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Having worked in and consulted with various businesses, I know there are a variety of configurations of businesses that people will choose for different reasons—there are S-corps and LLCs, and there are several types of partnerships.
The two most basic partnership arrangements are a general partnership and a limited partnership. In a general partnership, all of the partners share equally in the risk and the reward, and all partners have a say in how the business is run. Typically, partners with more shares of stock have more “voting power” in making decisions, and they will usually benefit more if the company is successful.
In a limited partnership, one general partner manages all the decisions, with the limited partners being merely passive investors. The limited partners can invest as much or as little as they feel comfortable doing, but they don’t have a say on how the business is run. If the general partner is a savvy operator, everyone will be rewarded handsomely; if the general partner isn’t quite as successful as others had hoped, the limited partners’ losses are limited to only as much as they invested.
Although these types of business relationships didn’t have these names in the time Peter was writing, he used language that would be very familiar with today’s business attorneys when he wrote that we “may participate in the divine nature.” Participate literally means partnership—it’s the same word Peter knew for his partners in his fishing business (Luke 5:9-10).
(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)
I believe Peter would call our partnership with Jesus a spiritual limited partnership, with Jesus as the General Partner. He is the One who makes the decisions and calls the shots.
But what about us as “limited partners”? What investment can we make to this partnership? Only what Jesus has already given us. We saw this last week—HIS divine power has GIVEN US everything we need for life and godliness (see 2 Peter 1:3-4).
This is unheard of in today’s partnerships! The General Partner is giving the limited partners everything they need to invest in the partnership, and then He is allowing the limited partners to reap all of the rewards of His work (see Matthew 19:29)!
Last week we said Jesus did the work so that we could do the work. We could modify this to say, Jesus gave us everything we need to reap the rewards of this partnership.
The amazing benefit of this partnership is stated in the next verse: He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature (v. 4).
Look at some blessings…
- recipients of the Holy Spirit—Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 1:13
- heirs of His Kingdom—Galatians 3:29
- eternal life—Titus 1:2; 1 John 2:25
- a perfect Mediator—Hebrews 9:15 AMPC
- power to access every single promise in His Word—2 Corinthians 1:20
Peter says we are participating in His divine nature. Literally, Theios physis. The NLT says, “the promises that enable you to participate in the divine nature.”
In his first letter, Peter quoted Leviticus, when God said, “Be holy, because I am holy” (see Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:15-16). Investing in this divine partnership releases to us the promises that empower us to participate—to be a partner in—God’s perfect holiness!
Our participation in this divine partnership allows us to “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (v. 4b). The word participate or partnership can be used negatively (1 Corinthians 10:18-21). But Peter uses it positively. Prior to salvation our desires aligned with demonic desires, but now a new and infinitely superior power is at work in us. This power changes our desires from temporal things to eternal things (Galatians 5:17 NLT).
Jesus told a story of a master who gave money to his to invest. The ones called wise were also welcomed into the master’s presence forever. They realized that their best investment was to use what their master had given them in partnership with their master, so they went all in. They invested everything their master had given them.
Peter tells us essentially the same thing: Be all in with the investment Jesus has given you! Don’t hold anything back—make every effort. Don’t let Jesus be merely your Savior, but let Him be your Lord. Trust Him as the General Partner to do what is best. Give Him complete control of all the great and precious promises He has given you, and then allow the Holy Spirit to make you holy inside and out!
Check out all of the other messages in our series based on 2 Peter called Friends of the Faith.
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