⁴For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

By what? By the glory and excellence of our Lord, whose power has given to us everything pertaining to life and godliness (vs. 3). What a tremendous foundation for life. Peter continues to unravel the great truths that animate our lives and give us traction for that kind of life God wants for us. He does not leave us with these profound truths to simply meditate on and enjoy (though that is a blessing in itself). But working from the esoteric to the practical, he lays out for us the traction we need for daily living. What God has given us is His promises.

God has made known to us His mind. We must not get sidetracked with our insatiable, self-serving desire to know the specifics about what is coming next in our lives. God’s promises have to do with Him and how He acts in our lives. His promises reflect His character. As we come to know Him better, we know what He is like, how He sees us, and what He thinks about our situations. And so the promises of His character are precious and magnificent because He is precious and magnificent. His promises are His guarantee that He is with us, walking beside us, dwelling in us. His promise is His presence.

The more we walk in the reality of His presence, the more we partake of His divine nature. This, of course, does not mean we become divine as God is divine. He is God and we are not! The word “partakers” can be translated “companions.” In fact, it is related to the familiar term “fellowship” (from the related Greek word koinonia). We fellowship with Jesus at a profound level, sharing in His deity.

We become more Christlike as we embrace and act according to the promises of God. This is faith, where we take God at His word, because we take God for who He is. We fully embrace what the writer of Hebrews said: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). We believe what God says, even when everything around us says something different. This sets us apart from the world.

We can see this truth in relief, from the description of the opposite. Living in the world’s way is to share in its corruption and its lusts. The word “corruption” refers to decay, decomposition like a body in a grave. But God promises a life that is precious and magnificent; and that is to fellowship with the divine.

Lord, that is what I want, to fellowship with You on a truly godly level.