August 15

"Partakers of the Divine nature."—2 Pet. 1. 4.

HERE is the golden link of union between God and his people, the mysterious ladder by which we ascend to him, the spiritual transformation by which we are made like him. Let us

OFFER SOME CAUTIONS AGAINST THE MISAPPREHENSION OF THIS PASSAGE. The Divine nature believers are here said to be partakers of, is not a participation of the Divine essence, for this is incommunicable to any creature; nor is it a personal union with the Divine nature, as the human nature of Christ. It is the Divine impression of God's holy image on the soul, or a holy principle infused into it. There are excellences in the new nature which would be imperfections in God. Reverence, fear, humility, faith, and obedience, are virtues in a reasonable being; but they cannot belong to the Divine nature of God. There are perfections in God which bear no resemblance to the new nature. To affect a resemblance of God in some of his perfections, such as independence, supremacy, omniscience, and other attributes, would display the greatest arrogance. Though Christians are partakers of the Divine nature, yet there is a great disproportion between the original and the transcript. The image of God is very imperfect in the best Christians in the present state. There is a vast difference between the holiness of God and that of holy angels and glorified saints. This difference is expressed by bold figures. "He charged his angels with folly." Not that there is impurity in heaven; but God is holy in a more perfect sense than ever any creature can be. He is necessarily and essentially so. Saints and angels are perfectly holy, yet their holiness flows not from a necessity of nature, as God's does, but from the will and grace of the Divine Being. The assuming of a new name is very different from partaking of the Divine nature. Christianity would have been a poor system, and not worthy the solemn credentials with which God introduced it into the world, if all its intention had been to separate a people from others by a new name. "He is not a Jew which is one outwardly," Romans 2:28, 29. Many are possessed of good natural qualities, who are not partakers of the Divine nature. Some of the heathen philosophers were so remarkable for their amiable and good dispositions, that hardly any provocation from friend or foe could ruffle their spirit. The natural disposition may be soft and winning, while the heart is hardened in sin, and alienated from the life of God. What will the name and espousal of Christianity avail, without the spirit and nature of Christ?