96 SCOTT HAFEMANN God’s servant (db[; cf. dou/loj) in a relationship of dependence on the Lord, rather than being regarded as God’s “associate” (rbx) 52. Clearly, the expression γένeσθai θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως goes be- yond typical OT modes of expression. Nevertheless, within the es- chatological worldview represented throughout 2 Peter, the point of 1,4, unlike that of the dominant culture, is not that one may share in or be one with God’s essence or being per se, whether that be God’s immortality or incorruptibility, either now, at death, or at the Parousia, as Käsemann argued. Nor does 1,4 refer to taking on God’s or Christ’s moral character, as Calvin suggested, or to be- coming, in Wolters’ view, God’s present-day covenant partner. The point of 2 Pet 1,4 is not ontological. What God promises in 1,4 is that his people may become fellow participants (with one another) in God’s character as expressed in his eschatological acts of deliv- erance on their behalf at the end of history. To that end, the antecedent, adverbial participle-clause of 1,4c, ἀποφυγόντες τῆς ἐν τῷ κόσµῳ ἐν ἐπιθυµίᾳ φθορᾶς, indicates the reality in the present that will bring about this future participa- tion in the “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3,13). The virtue list that follows in vv. 5-7 unpacks what this escape looks like, which is subsequently summarized in the conditions of 1,8.10 and 3,11.14, since throughout 2 Peter es- chatology drives ethics, just as the false teachers’ denial of the Parousia leads to the licentiousness described in 2 Peter 2,2.10-22. Whereas in 1,3-4 God’s glorious nature expresses itself in the keep- ing of his promises as the display of his virtue (avreth,), in 1,5 the transformed life of faith expresses itself in the pursuit of virtue (avreth,), which leads to the inheritance of these divine promises. Read in this way, “becoming a fellow participant of the divine na- ture” in 1,4b forms an inclusio with the promise of being provided an “entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ” in v. 11. As its corollary, “escaping the corruption in the world” in 1,4c parallels the threefold conditional reference to the virtue catalog in 1,8- 10 (cf. tau/ta in 1,8.9.10). 2 Peter 1,4 also restates in distinct language F. HAUCK, “κοινωνός”, 801. Philo, due to his adaptation of an eclectic, 52 middle Platonism, differs in this respect (cf. HAUCK, “κοινωνός”, 800, 801, 803). Yet Hauck, 804, renders 1,4 as “a liberation from the natural corruption of earth to participation in the divine nature”, as if our text were written by a Greek philosopher. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati