GOD HAVING GIVEN US FAITH, THE DIVINE SEED, AND THE PRECIOUS AND EXCEEDINGLY GREAT PROMISES
Second Peter 1 tells us that God has given us three categories of things. First, God has given us Christ as faith. Peter said that we have received equally precious faith (v. 1). In this equally precious faith, Peter and we are exactly the same. Even if we are not able to define what faith is, we still have it. There are many precious things which we cannot explain. We have our physical life, but what is it? No one can define it, not even the medical doctors. Life is just life. In the same way, we have something within us called faith. We cannot explain it, but we have it. We cannot give it up or forget it. After believing into Christ, some may want to give up being a Christian, but they cannot do it. It is too late. Something came into them which they cannot give up. Once it gets in, it never leaves. We have been caught by the Lord, and He has come into us as our faith. We have all received equally precious faith.
Second, God has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness (v. 3). Godliness includes the church life. First Timothy 3 reveals that the great mystery of godliness is the church life (vv. 15-16). Godliness is the expression of life. We have all things pertaining to life within and to the expression of life without.
God has given us all these things and we have received them, but how can we prove this? Let us use the seed of a certain plant as an illustration. All the things related to what this seed will be are included in the seed. If you have given me the seed, you have given me the root, the stump, the branches, the leaves, the blossoms, and the fruit. Since I have received the seed, I have received all these things. Everything pertaining to life and the expression of life are included in the seed.
Second Peter 1 says that God’s divine power has given us all things. This divine power is nothing less than God Himself. At the very moment we opened up our mouth to say, "O Lord Jesus," He came into us. We may say that the Triune God came into us, but we need to realize that this One is the divine power. The divine power is nothing less than God Himself in His Divine Trinity. The Triune God as the divine power came into us, and this divine power has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.
The Triune God is the seed within us (1 John 3:9). We need to see that the very Triune God who is the divine power, the seed of all the things pertaining to life and godliness, is now within us. Godliness includes the church life. If we are faithful to cooperate with this all-inclusive seed, the church life will be developed.
God has also given us the precious and exceedingly great promises (2 Pet. 1:4). The Bible is a book of promises. God has given us faith, the seed of all the things pertaining to life and godliness, and the Word, which has the promises, great and precious. We have everything we need. In these verses, the predicate is in the perfect tense: God has granted. Everything has been granted, and everything has been received. All believers, young and old, have received the same three things: faith, the seed of life, and the promises of the Word.
(The Fulfillment of God's Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
