“Participants”

 “Participants”

 [By Servant7]

 

“that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

John 17:21, 23 NASB1995

 

What does Christ mean here?

 

It almost appears as if we are somehow caught up in the divine unity of God, how is this possible without resulting in blasphemy?

 

 

His participation in us:

 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:1, 4, 14 NASB1995

 

God the Son, became flesh, without ceasing to be what He was before, He is at once God and at once man;

 

And this union in one person creates a link between humanity and divinity—God has taken human nature into Himself,

 

He has participated in human flesh, in human life, human death, growth, birth and the entirety of human experience He has “participated” in humanity, and through this we may participate in Him.

 

 

Our participation in Him:

 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him… the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”

Colossians 2:6, 19 NIV

 

“and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

Ephesians 2:16-18 NIV

 

Through the Spirit every fiber of our being may be sewn and knitted to the very body of Christ, our flesh bonded to His flesh, our bones bound to His bones, our spirits ingrafted into His human spirit,

 

As He shared in our nature, we can now be interconnected with His nature, through the human nature of Christ we share in the divine;

 

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 1:3-8 NIV

 

 

When the heat of sun shines upon the metal from the earth, the sun’s heat is reflected in the metals—it becomes hot, and depending on the increase in temperature it can even glow red, yet it remains metal, it does not become “the sun” yet it reflects the properties of it’s heat—In a similar way, we may participate in the natures of Christ: we reflect the properties of both—without becoming divine in ourselves. 

We share in His Holiness, 

We share in His faithfulness 

We share in His Truthfulness, His kindness,

His Love.

Those attributes embolden our own natures—we begin to look like Him without being Him, indeed we are His children. 

Moreover, He shared in our life and death that we might share in His Life and deathlessness,

“and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?””John 11:26 NASB1995

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

God Alone is deathless (1 Tim 6;16), He cannot die for He is Life itself,

 

But if we participate in Him, we too can never die, we become eternal, existing now; till endless ages,  

Let us reflect the light of the Son, let’s take in His rays, let’s participate in His nature, abide with Him, and in Him,

Let’s be merciful, and gracious, forgiving, let’s suffer long, 

Let’s always uplift the other more than ourselves,

Let the divine unity of the Father, Son, and Spirit be reflected in our lives, as we participate in Theirs;

“So that the world may know that You sent Me”