2 Peter 1:4

2 Peter 1:4. Whereby he has gifted us. The verb is to be put thus, as already in 2 Peter 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. 2 Peter 3:13. The term ‘promise,' however, means at times not the verbal promise itself, but its fulfilment (comp. Luke 24:49; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 10:36; Hebrews 11:13; Hebrews 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. 2 Peter 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 God's engagements, namely, the Advent of Messiah (comp. Luke 1:67-75), and the gift of the Spirit (which is described as ‘the promise of the Father,' Acts 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; 2 Peter 1:19; 2 Peter 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 profound ‘partakers 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. James 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' (Ephesians 4:24; comp. also John 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; 2 Peter 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; 2 Peter 2:19; for the idea comp. also 1 Peter 1:4; 1Pe 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Peter 3:4). Outside this Epistle it is used only by Paul (Romans 8:21; 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Galatians 6:8; Colossians 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 1 Peter 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 corruptionin the worldin lust and the Divine nature.