Article January 3, 1931 Issue

"Partakers of the divine nature"

ALBERT F. GILMORE

In his second epistle, Peter exhorts the Christians to whom it was addressed to enter upon a more exalted state of holiness. In earnest of his expectation as to their response, he cites the promises of salvation for all the faithful, which had so copiously flowed from the teaching and example of Christ Jesus. The apostle saw in these promises assurance that all who should accept and obey the Christ, Truth, revealed by Jesus, might become "partakers of the divine nature," after they had "escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Since the promise of blessedness attendant upon this partaking is no less assured to-day than in the first century, Peter's words convey an important message for all who are prepared to profit by it.

If we follow the example of Christ Jesus, whereby we admit that we have accepted his teachings, we too may become "partakers of the divine nature," become Godlike. Can one doubt the importance of so holy an experience? To partake of the qualities, perfect and permanent, free from all materiality, which characterize the divine nature! Surely, that is the prayer of all who, through the ministering Christ, have gained a glimpse of true being. In writing of this experience on page 509 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness—yea, the divine nature—appear in man and the universe never to disappear." This characterization of creation, in which is set forth something of the divine qualities,—"beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness,"—hints at the wondrous possibilities of the glorified experiences which are open to all who take this way and pursue it.

Man, we learn in Christian Science, now possesses by reflection all the qualities and attributes of God. Therefore regenerated mortals may here and now share the blessing which God has bestowed upon His children. Nothing of the transcendent joy and bliss which belong to the real man, the son of God, is now denied to them. Here and now we may become of the household of the pure in heart, partakers of holiness, of divine beauty and sublimity. Now, by turning from matter to Spirit, from the unreal to the real, consciousness may be freed from falsity, from all its errors.

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