Within Plymouth Brethren (especially Darby) the key distinctions around “partakers of the divine nature” are:
1. **No sharing in God’s essence or “Godhead”**
– “Far from bringing into Godhead, which is incommunicable as supreme, because we are creatures, **I do not even accept a common expression from Romanists and others—‘union with God.’** But the moral elements of what He is God can communicate in giving us life in Christ.”[1]
– So “divine nature” never means participation in God’s essence; “union with God” language is deliberately avoided.
2. **“Nature is moral” in 2 Peter 1:4**
– Darby: “**Nature is moral in 2 Peter 1:4**, from the force of what is said in the passage. In divine things this is everything, as holiness, love, etc.; but the point to be insisted on is, that there is more than mere moral effect, though there be this—that Christ is for us a life‑giving Spirit; as born of flesh involves a like nature.”[2][1]
– “Divine nature” = God’s moral characteristics (holiness, love, light), communicated in the new life given in Christ.
3. **Real communication of life, but as creaturely participation**
– They stress that believers truly receive new life: “Christ is for us a life‑giving Spirit,” so we have a “like nature” as new creatures.[3][2]
– Darby’s distinction: “We have in common with God what morally belongs to His nature, as holiness, love, etc., we are light in the Lord.”[3]
– Yet this remains creaturely; it is “as new a thing as a graft in a wild tree,” not elevation into deity.[2]
4. **Technical distinction: koinōnoi vs metochoi**
– On 2 Peter 1:4 he argues that κοινωνοί (“partakers”) carries the sense of having something in common, while μέτοχοι would suggest simply taking a share.[3]
– “Of course, we partake of the divine nature in a different manner from God. … **Koinōnoi has the force that we have it in common, and so refers here to the moral character of it.**”[3]
– He explicitly rejects any reading that would imply we share the divine nature “as such.”[4][3]
5. **Practical holiness definition**
– A Brethren writer applies this to holiness: “**Made partakers of ‘the divine nature,’ we judge to be sin everything which was not in Christ while on earth, and which Christ risen cannot sanction.**”[5]
– So “partaking” functions as a standard for sanctification: anything not consonant with Christ’s character is sin.
In sum, Plymouth Brethren teaching draws a sharp line: believers truly receive a new life that shares God’s moral character (holiness, love, light) and so are “partakers of the divine nature,” but there is no ontological deification, no union with God’s essence, and even the phrase “union with God” is generally avoided.[1][5][2][3]
Sources
[1] Partaker Of The Divine Nature https://plymouthbrethren.org/
[2] Partaker of the Divine Nature: 2 Peter 1:4 https://bibletruthpublishers.
[3] Two Greek Words Translated “Partakers;” Life and Eternal Life; Real … https://bibletruthpublishers.
[4] Letters of J. N. Darby, 2:106 – STEM Publishing https://www.stempublishing.
[5] The Doctrine Of The Wesleyans On Perfection https://plymouthbrethren.org/
[6] 2 Peter 1:4 – Darby Translation – Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/
[7] 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV) https://www.bibletools.org/
[8] 2 Peter 1:4 Commentaries: For by these He has granted to us His … https://biblehub.com/
[9] The Way Of Holiness – Plymouth Brethren Writings https://plymouthbrethren.org/
[10] 2 Peter 1:4 – Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/
[11] Unequal Yoke – John Nelson Darby (#63911) – Bible Truth Library https://bibletruthpublishers.
[12] Appendix Section 1 | Plymouth Brethren Writings https://plymouthbrethren.org/
[13] 1 Corinthians 11 (JND) – Bible Truth Publishers https://bibletruthpublishers.
[14] Partakers of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4) by Alexander Maclaren https://www.blueletterbible.
[15] Are you a partaker of divine nature? Is Mary? Mary is the mother of … https://www.facebook.com/
