Donna Williams Supporter

Dear Anonymous, first, I would like to share that we must be born again in order to receive the divine nature of God. 

In the beginning man was created in the image and likeness of God, but when Adam and Eve fell they became sinners because of their disobedience to the commandment of God. 

In Christ, we are new creations, and now have become partakers of His divine nature. It is through the power of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, that God's attributes are produced and manifested in us.

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Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College graduate and Dallas Seminary graduate

There is a hymn, "Members of Christ Are We," which includes the following lines: “Children of God are we; such grace to us is given, to kneel and pray in Christ’s own words, ‘Father, which art in Heaven.’” This hymn is by the hymnwriter, Isaac Williams.

So here we see the new relationship believers have through Christ’s nature imparted to them. This ties with John 1:12-13 (“to all who received him… he gave the right to become children of God”), and with the promise of adoption and intimacy with the Father. I.e. We are God’s children, given the privilege of calling on Him in the very words Jesus taught, “Our Father in heaven.” This reflects the new relationship granted through sharing Christ’s life, fulfilling John 1:12-13 where all who receive Him are given the right to become God’s children, enjoying the closeness of adoption and fellowship with the Father.

There is another line in this hymn that helps answer this question, too. -- From the same hymn, “Members of Christ Are We” (Williams) --

Stanza 3: “Of Heaven’s kingdom we inheritors were made… That one day on each saintly brow a glorious crown may shine.”

If we zero in on 1 John 3:2, it sharpens the overlap with 2 Peter 1:4. The verse points to the future change and glory still to come, echoing John’s words that “what we will be has not yet appeared… but we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). The hymn affirms our present place in Christ’s kingdom, yet reminds us that the fullness of it, pictured as the “glorious crown,” awaits us, just as John teaches that though we are already God’s children, we will be fully conformed to Christ when He returns.

Here are the 2 relevant stanzas (Stanza 2 & 3) --

2 Children of God are we;
such grace to us is given,
to kneel and pray in Christ’s own words,
'Father, which art in heaven;'
seeking to do his will
as angels do above,
and walking in obedient ways
of holy truth and love.

3 Of heaven’s kingdom we
inheritors were made;
each at the font in Christ’s own robe
of spotless white arrayed.
Upon our forehead now
is traced the suffering sign,
that one day on each saintly brow
a glorious crown may shine.

(bible.org's XRef feature re: 2 Peter 1, verse 4, chatgpt.com, and hymnary.org)

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