Most of you who read this, and including myself as the writer, have evangelical roots. Our faith is rooted in Western theological traditions. The title is from 2 Peter 1:4. Here we explore the meaning by starting with the passage.
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 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 1:2–4 (NKJV)
I referenced our evangelical roots as they are distinct from older Eastern Orthodox traditions. They embrace the concept of ‘theosis.’ The word comes from Greek and means deification or becoming ‘godlike.’ The process is described more fully in the article below from my Logos library
Deification. The process of becoming like God, emphasized primarily in Eastern Orthodoxy, as part of Christian salvation and sanctification. The notion of deification (Greek: theosis) finds biblical precedent in 2 Peter 1:4. Some have also seen the concept present in the writings of the apostle Paul (Blackwell 2011, 129). The language of deification was profuse throughout the patristic writings; the concept may even have been taken for granted, as no formal definition was offered until the sixth century (Russell 2004, 1). It is most famously expressed by Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373): “For he was incarnate that we might be made god” (On the Incarnation 54).
The Eastern Orthodox present theosis as a three stage process. Wikipeadia describe it as follows.
- Purgative Way (Katharsis) – purification of mind, body, and soul through repentance, ascetic practices, and moral discipline.
- Illuminative Way (Theoria) – spiritual enlightenment and direct experience of God, often cultivated through prayer, contemplation, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Unitive Way (Theosis Proper) – full participation in God’s divine energies, culminating in sanctity and eternal communion with God, especially realized in the resurrection
I raise this as in recent years more Christians have been moving to Orthodox and similar Roman Catholic beliefs and practices. What is always important to be, no matter who holds or promotes certain beliefs, is whether they align with scripture. To clarify, the teaching on theosis is not that believers become Christ, the Spirit, or the Father but it is that we become ‘godlike.’ To some degree this makes sense in that we receive a new nature at conversion. However, rather than focusing on theosis I will focus on what scripture says and you can decide.
The Greek word that ‘partakers’ is translated from is below.
κοινωνός koinōnos; from 2839; a sharer:—partaker(1), partakers(1), partner(2), partners(2), sharers(4).[1]
If you are familiar with the term koinonia, which we translate as fellowship or communion, you will recognize the similarity because koinonos is the root of koinonia. The idea being that we partake of or participate in something. Peter tells us how we partake in verses 5-7, he says it is through a process of adding virtue (right behaviour to our faith) then knowledge, followed by self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and finally love. Here love is agape, sacrificial other focused love.
Thus, we are told that partaking of the divine nature comes via the knowledge of Jesus, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Now, before we conclude that our growth in our relationship with Jesus is based on our good works. I think we need to shelve that idea. It is based on walking with Him in a deep and meaningful way.
I will explain and encourage you to search the scripture. We are told that we are spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12). At conversion our sprit is born again, we receive Jesus’ nature within (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). As we continue to walk with Jesus and walk through the process Peter described, our soul (mind, will and emotions) begins to be reshaped into Jesus’ image. A process known as sanctification. Which is what Peter says is partaking of the divine nature. We draw closer to Him and begin to know Him in a deeper way. Our minds are renewed as we submit our wills to His as revealed in scripture (Romans 12:1-12).
I think another part of this process, in addition to submitting to scripture, is through spending time with Jesus based on 2 Corinthians 3:18 – beholding Jesus. We do this by simply sitting with Him, by faith beholding Him and worshipping Him.
In doing so we do in fact partake of the divine nature. Not by becoming godlike but by being changed in the presence of a holy God.
[1] Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).
I would say that partaking of the divine nature is more through the very great and precious promises that through the virtues. It is a spiritual impartation.