 |  |
"Ye shall be."--When the Lord said, "I will be their God", the sequel was that "they
shall be My people". When He says, "I will be a Father unto you", then the sequel must
be: "And ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
With this double set of promises as basis and incentive, the apostle proceeds to the
application:--
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (II Cor. 7: 1).
#2.
Promises and the divine nature (II Pet. 1: 4).
pp. 61 - 63
Having considered the reference in II Cor. 7: which links this series with the earlier
one dealing with holiness, it will be of service before we go further to turn our attention
to the passage which contains the words chosen for the title of the present series:--
"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us, by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Grace
to you and peace be multiplied by the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Seeing
that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue, through which
He hath given to us the most great and precious promises, that by means of these ye may
become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption which is in the
world by lust" (II Pet. 1: 1-4).
The mere reading of this extract from Peter's second epistle is sufficient to associate it
with the teaching of II Cor. 6: 16 - 7: 1, where the exhortation to "cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness" is based upon the possession of certain promises.
Although Peter speaks of "great and precious promises", one promise, in the working
out of the epistle, is dominant--that of the Lord's second coming.
The first and last references to the promises in II Peter contain the word epaggelma
(II Pet. 1: 4 and 3: 13; the only occurrences of this form). The remainder contain the
words epaggelia and epaggelomai (II Pet. 2: 19, 3: 4 and 9). Let us consider the two
former passages, in which epaggelma occurs:--
"Most great and precious promises, that by these ye may become partakers of the
divine nature; having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust"
(II Pet. 1: 4).
With this opening statement should be compared the following passage from the third
chapter, with which should be read the preceding two verses:--