This morning’s sermon from 2 Pet 1:3-9 continued the theme begun in our Bible studies about how it is God’s life within us which overcomes the world (see 1 John 5:4-5). As Paul says elsewhere (2 Cor 5:14-21), we are new creations in Christ Jesus and whatever our biological or natural DNA (where our old nature is tainted by Adam’s sin, as Paul makes clear in Rom 5:12), He has made Christ who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. As a result, He is offering us His own nature, allowing us to be stamped with that divine nature and transformed from the inside out so that we have everything we need to live a godly life, to escape the corruption of the world and to overcome the world by our faith in Him.
God’s nature involves all the attributes which make Him who He is. He is omniscient; He knows everything. (Ps 139:1-6; Job 42:2; Acts 2:23; 1 Tim 1:17) He is omnipotent, all-powerful. (Gen 17:1; 35:11; Rom 13:1; 1 Tim 6:15; Rev 19:6) He is omnipresent – everywhere at once, not restricted to time or space. (Mk 5:10; Jude 6; Rev 20:1-3; 1 Ki 8:27; 2 Chron 2:6; 6:18; Isa 66:1; Acts 7:49; 17:27-28; Ps 139:7-13) He does not change (Mal 3:6) and although He is invisible (Ex 33:20; 1 John 4:12; Col 1:15, 1 Tim 6:16), He chooses to reveal Himself to us (chiefly through Jesus, see John 1:18) so that we know many things about His character. God is love (1 John 4:4, 8), merciful and compassionate (Ps 103:8), good (Rom 2:4, Ps 119:68). holy and righteous (1 Pet 1:16, Job 37:17, Ps 129:4) God is just and always does the right thing. (Is 45:21, Gen 18:25) We can depend on His faithfulness, for Paul reminds us that ‘if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.’ (2 Tim 2:13)
As we grow spiritually, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) is manifested in our lives, reflecting God’s nature. The list of qualities in 2 Pet 1:5-7 also reflects what God is like, but we do not ‘buy’ these qualities from a shop or strive to become ‘good’ in our own strength. Instead, we enter into partnership with God, whereby we receive by faith all that He gives us and all He requires from us is our trust and obedience. When we believe in Christ, a divine exchange takes place. Our natural DNA is replaced, so to speak, with God’s DNA. ‘Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God.’ (2 Pet 1:3, The Message) John reminds us ‘If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.’ (1 John 4:15-16) As we allow God to live within us, His life flows through our veins and He is able to shape the kind of people we are and the kind of people we become, not limited by our own imperfections or weaknesses, but shaped by His divine nature.