RELYING ON THE PROMISES OF CHRIST
2 Pet. 1:4
Morning Meditation 5/3/16
Peter says, “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.”
John Stott said, “Humble, confident Christian reliance on Christ as our foundation, however, is reliance on his word as well as on his work, that is to say, on the unbreakable promises which he addresses to those who trust in him.” (John Stott, Life In Christ by Baker, p. 27.).
One of the primary and great lessons, probably one of the most important, is that God has incarnated himself in the person of Christ, paid the penalty of our sins on the cross, ascended to his present mediatorial throne and left us with promises that he will never break. God is incarnated in his promises. Jesus said, “...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
The word “Whereby”is the translation of two Greek words. “Dia” which means “through,” and “hos” which means “who, which, what, that.” At this point the Linguistic Key comments and says it means “through which things.” It goes on to say, “The antecedent of the relative pronoun would be the words ‘glory and virtue’ (Bigg).” The “divine power” and the “glory and virtue” join together in being the source of the Divine promises.
We are talking about relying on the promises. Are we to rely on the promises? Well, lets go a step further. The words “are given” (doreomai) come from a word that means “to present or to bestow.” It is also a perfect passive indicative verb. The perfect tense means that the action of giving was completed in the past with the result that it remains given at the present time. The passive voice means that the subjects who are receiving this action is “unto us.” Peter includes himself and those to whom he addresses this epistle. This is an act of God totally independent of man’s response. We have promises. They were given in the past. They remain promises for the present. The question is, “Are we using them?” We should live relying on the promises.
The words “unto us” describe to whom these promises are given. Verse 1 describes those to whom these promises are given: “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” Obviously this describes all born again believers. It is not just a promise to those in local churches. It is a promise to all the saints of God. The reason I say this is because I know some who interpret even these general epistles as “Church Epistles” and claim all the promises of God are to “saved people in the church” and they usually preach a “Baptist Bride.” The word “to them that have obtained like precious faith” should settle that issue. But issues are never settled for those who read their prejudices and private interpretations into the Scriptures.
The words “great and precious promises” identify what has been given to those who have “obtained like precious faith.” The words “exceeding great” (megistos) mean “greatest, very great.” It is the superlative of the word “megas.” We get our English word “mega” from this word. We combine it in the word’s mega dose, magnate, magnitude and magnifica.” The word “precious” (timios) means “to be held in honor, of a great price, especially dear.” Peter is emotionally involved in this description. It is like a man in love proposing marriage. He is on his knees and thinks nothing that others see him. He says, “I love you. Will you marry me?” Peter is married to these promises. You had better be careful how you talk on this subject. You will have Peter to deal with. Because to him they are exceeding great and precious.
No man holds these promises precious who carelessly changes the meaning in modern translations. We do not have the right to make one change. No one honors God when he endorses the mistakes of a translator. These are “exceeding great and precious promises.”
The words “that by these” is a plural. It only takes a single promise for an unsaved man to be saved. This is not a verse aimed at the conversion of the lost. It is a statement to encourage the saved and to remind them of the intent of the promises left us. The words “ye might be”(ginomai) translate one word meaning “to become, i.e., to come into existence, begin to be.” It is a verb and is a aorist middle subjunctive. The subjunctive mood means it is possible but hasn’t taken place yet. The middle voice is where the subject acts and participates in the result of the action. That means we must take and act on the promises and as we do we will benefit from the result of that action taken. The aorist tense refers to the point of time in which this will take place. Has God ever shown you a promise like you had never seen it before? It may have been in a church service, it may have been in a camp meeting or it could have been reading a book. But at that point of time (aorist tense) you believed the promise and you immediately partook of the result of that act of faith. God and you were joined in a fellowship.
The words “partakers of the divine nature” describe the experiences of the soul of him who lays hold of these promises by faith. The word “partakers” (koinonos) means “a partner, associate, comrade, companion.” It comes from a word that means “to have something in common with.” We have absolutely nothing in common with God in what we are by nature. When God saves us he creates in us a nature after his own likeness (Eph. 4:24). That new nature is who we really are after we are saved. We are no longer the adamic man even though we still live in a body that has in it an old sin nature. But the new nature does have something in common with God. And it is through these promises that we “partake of the divine nature.” The word “partake” means “to become partners with, to be associated with, to be companions with.” These words describe fellowship: First John 1:3 “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The words “divine nature” translate two words. The one refers to deity (theios) the other (phusis) refers “to nature, the nature of things, the force, laws, order of nature.” Peter is describing the way we come into fellowship and partnership with the very nature of God. It is not through the physical forms of worship. It is through faith that takes a promise and counts it as real and sees the God who made the promise through the promise and fellowships in the Spirit with that God as thought he were in fellowship with a visible person. Paul says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ...” (2 Cor. 4:18).
