What does 'partakers of the divine nature' mean in 2 Peter 1:4? Do Christians become gods?

Question

Whosoever Will · Accepted Answer

Whosoever Will, The Man Who Forgot He Was Clean: Now, this phrase has been abused, so let me be plain about what it does not mean. It does not mean you become God. It does not mean you become a god, or a spark of divinity, or that you had the divine nature buried in you all along and just needed to uncover it. Some traditions have pushed it exactly that far, and the text will not carry the weight. Peter is not describing deification into godhood. Watch how the verse defines itself: partaking of the divine nature is immediately explained as having escaped the corruption that is in the world. The divine nature you come to share is moral. God's holiness, God's character, God's uncorrupted life, flowing into a creature who was rotting, and beginning to make that creature clean and alive from the inside. That is the real marvel, and it is bigger than the counterfeit. You do not become God. You become, for the first time, the kind of creature God made you to be, with His own life and character running through you, His holiness becoming yours, His love becoming the thing you are made of. That is union with Christ. You are hidden in Him, and His nature is becoming yours. And it is a gift, given through His promises, before Peter asks you to do a single thing. Scripture, King James Version: 2 Peter 1:4, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.".

What does 'partakers of the divine nature' mean in 2 Peter 1:4? Do Christians become gods?

Go deeper

Share this answer