God desires for us to be partakers of the divine nature of God. For us to partake of his divine nature, he has given us four things that we find in this text.
The righteousness of God, v.1.
God’s righteousness is given to us at salvation. See Gal 2:16. Once you have God’s righteousness you obtain like precious faith with us. This is the faith of Christ, by which we live. See Gal 2:20. People talk about their religions as their faith. That’s why the Lord distinguishes the faith of Christ. It is the only faith that will save you and give you God’s righteousness. See 2 Cor 5:21.
The knowledge of God, v.2.
Grace and peace are multiplied to us through the knowledge of God. At first, you don’t know God. You just know his salvation. You are saved by grace and you have peace with God. As you get to know him, you get to know more of his attributes. Grace is our continual necessity. By it we have strength to mitigate every weakness. He gives us peace to overcome all fears in this world of tribulation, Jn 16:33.
The power of God, v.3.
His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Everything we need to live the eternal life we possess and to be godly is provided to us by the power of God.
When Paul preached to the Corinthians, he addressed a problem with the men who had preached to them after him. They were great orators but they had no supernatural power. They just preached with man’s wisdom and with enticing words.
Paul said, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God”, 1 Cor 2:4-5.
Therefore, we are not left to accomplish the work of eternal life by our own efforts, but by the power of God and the Spirit of God. We yield to his righteousness, obey his truth, follow his Spirit, and rely upon his power. He has the power to make us partakers of the divine nature of God.
The promises of God, v.4.
These are exceeding great and precious promises. He has given us many promises. The ones by which we become partakers of the divine nature of God are: Rom 8:29, we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Phil 2:12-13, God is working in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Rom 8:28 all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:37-39 nothing separates us from the love of God. Heb 13:5-6 he will never leave us nor forsake us, thus we can be content. 1 Tim 6:6 godliness with contentment is great gain. Heb 4:16 we can obtain mercy and grace at the throne of grace.
God is a giver and in his image we give. 2 Cor 9:7-8 God loveth a cheerful giver, all grace abound… all sufficiency… all things… abound to every good work. Phil 1:6 he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature of God. It all starts with the righteousness of God. It grows with the knowledge of God. It’s perfected by the power and promises of God.