In 2 Pet. 1:3-8 we have the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature; all things which relate to life and godliness are various aspects of the divine life, as typified by the riches of the produce of the good land. Hallelujah!
The good land is a land of pomegranates, which refers mainly to the fact that in this land we enjoy the riches of Christ, receive the abundance of the life of Christ, and we express the beauty of Christ. Hallelujah!
As we daily enjoy and experience Christ, we are filled with Him, we grow in life unto maturity, and we ourselves become like a pomegranate: full of life, having an abundance of life, and overflowing with life to others, even having the beauty of life.
If we look at the matter of the pomegranates in the Bible we see them being mentioned in a few places.
In Exo. 28 the pomegranates are at the bottom part of the high priest’s robe, together with golden bells.
This is a type of the fact that the church in its humanity has the fullness of life expressed, and in its divinity, there’s the Lord’s speaking, the sounding of the golden bells.
Then, in 1 Kings 7:18-20, we see the pomegranates in the building of the temple; on the capitals of the two pillars at the front of the temple, there are two rows of one hundred pomegranates each.
This shows us that, in the midst of intermixed and complicated situations, we need to trust in the Lord with all our heart and live a life by faith in Him (the reality of the lilies) and we will have the overflow of life, abundance of life (the reality of the pomegranates).
God’s building is not a simple matter; God is building Himself into us and us into Himself through a long process with many details.
As we allow the Lord to build Himself into us and us into Himself, He will dispense all He is into us and, though we pass through complicated situations and we seem to be stuck in a situation with many complications, we can enjoy the rich flow of life and minister this life to others for them to be supplied. Hallelujah!
Finally, in Song of Songs, we see the pomegranates mentioned six times; pomegranates have a spiritual significance in the progressive experience of an individual believer’s loving fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we go on with the Lord in the divine romance, we have the beauty of Christ wrought into us and expressed through us (cheeks like a piece of pomegranate).
We are filled with the riches of Christ and there’s an abundance of life, and we labor with the Lord by focusing on Him as life, not merely on working for Him.
Even more, we work together with the Lord and we want the saints around us to bloom, blossom, and grow in life. Amen!
We even pour ourselves out on the Lord and on the sacrifice of the saints’ faith, for we are like a drink offering poured out for God’s satisfaction. Amen!
The Development of the Excellent Virtues through the Enjoyment of the Divine Nature
Even though the pomegranates are not mentioned in the New Testament, the reality and experience of the pomegranates can be seen in 2 Pet. 1:3-8, a very mysterious yet wonderful portion of the word of God.
In this portion, we are told that the divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtues, through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these we might become partakers of the divine nature.
We are partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.
For this very reason, for the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature, we need to add all diligence and apply the virtues bountifully.
First, we apply bountifully in our faith, virtue, and in virtue, knowledge; in knowledge, self-control, and in self-control, endurance.
In endurance, we add godliness, and in godliness, we add brotherly love, and in brotherly love, we add love.
For all these things, existing in us and abounding, constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!
All Things which Relate to Life and Godliness – Various Aspects of the Divine Life typified by the Riches of the Produce of the Good Land
What are these “all things which relate to life and godliness”? What do these refer to?
They are the reality of the riches of the produce of the good land in the Old Testament, for they are the various aspects of the divine life.
All things which relate to life and godliness are the substance of our faith’s substantiation allotted to us by God as our portion for our inheritance.
By being regenerated with God’s life, we receive the life of God within us and we have godliness as our expression.
On one hand, inwardly we have the life of God enabling us to live; on the other hand, outwardly we have godliness as the outward expression of the inward life.
We have life as the inward energy, the inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness, which leads and results in glory. Praise the Lord!
We believers in Christ have become partakers of the divine nature in an organic union with the Lord.
Through faith and baptism (John 3:15; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19) we entered into an organic union with the Lord, and now we and Him are one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
Praise the Lord, all genuine believers in Christ have become partakers of the divine nature of God through the precious and exceedingly great promises of God (2 Pet. 1:4)!
Day by day we need to cooperate with the Lord to develop the excellent virtues through our enjoyment of the divine nature.
Just as a human being, when he is born, partakes of the human nature, and he needs to grow in order to partake of the riches of the human nature and express a proper human being, so we need to grow in life spiritually and develop the excellent virtues of the divine nature through the enjoyment of the divine nature.
First, we have been allotted an equally precious faith by God (2 Pet. 1:1) as the common portion of the New Testament blessing of life for the initiation of our Christian life.
We need to exercise our faith so that the virtue of the divine life may be developed in our growth in life and reach maturity.
We need to be diligent to add to faith, virtue; virtue is excellency, denoting the energy of the divine life, which issues in vigorous action.
To virtue, we need to add knowledge; the vigorous action needs the bountiful supply of the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord regarding all things that relate to the divine life and godliness.
In this way, we partake of and enjoy the divine nature and therefore we develop it unto maturity.
In knowledge, we need to add self-control; self-control is temperance, the exercise of control and restraint over our self with its passions, desires, and habits.
In self-control, we need to add endurance; when we exercise self-control, we deal with ourselves, and when we exercise endurance, we bear with others and with circumstances.
![Love does not work evil to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom. 13:10 For you were called for freedom, brothers; only do not [turn] this freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Gal. 5:13 But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. Matt. 5:44](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Love-does-not-work-evil-to-his-neighbor-therefore-love-is-the-fulfillment-of-the-law-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Love does not work evil to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom. 13:10 For you were called for freedom, brothers; only do not [turn] this freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Gal. 5:13 But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. Matt. 5:44")
In endurance, we need to add godliness; godliness is God-likeness, having a living that expresses God.
By enjoying the divine nature and being diligent to cooperate with the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature, we grow in life unto maturity, and we express God and become like Him.
In godliness, we need to be diligent to add brotherly love; we need to add affection for the brothers, a love characterized by delight and pleasure.
This love needs to be supplied for the brotherhood (1 Pet. 2:17; 3:8; Gal. 6:10), for our testimony to the world (John 13:34-35), and for the bearing of fruit (John 15:16-17).
In brotherly love, we need to add love, which is the agape love, the love that is God Himself.
This love is higher and nobler than human love; it adorns all the qualities of the Christian life (1 Cor. 13; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:13-14) and it is stronger in ability and greater in capacity than human love (Matt. 5:44, 46).
We as believers in Christ who live by the divine life and partake of the divine nature can be saturated with the divine love and express it in full.
We need to develop such a love so that we may express God, who is love.
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us all things which relate to life and godliness. Hallelujah, the divine power has granted to us all things that relate to life and godliness through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue! Amen, Lord, thank You for granting us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust. Hallelujah, today we can have the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature! Amen, Lord, we want to be diligent to supply bountifully in our faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love! Yes, Lord Jesus, may these things exist in us and abound in us to constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ! Yes, Lord, we want to have the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature!
Having the Full Development and Maturity in Life from the Seed of Faith to the Blossom and Fruit of Love!
![For these things, existing in you and abounding, constitute [you] neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:8](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/For-these-things-existing-in-you-and-abounding-constitute-you-neither-idle-nor-unfruitful-unto-the-full-knowledge-of-our-Lord-Jesus-Christ-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "For these things, existing in you and abounding, constitute [you] neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:8")
In our prayerful study and consideration of the good land as a land of pomegranates, we need to realize that the fullness of life and the beauty of life typified by the pomegranate can be our experience today.
God has given us everything we need – all things that relate to life and godliness are in us, and they just need to be developed by our enjoyment of the divine nature.
Faith can be considered the seed of life, and love – the nobler love, the divine love – can be considered the fruit in its full development.
Just as the pomegranate has many seeds that express the riches of life, so our Christian life has many aspects with many riches of God’s life being expressed in us and through us.
It is not by our trying harder or by perfecting ourselves to do better than we can express the divine virtues; it is simply by exercising our spirit and remaining in the partaking and enjoyment of the divine nature.
As we enjoy and live by the divine nature day by day, we bountifully supply into faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love.
As we daily exercise our spirit to live not in and by ourselves but in the mingled spirit and by the divine nature, we will eventually have the full development and maturity in life.
There will be a continual development of the excellent virtues in the enjoyment of the divine nature; we are in this process today.
This development includes virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, and godliness.
We can say that faith is the seed, the roots are virtue and knowledge, the trunk is self-control, and the branches are endurance and godliness, with the blossom and the fruit being brotherly love and love.
We have a “tree” – we become a tree-of-life-Christian, those who are faithful to develop the excellent virtues not by striving or trying but through the enjoyment of the divine nature. Hallelujah!
We will have the full development and maturity in life from the seed of faith, through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, to the blossom and the fruit of brotherly love and love (2 Pet. 1:5-8).
All these things should exist in us and even abound in us. As they are in us and abound in us, they will constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we have faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love, we are diligent and fruitful unto the full knowledge of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.
These are not all the virtues that are developing in us – these are only some, and if we have them, we will arrive at a full-grown man!
Praise the Lord, how amazing it is that the Lord has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, and all these things are in us!
We have the seed of faith, the root of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, the branches of endurance and godliness, and the blossom and fruit of brotherly love and love.
All these are included in the seed, the divine seed which is in us; this seed contains the root, the trunk, the branches, the blossom, and the fruit.
We should develop the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature.
May we cooperate with the Lord for this development and may we be diligent to add these virtues by our growth in the divine life.
All the virtues are already in the seed, waiting for the opportunity to abound. It’s good to open to the Lord and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You to grow in life unto maturity and be diligent for the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature. Hallelujah, all the divine virtues are in the divine seed in us, and we can exercise our spirit day by day to develop these virtues! Amen, Lord, may the divine seed grow in us and develop until it blossoms and bears fruit! May we have the full development and maturity from the seed of faith through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, the branches of endurance and godliness, and the blossom and fruit of brotherly love and love! Amen, Lord, grow in us. We want to give You the opportunity and the ground to grow in us and the divine virtues to abound in us for God to be expressed through us and we would have the beauty of Christ in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Peter, msgs. 2 and 6, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 9, entitled, A Land of Pomegranates.
- Similar articles to this article:
– Developing virtue by enjoying the divine nature, a portion from, Life-Study of 2 Peter, Chapter 7.
– 10 Divine Rights for Every Believer to Participate in, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Developing the seed of faith, a portion from, Life-Study of 2 Peter, Chapter 6.
– Partakers of the Divine Nature for New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– The secrets of life, a portion from, The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee.
– Partakers of the Divine Nature, via, Living to Him.
– Christ as our daily virtues, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee. - Hymns on this topic:
– Power divine wrought in us is the source so great; / Power divine is in us now to operate. / Hence will spring everything for our life within / And for godliness without, expressing Him. / Promises, promises, all God’s called ones share; / Promises, given us, great and precious are. / These we take to partake of God’s nature true, / Having thus escaped the world’s corruption too. (Hymns #1211 stanzas 3-4)
– Oh, what a joy! Oh, what a rest! / Christ now is being formed in me. / His very nature and life divine / In my whole being inwrought shall be. / All that I am came to an end, / And all of Christ is all to me. / Oh, what a thought! Oh, what a boast! / Christ shall in me be magnified. / In nothing shall I be ashamed, / For He in all shall be applied. / In woe or blessing, death or life, / Through me shall Christ be testified. (Hymns #499 stanzas 2-3)
– God with man completely blended, / Mystery of godliness. / God in glory, full, resplendent, / Man, His dwelling, doth express. / ’Tis a vessel universal / All God’s fulness to express; / All His beauty manifesting, / Mingled with His holiness. (Hymns #976 stanza 2)
About aGodMan
Life-study of 2 Peter, second edition, pp. 47-50, by Witness Lee
2 Pet. 1:7, footnote 2 on, “love”, Recovery Version Bible
Dear brother, when we enjoy and live by the divine nature, there is a development of the excellent virtues, from faith to love.
All things which relate to life and godliness are in the divine seed in us, and we need to remain in the process of the development of this seed so that these virtues may be in Us in abundance.
Amen, in order for the virtues of the seed to abound in us, it must be planted into the soil for the Lord to develop and grow in us.
What a beautiful picture of the fullness of life, the abundance and beauty of life, and the expression of the riches of life seen in the Old Testament type of the pomegranates as we experience and enjoy Christ as wheat, barley, the vine, and the fig tree, the abundance of the life of Christ will be with us, and the beauty of Christ will be about us.
Then we have the New Testament definition in 2 Peter that the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly and bountifully supplied to us through the different stages of the growth in the divine life from the seed of faith to the fruit of life through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, to the blossom and the fruit of brotherly love.
Amen, Lord keep us in the process of developing this seed in us today!
The life growing within us has an outward expression. It is this outward godliness which leads to and results in glory.
The brotherly love that the inner life produces is for our testimony to the world and the producing of fruit. However, this brotherly love needs to develop into the enduring love of God Himself.
God’s agape love is stronger in ability and greater in capacity than phileo love.
We must believe that we can be saturated with and express in full the divine love.
Such a love governs phileo love and flows in it.
May we not despise brotherly love but seek always for our brotherly love to made more enduring with the love of Christ Himself.
Praise the Lord!
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5/25/24 A Land of Pomegranates (Week 9, Day 6)
The first few verses of the first chapter of 2 Peter tell us that God has given us all the things which relate to life. We need to appreciate these verses! At the time of our regeneration God gave us all the various aspects of the divine life. We may say that regeneration brings in the richest deposit, for through regeneration God deposited into us a full supply of His riches of life to be what we may call our “capital.”
Because God has already given us all the things concerning life, what we need now is to develop what we have received, not to receive these things again. According to 2 Peter 1:3-8, in the initial item of life given to us, we need to develop the second item. Then in the second, we need to develop the third, and in the third, the fourth. We need to go on to further develop all the items of life, one after another, until we reach the eighth item. With such a development in life we will have a rich entry into the kingdom.
In 2 Peter 1:5-7, we have the development from faith to love. This development includes virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, and godliness. Eventually, we have the full development and maturity from the seed of faith, through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, to the blossom and the fruit of brotherly love and love.
Peter speaks of these virtues not only existing in us but also abounding. The divine virtues are not only existing in and possessed by the believers, but are also abounding and multiplying in them in the development and growth of the divine life. All the virtues already exist in the seed, and now they are waiting for the opportunity to abound. In order for the virtues in the seed to abound, the seed needs to be sown in the soil and then grow and develop until it blossoms and bears fruit.
As we grow in the divine love, our faith gradually will develop into virtue, then knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, (phileo) brotherly love, and finally (agape) love. In 2 Peter 1:7, Peter concludes, “And in godliness, brotherly love, and in brotherly love, love.” The Greek word rendered “brotherly love” is philadelphia, composed of:
(a.) phileo ~ to have affection for, and
(b.) adelphos ~ a brother
Hence, philadelphia denotes brotherly affection, a love of delight and pleasure. As we grow unto maturity in life, this brotherly love (phileo, denoting human love) would eventually issue into a divine universal love (agape), which is stronger in ability and greater in capacity than our human love (phileo).
Sometimes we may love the brothers in a narrow, limited way with a certain amount of brotherly love. In our love, we may have preferences and love certain brothers more than others. We may claim that we love all the saints, but our love for them is not the same. Our human love is not consistent and unreliable.
Because Peter was experienced and knew the situation among the saints, he did not stop with brotherly love but went on to speak of divine love, of agape, the deep and noble love with which God the Father loves all mankind, both believers and sinners. This divine universal love has no limitation; it loves everyone without any condition or preference. This is the highest virtue that we shall attain when we grow fully into maturity in the divine life.
“𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨” are the various aspects of the divine life, typified by the riches of the produce of the good land in the Old Testament. They are the substance of our faith’s substantiation allotted to us by God as our portion for our inheritance. 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣, enabling us to live, and 𝙜𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 as the outward expression of the inward life. Life is the inward energy, inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness, which leads to and results in glory.
Through the precious and exceedingly great promises, we, the believers in Christ,…have become 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙃𝙞𝙢. We have entered this union through 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙢 (John 3:15; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19). The 𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙚 (𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚) of this divine nature carries us into His 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙮 (𝙜𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙙). (Life-study of 2 Peter, second edition, pp. 14-16)
[HWMR-Week 9 Day 6]
In 2 Peter 1:3-8 we have the development of the excellent virtues through the enjoyment of the divine nature. “All things which relate to life and godliness” are the various aspects of the divine life typified by the riches of the produce of the good land (v. 3).
Life is within, enabling us to live, and godliness is without as the outward expression of the inward life. Life is the inward energy, the inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness, which leads to and results in glory. Faith may be considered the all-inclusive seed of life, and love, the fruit in its full development (vv. 3, 8).
In 2 Peter 1:5-7 we have the development from faith to love. This development includes virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, and godliness. Eventually, we have the full development and maturity from the seed of faith, through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, to the blossom and the fruit of brotherly love and love.
Faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love should all exist in us. These are only some of the “all things” that have been granted to us by the divine power. We need to see that all these things are included in the seed. In order for the virtues in the seed to abound, the seed needs to be sown in the soil and then grow and develop until it blossoms and bears fruit.
Amen. Thank and praise the Lord!