An Exposition of 1 Peter, part 8: The Pure Milk

1 Peter 2:1-3

Introduction

In the last study Peter told us of the importance of sincere love among the brethren. Love must not be hypocritical. This is necessary for believers at all times as it is a reflection of the love of God. It serves as a witness to the world for the Gospel. People are starving for genuine love. they may test the love of the church members for each other to see if it is real. It is also especially necessary to have this fervent love for one another in times of persecution. Believers need to support one another in times of stress.

Part of the demonstration of steadfast love is in the effort required to nurture believers. It is to this topic that Peter now turns.

Exposition of the Text

Wherefore laying aside all evil and all deceit and hypocrisies and jealousies and all evil speakings — I have rendered this literally from the Greek as the structure of this phrase is interesting. “Evil,” “deceit,” and “evil speakings” have the word “all” (or “every”) before it, and “hypocrisies” and “jealousies” do not. “All evil” seems encapsulate the other four words as though evil is demonstrated by deceit, jealousy, hypocrisy, and backbiting (evil speaking). Evil can be describes as any action or thought that is contrary to the will of God. Peter has already told the churches that God had set them apart unto obedience. He reaffirms this in the passage we just study in that we are to obey the truth. He will come back to the necessity of obedience and submission later on in the epistle. Our call to obedience is in contradistinction to the opposite “disobedience.” All disobedience, no matter how it is manifested is evil in the sight of God.

Deceit is the work of Satan who is the great deceiver. A deceiver is a liar. One cannot use deceit and be obedient to the truth of the Gospel. A deceit is not necessarily an outright lie. Satan quoted Scripture to Jesus in the attempt to get Jesus to worship him or at least accept a vision of Messiahship that met worldly and Jewish expectations rather than the Father’s. It is misapplied truths which present the great temptation to believers as part of what is done seems to ring true. the end result of deceit is to turn one from the truth. All forms of trickery are to be avoided. The Christian is to be genuine.

The next term, hypocrisy is a form of deceit. Jesus commonly used this term against the Pharisees. Many Greek plays used one actor for all the characters or at least had some actors playing multiple parts. Instead of going off stage and changing costumes, the actor would have a mask of the faces of the various characters upon a stick. When speaking as one character, he would put one mask upon his face. when he spoke as another character, he would change masks and alter his voice. This form of hypocrisy falls a little short of deceit as the change of characters is transparent. But this is not what Jesus meant. Hypocrisy here is that the Pharisees were different on the inside than what they seemed to be to others. As Jesus noted about tombs, they were pretty and whitewashed on the outside but full of dead men’s bones inside. (Matthew 23:27)

Peter has already brought up “hypocrisy” before in 1 Peter 1:22 in describing the love that the brethren was to be genuine (without hypocrisy). We need to take this admonition seriously. Hypocrisy is what describes the Christian before he came to Christ — but no longer.

Jealousy among the brethren is also evil. Peter knew jealousy all to well. The twelve practiced this vice when Jesus walked with them. Jealousy is birthed by boasting. One example of this jealousy happened at the first Lords’s Supper on the night Jesus was betrayed. Luke 23:24 tells us that after the supper, the disciples argued who would be the greatest. The following verses in Luke gives Jesus’ answer. The Christian life is not to be modeled after the structure of earthly society. In the church, there is the great inversion that the one who is greatest is the servant of all. John 13 records how Jesus demonstrated this new reality in that He washed the disciples feet. We read in John 13:13-17 “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Paul’s answer to this was that the believers were not to boast in themselves but in the LORD. (2 Corinthians 10:17). We are part of the Body of Christ. The one who boasts in the Lord in this sense lifts up the entire church rather than himself. This is the cure to jealousy.

The last of the five things to avoid is “all evil speakings.” The English word “backbite” is a good translation. It is used to build one’s self up by putting another person down. This is a form of boasting. Christians are not to compare themselves with others in the attempt to feel more self important. Rather, the Christian is to occupy himself with building up the body of Christ. But “evil speakings” also imply that we should not preoccupy ourselves with speaking evil about those in the world either. We read from Jude 8-9 that even the Archangel Michael did not speak evil of dignities, even the devil himself. If this is true in reference to Satan by one greater in power than us, how much more should we avoid speaking evil against anyone, even evil earthly rulers.

These five things the believer is to avoid. In the previous passage, the fervent and sincere love was addressed to the church as a whole. Here it concerns each and every believer to avoid these things.

As newborn babies drink the spiritual and unadulterated milk — Peter has already used the term “born again” to refer to all believers. The newborn is already hardwired by God at birth with certain instincts, one of which is to suck milk. But other than these instincts, the baby is helpless and dependent upon his mother for survival. The baby has nothing to boast about. The newborn knows nothing as far as human knowledge is concerned. It has to be taught language so that knowledge can be acquired. Then the newborn grows in knowledge. This process takes time, but if the newborn is to grow into an adult, it is necessary.

Milk is especially formulated by the mother to fit the exact needs of the newborn. This is the milk that all newborns really need. Mother’s milk also contains antibodies in addition to the proportionate nutrients. one might also add the importance of bonding between the mother and the child. Although this is God’s designed means, it is occasionally necessary to use cow’s milk or some vegetable based milk such as soy. But this is not to be the case with the spiritual milk for the believer. There must not be any substitutes for this milk. It is not to be adulterated with other ingredients

The word “spiritual” in Greek is “logiken.” This is similar to our English word “logical.” It is used in Romans 12:1-2 and translated “reasonable service” in the Authorized Version. There is is used with the Greek word metamorphosis to describe what happens to one when he becomes a Christian. We recognize this term as one that describes the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Christian birth is a transformation. This is Paul’s way of describing “repentance” (metanoia, a change of mind). For since the Christian has been born again, it needs spiritual milk and not earthly milk

In order that by it (or in Him) you might grow into salvation — Spiritual milk is the starting place of salvation. Whereas birth is a static event, salvation is a dynamic process. It begins with the new birth, but it does not end there. The Christian can say that he has been saved, is being saved, and will be saved. The new believer usually only knows a few things about christian doctrine but is saved by responding to the knowledge he has in faith. The church is then to nurture this faith that the Christian might grow in understanding. Maturity is the goal for a newborn infant. A child that does not grow with age is said to be retarded. A child might have physical disabilities which affects learning and growth. Adjustments of goals and expectations are made accordingly. When these conditions afflict the believer, God understands the limitations. But the Christian is to be nurtured to maximize that person’s gifts and grow in salvation. Willful ignorance and refusing to grow in salvation is a dangerous condition and is seriously displeasing to God. For the church to neglect nurture of the converts so that their spiritual growth is retarded is a serious offense.

If (since) you have tasted that the Lord is good — There are two ways in Greek for expressing “if”. the first uses the Greek (ean) with the subjunctive mood. when this is used, the action described is seen as being a possibility which may be true or not. The other uses “ei” with the indicative which can also be translated “since.” This is the construction here. These people were believers which means they had tasted of the pure milk of the Word at the time they came to the Lord. Peter is reminding them of this fact. They had tasted of the Lord’s kindness in the offer of the Gospel. The word “good” here in another form translates the Hebrew “hesed” which has multiple translations such as “lovingkindness.” Peter is telling them to keep on tasting the good and nourishing Word.

Application

As we see the possibility of increasing persecution for the faith like that of the churches to whom Peter wrote this epistle, we need to grow in faith and understanding of the Gospel. Although we do strive in our evangelism to simplify the message of the Gospel so that a newborn can understand it, we must also feed the newborn the true milk of the Word. God has provided by the Holy Spirit in the newborn Christian the spiritual instincts needed to grow. One notices that new converts can be found reading the Bible even in public places. They want to know what God expects from them. All children have the desire to learn, All too often, their enthusiasm to learn is squelched by adults who either do not understand the basics of Christianity or even care to know them. The pure milk of the Word is also adulterated by human wisdom. the result is confusion and weak and immature believers and churches.

Proper growth in the Christian is based upon leaving the former way of life marked by disobedience and evil and embracing the new way of conduct. Christian birth is different than natural birth in that the new Christian has to unlearn things which characterized his lifestyle before Christ. A natural baby has instincts but no memory. The process of unlearning is a long one, and we need to be constantly need to be reminded that we are new creatures in Christ. Our local churches need to reinforce the new reality in the believers and guide the flock away from the old reality. A church that does this will experience true joy. the church that fails to nurture believers will be filled with strife, jealousy, hypocrisy, and a sense of defeat.

When we look at the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 we should notice that the main verb is “make disciples.” Evangelism is only the start of the process. Conversion is followed by baptism in “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But just as important is “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.” Conversion places the new convert on the road to eternal life. Now he needs to be guided down the road of salvation to the finish line.