Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - 1 Peter 2:1 - 2:2
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1Pe_2:1-2. ἀποθεμενοι οὖν … ἐπιποθήσατε ] The admonition which commences here stands, as οὖν shows, in close connection with what precedes; in 1Pe_2:22 the apostle had exhorted to unfeigned love one of another, which love he shows to be conditioned by ἁγνίζειν ἐν τῇ ὑπακοῇ τῆς ἀληθείας , and grounded on ἀναγεγεννημένον εἶναι ; from this deducing the ἀποτίθεσθαι πᾶσαν κακίαν κ . τ . λ ., he now exhorts ἐπιποθεῖν τὸ λογικὸν γάλα . The apostle’s intention, explaining at once the connection of this with the foregoing admonition, and the relation in which the thought of the participial clause ἀποθέμενοι stands to that of the imperative ἐπιποθήσατε , is that the Christians should show themselves τέκνα ὑπακοῆς (1Pe_1:14), not each for himself, but united together, an οἶκος πνευματικός (1Pe_2:5), γένος ἐκλεκτόν κ . τ . λ . (1Pe_2:9). Schott acknowledges this reference (unjustifiably denied by Hofmann) to the unity of the church; it explains why the apostle mentions those sins only which stand in direct antagonism to the φιλαδελφία ἀνυπόκριτος (1Pe_1:22). The participle ἀποθέμενοι stands to ἐπιποθήσατε in the same relation as ἀναζωσάμενοι to ἐλπίσατε in chap. 1Pe_1:13; it is therefore then not equal to postquam deposuistis, but expresses the continued purification of the Christian; comp. Eph_4:22; Heb_12:1; specially also Col_3:8; and for the whole passage, Jam_1:21.
πᾶσαν κακίαν κ . τ . λ .] Calvin: non est Integra omnium enumeratio quae deponi a nobis oportet, sed cum de veteri homine disputant Apostoli, quaedam vitia praeponunt in exemplum, quibus illius ingenium designant. κακία means here, as in Col_3:8, not generally: “wickedness,” but specially “malice,” nocendi cupiditas (Hemming). πᾶσαν denotes the whole compass of the idea: “every kind of malice.” The same is implied by the plural form in the words following ὑποκρίσεις , etc.; in πάσας καταλαλίας both are combined. The same and similar ideas to those here expressed are to be found conjoined elsewhere in the N. T.; comp. Rom_1:29-30. “The admonitions which follow are in essential connection with this comprehensive exhortation; comp. chap. 1Pe_2:22 ff.; especially chaps. 1Pe_3:8 ff., 1Pe_4:8 ff., 1Pe_5:2 ff.” (Wiesinger). For the force of the separate terms, comp. Lexicon. Augustin: malitia maculo delectatur alieno; invidia bono cruciatur alieno; dolus duplicat cor; adulatio duplicat linguam; detrectatio vulnerat famam.
καταλαλία occurs only here and in 2Co_12:20; in the classics the verb is to be found, never the subst.—1Pe_2:2. ὡς ἀρτιγέννητα βρέφη ] is not to be connected with ἀποθέμενοι , but with what follows. It does not mark the childlike nature of the Christians, but, in view of the goal of manhood yet afar off, is meant (referring to 1Pe_1:23 : ἀναγεγεννημένοι ) to designate the readers as those who had but recently been born again.[108] In Bengel’s interpretation: denotatur prima aetas ecclesiae N. T., a false reference is given to the expression. The particle ὡς is not here either used with a comparative force only; comp. chap. 1Pe_1:14.
ΤῸ ΛΟΓΙΚῸΝ ἌΔΟΛΟΝ ΓΆΛΑ ἘΠΙΠΟΘΉΣΑΤΕ ] ΓΆΛΑ is not here contrasted with ΒΡῶΜΑ , as in 1Co_3:2, or with ΣΤΕΡΕᾺ ΤΡΟΦΉ , as in Heb_5:12; but it denotes the word of God, in that it by its indwelling strength nourishes the soul of man. The term ΓΆΛΑ , as applied by the apostle, is to be explained simply from the reference to ἈΡΤΙΓΈΝΝΗΤΑ ΒΡΈΦΗ (Wiesinger, Schott, Hofmann). This view results quite naturally from the comparison with chap. 1Pe_1:22-23. If Peter had intended to convey any other meaning, he would have indicated it so as to have been understood.[109]
λογικόν ] does not state an attribute of evangelical doctrine: “rational;” Gualther: quod tradit rationem vere credendi et vivendi, nor even in the sense that this (with Smaleius in Calov.) might be inferred: nihil credendum esse quod ratione adversetur; but it is added in order to mark the figurative nature of the expression γάλα (to which it stands related similarly as in chap. 1Pe_1:13 : τῆς διαν . ὑμ . to τὰς ὀσφύας ), so that by it this milk is characterized as a spiritual nourishment. Luther: “spiritual, what is drawn in by the soul, what the heart must seek;” thus, too, Wiesinger, Schott, Brückner, Fronmüller, Hofmann. It has here the same signification as in Rom_12:1, where it does not mean “rational” as contrasted with what is external (de Wette). The interpretation on which λογικὸν γάλα is taken as equal to γάλα τοῦ λόγου , lac verbale, is opposed to the usus loquendi (it is supported by Beza, Gerhard, Calov., Hornejus, Bengel, Wolf, and others). Nor less so is the suggestion of Weiss (p. 187), that by “ λογικόν is to be understood that which proceeds from the λόγος (i.e. Word);” thus γάλα λογικόν would be the verbal milk of doctrine.[110] The second adjective: ἄδολον ( ἍΠ . ΛΕΓ .), strictly “without guile,” then “pure, unadulterated,” is not meant to give prominence to the idea that the Christians should strive to obtain the pure gospel, unadulterated by heretical doctrines of man, but it specifies purity as a quality belonging to the gospel (Wiesinger, Schott).[111] It is, besides, applicable, strictly speaking, not to the figurative ΓΆΛΑ , but only to the word of God thereby denoted (Schott).[112]
ἐπιποθήσατε ] expresses a strong, lively desire, Php_2:26. Wolf: Ap. alludit ad infantes, quos sponte sua et impetu quodam naturali in lac maternum ferri constat. The conjecture of Grotius: ἐπιποτίζετε , is quite unnecessary.
ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ αὐξηθῆτε ] ἵνα , not ἐκβατικῶς , but τελικῶς ; it states the purpose of the ἐπιποθήσατε . ἐν is more significant than διά , equivalent to “in its power.” The verb αὐξηθῆτε , used in connection with ἀρτιγενν . βρέφη , denotes the ever further development and strengthening of the new life. Although the aim which the apostle has in view in his exhortation is to mark the destination of Christians to be an οἶκος πνευματικός , still it is incorrect to affirm that αὐξηθῆτε has reference, not to the growth of the individual, but (with Schott) only to the transforming of the church as such, “to the conception of a building which is being carried up higher and higher to its completion.” Apart from the fact that αὐξάνεσθαι plainly refers back to ἀρτιγ . βρέφη , and is not equivalent to “to be built up,” it must be remarked that the church can become what it should be only by individual members growing up each of them ever more and more to the ἀνὴρ τέλειος .
εἰς σωτηρίαν ] omitted in the Rec., states the final aim of all Christian growth. Schott’s explanation, that by σωτηρία “the final glorious transfiguration of the church” is meant, is only a consequence of his erroneous and one-sided reference of the apostle’s exhortation to the church as such.
[108] It must be observed that the expression was used by the Jews also to designate the proselytes; corroborating passages in Wetstein in loc.
[109] Calvin understands γάλα to mean: vitae ratio quae novam genituram sapiat; Hemming: consentanea simplici infantiae vivendi ratio; Cornelius a Lapide: symbolum candoris, sinceritatis et benevolentiae. All these interpretations are contradicted by the fact that γάλα is not a condition of life, but means of nourishment. It is altogether arbitrary to explain γάλα to be the Lord’s Supper (Estius, Turrianus, Salmeron), or as meaning Christ as the incarnate Logos (Clemens Al. in Paedag. i. c. 6; Augustin in Tract. iii. in 1 Ep. John); Weiss, too, is mistaken when he says: “the nourishment of the new-born child of God is Christ Himself, who is preached and revealed in the word.”
[110] Besides, how does this agree with Weiss’s opinion, that γάλα means Christ Himself? The verbal Christ?!
[111] Wolf: lac ἄδολον ideo appellari puto, ut indicetur, operam dandam esse, ne illud traditionibus humanis per καπηλεύοντας τὸν λόγον , 2Co_2:17, corruptum hauriatur.
[112] Hofmann rightly observes: “What tends to the Christian’s growth may be compared to the pure milk which makes the child to thrive at its mother’s breast, and therefore it is termed τὸ λογικὸν ἄδολον γάλα .”