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.
Ver. 4. Exceeding great and precious] Every precious stone hath an egregious virtue in it; so hath every promise. The promises, saith Cardan, are a precious book, every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. The weak Christian cannot open, read, apply it; Christ can, and will for him.
That by these ye might be partakers] As the sun when it applies its beams to a filthy disposed matter, and stays upon it, begins to beget life and motion, and makes a living creature; so do the promises applied to the heart make a new creature. See2 Corinthians 3:6 .
Of the divine nature] That is, of those divine qualities, called elsewhere "the image of God, the life of God," &c., whereby we resemble God, not only as a picture doth a man in outward lineaments, but as the child doth his father in countenance and conditions. It was no absurd speech of him that said, That the high parts that are seen in heroic persons, do plainly show that here is a God. Neither can I here but insert the saying of another, Well may grace be called the divine nature; for as God brings light out of darkness, comfort out of sorrow, riches out of poverty, and glory out of shame; so doth grace turn the dirt of disgrace into gold. As Moses' hand, it turns a serpent into a rod. In fine, to be made partaker of the divine nature, noteth two things, saith a reverend man: 1. A fellowship with God in his holiness; the purity which is eminently and infinitely in God's most holy nature, is formally of secundum modum creaturae, fashioned in us. 2. A fellowship with God in his blessedness, viz. in the beatific vision and brightness of glory. (Dr Reynolds.)