; stop trying to make it happen. Have faith!
Walking these amazing truths out in “real” life, every day — you must believe you are holy before you will ever truly “act holy”. Faith is required to accept the share in God's nature and faith in that share is required to use it.
As Christ portrays in His parable about the Sower and the Seeds, some true children of God will bear a lot of fruit and some less. But we often get so focused on “bearing fruit” that we come up with our lists of “fake fruit” based on behaviors and become obsessed with checking them off so we can feel better about ourselves and our relationship with God. As we will eventually discuss, the Epistolic behavior lists were never intended to be treated this way. They are not actually fruit anyway!
The results of the fruit of the Spirit will always look like the good behavior lists and will never look like the bad behavior lists; but, the whole point is to walk by the Spirit and bear the fruit of God's nature. The point is not to mimic behavior; it is to be true to our shared Godly nature by having the faith that it will empower all of our attitudes and actions. When we stop trying to do it ourselves with an a obligation mindset, it allows us to rest in what Christ has already done. This is the faith that motivates and empowers good works.
The gift of Christ’s eternal life contains many things. Holiness and righteousness are among them. For reasons we are exploring in these articles, I would rank holiness as the most essential element of Christ's life. It defines His identity and ours. It is this shared identity or nature that makes all the difference. It is what separates and defines “Christianity” from all other belief systems. It is why Christianity is not just another religion. Only the Gospel offers to make you perfect and holy for free. Wow! No wonder we struggle with this truth.
Our share in God's nature leads to “good works”; doing “good works” does not cause or improve our share in God's nature.
Ephesians 2:10 is a related passage for this article. And again, translators, UGHH again. It is amazing how the translation of even simple words can change meaning significantly in scripture. In this case, it is the word “for”. This is the passage that is often translated that our new birth — the new creation — was done “for good works”. However, the word “for” is rarely used to translate this Greek word in other places in scripture — this is always my first clue that this is translator bias. If suddenly translators use a totally different English word, then it is fairly obvious they are trying to make their own interpretation fit.
Let's look at what the Discovery Bible Copywrite 2021 has to say about it:
“1909 epí (a preposition) – properly, on (upon), implying what “fits” given the “apt contact,” building on the verbal idea. 1909 /epí (”upon”) naturally looks to the response (effect) that goes with the envisioned contact, i.e. its apt result (”spin-offs,” effects).” (Emphasis Mine)
Essentially this word “epí” is a connecting preposition showing that one thing causes or “effects” the item that is referenced with it. When it is used, it describes a “cause and effect”. Thus, you must find the catalyst and then what it causes. In this passage, our new creation share in Christ's nature is the catalyst that causes or “effects” good works. “In Christ” comes first; then good works.
What I want to emphasize is this is different from good works being the REASON for our new creation! That is often how this verse is taught. That is a backwards legalistic interpretation. The reason for our new birth is because God loves us and wants us to be whole and complete — holy. This results in good works, but they are a by-product, not the main goal. Here is the verse from a literal translation:
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are his work, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (SLT)
Notice that the literal translation uses the phrase “to good works” rather than “for good works” or “to do good works”. While this is better and more consistent with other uses in the new testament — it still lacks clarification and can still be used by the religious and legalistic to demand their list of “good works”. They can still claim that our purpose is doing the list and push dead works. Yet, that is not quite what Paul is getting at. Let me do my amateur “translation” to show how I see the meaning from the Greek.
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are a product of God’s craftsmanship — created in Christ Jesus; the effect is good works that God pre-appointed as our proper way of living.” (NVV)
Perhaps it is a subtle difference, but I believe Paul's intent is to show the association of how being a new creation means that you are now inclined to do true “good works” — as opposed to fake legalistic ones. Good works are now your default setting! As John would call them — they are your “practice”. (1 John 3:7) This is the result of being “in Christ” and “Christ in you”; having a permanent connection or share in the very nature of God.
No time to fully parse, but this word “practice” has a deep meaning of an “ongoing expression from within”. John uses the same word to contrast those who “practice” sin vs. those who “practice” righteousness. This is the same exact topic as Paul in Romans 6 when he contrasts a “slave” of sin vs. “slave” of righteousness. These are two types of humans, believer vs. unbeliever, and they don't cross over. This does not mean believers never sin, only that sin is a conflict now with your nature. John cannot mean that believers never sin because in 1 John 2:1, he clearly says to believers “if you do sin…” and we know we do.
However, good works fit with who God has made us to be. They are a result of His work in us, not our own efforts to try and do them. (Phil. 2:13) Reflecting on the Greek meaning in Ephesians 2:10, “good works” are the “effect” of us being in Christ, a new creation. For a believer who is walking by the Spirit in faith, these good works just happen. They are the natural impact of “Christ in us” and our share in His nature. That is what Ephesians 2:10 means.
We don't have to try to do them or discipline ourselves to do them — the only spiritual discipline is faith! If you recognize and believe you share in God's nature so that you mentally get out of the way of Him working in you, then your holy nature will reveal itself in truly holy works. You are now a “slave of righteousness” and thus righteousness flows from within you, as long as you don't quench it. Our daily work of rest is renewing our minds with Gospel truth. The objective is not to try hard to do certain things, it is the opposite. We stop trying and start trusting our connection to God.
Good works flow from a believer’s nature just like bad works flow from an unbeliever’s nature. Even if the actual action looks the same.
In the Christian world, we are often quick to agree that sinners (and saints) sin. Often we overly focus on how horrible the world is, and then secondly how horrible the church (or we) are. It’s a wonder that we have any time left to reflect on the gospel! Yet, epistolic scripture clearly portrays that in the same way that sinners sin, believers do good works. It is just as true that believers do good works from their nature as it is that unbelievers sin from their nature. Yet, many who will acknowledge the latter have a great deal of trouble acknowledging the former. No wonder we struggle to have faith! It is often easy to see ourselves as sinners; the battle is to see ourselves as saints. Yet, that is what God calls us once we become His children.
Those who are new creations will do “good works” at one level or another. Just like the parable of the sower, those who legitimately receive the Word (Christ) bear fruit at different levels. Notice that in that parable, and in others, Christ never indicates that those with more fruit are commended differently! The point is that you truly receive the Word (Christ) and get “saved” by becoming a new creation with a Divine share in God's nature. Of course, allowing Christ to bear as much fruit as possible in our lives is good. But that will never happen if we are stressed out about making it happen! A gift should never stress you out; if it does, you are not treating it like a gift.
God's Kingdom is not about earning.
NOTE: Many like to use parables such as the “unjust steward” in Luke 16 to suggest that if we are “faithful in much” then we will be given more “stuff” in God's kingdom. This tries to mix materialism, greed, and earning with the gospel — corrupting the gift. Christ here is talking to Pharisees who are trying to “FORCE” their way into the Kingdom of God by keeping the Law (see verses 15-17). His point is that their greed (among other vices) means they are not truly keeping the Law. Thus, if they cannot even moderate their greed with earthly money, they can never be good enough UNDER THE LAW to be trusted with the Kingdom of God. Ironic that Christ was pointing out their greed — yet some try to use this to turn the Kingdom into a greed motivated place! Wow and sigh.
This is one of many places where Christ shoves the failures of the religious self-righteous in their face to show they have no hope for God's kingdom by their “good works”. He even brings up their tendency to throw their wives into the streets as an example (vs. 18). Yet, they still thought their “law keeping” would get them into God's Kingdom! Christ knew how to demolish the foundation for their self-righteousness — that was His point. To use these examples to guilt or tempt believers with “behavior improvement” to earn more rewards or “better” treatment in Heaven is not the truth. It utterly defiles Christ’s point and is a disgustingly false gospel.
It should be easy to see that having this attitude of motivation by rewards or “stuff” is not a Kingdom of God attitude. Rewards in scripture have been severely twisted but I don't have time to go there now. Whatever rewards are, I guarantee they are not based on our works. And definitely not based on works we do being greedily motivated by getting rewards! That is ludicrous and is a fleshly earthly attitude. Maybe later I will go through parable by parable and show how these always portray a faith path to God's Kingdom.
It has become very clear to me that we so easily overlay and use the flesh to interpret Scripture and harden so many of our beliefs. The idea of rewards for good behavior is just one example. Any deep study of these rewards or even the “crown” passages negates this attitude! We just can't seem to get away from the root fleshly idea that our efforts to be good are worth something! No wonder we struggle to root our living in our connection to God's nature.
I only bring this up because it is a another way I have recently heard Scripture and even the words of Christ being used to weaken the Gospel message. It should just be obvious that God would not have a new covenant Gospel that is all based on Christ and His abilities and then switch around His promises so that some things are based on our abilities. That is never Christ’s intention with anything He ever spoke! God's kingdom simply does not function based on earning. Only God has what we need and only what God provides will please Him.
Well, that is enough for this article. As always, hope it has been food for thought. In the next article, we will discuss the idea of what “good works” actually are. We all have some ideas and things that are obvious, but maybe you have been judging yourself too harshly because your track record doesn't look like the list you have in your head. Maybe that list is wrong! But until next time, walk well in your connection to Christ!