Partakers (2844) (koinonos from koinos = common, shared by all) (Click for an in depth study of related word koinonia) is one who participates with another in an enterprise or matter of joint concern. It is one who fellowships and shares something in common with another. He or she takes part in something with someone else. Koinonos in the Septuagint (LXX) is translated a companion, one that is closely connected with something similar as for example a person with whom one spends time or travels. Koinonos is used 5 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (2 Kings 17:11, Esther 8:12, and the other 3 uses below) Proverbs 28:24 He who robs his father or his mother, And says, "It is not a transgression," Is the companion of a man who destroys. Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels, and companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe, And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow's plea come before them. Malachi 2:14 "Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Koinonos is found 10 times in the NT... Matthew 23:30 and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Luke 5:10 and so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." 1 Corinthians 10:18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar...20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 2 Corinthians 1:7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. 2 Corinthians 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ. Philemon 1:17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. Hebrews 10:33 (note) partly, by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 1 Peter 5:1 (note) Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 Peter 1:4 (note) For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. We were introduced into this "divine nature" at the time of conversion. Then as we live in the practical enjoyment of God's precious and magnificent promises, we are made more and more conformed to His image (this would be analogous to the process of progressive sanctification). As an example God has promised that the more we behold Him the more we will become like Him (2Co 3:18). We make this promise a reality by reading the word, studying Christ as He is revealed in it, and following Him. As we do this, the Holy Spirit changes us into His likeness from one degree of glory to another. Because of the promise of the new birth (1Pe 1:3), the promise of God’s protecting power (1Pe 1:5), and the promise of God’s enabling power (2 Pe 1:3), believers can “participate in the divine nature,” and become more like Christ. OF THE DIVINE NATURE: theias phuseôs: (Jn 1:12,13; 2Co 3:18; Gal 2:20, Ep 4:23,24; Col 3:10; Heb 3:14, Heb 12:10; 1Pet 1:23, 1Jn 3:2) The Net Bible has an interesting note explaining that... Although the author has borrowed the expression partakers of the divine nature from paganism, his meaning is clearly Christian. He does not mean apotheosis (man becoming a god) in the pagan sense, but rather that believers have an organic connection with God. Because of such a connection, God can truly be called our Father. Conceptually, this bears the same meaning as Paul’s “in Christ” formula (see notes on in Christ and in Christ Jesus). The author’s statement, though startling at first, is hardly different from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians that they “may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19-note). (NET Bible) Matthew Henry writes... Those who receive the promises of the gospel partake of the divine nature. They are renewed in the spirit of their mind (Ep 4:23-note; cp Ro 12:2-note), after the image of God (Ge 1:27, 9:6, 2Cor 4:4), in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Ep 4:24-note); their hearts are set for God and his service (cp 1Chr 22:19, 2Chr 11:16, 12:14, 19:3, Ezra 7:10-note, Da 10:12); they have a divine temper and disposition of soul; though the law is the ministration of death, and the letter kills, yet the gospel is the ministration of life, and the Spirit quickens those who are naturally dead in trespasses and sins. (2Cor 3:6) Those in whom the Spirit works the divine nature are freed from the bondage of corruption. Those who are, by the Spirit of grace, renewed in the spirit of their mind, are translated into the liberty of the children of God (Col 1:13-note); for it is the world in which corruption reigns. Those who are not of the Father, but of the world, are under the power of sin; the world lies in wickedness, 1 Jn. 5:19. And the dominion that sin has in the men of the world is through lust (cp Jas 1:14, 15-note; 1Pe 2:12-note); their desires are to it, and therefore it rules over them (contrast believers Ro 6:11-note, Ro 6:12, 13-note). The dominion that sin has over us is according to the delight we have in it. 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