Title: Faith (2 Peter 1:3-11)
Contents
Faith (2 Peter 1:3-11)
1. to start
Indian hero Mahatma Gandhi came across the Bible while studying in England. He said that he was deeply moved by seeing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount while reading. However, as he saw the British conquering their country, establishing a colonial government and plundering them, he said, "I respect Christ, but I despise Christians." Today, our Korean churches and believers are hearing this from outside. Recognizing that we are in the midst of it, we must become the protagonists who renew the judgment of these outsiders.
Moreover, we are about to enter the new temple. We have to look more closely at ourselves and prepare to go in so that outsiders don't hear, 'It's bullshit that they only build a nice building and act.'
So, over the course of a few weeks, I would like to learn a lesson by dealing with the “divine character theory” given in Peter’s epistles.
2. The divine nature is the work of the Holy Spirit
First, we must know that the divine nature is not something we can educate and nurture ourselves. Then none of us will succeed in attaining the divine nature. Literally, the divine comes from the divine. So, we need to pay attention to the words in verse 3 of the main text.
3 By his marvelous power he has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his glory and virtue.
Through faith in God, we come to know the one who called us, and he has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness with a miraculous power. We are new creatures who have received the Holy Spirit primarily through faith in Christ Jesus. Now, the Holy Spirit is working in us to build up the divine character. The hope for the divine nature lies before us in God. It is the plan and hope of the Holy Spirit who has come into us. We have to make sure of this first.
We forget this fact and live according to the body as we were before. Our hope is to go to church well, to receive blessings while we live in this world, and to go to heaven when we die. But the Lord's hope is that we also want to live as His children in the world. So, after reading the Lord's heart, Paul emphasized to the saints, "Walk as children of light." In today's text, Peter is described as "a sharer in the divine nature."
He refuses to exhort the divine nature, saying that a common saying is, 'A man is, after all, a man!' In other words, it is a renunciation that humans cannot go beyond their animal instincts. It's not like that. Unlike animals, humans are created in the image of God. It was only because of sin that his image was distorted. As new creations in Christ, we have the grace to restore our fully divine nature. Such a grace is called a “great promise” in the text, and it is clear that in the promise of grace we can build a divine character in us. So Peter said:
He who does not have these things is blind, and he cannot see far and has forgotten that his old sins have been cleansed.
3. The basis of the divine nature is faith
As the apostle Peter said, if we forget that our old sins have been cleansed, we become blind and cannot participate in the divine nature. Divine character begins with the assurance of forgiveness. That is, the assurance of “I am a child of God”. Without becoming a child of God, no one can build a divine character. There are three elements of faith.
The first is creativity. It is the belief that the universe and all things are God's creations. Creation faith is an eye that allows us to see that there is an eternal refuge beyond the present world. Because of this, the holy leeway that is not captivated by the material world enables us to transform our character into the character of God.
The second is the atoning faith. It is the belief that the human nature, distorted by sin and ruined by the contamination of sin, was atoned for by the blood of Christ Jesus and became a new creation. Belief that we have become a new creation is our hope and possibility to renew our character.
The third is Adventism. The Lord who was killed for our sins, but was resurrected, will come again as promised. The Second Coming Jesus will be the Judge. The apocalyptic belief in the return of Jesus makes us nervous. Apocalyptic beliefs will help us build our divine character with a sense of divine tension.
4. Concluding
Now let us participate in the divine nature of God. Doctrinal divides the disposition of God into communal and non-communal attributes. In other words, there are attributes that God and humans can share. The reason is that we still have the original purpose of being made in the image of God. Jesus also said, “Come and learn from me, for my heart is meek and lowly.” When we build the character of God in the place of our lives, that place will soon become the kingdom of God. Outsiders will feel and affirm God through our character. Only then will we become God in the midst of the world in the image of God. The word of Jehovah God when he sent Moses to Egypt will be fulfilled - “I will make you a God to Pharaoh” (Exodus 7:1).