His divine power has given us exceedingly great and precious promises that we by them may be partakers of divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:3-4. Thereby we become godly: like God; gods. Then this is evident by our lives! “For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men [therefore not like godly men!]? For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” 1 Cor. 3:3-4. This too is evident in daily life. A short overview might be profitable. Mere Men - Are sinners. - Are earthly minded and earthbound. - Are powerfully influenced and afflicted by evil. - Depend on the favor of man. - Always lack much. - Are frightened. - Are enticed. - Lose their composure. - Take sides with one person, and then with another. - Are quickly offended by one thing and another. - Murmur, complain, and cry about everything and nothing. - Change like the moon. Gods - Are conquerors. - Are raised with Christ. - Are not influenced by evil. - Lack nothing. - Are not frightened. - Are not enticed. - Do not lose their composure. - Always only take His side. - They never feel offended or insulted. - Rejoice in Him who gives songs of praise in the night! - They are unchangeable. Since we have been called to partake of divine nature, we must take note of God’s character. The extent to which “You are gods” has been realized is the extent to which we are like God. We receive a powerful and clear impression of Gods character in Job 35:6-8: “If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects a man such as you, and your righteousness a son of man.” This is God’s character. No one can hurt Him, take anything from Him, disturb Him, etc. Neither can anyone give Him anything, increase His peace and joy and security, etc. Therefore if we— in the strictest sense of the Word—are gods, then the same thing applies to us as far as we have progressed. Mere men cannot take anything from us, nor can they give us anything; they can neither diminish our happiness nor increase it. In every case—whether they are sinners or righteous, whether they are obstinate or kind—they are only chess pieces in God’s hand, chess pieces that He in His wisdom and goodness moves on His immeasurably large chessboard for our salvation and sanctification! What then can man do to us? This is an awesome and amazing calling: “You are gods!” Nothing can hinder us; everyone and everything has to serve us whether they want to or not. Everything is income! What a marvelous work and undertaking! Only a mere man is affected by the ungodliness of others, and only a mere man is affected by the favor of others. Those who are mere men are unpredictable and moody, all according to their circumstances, all according to how they are being treated, accepted, viewed, and rewarded by their fellow men. Only God, and those who through Him have become gods, are not influenced and are untouched by everything those mere men carry on with. In this connection, the manner of presentation that Peter uses is significant: “Coming to Him as a living stone . . . you also, as living stones, are being built up . . . .” 1 Pet. 2:4-5. A stone is hard. It is not receptive to impressions from flesh and blood. If a person presses a finger against a stone, it will not leave a mark or make an impression on it. However, when we are mere men—and not gods—we resemble dead ground meat more than living stones. If you press a finger on ground meat, the finger will leave a mark as deep as the pressure was strong. We are either like living stones, or like ground meat. It says so significantly further on in Job 35: “Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they cry out for help because of the arm of the mighty. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night of misfortuneIn the margin of the Norwegian Bible translation used by the author. . . . .” How true this is! People are hurting! They complain and cry, murmur and grumble, blame and accuse each other; they are envious and suspicious of each other; they judge and criticize each other; they argue and scold. They should rather ask for Him who saves and blesses, so that they can sing songs in the night of misfortune! How foolish it is to continue to be a mere man when the way to divine nature is open! Gods are doing well! They even sing songs of praise in the night of misfortune! They never have anything to complain about! They have heaven on earth! Among his own countrymen, such a god is like a Norwegian who neither can speak nor wants to speak Chinese, among Chinese people. who cannot speak Chinese and who does not want to learn Chinese would be among the Chinese. All their talk would be foreign and incomprehensible to him. . “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus . . . .” Heb. 3:1.Elias Aslaksen