2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

“world system” because Satan has temporary power in this world. We make daily
decisions whether we will reside in the the divine system or the world system. If we
consistently reside in the divine system by means of the filling of the Spirit, we are
partakers of the divine nature. If we consistently reside in the cosmic system by means of
the sin nature, we are partakers of Satan’s evil nature.
RELEVANT OPINIONS
A divine nature involves a Divine life. This is not a merely sentimental, or even a merely
mystical and transcendental, change; on the contrary, it is a change actual, discernible,
and progressive; a change by which its Divine Author is glorified. (J. Thomson) He has
chosen the term nature because it indicates growth, development, and character. Peter
borrows the term divine nature from the philosophical vocabulary of the Greeks. Greek
philosophers taught that man who is living in a corrupt world of physical pleasure must
become like the gods. They advised their followers to share the divine nature. Peter
resorts to using the same expression. But whereas the philosophers took their point of
departure in man and claimed for him a share in the nature of the gods, Peter views our
sharing of God’s nature in the light of God’s promises … God has called us into the
sphere of His holiness in which we have fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus
Christ. (S. Kistemaker) It is through God’s glory and virtue, through His glorious
attributes and the energetic working of those attributes, that He has granted the promises
... The end of God’s gift is the complete accomplishment of His gracious purpose, but it
is only by continual growth that the Christian attains at length to that accomplishment.
(B. Caffin)
The respects in which man may share the nature of God: This partaking is not in the
natural attributes of Deity, such as omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, which are
incommunicable – but in the moral attributes. Of these may be especially mentioned
holiness, or the disposition and habit of loving and doing all things that are just and pure;
and love, or the disposition and habit of seeking the true and highest well-being of all
whom it is possible to benefit … Man is endowed with a nature capable, through God’s
mercy, of acquiring the moral nature of his Divine Maker and Lord. Constituted as he is,
fashioned in the likeness of God (however that likeness has been marred by sin), man can
under heavenly influences, perceive the excellence of the moral attributes of his God, can
admire and can aspire to them, can resolve and endeavor to participate in and acquire
them … The renewal and purification which are the work of the Holy Spirit of God are
the moral power by which the participation in question is actually accomplished. He
brings the life of the Eternal into our human nature, and pours that life through the whole
being of the believing and grateful disciple of Christ, so that he becomes a new creature
in Christ Jesus. (J. Thomson)
The Word of promise conveys the knowledge of what we may know. From the heights of
this sacred book all things lie beneath us, stretching away like a vast landscape into the
dim horizon beyond which human sight cannot follow. The Word of promise imparts the
faith by which we receive from God. The Word of promise inspires the strength by which
we conquer Satan. (C. New) God becomes a real Being to us in proportion as His own