Malcolm Yarnell
Yes, Eastern theologians use that Greek term. It can mean several things, but it means participation, participation in the life of God. Peter has a great statement, at the very beginning of his letter, 2 Peter 1:4. Why don’t we quickly read that text. Especially today in the west and in evangelicalism, we really don’t like to deal with this text, but it’s in the scripture so it has to be dealt with.
Peter writes, “By these he has given us very great and precious promises so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.” What does that mean to share in the divine nature? Well, it doesn’t mean this. It doesn’t mean that we become a god. No, that’s not what it means. What it does mean is that God in Christ, through Christ, and by the power of his Spirit, shares certain of his attributes with us. Now there are other attributes he does not share with us.
Another way to interpret that is not just share or participate in fellowship. We have fellowship with God in Christ, and we can’t have this naturally because of our sin. No man can see God and survive. Yet in Christ, we’re promised we shall see God. And the only way that happens is that we look at Jesus, Christ, who is truly God. We look in the face of Christ, and that is where we see God. And because he has purified us by His Spirit and by His sacrifice on the cross, he shares with us all of these wonderful attributes of God. But not everything. For instance, aseity means that God is from himself. He doesn’t derive from anyone else. We are creatures. We don’t have aseity, but we do have love because he loved us. Therefore, we can love Him and love others. He shares divine love with us. He shares divine righteousness with us. He shares His Holiness with us, and that’s what participation means. It’s not something to be afraid of.
David Capes
I remember that passage in 2 Corinthians, “God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God”. Somehow, that righteousness is not just his, but it’s ours as well.
Malcolm Yarnell
It’s ours. And this is, I think, the ruling paradigm. It’s ours in Christ, it’s union with Christ. And by the way, evangelicals often speak of union with Christ. Participation or union with Christ really are the same doctrine.
David Capes
Just different ways of expressing it. I’m sure you’ve heard the term Christosis as well as Theosis. I’ve seen that on the title of some books, and that’s in the discussion, because Christ is, as you said in another podcast, all the entire fullness of the Godhead. Essentially. So we can participate in him. He participates in us. We share in his sufferings, Paul says. You’re going to be talking about a lot of things tonight and over a couple of days which is going to be great. Actually, all that comes out of your book, from this series that you’ve been describing.
So the ideas that you’ll be looking at is his relationship to the Father. It sounds like you’re looking at the idea of creation, which is an important theological idea that is expressed through Christology as well. And you’re looking at ideas of Providence.
Malcolm Yarnell
Yes. Providence can be understood in a number of different ways. Providence means just as an overarching definition, God is guiding the universe that he created to the end for which he created it. And yet, there are lots of questions that get raised about that, because, how do we understand God, how is God holy in relation to, for instance, the presence of evil? How do we understand how God relates to us and guides the progress of the universe in general. How do we understand how he guides the progress of our own lives?
How do we understand that God answers prayer? How do we understand that God has a plan for everything, and that we are privileged to be a part of it. How do we understand that he himself is free, and yet one of the things he shares with us is freedom in a limited sense. But he gives us freedom. And so how does that truth of God being the creator and being the consummator. How is it that he is guiding all things while he upholds all things towards the end that he has for them? Even as He grants us a measure of freedom and then saves us from our misuse of that freedom. So, Providence is a huge doctrine.
David Capes
It seems like, as I read back in the history of our country, that many of our founding fathers used “Providence” as a name for God.
Malcolm Yarnell
Yes. George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. They spoke of God in these ways, because it was a way to recognize that he was actually guiding the nation itself. They’re taking theological language and applying it to the life of the nation. They understood that history itself is the progress of divine providence.
David Capes
You know, we don’t think that way anymore. It seems like in our country or the West, we just think that history sort of works itself out. All the reasons are material, and they don’t see God’s hand at work. But I like the fact that our founding documents, our founding fathers and mothers are thinking about God’s guidance through life, even when we don’t see the hand of God.
Malcolm Yarnell
That’s right. Remember when Paul was addressing the Areopagus. This is the Academy of his day at its height. He refers to Providence. God has set the boundaries and the times of the nations. He understands providence. God is guiding. Of course, he guides the nation of Israel to accomplish the purpose, so that the Messiah would come to save all those who will believe in him. But he is also concerned about every nation. And moreover, he’s also concerned about every human being. He’s even concerned Jesus said about the hair on our head. He’s concerned about the least, as well as the great. His providence, if you will, is both maximal and minimal in this sense, it covers the micro and the macro and everything in between and to us that really goes way beyond our capability, even to consider.
David Capes
Yes, our brains aren’t big enough, and not even our greatest AI computers. As you were talking and listing some of those things earlier, I thought about an upcoming lecture that we’re going to have in a few months, looking at ethical challenges in the Old Testament. One of them is looking at, how could God use a nation more wicked than his own, to punish his own people. And that’s one of those mysteries of Providence. But people have those kinds of questions. They [want to] see God at work in the world.
Malcolm Yarnell
Well, here’s another example, Pharaoh. From Exodus 3 onward, we have language about how God is going to harden Pharaoh’s heart. We also have language about how Pharaoh hardened his own heart. So, God is going to providentially use the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart to bring freedom to enslaved Israel, so that they can go and worship Him and glorify Him. Not just Israel will know, but the world will know. And you know what, we’re all still talking about that. He providentially uses the hard heart of one man to bring freedom to a people, and yet he does it in such a way that he still respects the freedom of Pharaoh, even as he uses Pharaoh for his purposes. Those types of things are what we must talk about when we talk about Providence.
David Capes
Yes, it’s a lot of great things. I’m looking forward to your lectures over the next couple of days and our students as well. Dr Malcolm Yarnell, thanks for being with us today on “The Stone Chapel Podcast.”
Malcolm Yarnell
Thank you for having me.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
