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Further Practical Admonitions. 1Pe_2:1-10
Growth in holiness:
v. 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings,
v. 2. as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby;
v. 3. if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
The apostle here continues the admonitions which he began in chapter 1, placing the old evil life of the unconverted in opposition to the sanctification of the believers: Laying aside, then, all wickedness, all guile and hypocrisy and envy, and all slanderings, like newly born infants yearn after the spiritual, unadulterated milk, that by it you may grow unto salvation. The sins which the apostle mentions in the first verse are characteristic of the unconverted state, but are incompatible with true sanctification. There is wickedness, or malice, whose constant aim is to harm one's neighbor. There is, as an expression of this malice, guile, which tries to reach its selfish object by deceiving one's neighbor; hypocrisy, which always assumes a garb to cloak the real condition of the heart and mind; envy, which begrudges one's neighbor everything that the goodness or the mercy of the Lord has given him; and, as a culmination of them all, slanderings, backbitings, cleverly composed speeches which are intended to detract from the good name of one's neighbor. All these vices should be laid aside, put off, because it interferes with the Christian's growth in holiness and will certainly kill faith in his heart. Instead of that, the true believers will be found like infants that have just been born, like sucklings. For just as a healthy baby at that age is eager for its nourishment, practically hungry all the time, so the Christians should have an insatiable longing for the milk of the Word, for the nourishment which is the proper food for all believers from their conversion to their death. This Word of the Gospel is a spiritual milk, which, as Luther writes, the soul must draw and the heart seek; and it is a pure, unadulterated milk, it should be used just as it is found in Scriptures, without the slightest addition of man's wisdom. Through this mental and spiritual food, the Word of the Gospel, the growth of the Christian takes place, the growth in grace, the growth in faith, the growth in sanctification, unto salvation. The Word works in us pure, holy, wholesome thoughts, wishes, and works, it gives us the strength both to will and to do according to the good pleasure of our heavenly Father.
In order to call the attention of his readers to the importance of this food and of the growth thereby, the apostle refers to an Old Testament passage: If, indeed, you have tasted that good is the Lord. Psa_34:9. He assumes as a matter of course that the Christians have enjoyed the food to which he has referred. But the excellence of this food is in itself an incentive for the believers to be eager for the proper spiritual growth. The very first taste of the goodness, of the kindness of the Lord, as shown in the Word of His grace, is bound to make the Christian eager for more of this wonderful benevolence, for more of this glorious news of the forgiveness of sins through Christ. Thus the faith that accepts and holds Christ is increased and strengthened through the Word, and out of this strength there flows, in turn, a truly righteous demeanor, true goodness of heart, Christian kindness and benevolence.