Learning to Love

Learning to Love 1 Peter 2:1-3 Context • Peter closed chapter 1 with four commands: set your hope (v. 13), be holy (v. 15), conduct yourselves with fear (v. 17), and love one another (v. 22). • Peter gave 2 reasons for the command to love: (1) God’s imperishable word commends the love of God; (2) God has spoken to you in love. • Now Peter transitions to the “How?” of loving one another. And his two-step answer might surprise us. Put Away (2:1) • “Put away” is not a command in the original, but a necessary part of longing. • It’s a simple word (to remove, as in, clothing), but every major NT writer uses it to describe something of the Christian life – Ephesians 4:22; James 1:21; Hebrews 12:1. • Notice the two “all” words and how they bookend. • Deceit – Peter uses this word 3x (2:22; 3:10); precludes all different types of dishonesty. • Hypocrisy – used of the Pharisees (Mark 12:15) and of Peter himself (Galatians 2:13) Put Away (2:1) • Envy: easier to identify than to define - Led to humanity’s fall (Genesis 3:5) Joseph’s kidnapping (Genesis 37) Fights and Quarrels (James 4:1-7) Dishonesty and death (Acts 5:1-11) Physical Distress (Proverbs 14:30) Christ’s Crucifixion (Matthew 27:18) • Slander: compound Greek word that simply means “to speak against” and is almost always the ugly consequence of envy. Long (2:2-3) • Peter’s Analogy: newborns require frequent feeding; their hunger demands urgency, care, and attention to the slightest detail. • The word also carries the idea of deep dissatisfaction with frustrated fulfillment (Mark 7:1) and emotional distress with prolonged absence (Philippians 2:26) • Pure Spiritual Milk: - Obviously refers to the Word of God (see Isaiah 55:1-3) and to Christian teaching (1 Corinthians 3:1-3) But Peter would likely expand it to include other “spiritual” means of grace (see Romans 12:1) Long (2:2-3) • That you may grow into salvation: - “Grow” refers to the same type of growth we see in healthy children But it’s the location of the growth that drives Peter’s point – the context is brotherly love and how we attain fulfilment of the second greatest command. Our growth in knowing God, His goodness, and His salvation – this is Peter’s solution to the sins that so gravely plague us. Reflections 1. Peter’s command, worded as it is, keeps us from 4 common problems: a) Mere knowledge that puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1) b) Impersonal pursuit of theological knowledge (Jeremiah 31:31-34) c) Mortification by mere effort (Romans 8:13) d) Lasting change from emotionally charged experiences alone (Romans 12:1-2) 2. Peter’s command offers the only path of victory to life’s most nettlesome sins. 3. Peter’s command is the ironic path to brotherly love.