The verses below have much to teach us and I will not try to capture all of it in this post. There is however a key aspect that I will highlight – partaking.
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:3-4 (NKJV)
Given the word knowledge refers to an experiential rather than theoretical knowledge, let’s look at how it connects to the rest of the passage. We know from verse 3 that everything we need to live a godly life is rooted in knowing Jesus and the Father. So, read it this way. ‘The Father’s divine power has imparted to us all we need to live a godly life. It comes from knowing Him.’ We are called to share in or partake of the divine nature.
So consider the ‘partaking’ process. When I get up in the morning I partake of breakfast. I ingest physical food for my physical body. When I simply sit with and experience Jesus I partake of His divine nature. Think of what Jesus said regarding the experience with the woman from Samaria.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” John 4:31-32 (NKJV)
In context, Jesus had just told the Samaritan woman who came to the well to draw water that He could give her ‘living ‘water.’ He was referring to drinking of the Holy Spirit. In verses 31-32 Jesus was obliquely telling His disciples that His encounter with the woman at the well and her response to Him had fed His spirit.
In the church context we can feed our spirit on His word and worship but we can also feed it via direct experience with the Holy Spirit.
48 “I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” John 6:48-57 (NKJV)
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John
6:63 (NKJV)
67 Then Jesus said to the
twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know
that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” John 6:67-69 (NKJV)
Those in the church who believe that the communion elements magically become the body and blood of Jesus are missing the point of what Jesus taught. The early Quakers were a true spiritual movement and they didn’t practice communion using physical elements, not that we can’t. They believed the elements represented a spiritual reality and so practiced receiving in their spirits from the Holy Spirit by sitting with Him and seeking to receive.
Perhaps you have tried sitting before Him and encountering Him in your spirit and it seemed like nothing happened. Fine, try again. Embrace this saying, ‘The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running.’ As I write this I have just returned from a long walk with my wife. For me those are times of conversation and also reflective times and times of encounter with Jesus.
At times during the walk I found myself thinking about the Trinity, at other times quietly singing a worship song under my breath and at other times quietly worshipping in tongues or interceding for people. In the process I was both feeding my spirit and releasing what has been sown into it. This is a regular experience for me. This particular one took place on the beach but it regularly happens hiking in the mountains or walking the dog. My heart is drawn to worship and interact with Jesus. Prior to my retirement from fulltime work I also had these experiences at times while working. We can interact on two levels.
This fruit I currently experience has long been a regular experience and is paired with long seasons of sowing. At the same time, in the beach walk I referenced above there were other factors that could distract. I have very painful plantar fasciitis in one heel and torn cartilage in my other knee (I often feel two pieces of cartilage moving around and at times they jam between the bones, it isn’t enjoyable). Yet, for the most part during this walk and regularly, I am only tangentially aware of these things because my heart is drawn into communion with Him and that is my focus.
So, pursue communion with the one who is spirit and life and enjoy the journey of obeying Peter’s injunction, “be partakers of the divine nature.”
