Read
Partaking of the Divine Nature
Eternal life has always been appealing to humanity. The allure of shedding human frailty in exchange for everlasting life is nothing but natural for beings that wane with time. In ancient Greek mythology, it was not uncommon for the Greeks to speak of mortal man becoming god-like. In fact, this was an aspiration of many within Greek culture – a process known as “apotheosis.” Within this process, through contributions to humanity during their earthly life or perhaps through other means, the Greeks believed a mortal could become a partaker in godhood. This was, in their mind, one of the highest honors one could achieve. Through apotheosis, a mere mortal could rise from nothing to something – from humanity to eternal deity.
Christianity presents a similar idea (2 Peter 1:4), but makes a distinction between ancient religious pursuits of apotheosis and God’s purpose of human participation in deity. While ancient Grecian religion presents godhood as something only attainable to the heroic and powerful, God presents the divine nature as a gift to all humanity. What makes this even more astounding is the means by which God gave this gift. In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul explains:
“Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:5b-8, NIV).
Almost as if deity was something that was compulsory for God to share, Paul presents the truth of Jesus’ own self-deprivation of deity for the sake of our own exaltation. Furthermore, the means of crucifixion being the course through which this gift was offered was something that Jesus willingly suffered – all for our participation in the divine nature.
To the Greek, this idea was nothing but astonishing. God willingly taking on humanity and suffering at the hands of Roman crucifixion so that man could become like Him – what a story! No doubt this simple truth excited the hearts of those whose concept of deity was only attainable to the heroic and powerful of the day.
Today, this truth still rings true. God has partaken of our likeness that we might partake of His. What an exciting truth this is! However, the question I keep coming back to is this – is partaking of the divine nature something I want?
I’ll come back to that question in a moment, but to answer it, one must first understand what the divine nature is. Biblically speaking, we aren’t talking about man attaining God-like supreme power and authority, but rather something deeper. To attain God’s divine nature includes attaining His characteristics, qualities, and eternal nature. Attaining the divine nature entails spiritual implications of the present and future. It is both something we strive for on earth in holiness and godliness, and something we hope for in eternity.
Partaking of God’s divine nature then, requires work. It requires coming to know Him and what He is like. We must work to understand Him on a deeper, more fundamental level. In doing so, we are renewed. Paul gives us insight into this knowledge and its effect on our lives when he says to the Colossians, “you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col. 3:9-10). Peter emphasizes this concept all throughout 2 Peter as well:
- “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (1:3).
- “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:8).
- “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18).
The emphasis Scripture places on the renewing power of coming to know Jesus is clear. It is through this knowledge that we come one step closer to fully partaking of the divine nature.
Now, back to the original question – is this something that I want? Obviously, only you and I can answer that question for ourselves. But before we answer, we must first consider the implication that partaking of the divine nature means renewal and change. We must be able to answer whether or not we want to put forth the effort to come to know His true nature and allow that knowledge to renew us.
Partaking of the divine nature is not osmosis. It takes work, and that work will ultimately produce a renewal within us. May we find the strength to pursue His nature and seek the changes that follow. In the end, we will attain something much more than our ancient predecessors aspired towards - a holy and incorruptible divine nature.
