Chapter 8 -- PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE
Peter wrote that in
the provision of God's power, there has been given "unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness," even "great and precious
promises: that by these [we] might be partakers of the divine nature," and
thus escape "the corruption that is in the world through lust."
1
This participation in
the "divine nature" is referred to as a divine culture that brings
perfection. The servant of the Lord has stated: Divine culture brings
perfection. If in connection with God the work is carried forward, the human
agent, through Christ, will day by day gain victory and honor in the battle.
Through the grace given he will overcome, and will be placed on vantage ground.
In his relation to Christ he will be bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, one
with Christ in a peculiar relationship, because Christ took the humanity of
man. He became subject to temptation, endangering as it were, His divine
attributes. Satan sought, by the constant and curious devices of his cunning,
to make Christ yield to temptation. Man must pass over the ground over which
Christ has passed. As Christ overcame every temptation which Satan brought
against Him, so man is to overcome. And those who strive earnestly to overcome
are brought into a oneness with Christ that the angels in heaven can never know.
The divine culture of
men and women will be carried forward to completion only as they are partakers
of the divine nature. Thus they may overcome as Christ overcame in their
behalf. Through the grace given, fallen man may be placed on vantage
ground. Through toil, through patient trust and faith in Jesus Christ, through
faithful continuance in well-doing, he may rise to spiritual victory.
2
This experience is
also referred to in the Spirit of Prophecy as a science "which is life
unto eternal life." Note these words: Christ was invested with the
right to give immortality. The life that He had laid down in humanity, He now
takes up again, and gives to humanity. "I am come," He said,
"that they might have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly." John 10:10 …
All who are one with
Christ through faith in Him, by the agency of His Holy Spirit, He carries
through the science of that experience,
p 57 -- which is
life unto eternal life ... Christ became one in flesh with humanity, that
humanity might become one in spirit and life with Him. 3
In partaking of the
"divine nature", there is an experience to be realized now by the
believer, which is designated as "life" - real living, and a future
experience - "eternal life", which is to follow. But the very essence
of the future life is to be realized in the presently earthly experience.
"Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the
heart, have everlasting life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in
us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning
of the life eternal." 4 "As through Jesus we enter into
rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and
in thus coming we begin the life eternal." 5
Life eternal begins
now; eternal life follows. One is quality; the other is quantity. Unless it can
be demonstrated that an individual has yielded his life to the Holy Spirit for
the impartation of the "divine nature", God cannot trust that person
with eternal life. A change of character
must precede a change of being.
Paul declared that in
Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
6 Paul also prayed that the believer might "be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man," that Christ might dwell by
faith in the heart, and that he "might be filled with all the fulness of
God." 7 What Christ possessed, we are to have and
experience now even the fullness of the Godhead! It is written: In Christ
dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is why, although He was tempted
in all points like as we are, He stood before the world, from His first
entrance into it, untainted by
p 58 --corruption,
though surrounded by it. Are we not also to become partakers of that fullness,
and is it not thus, and thus only, that we can overcome as He overcame? 8
That fullness that
Christ possessed was the "divine nature" of which we are also to
partake, if we are to overcome as He overcame. Carefully consider the following
concepts: Christ came to be our example, and to make known to us that we
may be partakers of the divine nature ... Christ by His own example, made it
evident that man may stand in integrity. Men may have power to resist evil - a
power that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master; a power that will
place them where they may overcome as Christ overcame. Divinity and humanity
may be combined in them. 9
Scarcely can the human
mind comprehend what is the breadth and depth and height of the spiritual
attainments that can be reached by becoming partakers of the divine
nature. 10
In creation, Christ
gave to humanity an existence outside of Himself. In redemption, He takes
humanity unto Himself. He makes it a part of His own being. We become one with
Him, as He is one with God. The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the only
begotten Son, binds the believer, body, soul, and spirit to the divine-human
nature of Christ. Finite man is united to the manhood of Christ. Through faith
human nature is assimilated to Christ's nature. We are made one with God in
Christ. 11
It is at this point
that we stumble and fall; our faith doesn't even attain to the proverbial grain
of mustard seed; our perception "blacks out." We throw up our hands
in dismay and question - "divine nature" in us? "Divinity and
humanity" combined in man? In order to understand this goal, we must ask
ourselves another question, and understand the answer. What makes God, God? In
answering -this question, we need to reconsider carefully the pre-existence and
incarnation of our Lord. In His pre-Bethlehem identity, He was in the
"form of God". At Bethlehem, He accepted the "form of a
slave", yet He was "the fulness of the Godhead bodily." His
position as God was not lost, though He changed forms. But in the change, He
"veiled the demonstrations of Deity" and
p 59
-- "relinquished" the glories that are inherent in the form of
God. 12 This is evident from the prayer request of John 17. He
asked to be glorified with the very self-identification with God, which He had
possessed "before the world was." 13 Yet when the
Word was made flesh, His disciples saw a glory in Him as "the only
begotten of the Father." 14
What is the difference
between these glories?
As the pre-existent
God, Christ was immortal; as the Son of man, He was mortal . 12
As the One who shared
the Throne of the Universe, He possessed infinite power; as a member of the
human family, He declared, "I can of mine own self do nothing."
15
Yet He possessed a
glory that was the glory of God. That glory was the fullness "of
grace and truth. 14
One was the
"quality" of God; the other the "quantity" of God.
One was the "life
eternal"; the other is "the eternal life."
We might ask the
primal question - "Which of these aspects of God did Lucifer call into
question?" Not the "quantity" of God - His power, His
immortality - for Lucifer desired these. But the character of God, the
"quality" of God, the devil did not want.
The great controversy
concerns the law of God, which is but a transcript of God's character - not a
transcript of the "form of God." This
differentiation must be clearly understood.
God's character is as
much a revelation of Himself as in His form. Only as His character is the
essence of truth and righteousness could He use the powers inherent in His form
for the welfare of His creation.
When Christ
relinquished "the form of God" and took "the form of a
slave" to save men, "He brought into His human nature all the
life-giving energies that human beings will need and must receive."
12 With these "life-giving energies" He demonstrated that
fallen human nature was no excuse for sinning, that the law
p 60 -- of God
can be kept by man.
"It is through
His intercession that we, through faith, repentance, and conversion, are
enabled to become partakers of the divine nature, and thus escape the
corruption that is in the world through lust." 16
For its accomplishment
in us, Christ has obtained the highest of all gifts that heaven can bestow -
the Holy Spirit. This Gift "would come with no modified energy, but in the
fulness of divine power ... Through the Spirit, the believer becomes a partaker
of the divine nature." 17 The Holy Spirit takes the things of
Christ - "the life-giving energies" - and ministers these to the
repentant believer. 18 In this Christ is glorified, for
in the acceptance of these life-giving energies, man is enabled to reflect the
image of Jesus fully, and thus the purpose of Jesus' mission is realized. What
then are these life-giving energies - these energies solely of heavenly origin
- by which man may possess the "divine nature.
Truth -- One of
the glories which the disciples beheld when the Word was made flesh, was truth.
14 This was the basic issue of the conflict which began in
heaven. Lucifer did not want to abide in the truth. 19 But truth is
essential that man might be freed from the bondage of sin. Of truth as an
energy solely of divine origin, it is written: Truth is sacred, divine. It is
stronger and more powerful than anything else in the formation of a character
after the likeness of Christ.... When it is cherished in the heart the love of
Christ is preferred to the love of any human being. This is Christianity. This
is the love of God in the soul. Thus pure, unadulterated truth occupies the
citadel of the being. 20
No man can of himself
originate truth. It is divine. It is a part of the fullness of the Godhead.
When man, therefore, accepts truth, he is
p 61 -- partaking
of the "divine nature". "All truth is to be received as the life
of Jesus. Truth cleanses us from all impurity, and prepares the soul for
Christ's presence. Christ is formed within, the hope of glory.
21
Truth and our
relationship to it is the basis for the message of righteousness by faith.
Speaking of those who did not accept the message of 1888 which came to the
Seventh-day Adventist church, the servant of the Lord indicated that the reason
was they were "not willing to exchange their own righteousness, which is
unrighteousness, for the righteousness of Christ, which is
pure, unadulterated truth." 22
Even the disciples of
Christ did not comprehend the truths which Christ taught during His years of
earthly ministry. They failed thus to partake of His life, and manifest His
character. They were weak and vacillating, doubting and perplexed. But when the
Holy Spirit came upon them, truth dominated their life and experience. Of this
transformation, it is written:
Christ was the revealer of
truth to the world. By Him the incorruptible seed - the word of God - was sown
in the hearts of men. But many of the most precious lessons of the great
Teacher were spoken to those who did not then understand them. When, after His
ascension, the Holy Spirit brought His teachings to the remembrance of the
disciples, their slumbering senses awoke. The meaning of these truths flashed
upon their minds as a new revelation, and truth, pure and unadulterated, made a
place for itself. Then the wonderful experience of His life became theirs.
23
The Holy Spirit is the
minister of the divine energy of truth. Jesus had promised that when "the
Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth." 24
This is possible because "the Holy Spirit ... is the truth." 25
"The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of
Christ." 26 It is the impartation of "His
fulness," 27 "the soul of His
life" 28 - those very "life-giving energies"
that man must have and must receive, if he is to experience the
p 62 -- divine
culture that brings perfection.
John the Baptist
promised that Christ would baptize the believer "with the Holy Ghost and
with fire." 29 In this hour when much excitement is
being generated by folk who claim to have received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, one is hesitant to confess that he has indeed been baptized by the Holy
Spirit and fire, as has been promised in the Word of God. This hesitancy
results from the fact that we do not understand what this experience really is.
In the prophecy of Zechariah, the experience is described in the symbolism of
the two olive trees which empty themselves of the golden oil through two golden
pipes. 30 This oil is defined as "the Word of the
Lord." This is declared to be "the baptism by the Holy Spirit with
fire." 31 "The word of God - the truth - is the
channel through which the Lord manifests His Spirit and power."
32 If then, the powerful energy of truth has filled one's life, he
has been baptized by the Holy Spirit with fire. When the Day of Pentecost came,
the Spirit symbolized by tongues of fire, representing the organ of
articulation, awakened the slumbering senses of the recipient, not only
permitting truth to find its way into his life, but also enabling him to speak
truth that pierced the stubborn hearts of the murderers of Christ, and lifted
the darkness from their minds. 33
Jeremiah the prophet
had received much abuse because he had spoken unflinchingly the word of the
Lord to disobedient Israel. The burden had become so heavy that he decided the
best course to follow was to keep his mouth shut and say nothing more. This he
could not do for the word of God - the truth - according to his own testimony,
"was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary
with forebearing, and I could not stay." 34 This is the
baptism by fire so needed today, and can only become real, when men and
p 63 -- women
open their hearts to the life-giving energy of truth, which Christ wants to
impart in unlimited power through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus declared,
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
35 In the transforming power of truth, by which the divine
nature is brought to us, there are those who would make this experience almost
akin to a surgical heart transplant. They would have us believe that there must
be an eradication of what is
termed the "stoney heart", and an implantation of a "new
heart." But this life-giving energy of truth restores the powers of the
mind by removing the darkness which sin has brought. Of this experience it is
stated: The truths of the Word of God are the utterances of the Most
High. He who makes these truths a part of his life becomes in every sense a new
creature. He is not given new mental powers, but the darkness that through
ignorance and sin has clouded the understanding, is removed. The words, "A
new heart also will I give you," means, "A new mind will I give
you." A change of heart is always attended by a clear conviction of
Christian duty, an understanding of truth. He who gives the Scriptures close,
prayerful attention will gain clear comprehension and sound judgment, as if in
turning to God he had reached a higher plane of
intelligence. 36 Truth does not destroy or eradicate the
mind by which eternal decisions must be made, but it restores the mind to its
original capacity to discern the deceptive temptations of the enemy so that the
trauma of Eden need not be repeated.
Grace -- Along
with truth, the disciples beheld the fullness of the grace of God manifest in
the Word made flesh. 14 This grace was not a passive energy, but
rather active. Paul declared:
For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world. 37
p 64 -- God's
grace is not something by which He winks at man's transgressions, but His grace
teaches us that we should deny ungodliness and lusts which war against the
soul. That this may be accomplished in us, we must accept the promises of the
powerful energies heaven has provided whereby we can escape the corruption that
is in the world through lust. The grace which Christ implants in the soul
through the Holy Spirit does something specific for the recipient. The Spirit
of Prophecy states: It is the grace that
Christ implants in the soul which creates in man enmity against Satan. Without
this converting grace and renewing power, man would continue the captive of
Satan, a servant ever ready to do his bidding. But the new principle in the
soul creates conflict where hitherto had been peace. The power which Christ
imparts, enables man to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whoever is seen to abhor
sin instead of loving it, whoever resists and conquers those passions that have
held sway within, displays the operation of a principle wholly from above.
38
Grace does have a
negative aspect. It creates hatred of, an abhorrence for, and an enmity against
sin. This enmity is supernatural , wholly of divine origin. In this it reflects
the very nature of Jesus. Of Him it is written, "Thou has loved righteousness,
and hated iniquity." 39
When Christ became an
inhabitant of this earth, this enmity reached its highest degree of
development. "Never before had there been a being upon the earth who hated
sin with so perfect a hatred as did Christ. He had 'seen its deceiving,
infatuating power upon the holy angels, and all His powers were enlisted
against it." 40
Genuine grace was the
means of God's direct intervention in the fall of man to offset the advantage
obtained by the enemy. Had not God intervened, man would have formed a firm
alliance with Satan against heaven. "In the statement, 'I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,' God pledged
Himself to introduce into the hearts of human beings a new principle, - a
hatred of sin, of deception, or pretense, of everything that
p 65 -- bears the
marks of Satan's guile. 41
We hear much today
about how easy it is to be a Christian; just believe and the grace of God will
do all that needs to be done. But the implantation of the true grace of God in
the soul - hatred of sin - is the beginning of a life-long struggle marked by
tedious battles and severe, bitter contests.
It is written: The
evil tendencies of mankind are hard to overcome. The battles are tedious. Every
soul in the strife knows how severe, how bitter, are these contests. Everything
about growth in grace is difficult, because the standard and maxims of the world
are constantly interposed between the soul and God's holy standard. The Lord
would have us elevated, ennobled, purified, by carrying out the principles
underlying His great moral standard, which will test every character in the
great day of final reckoning. 42
Love -- Truth
brings love, even the love of God. 20 The Bible declares that God
is love. 43 It is His very nature. This love was revealed in
the life of Christ. "In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law
of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love
which 'seeketh not her own' has its source in the heart of God."
44 The love which Christ manifested in His life is now to be
implanted in the hearts of the believer "by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us." 45
This genuine love,
however, is not a love-sick sentimentalism which indulges sin, or the sinner.
It is written: True love seeks first the honor of God and the salvation
of souls. Those who have this love will not evade the truth to save themselves from
the unpleasant results of plain speaking. When souls are in peril, God's
ministers will not consider self, but will speak the word given them to speak,
refusing to excuse or palliate evil. 46
Christ's heart
"overflowed with love for the whole human race, but He was
p 66 -- never
indulgent to their sins. He was too much their friend to remain silent while
they were pursuing a course that would ruin their souls, - the souls He had
purchased with His own blood. He labored that man should be true to himself,
true to his higher and eternal interest." 47
Summary --
48 Only through the impartation of the life-giving energies - the
divine nature - can one realize the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
To be baptized by the
Holy Spirit with fire - which is the truth as it is in Jesus; to be
impregnated with supernatural enmity against sin - which is the grace which
Christ implants; and to be imbued with the self-renouncing love which
leads one to seek first the honor of God and the salvation of souls, is to
be possessed with a power that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master.
Divinity and humanity is thus combined in such an one.
1 II
Peter 1:3-4
2
Ellen G. White, Letter 5, 1900 (7BC:926)
3
Ellen G. White, Ms. 131, 1897, Andreasen Collection #2
4 Ellen
G. White, The Desire of Ages, p.
388
5 Ibid., p. 331
6
Colossians 2:9
7
Ephesians 3:14-21
8 Ellen
G. White, Ms. 16, 1890 (7BC:907)
9
Ellen G. White, Review &
Herald Feb. 18, 1890
10 Ellen G.
White, Letter 43, 1895 (7BC:943)
11 Ellen G.
White, "The Word Made Flesh", Andreasen Collection #2
12 Ellen G.
White, Review & Herald,
June 15, 1905 (5BC:1126)
13 John 17:5
14 John 1:14
15 John
5:30
16 Ellen G.
White, Ms. 29, 1906
17 Ellen G.
White, The Desire of Ages,
p. 671
18 John
16:14-15
19 John 8:44
20 EIlen G.
White, In Heavenly Places,
p. 140
p 67 --
21 Ellen G.
White, Ms. 103, 1902 (7BC:957)
22 Ellen G.
White, Testimonies to Ministers, p.
65
23 Ellen G.
White, The Acts of the Apostles, p.
520
24 john 16:13
25 Ellen G.
White, Testimonies to Ministers,
p. 122
26 Ellen G.
White, The Desire of Ages,
p. 805
27 Ellen G.
White, Education, p. 95
28 Ellen G.
White, Our High Calling, p.
150
29 Luke 3:16
30 Zechariah
4:11-14
31 Ellen G.
White, Ms. 109, 1897 (4BC:1180)
32 Ellen G.
White, The Acts of the Apostles,
p. 520
33 Acts
2:3-4, 36-37
34 Jeremiah 20:9
35 John 8:32
36 Ellen G.
White, Review & Herald December
18, 1913
37 Titus 2:11-12
38 Ellen G.
White, The Great Controversy,
p. 506
39 Hebrews 1:9
40 Ellen G.
White, Selected Messages,
bk i, p. 254
41 Ellen G.
White, Special Testimonies, Series
B, No. 2, p. 6
42 Ellen G.
White, The Faith I Live By,
p. 135
43 1 John 4:16
44 EIlen G.
White, The Desire of Ages,
p. 20
45 Romans 5:5
46 Ellen G.
White, Prophets and Kings,
p. 141
47 Ellen G.
White, The Desire of Ages,
p. 356
48 See Appendix
B
In the Form of a
Slave
Php 2:7 But made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (KJV)
But Himself He made
void a form of a slave taking Philippians 2:7 (Translated from Greek)
Php 2:7 But emptied
Himself, taking the form of a slave… (LITV)
William H. Grotheer
January, 1974
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