A VERSE BY VERSE COMMENTARY ON I PETER 2 VERSES 1 TO 12 DEALING WITH GETTING RID OF SIN BY CRAVING THE MILK OF GOD'S WORD, AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS.

1. I PETER 2 1-12 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy,
envy, and slander of every kind.
BAR ES, “Wherefore laying aside - On the word rendered laying aside, see Rom_13:12;
Eph_4:22, Eph_4:25; Col_3:8. The allusion is to putting off clothes; and the meaning is, that we are to
cast off these things entirely; that is, we are no longer to practice them. The word “wherefore” (οᆗν
oun) refers to the reasonings in the first chapter. In view of the considerations stated there, we should
renounce all evil.
All malice - All “evil,” (κακίαν kakian.) The word “malice” we commonly apply now to a particular
kind of evil, denoting extreme enmity of heart, ill-will, a disposition to injure others without cause,
from mere personal gratification, or from a spirit of revenge - Webster. The Greek word, however,
includes evil of all kinds. See the notes at Rom_1:29. Compare Act_8:22, where it is rendered
wickedness, and 1Co_5:8; 1Co_14:20; Eph_4:31; Col_3:8; Tit_3:3.
And all guile - Deceit of all kinds. See the Rom_1:29 note; 2Co_12:16 note; 1Th_2:3 note.
And hypocrisies - See the 1Ti_4:2, note; Mat_23:28; Gal_2:13, on the word rendered
dissimulation. The word means, feigning to be what we are not; assuming a false appearance of
religion; cloaking a wicked purpose under the appearance of piety.
And envies - Hatred of others on account of some excellency which they have, or something which
they possess which we do not. See the notes at Rom_1:29.
And all evil speaking - Greek: “speaking against others.” This word (καταλαλιᆭ katalalia) occurs
only here and in 2Co_12:20, where it is rendered “backbitings.” It would include all unkind or
slanderous speaking against others. This is by no means an uncommon fault in the world, and it is one
of the designs of religion to guard against it. Religion teaches us to lay aside whatever guile,
insincerity, and false appearances we may have acquired, and to put on the simple honesty and
openness of children. We all acquire more or less of guile and insincerity in the course of life. We learn
to conceal our sentiments and feelings, and almost unconsciously come to appear different from what
we really are. It is not so with children. In the child, every emotion of the bosom appears as it is.
“Nature there works well and beautifully.” Every emotion is expressed; every feeling of the heart is
developed; and in the cheeks, the open eye, the joyous or sad countenance, we know all that there is in
the bosom, as certainly as we know all that there is in the rose by its color and its fragrance. Now, it is
one of the purposes of religion to bring us back to this state, and to strip off all the subterfuges which
we may have acquired in life; and he in whom this effect is not accomplished has never been
converted. A man that is characteristically deceitful, cunning, and crafty, cannot be a Christian.
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,”
Mat_18:3.
CLARKE, “Wherefore, laying aside - This is in close connection with the preceding chapter,
from which it should not have been separated, and the subject is continued to the end of the 10th
verse.

2. Laying aside all malice - See the notes on Eph_4:22-31 (note). These tempers and dispositions
must have been common among the Jews, as they are frequently spoken against: Christianity can
never admit of such; they show the mind, not of Christ, but of the old murderer.
GILL, “Wherefore, laying aside all malice,.... Since the persons the apostle writes to were born
again, and therefore ought to love one another, he exhorts them to the disuse of such vices as were
disagreeable to their character as regenerate men, and contrary brotherly love; he dissuades them
from them, and advises to "lay them aside", either as weights and burdens, which it was not fit for new
born babes to carry; see Heb_12:1 or rather as old worn out clothes, as filthy rags, which should be put
off, laid by, and never used more, being what were very unsuitable to their character and profession to
wear: the metaphor is the same as in Eph_4:22 and the first he mentions is malice; to live in which is a
mark of an unregenerate man, and very unbecoming such who are born again; and is not consistent
with the relation of brethren, and character of children, or new born babes, who are without malice,
and do not bear and retain it: "all" of this is to be laid aside, towards all persons whatever, and in every
shape, and in every instance of it:
and all guile; fraud, or deceit, in words or actions; and which should not be found, and appear in any
form, in Israelites indeed, in brethren, in the children of God; who ought not to lie one to another, or
defraud each other, nor express that with their lips which they have not in their hearts; which babes
are free from, and so should babes in Christ:
and hypocrisies; both to God and men: hypocrisy to God is, when persons profess that which they
have not, as love to God, faith in Christ, zeal for religion, fervent devotion, and sincerity in the worship
of God; and do all they do to be seen of men, and appear outwardly righteous, and yet are full of all
manner of iniquity: hypocrisy to men is, pretence of friendship, loving in word and tongue only,
speaking peaceably with the mouth, but in heart laying wait; a sin to be abhorred and detested by one
that is born from above; and is contrary to that integrity, simplicity, and sincerity of heart, which
become regenerate persons, the children of God, and brethren one of another:
and envies; at each other's happiness and prosperity, riches, honours, gifts temporal or spiritual; for
such are works of the flesh, show men to be carnal, are unbecoming regenerated persons, and contrary
to the exercise of Christian charity, or love, which envieth not the welfare of others, either respecting
body, soul, or estate:
and all evil speakings; backbitings, whisperings, detractions, hurting one another's characters by
innuendos, false charges, and evil surmises; which is not acting like men that are made new creatures,
and are partakers of the divine nature, nor like brethren, or as Christ's little ones, and who are of God,
begotten again to be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
HE RY, “The holy apostle has been recommending mutual charity, and setting forth the
excellences of the word of God, calling it an incorruptible seed, and saying that it liveth and abideth
for ever. He pursues his discourse, and very properly comes in with this necessary advice, Wherefore
laying aside all malice, etc. These are such sins as both destroy charity and hinder the efficacy of the
word, and consequently they prevent our regeneration.
I. His advice is to lay aside or put off what is evil, as one would do an old rotten garment: “Cast it
away with indignation, never put it on more.”
1. The sins to be put off, or thrown aside, are, (1.) Malice, which may be taken more generally for all
sorts of wickedness, as Jam_1:21; 1Co_5:8. But, in a more confined sense, malice is anger resting in
the bosom of fools, settled overgrown anger, retained till it inflames a man to design mischief, to do
mischief, or delight in any mischief that befalls another. (2.) Guile, or deceit in words. So it
comprehends flattery, falsehood, and delusion, which is a crafty imposing upon another's ignorance or

3. weakness, to his damage. (3.) Hypocrisies. The word being plural comprehends all sorts of hypocrisies.
In matters of religion hypocrisy is counterfeit piety. In civil conversation hypocrisy is counterfeit
friendship, which is much practised by those who give high compliments, which they do not believe,
make promises which they never intend to perform, or pretend friendship when mischief lies in their
hearts. (4.) All envies; every thing that may be called envy, which is a grieving at the good and welfare
of another, at their abilities, prosperity, fame, or successful labours. (5.) Evil speaking, which is
detraction, speaking against another, or defaming him; it is rendered backbiting, 2Co_12:20;
Rom_1:30.
2. Hence learn, (1.) The best Christians have need to be cautioned and warned against the worst sins,
such as malice, hypocrisy, envy. They are but sanctified in part, and are still liable to temptations. (2.)
Our best services towards God will neither please him nor profit us if we be not conscientious in our
duties to men. The sins here mentioned are offences against the second table. These must be laid aside,
or else we cannot receive the word of God as we ought to do. (3.) Whereas it is said all malice, all guile,
learn, That one sin, not laid aside, will hinder our spiritual profit and everlasting welfare. (4.) Malice,
envy, hatred, hypocrisy, and evil-speaking, generally go together. Evil-speaking is a sign that malice
and guile lie in the heart; and all of them combine to hinder our profiting by the word of God.
II. The apostle, like a wise physician, having prescribed the purging out of vicious humours, goes on
to direct to wholesome and regular food, that they may grow thereby. The duty exhorted to is a strong
and constant desire for the word of God, which word is here called reasonable milk, only, this phrase
not being proper English, our translators rendered it the milk of the word, by which we are to
understand food proper for the soul, or a reasonable creature, whereby the mind, not the body, is
nourished and strengthened. This milk of the word must be sincere, not adulterated by the mixtures of
men, who often corrupt the word of God, 2Co_2:17. The manner in which they are to desire this
sincere milk of the word is stated thus: As new-born babes. He puts them in mind of their
regeneration. A new life requires suitable food. They, being newly born, must desire the milk of the
word. Infants desire common milk, and their desires towards it are fervent and frequent, arising from
an impatient sense of hunger, and accompanied with the best endeavours of which the infant is
capable. Such must Christians' desires be for the word of God: and that for this end, that they may
grow thereby, that we may improve in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, 2Pe_3:18.
Learn, 1. Strong desires and affections to the word of God are a sure evidence of a person's being born
again. If they be such desires as the babe has for the milk, they prove that the person is new-born. They
are the lowest evidence, but yet they are certain. 2. Growth and improvement in wisdom and grace are
the design and desire of every Christian; all spiritual means are for edification and improvement. The
word of God, rightly used, does not leave a man as it finds him, but improves and makes him better.
JAMISO , “1Pe_2:1-25. Exhortations.
To guileless feeding on the word by the sense of their privileges as new-born babes, living stones in
the spiritual temple built on Christ the chief corner-stone, and royal priests, in contrast to their former
state: also to abstinence from fleshly lusts, and to walk worthily in all relations of life, so that the world
without which opposes them may be constrained to glorify God in seeing their good works. Christ, the
grand pattern to follow in patience under suffering for well-doing.
laying aside — once for all: so the Greek aorist expresses as a garment put off. The exhortation
applies to Christians alone, for in none else is the new nature existing which, as “the inward man”
(Eph_3:16) can cast off the old as an outward thing, so that the Christian, through the continual
renewal of his inward man, can also exhibit himself externally as a new man. But to unbelievers the
demand is addressed, that inwardly, in regard to the nous (mind), they must become changed, meta-
noeisthai (re-pent) [Steiger]. The “therefore” resumes the exhortation begun in 1Pe_1:22. Seeing that
ye are born again of an incorruptible seed, be not again entangled in evil, which “has no substantial
being, but is an acting in contrariety to the being formed in us” [Theophylact]. “Malice,” etc., are
utterly inconsistent with the “love of the brethren,” unto which ye have “purified your souls”
(1Pe_1:22). The vices here are those which offend against the BROTHERLY LOVE inculcated above.

4. Each succeeding one springs out of that which immediately precedes, so as to form a genealogy of the
sins against love. Out of malice springs guile; out of guile, hypocrises (pretending to be what we are
not, and not showing what we really are; the opposite of “love unfeigned,” and “without
dissimulation”); out of hypocrisies, envies of those to whom we think ourselves obliged to play the
hypocrite; out of envies, evil-speaking, malicious, envious detraction of others. Guile is the permanent
disposition; hypocrisies the acts flowing from it. The guileless knows no envy. Compare 1Pe_2:2,
“sincere,” Greek, “guileless.” “Malice delights in another’s hurt; envy pines at another’s good; guile
imparts duplicity to the heart; hypocrisy (flattery) imparts duplicity to the tongue; evil-speakings
wound the character of another” [Augustine].
CALVI , “After having taught the faithful that they had been regenerated by the word of God, he now exhorts them
to lead a life corresponding with their birth. For if we live in the Spirit, we ought also to walk in the Spirit, as Paul says.
(Gal_5:25 .) It is not, then, sufficient for us to have been once called by the Lord, except we live as new creatures.
This is the meaning. But as to the words, the ApostleCO TI UES the same metaphor. For as we have been born
again, he requires from us a life like that of infants; by which he intimates that we are to put off the old man and his
works. Hence this verse agrees with what Christ says,
“ ye become like this little child,
ye shall notE TER into the kingdom of God.”
(Mat_18:3 .)
Infancy is here set by Peter in opposition to the ancientness of the flesh, which leads to corruption; and under the
word milk, he includes all the feelings of spiritual life. For there is also in part a contrast between the vices which he
enumerates and the sincere milk of the word; as though he had said, “ and hypocrisy belong to those who are
habituated to theCORRUPTIO S of the world; they have imbibed these vices: what pertains to infancy is sincere
simplicity, free from all guile. Men, when grown up, become imbued with envy, they learn to slander one another, they
are taught the arts of mischief; in short, they become hardened in every kind of evil: infants, owing to their age, do not
yet know what it is to envy, to do mischief, or the like things.” He then compares the vices, in which the oldness of the
flesh indulges, to strong food; and milk is called that way of living suitable to innocent nature and simple infancy.
1. All malice There is not here a complete enumeration of all those things which we ought to lay aside; but when the
Apostles speak of the old man, they lay down as examples some of those vices which mark his whole character.
“” says Paul, “ the works of the flesh, which are these,” (Gal_5:19 ;)
and yet he does not enumerate them all; but in those few things, as in a mirror, we may see that immense mass of filth
whichPROCEEDS from our flesh. So also in other passages, where he refers to the new life, he touches only on a
few things, by which we may understand the whole character.
What, then, he says amounts to this, — “ laid aside the works of your former life, such as malice, deceit,
dissimulations, envyings, and other things of this kind, devote yourselves to things of an opposite character, cultivate
kindness, honesty,” etc. He, in short, urges this, that new morals ought to follow a new life.
PULPIT, "1Pe_2:1 Wherefore laying aside. Those who would wear the white robe of regeneration
must lay aside the filthy garments (Zec_3:3) of the old carnal life. So St. Paul bids us put off the
old man and put on the new (Eph_4:22, Eph_4:24; Col_3:8, Col_3:10; comp. also Rom_13:14,
"Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." The metaphor would be more striking when, at baptism, the
old dress was laid aside, and the white chrisom was put on. St. Paul connects the putting on of
Christ with baptism in Gal_3:27, and St. Peter, when speaking of baptism in 1Pe_3:21, uses the
substantive ( ἀπόθεσις ) corresponding to the word here rendered "laying aside" ( ἀποθέµενοι ).

5. All malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings. The sins mentioned
here are all offences against that "unfeigned love of the brethren" which formed the subject of St.
Peter's exhortation in the latter part of 1Pe_1:1-25. St. Augustine, quoted here by most
commentators, says, "Malitia malo delectatur alieno; invidia bone cruciatur alieno; dolus
duplicat; adulatio duplicat linguam; detrectatio vulnerat famam" (comp. Eph_4:22-31); the close
resemblance between the two passages proves St. Peter's knowledge of the Epistle to the
Ephesians.
LA GE, "1Pe_2:1. Wherefore, laying aside.—The section 1Pe_2:1-10. is connected, as are the
exhortations in 1Pe_1:22, with the idea of regeneration and the love out of a pure heart flowing
from it. To brotherly love out of a pure heart are opposed guile, deception, hypocrisy, envy and
slander; if that is to spring up, these vices must die. On this account Peter exhorts Christians to
lay them aside, to put them off. If a new life is implanted, it must grow, and therefore save
corresponding, wholesome nourishment; on this account Peter entreats them to long for that
nourishment that thus they might be able to grow and to overcome temptations.—The
construction is here as in 1Pe_1:22. The Imperative reacts on the Participle. Laying aside is a
figure taken from clothing and of frequent occurrence, Col_3:8; Eph_4:22; Jam_1:21. The old
man is a garment, wholly surrounding, closely-fitting and forming a whole with us. “Take away
the filthy garments from him—set a fair mitre upon his head,” was the direction concerning
Joshua the high priest, Zec_3:3. The angel adding, “Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass
from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” The figures of laying aside and putting
on clothes was peculiarly apposite because the early Christians were wont to lay aside their old
garments and to exchange them for white and clean apparel when they were baptized and
regenerated. It is necessary to observe that the exhortation to laying aside is only addressed to
those who had the new man, while the unbelieving and unregenerate had first to receive another
mind [ ìåôÜíïéá , after-thought, after-wisdom, a change of disposition must precede baptism and
new-birth.—M.]. The vices to be laid aside bear upon the relation to our neighbour and exert a
deadly influence on brotherly love. êáêßá [nocendi cupiditas] denotes here, in particular,
malicious disposition toward others, aiming at their hurt, injury and pain, and assuming various
manifestations, cf. 1Co_13:5. The accomplishment of such evil intent necessitates lying, cunning
and other artifices; its concealment requires hypocrisy and dissembling. The sense of dependence
on those before whom dissimulation is practised, the sight of their happiness, the shame felt in the
conscience in the presence of the virtuous—excite envy, and envy engenders all manner of evil,
detracting and injurious speaking. [Malitia malo delectatur alieno; invidia bono cruciatur alieno;
dolus duplicat cor; adulatio duplicat linguam; detractatio vulner at famam.—Augustine.—M.].
‘Thus,’ observed Flacius, ‘one vice ever genders another.’ Huss says of êáêáëáëéÜ that it takes
place in various ways, either by denying or darkening a neighbour’s virtues, and either by
attributing to him evil or imputing to him evil designs in doing good.
1. It would be erroneous to represent the nature of regeneration as a state out of which whatever
is good is spontaneously flowing, as water flows from a strong fountain; the new man needs
constant growth in all his powers. The light of his knowledge must deepen and increase; his will
must become more firm and decided; he must grow in love, hope, patience and all other virtues,
Heb_6:1; Eph_4:15; 1Th_4:1; 1Th_4:10; Php_3:12. This necessitates exhortation on the part of
others, and the regenerate must (of course in the spirit of the Gospel, for the flesh is ever warring
against the spirit) coerce himself to do good. “A Christian is in process of being, not already
completed. Consequently, a Christian is not a Christian, that is, one who thinks that he is already
a Christian, whereas he is to become one, is nothing. For we strive to get to heaven, but are not
yet in heaven.” Luther.

6. LA GE, "1Pe_2:1. Which are the things that kill brotherly love and ought therefore earnestly to
be fought against and laid aside?—Growth in Christian perfection: (a) its soil; (b) its necessity;
(c) its means.—Love of the Divinely given means of grace both the mark and task of the new
man.—The foundation, on which all Christian exhortations are resting.—The true Church is the
mother, nourishing her children with the pure milk of the Divine word.—Jesus, the sinner’s
cordial and delight in life, suffering and dying.—Christ, the living stone, ever living and
animating His people.—Christians are living stones in the building of the kingdom of God: 1.
What does it mean? 2 What is necessary to it? 3. What advantage does it bring?—The Christian
state a holy priesthood: 1. Its dignity; 2. Its duties.—The two-fold destination of the Church’s
corner-stone.—Of the vessels of wrath set (prepared) for condemnation.—The chosen generation
of the children of God: 1. Their election; 2. Their destination.—Only God’s people is a people
indeed.
Starke:—The punishment of sin is affected by regeneration, for this must supply us with the
ability to avoid evil.—He that betrays attachment to some one darling sin to which natural
naughtiness, habit, or manner of life render him peculiarly liable, gives proof that he is not yet in
earnest as to his sanctification.—Sin is an arch-deceiver; let every man take care not to be
deceived, and not to regard evil and harmful as good and harmless.—The longer and the more
we partake of the sweet milk of the Gospel, the more do we increase in the spirit.—Faith gives us
some taste of the grace, mercy and loving-kindness of God, Psa_34:9.—He that tastes the
goodness of God must show it in loving converse with his neighbour.—Well built on Christ; who
can destroy this temple? Mat_16:18. In this temple offer diligently the incense of your prayer and
sacrifice.—Good works are well pleasing to God, not because of their perfection, but because of
Christ the Beloved, for they are wrought in God, Joh_3:21.—Consider the cause and the order of
salvation; Christ is the cause, faith the order; both must go together or salvation is impossible,
Joh_3:36.—Those who reject Christ lose their life, but do neither hurt Him nor His Gospel any
more than a well-secured corner-stone can be hurt by those who stumble at it.—The great glory
of believers:—they have consolation and joy in life and death.—The unconverted are abominable
to God, the converted precious and acceptable.
Lisco:—Sincere repentance: (a) its nature; (b) its motive.—The blessed communion with Christ
Jesus.—The exalted dignity of the Christian Church.—The Christian’s life of faith.—The
eternally immovable foundation of the kingdom of heaven.—Christ stands in a contrasted
relation to man.—The Apostle’s exhortation that we should build up ourselves.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
In this great chapter, Peter stressed the duties of the church as the new Israel of God, who were
bound by their privileges to exhibit lives worthy of their sacred calling (1 Peter 2:1-10); and then
he gave the first of a number of admonitions DIRECTED to the Christians with regard to their
obligations to the outward society (1 Peter 2:11-25).
Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil
speakings, (1 Peter 2:1)
Putting away therefore ... This is from [@apothesthai], "which is the word for stripping off one's
clothes."[1] The child of God must denounce and turn away from all manner of wickedness, just
as one might strip off filthy clothing. The words here are strongly SUGGESTIVE of what occurs
at the time of baptism:

7. Paul CO ECTS the putting on of Christ with baptism (Galatians 3:27); and Peter, when
speaking of baptism in 1 Peter 3:21; both used the Greek word which corresponds to the word
here, "laying aside."[2]
Hunter also AGREED that the words here have the meaning of "Since you are born again,"[3]
the sins about to be enumerated being by implication survivors from the old bad way of life.
Guile ... is deceitfulness, especially lying and false speech; thus it is usually spoken of as being on
the lips, or found in the mouth.
Hypocrisies and envies ... Hypocrisy was the leaven of the Pharisees, according to Christ himself,
the same being a way of life for the religious leaders of that day. It is pretending to be what one
knows he is not.
Envies ... So long as self remains ACTIVE in one's heart, there will be envy in his life."[4] It
springs from jealousies which are, in fact, concealed malice in hearts that are displeased with all
beauty, achievement, virtue, or any other desirable quality in others.
And all evil speakings ... All evil speakings are prohibited to Christians, whether against
brethren, officers of the state, or any other persons.
[1] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1976), p. 189.
[2] B. C. Coffin, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20,1Peter (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 68.
[3] Archibald M. Hunter, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. XII ( ew York and ashville: Abingdon
Press, 1957), p. 105.
[4] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 190.
CO STABLE, ""Therefore" goes BACK to 1 Peter 1:3-12 as well as 1 Peter 1:22-25. To prepare
for an exposition of the Christian's calling, Peter urged his readers to take off all kinds of evil
conduct like so many soiled garments (cf. Zechariah 3:1-5; Romans 1:29-30; 2 Corinthians 12:20;
Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; James 1:21). The sins he mentioned are all
incompatible with brotherly love (cf. 1 Peter 1:22). Malice (wickedness) and guile (deceit) are
attitudes. The remaining three words describe specific actions. These are not "the grosser vices of
paganism, but community-destroying vices that are often tolerated by the modern church."
OTE: Davids, p. 80.]
"The early Christian practice of baptism by immersion entailed undressing completely; and we
know that in the later liturgies the candidate's removal of his clothes before descending naked to
the pool and his putting on a new set on coming up formed an impressive ceremony and were
interpreted as symbols of his abandonment of his past unworthy life and his adoption of a new
life of innocence ..." [ ote: J. . D. Kelly, A Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude, pp.
83-84.]
Peter here called his readers to put into practice what they had professed in their baptism.C. Our
Priestly Calling 2:1-10

8. Peter CO TI UED his explanation of Christians' duties as we endure trials and suffering
joyfully. He called his readers to do certain things in the world of unbelievers, and he reminded
them of certain realities in this pericope. He did so to motivate them to press on to finish God's
plan and purpose for them in the world now.
"The great doxology (1 Peter 1:3-12) BEGI S with praise to God, who is the One who begot us
again. All hortations that follow grow out of this our relation to God: 1) since he who begot us is
holy, we, too, must be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16); 2) since he is our Judge and has ransomed us at so
great a PRICE, we must conduct ourselves with fear (1 Peter 1:17-21); 3) since we are begotten of
the incorruptible seed of the Word we are brethren, and thus our relation to each other must be
one of love, of children of the one Father (1 Peter 1:22-25). So Peter now PROCEEDS to the
EXT hortation: 4) since we have been begotten by means of the eternal Word we should long
for the milk of the Word as our true and proper nourishment." [ ote: Lenski, p. 76.]
In this pericope Peter used four different images to describe the Christian life. These are taking
off habits like garments, growing like babies, being built up like a temple, and serving like
priests.
CHARLES SIMEO , "GROWTH I GRACE IS TO BE DESIRED
1Pe_2:1-3. Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all
evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby;
if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
A STRA GE opinion has obtained amongst some, that there is no such thing as growth in grace.
But the whole tenour of Scripture, from one end of it to the other, proclaims the contrary. We will
go no further than to the passage before us, and to the context connected with it. In the beginning
of his epistle, the Apostle had spoken of Christians as “begotten by God the Father to a lively
hope [ ote: 1Pe_1:3.].” To stir them up to walk worthy of their high calling, he says to them,
“Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, as obedient children; not
fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance; but, as he who hath
called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for
I am holy [ ote: 1Pe_1:13-16.].” This injunction he enforces by a great variety of arguments. He
urges, first, the consideration, that God the Father will judge them according to their works
[ ote: 1Pe_1:17.]; then, that they have been redeemed by God the Son [ ote: 1Pe_1:18-19.]; and
then, that they have been born of God the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the
preached word, which unalterably inculcates and requires holiness [ ote: 1Pe_1:23-25.]. From
these premises he deduces the exhortation in our text: “Wherefore, as new-born babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted, (or as it should rather
be translated, since ye have tasted,) that the Lord is gracious.” Here the idea is kept up of their
being children of God, though children but newly born; and they are urged to desire and feed
upon that blessed provision which God has made for them in his word, and which alone can
secure their growth in the divine life.
The words, thus viewed, will lead us to consider,
I. The character of God’s children—
Many are the descriptions given of them in the Holy Scriptures; but there is not one in all the
inspired volume more simple or more accurate than this: “They have tasted that the Lord is

9. gracious.” This, I say, is,
1. Their universal experience—
[There is not a child of God in the universe to whom this character does not belong. The very
instant that a child is born of God, this is his experience. I DEED it is of “new-born babes” that
it is spoken. As to their knowledge of God, his nature, his perfections, his purposes, it may be
extremely limited and imperfect. Even of the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of “the
exceeding riches of God’s grace as displayed in him,” they may know but little: but they have
“tasted that the Lord is gracious,” and they do assuredly know it by their own happy experience.
If the person be young or old, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, he has learned this, and knows
it, and feels it in his inmost soul. He has heard of the Saviour; he has sought for mercy through
him; and he has received into his soul a sense of God’s pardoning love and mercy in Christ Jesus:
and in this he does rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. He may indeed have received but a taste: but a
taste he has received: and it is “sweeter to him than thousands of gold and silver.” The most
uncivilized savage, when born of God, is in this respect on a footing with the most enlightened
philosopher: he has believed in Christ; and he “makes Christ all his salvation, and all his
desire.”]
2. Their exclusive distinction—
[Simple as this is, there is not a creature upon the face of the whole earth of whom it can with
truth be predicated, but of one who has been “begotten of God,” and “born again of the Holy
Spirit.” Others may be very wise and learned, and may be able to descant with accuracy upon all
the deep things of God. They may in words and in profession greatly magnify the grace of God:
but they have never had a taste of it in their own souls. And the reason is plain: they have never
felt their undone state by nature: they have never been sensible of the immense load of guilt
which they have contracted by their own actual transgressions. Consequently, they have never
trembled for fear of God’s wrath, nor with strong crying and tears sought deliverance from it
through the atoning blood of Jesus. Hence the grace of God has never been extended to them;
and consequently they have never “tasted that the Lord is gracious.” They, as I have before said,
may descant learnedly upon the subject of divine grace; but their discussions proceed from the
head only, and not from the heart. As a man who has never tasted honey, however conversant he
may be with its qualities, has no just conception of its flavour, so none but he who has
experienced the grace of God in his soul can know really what it is. He knows it, because he has
tasted it: and others know it not, because they have not tasted it.]
The Apostle addressing these declares to them,
II. Their duty—
He teaches them,
1. What they are to put away, as injurious to their welfare—
[The unconverted man, though he may appear righteous before men, is in reality full of the most
abominable evils. He may not indulge in any gross sins; but he is full of “malice” towards those
who have injured him in any tender point; and would feel gratified, rather than pained, at any
evil that should befall him. His whole converse with mankind, too, is for the most part little better

10. than one continued system of “guile and hypocrisy,” which are the two chief constituents of what
is called politeness. If a rival surpass him in any thing on which his heart is set, and gain the
honours which he panted for, he will soon find that the spirit which is in him lusteth to “envy.”
Moreover, whether he be more or less guarded in his general conversation, he will find in himself
a propensity to “evil speaking,” as if he felt himself more elevated in proportion as others are
depressed. ow these dispositions are more or less dominant in the natural man, as St. Paul has
strongly and repeatedly declared [ ote: Eph_2:3. Tit_3:3.] — — — and, after a person is
converted to the faith of Christ, he needs to watch and pray against them with all imaginable
care: for as inveterate disorders in the constitution will impede the growth, and destroy the
vigour, of the body, so will these hateful dispositions “war against,” and, if not subdued and
mortified, prevail to the destruction of, the soul. These things therefore must be “put away.”]
2. What they must seek after, as conducive to their growth—
[As “the word is the incorruptible seed of which they are born [ ote: 1Pe_1:23.],” so is it the
food, upon which, as “new-born babes,” they must subsist. In the inspired volume, they have
truth without any mixture of ERROR. The writings of men take partial views of things, and all
more or less savour of human infirmity. or can the soul live upon them. If we have read a
human composition two or three times, we are weary of it: but this is not the case with the word
of God: that is ever new, and ever sweet to the taste of a regenerate soul. A little infant affects
nothing so much as its mother’s breast. From day to day it prefers that before every thing else
that can be offered to it: and it thrives with that, better than with any food that human ingenuity
can devise. So in the “sincere” and unadulterated “milk of the word,” there is something more
sweet and nutritious, than in all other books in the universe. In the inspired volume, God is
presented to the soul under such endearing characters; the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth in such
glorious views; the precepts, the promises, the threatenings, the examples, are all so
harmoniously blended; in short, truths of every kind are conveyed to the mind with such simple
majesty and commanding force, that they insinuate themselves into the whole frame of the soul,
and nourish it in a way that no human composition can. This therefore we should desire, in order
to our spiritual growth. We should read it, meditate upon it, delight ourselves in it: we should
embrace every truth contained in it; its precepts, in order to a more entire conformity to them; its
promises, in order to the encouragement of our souls in aspiring after the highest degrees of
holiness. In short, we should get it blended with the whole frame and constitution of our souls, so
that, to all who behold us from day to day, our growth and profiting may appear: nor should we
be satisfied with any attainment, till we have arrived at “the full measure of the stature of
Christ.”]
Let me further improve this subject,
1. In a way of inquiry—
[I am not now about to inquire, Whether you have mode a great proficiency in the divine life, but
Whether you have ever begun to live, or whether you are yet “dead in trespasses and sins?” In all
the book of God, there is not a more simple, or more decisive test, than in the words before us.
The extent of your knowledge or attainments is at present out of the question. The only point I
wish to ascertain is this; “Have you been born again?” If you have not made any progress in the
divine life, are you “as new-born babes?” Have you been brought, as it were, into a new world?
and are you living altogether in a new way? I do not ask whether, in “passing from death unto
life,” you have experienced any terrors of mind; or whether the change has been so sudden, that

11. you can fix on the time when it commenced? but this I ask, Whether you have attained such
views of Jesus Christ, that he is become truly “precious to your souls [ ote: ver. 7.]?” You cannot
but know, that, however you may have been accustomed to call Christ your Saviour, you have not
really found any delight in him in past times. But if you have been “born again of the Spirit,” a
change has taken place in this particular, and you have been made to feel your obligations to him,
and to claim him as “the Friend, and the Beloved of your soul.” I entreat you to examine
carefully into this matter; for, if this change have not taken place within you, ye are yet in your
sins. Oh, reflect on what our blessed Lord has so solemnly and so repeatedly affirmed; “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that except a man be born again, he cannot E TER into the kingdom of
God [ ote: Joh_3:3; Joh_3:5.].” If you ask, What shall I do to attain this experience? I would say,
Search out your sins, in order that you may know your need of Christ; and then go to him as the
friend of sinners, who casts out none who come unto him. In a word, I would refer you to the
words of our text, as contained in the 34th Psalm, from whence they are taken; “O taste and see
that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in him [ ote: Psa_34:8.].”]
2. In a way of affectionate exhortation—
[You have reason, I will suppose, to believe that you have been born again; and that, though of no
great stature in the divine life, you are new-born babes. If this be so, you have more reason to be
thankful than if you were made possessors of the whole world: and I therefore call upon you to
bless and magnify the Lord with your whole souls. But be not contented to CO TI UE in a state
of infantine weakness, but seek to grow up into the stature of “young men, and fathers [ ote:
1Jn_2:12-13.].” Some imagine that, as children, they may stand excused for the smallness of their
attainments; but this is a grievous error. See with what severity St. Paul reproved the Corinthian
converts for their want of progress in the divine life. Their continuing babes in their attainments
proved them to be yet carnal, instead of spiritual; and prevented his feeding them with stronger
meat, that would have nourished and strengthened their souls [ ote: 1Co_3:1-4.]. See also how
he condemned the same in the Hebrew converts, who by their infantine weakness were
incapacitated for the reception of those sublime truths, which he would gladly have imparted to
them [ ote: Heb_5:12; Heb_5:14.]. Be afraid then of standing still in religion: for if you make not
progress in it, you will speedily go backward; and if you decline from God’s ways, O, how terrible
will your state become! The Apostle tells us, that “if, after having tasted of the HEAVE LY
GIFT, and tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, you fall away, it
is impossible for you ever to be renewed unto repentance, seeing that you will have crucified the
Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame [ ote: Heb_6:4-6.].” Seek then to “grow in
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and, by a constant attention
to the suggestions in my text, so increase with the increase of God, that you may grow up into
Christ in all things as your living Head, and finally attain the full measure of the stature of
Christ.”]
KRETZMA 1-3, "The apostle here CO TI UES 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

12. 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, I DEED, 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.
BARCLAY, "WHAT TO LOSE A D WHAT TO YEAR FOR (1 Peter 2:1-3)
2:1-3 Strip off, therefore, all the evil of the heathen world and all deceitfulness, acts of hypocrisy
and feelings of envy, and all gossiping disparagements of other people, and, like newly-born
babes, yearn for the unadulterated milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up until you
reach salvation. You are bound to do this if you have tasted that the Lord is kind.
o Christian can stay the way he is; and Peter urges his people to have done with evil things and
to set their hearts on that which alone can nourish life.
There are things which must be stripped off. Apothesthai (compare Greek #595) is the verb for
stripping off one's clothes. There are things of which the Christian must divest himself as he
would strip off a soiled garment.
He must strip off all the evil of the heathen world. The word for evil is kakia (Greek #2549); it is
the most general word for wickedness and includes all the wicked ways of the Christless world.
The other words are illustrations and manifestations of this kakia (Greek #2549); and it is to be
noted that they are all faults of character which hurt the great Christian virtue of brotherly love.
There can be no brotherly love so long as these evil things EXIST.
There is deceitfulness (dolos, Greek #1388). Dolos is the trickery of the man who is out to deceive
others to attain his own ends, the vice of the man whose motives are never pure.

13. There is hypocrisy (hupokrisis, Greek #5272). Hupokrites (Greek #5273) (hypocrite) is a word
with a curious HISTORY. It is the noun from the verb hupokrinesthai (Greek #5271) which
means to answer; a hupokrites (Greek #5273) begins by being an answerer. Then it comes to
mean an actor, the man who takes part in the question and answer of the stage. EXT it comes to
mean a hypocrite, a man who all the time is acting a part and concealing his real motives. The
hypocrite is the man whose alleged Christian profession is for his own profit and prestige and not
for the service and glory of Christ.
There is envy (phthonos, Greek #5355). It may well be said that envy is the last sin to die. It
reared its ugly head even in the apostolic band. The other ten were envious of James and John,
when they seemed to steal a march upon them in the matter of precedence in the coming
Kingdom (Mark 10:41). Even at the last supper the disciples were disputing about who should
occupy the seats of greatest honour (Luke 22:24). So long as self remains ACTIVE within a man's
heart there will be envy in his life. E. G. Selwyn calls envy "the constant plague of all voluntary
organisations, not least religious organisations." C. E. B. Cranfield says that "we do not have to
be engaged in what is called 'church work' very long to discover what a perennial source of
trouble envy is."
There is gossiping disparagement (katalalia, Greek #2636). Katalalia is a word with a definite
flavour. It means evil-speaking; it is almost always the fruit of envy in the heart; and it usually
takes place when its victim is not there to defend himself. Few things are so attractive as hearing
or repeating spicy gossip. Disparaging gossip is something which everyone admits to be wrong
and which at the same time almost everyone enjoys; and yet there is nothing more productive of
heartbreak and nothing is so destructive of brotherly love and Christian unity.
These, then, are the things which the reborn man must strip off for, if he CO TI UES to allow
them to have a grip upon his life, the unity of the brethren must be injured.
THAT O WHICH TO SET THE HEART (1 Peter 2:1-3 CO TI UED)
But there is something on which the Christian must set his heart. He must yearn for the
unadulterated milk of the word. This is a phrase about whose meaning there is some difficulty.
The difficulty is with the word logikos (Greek #3050) which with the King James Version we have
translated of the word. The English Revised Version translates it spiritual, and in the margin
gives the alternative translation reasonable. Moffatt has spiritual, as has the Revised Standard
Version.
Logikos (Greek #3050) is the adjective from the noun logos (Greek #3056) and the difficulty is
that it has three perfectly possible translations.
(a) Logos (Greek #3056) is the great Stoic word for the reason which guides the universe; logikos
(Greek #3050) is a favourite Stoic word which describes what has to do with this divine reason
which is the governor of all things. If this is the word's connection, clearly spiritual is the
meaning.
(b) Logos (Greek #3056) is the normal Greek word for mind or reason; therefore, logikos (Greek
#3050) often means reasonable or intelligent. It is in that way that the King James Version
translates it in Romans 12:1, where it speaks of our reasonable service.
(c) Logos (Greek #3056)is the Greek for word, and logikos (Greek #3050) means belonging to the

14. Lord. This is the sense in which the King James Version takes it, and we think it is CORRECT.
Peter has just been talking about the word of God which abides forever (1 Peter 1:23-25). It is the
word of God which is in his mind; and we think that what he means here is that the Christian
must desire with his whole heart the nourishment which comes from the word of God, for by that
nourishment he can grow until he reaches salvation itself. In face of all the evil of the heathen
world the Christian must strengthen his soul with the pure food of the word of God.
This food of the word is unadulterated (adolos, Greek #97). That is to say, there is not the
slightest admixture of anything evil in it. Adolos (Greek #97) is an almost technical word to
describe corn (American: grain) that is entirely FREE from chaff or dust or useless or harmful
matter. In all human wisdom there is some admixture of what is either useless or harmful; the
word of God alone is altogether good.
The Christian is to yearn for this milk of the word; yearn is epipothein (Greek #1971) which is a
strong word. It is the word which is used for the hart longing for the waterbrooks (Psalms 42:1),
and for the Psalmist longing for the salvation of the Lord (Psalms 119:174). For the sincere
Christian, to STUDYGod's word is not a labour but a delight, for he knows that there his heart
will find the nourishment for which it longs.
The metaphor of the Christian as a baby and the word of God as the milk whereby he is
nourished is common in the ew Testament. Paul thinks of himself as the URSE who cares for
the infant Christians of Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:7). He thinks of himself as feeding the
Corinthians with milk for they are not yet at the stage of meat (1 Corinthians 3:2); and the writer
of the Letter to the Hebrews blames his people for being still at the stage of milk when they
should have gone on to maturity (Hebrews 5:12; Hebrews 6:2). To symbolize the rebirth of
baptism in the early church, the newly baptized Christian was clothed in white robes, and
sometimes he was fed with milk as if he was a little child. It is this nourishment with the milk of
the word which makes a Christian grow up and grow on until he reaches salvation.
Peter finishes this I TRODUCTIO with an allusion to Psalms 34:8. "You are bound to do
this," he writes, "if you have tasted the kindness of God." Here is something of the greatest
significance. The fact that God is gracious is not an excuse for us to do as we like, depending on
him to overlook it; it lays on us an obligation to toil towards deserving his graciousness and love.
The kindness of God is not an excuse for laziness in the Christian life; it is the greatest of all
incentives to effort.
ELLICOTT, "(l-10) EXHORTATIO TO REALISE THE IDEA OF THE EW ISRAEL.—The
Apostle BIDS them put away all elements of disunion, and to combine into a new Temple founded
on Jesus as the Christ, and into a new hierarchy and theocracy.
Verse 1
(1) Wherefore.—That is, Because the Pauline teaching is CORRECTwhich brings the Gentiles up
to the same level with the Jews. It may be observed that this newly enunciated principle is called
by St. Peter in the previous verse of the last chapter, a “gospel,” or piece of good news, for all
parties.
Laying aside.—This implies that before they had been wrapped up in these sins. There had been
“malice” (i.e., ill will put into action) on the part of these Hebrew Christians against their Gentile
brethren, and “guile,” and “hypocrisies,” and “jealousies,” which are all instances of concealed

15. malice. Of these three, the first plots, the second pretends not to plot, and the third rejoices to
think of the plot succeeding. The word for “all evil speakings” is literally, all talkings down—this
is “malice” in word. Archbishop Leighton well says, “The Apostles sometimes name some of these
evils, and sometimes other of them; but they are inseparable, all one garment, and all
comprehended under that one word (Ephesians 4:22), ‘the old man,’ which the Apostle there
exhorts to put off; and here it is pressed as a necessary evidence of this new birth, and
furtherance of their spiritual growth, that these base habits be thrown away, ragged filthy habits,
unbeseeming the children of God.” All these vices (natural vices to the Jewish mind) are
contrasted with the “unfeigned (literally, un-hypocritical) brotherly kindness” of 1 Peter 1:22.
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:1-3. Wherefore — Since the word of God is so excellent and durable in itself, and
has had such a blessed effect upon you as to regenerate you, and bring you to the enjoyment of true
Christian love; laying aside — As utterly inconsistent with that love; all malice — All ill- will, every
unkind disposition; or all wickedness, as κακιαν may be properly rendered, all sinful tempers and
practices whatsoever; and all guile — All craft, deceitful cunning, and artifice, every temper contrary to
Christian simplicity; and hypocrisies — Every kind of dissimulation; and envies — Grieving at the
PROSPERITY or good, temporal or spiritual, enjoyed by others; and all evil speakings — All
reproachful or unkind speeches concerning others; as new-born babes — As persons lately regenerated,
and yet young in grace, mere babes as to YOUR acquaintance with the doctrines, your experience of
the graces, your enjoyment of the privileges, and your performance of the duties of Christianity; desire
— επιποθησατε, desire earnestly, or love affectionately, or from your inmost soul, the sincere — The
pure, uncorrupted milk of the word — That is, that word of God which nourishes the soul as milk does
the body, and which is free from all guile, so that none are deceived who cleave to it, and make it the
food of their souls; that ye may grow thereby — In Christian knowledge and wisdom, in faith, hope,
and love; in humility, resignation, patience, meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, in all holiness and
righteousness, unto the full measure of Christ’s stature. In the former chapter the apostle had
represented the word of God as the incorruptible seed, by which the believers, to whom he wrote, had
been born again, and by obeying which they had purified their souls; here he represents it as the milk
by which the new-born babes in Christ grow up to maturity. The word, therefore, is both the principle
by which the divine life is produced in the soul, and the food by which it is nourished. Some critics,
following the Vulgate version, render λογικον αδολον γαλα, the unadulterated rational milk. But the
context evidently shows that our TRANSLATORS have given us the true meaning of the apostle. By
adding the epithet, αδολον, unadulterated, or pure, the apostle teaches us that the milk of the word will
not nourish the divine nature in those that use it, if it be adulterated with human mixtures. If so be, or
rather since, ye have tasted — Have sweetly and experimentally known; that the Lord is gracious — Is
merciful, loving, and kind, in what he hath ALREADY done, and in what he is still doing for and in
you. The apostle seems evidently to allude to Psalms 34:8, O taste and see that the Lord is good: where
see the note. Not only think and believe, on his own testimony, or on the testimony of others, that he is
good, but know it by your own experience; know that he is good to you in pardoning your sins,
adopting and regenerating you by his grace, shedding his love abroad in your heart, and giving you to
enjoy communion with himself through the eternal Spirit.
PRECEPTAUSTIN, “Apotithemi literally referred to the laying aside of clothes or taking off
one’s clothes, even as did the runners who participated in the OLYMPIC GAMES . The
runners ran in the stadium nearly naked. Figuratively the verb meant to cease doing what
one was accustomed to doing. Stop doing it, "throw it off" and be done with it. Note the
preposition "apo" is a marker of dissociation, implying a rupture from a former association.

16. This truth helps us picture what a believer is to do. The idea is that he or she is to "place
some distance between" the old life (the former lusts which were ours when we were ignorant
of salvation [1P1:14-15 ]). The verb is a participle but in this verse conveys an imperative
force (conveys the sense of a command). In view of the fact that divine life has been imparted
to the believer (all through chapter 1 we have this wonderful truth explained), it is imperative
that he or she “put away once for all” (aorist tense conveys the idea of effective action) any of
the sins listed that may be in his or her life. We are adjured to throw these off like a filthy,
soiled garment, even loathsome to touch. Peter also uses the Middle voice which conveys the
idea that believers are to initiate this action (of throwing aside, ceasing) and then participating
in the action or benefit thereof.
Apotithemi in (Ja1:21 ) is parsed identically (aorist middle participle). and note that there
too, this putting off precedes the taking in of the word of truth (Js1:18 ). In sum, the aorist
tense here calls for a definite decision (enabled by grace, empowered by the Spirit Who's
desire is that we be holy [1P1:14-15 ]) to cast off these evil attitudes & actions. Note the
spiritual dynamic Peter is outlining - only after having cast these sins aside will we have a
God given appetite for "the living & enduring word of God " (1Pe1:23 )...only then do we
desire the Word's teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness (2Ti3:16-17 ).
Jon Courson sums up the thrust of Peter's exhortation writing that...
The degree to which those attributes exist in our lives will be the degree to which our
hunger for the Word will be diminished. No matter how good the meal my wife, Tammy,
prepares for me, if I stop off at McDonald’s on the way home and score a couple of
Quarter Pounders with large fries—and super-size the whole deal—when I get home, I
won’t be interested in what she’s made. When people stop reading or studying the Word,
it’s because they’re eating the junk food of the world. That’s why Peter says, “First lay
aside the junk and then you will desire the milk of the Word.” (Courson, J. Jon Courson's
Application Commentary. Page 1552. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson)
PRECEPTAUSTIN, “Malice is a vicious intention, a feeling of hostility and strong dislike
including desire to do harm. This sort of malignant act breeds further evil in and of itself. It
includes a desire to harm other people, (Col3:8, Ja1:21) often hides behind apparently good
actions (1Pe2:16). Malice is often irrational, usually based on the false belief that the person
against whom it is directed has the same intention.
Webster says
"malice" is "desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another & implies a deep-seated
desire to see another suffer."
Malice characterizes the life of men under the wrath of God (Ro1:29 kindred word
"kakoetheia"). It is not only a moral deficiency but destroys fellowship. For believers it belongs
to the old life (Tit. 3:3); but there is still need for exhortation to ‘clean it out’ (1 Cor. 5:7f.) or
‘strip it off’ (Jas. 1:21; Col. 3:8). Christians are to be ‘babes in evil’ (1 Cor. 14:20), for Christian
liberty is not lawlessness (1 Pet. 2:16). Aristotle defined malice as “taking all things in the evil
part”. Trench in Synonyms of the NT say malice is “that peculiar form of evil which manifests

17. itself in a malignant interpretation of the actions of others, an attributing of them all to the
worst motive”
Dolos means a snare, bait, trick, deliberate dishonesty. Deliberate attempt to mislead other
people by telling lies, conspicuously absent from behavior of Christ (2:22).
Guile or deception has to do primarily with words. When a person wants something, he tries
to get it... by flattery, false promises, false tales, suggestive talk, off-colored suggestions,
enticing words, outright lying
"Hypocrisy" (hupokrisis) is used 6 times in the NT (once in each of the following: Matthew ;
Mark ; Luke ; Galatians ; 1 Timothy ; 1 Peter ) and means to pretend, act as something one is
not, acting deceitfully, pretended piety and love.
Wuest adds that this Greek word
"is made up of hupo “under,” and krinō “to judge” and referred originally to “one who
judged from under the cover of a mask,” thus, assuming an identity and a character which
he was not. This person was the actor on the Greek stage, one who took the part of
another. The Pharisees were religious actors, so to speak, in that they pretended to be on
the outside, what they were not on the inside...Our word hypocrite comes from this
Greek word. It usually referred to the act of concealing wrong feelings or character under
the pretence of better ones."
In another note Wuest explains that
"The Greek word for “hypocrite” was used of an actor on the Greek stage, one who
played the part of another. The word means literally, “to judge under,” and was used of
someone giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask.... The true identity of the
person is covered up. It refers to acts of impersonation or deception. It was used of an
actor on the Greek stage. Taken over into the New Testament, it referred to a person we
call a hypocrite, one who assumes the mannerisms, speech, and character of someone
else, thus hiding his true identity. Christianity requires that believers should be open and
above-board. They should be themselves. Their lives should be like an open book, easily
read." (Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
Hupokrisis describes a kind of deceit in which persons pretend to be different from what they
really are, and esp that they are acting from good motives when in reality they are motivated
by selfish desire. Jesus warns hypocrites, severely warns them. Believers must, therefore,
strip off any semblance of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is one of the sins that God hates above all
others. Hypocrites shall receive the greater damnation (Mt23:14ff). A hypocrite has God on his
tongue and the world in his heart.
William Barclay writes that the related word
"Hupokrites (hypocrite) is a word with a curious history. It is the noun from the verb
hupokrinesthai which means to answer; a hupokritēs begins by being an answerer.
Then it it goes on to mean one who answers in a set dialogue or a set conversation, that
is to say an actor, the man who takes part in the question and answer of the stage... It
then came to mean an actor in the worse sense of the term, a pretender, one who acts a
part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show

18. while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different....it comes to mean a
hypocrite, a man who all the time is acting a part and concealing his real motives...one
whose whole life is a piece of acting without any sincerity behind it at all. Anyone to whom
religion is a legal thing, anyone to whom religion means carrying out certain external rules
and regulations, anyone to whom religion is entirely connected with the observation of a
certain ritual and the keeping of a certain number of taboos is in the end bound to be, in
this sense, a hypocrite. The reason is this—he believes that he is a good man if he
carries out the correct acts and practices, no matter what his heart and his thoughts are
like. To take the case of the legalistic Jew in the time of Jesus, he might hate his fellow
man with all his heart, he might be full of envy and jealousy and concealed bitterness and
pride; that did not matter so long as he carried out the correct handwashings and
observed the correct laws about cleanness and uncleanness. Legalism takes account of
a man’s outward actions; but it takes no account at all of his inward feelings. He may well
be meticulously serving God in outward things, and bluntly disobeying God in inward
things—and that is hypocrisy....There is no greater religious peril than that of identifying
religion with outward observance. There is no commoner religious mistake than to identify
goodness with certain so-called religious acts. Church-going, bible-reading, careful
financial giving, even time-tabled prayer do not make a man a good man. The
fundamental question is, how is a man’s heart towards God and towards his fellow-men?
And if in his heart there are enmity, bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward
religious observances in the world will make him anything other than a hypocrite... The
hypocrite is the man whose alleged Christian profession is for his own profit and prestige
and not for the service and glory of Christ." (Barclay, W: The Daily study Bible series,
Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)
"Envy" (5355 ) (phthonos) is used 9 times in the NT, once in each of the following books
(Mt ; Mk ; Ro ; Gal ; Phil ; 1Ti ; Titus ; Js ; 1Pe )
Phthonos refers to wrong desires to possess what belongs to someone else. Covet what
someone else has, covet it so much that he wants it even if it has to be taken away from the
other person. He may even wish that the other person did not have it or had not received it.
But thanks be to God our Savior. He saves and delivers us from envy. Through Christ He
gives us real life, and He satisfies our hearts and lives with pleasures forevermore (Ps16:11,
cp Pr14:30, 23:17, 24:1, Ro13:13, 1Co13:4, Ga5:26
Barclay commenting on phthonos writes that
"It may well be said that envy is the last sin to die. It reared its ugly head even in the apostolic
band. The other ten were envious of James and John, when they seemed to steal a march upon
them in the matter of precedence in the coming Kingdom (Mk 10:41 ). Even at the last supper the
disciples were disputing about who should occupy the seats of greatest honour (Lu 22:24 ). So
long as self remains active within a man’s heart there will be envy in his life. E. G. Selwyn calls
envy “the constant plague of all voluntary organisations, not least religious organisations.” C. E. B.
Cranfield says that “we do not have to be engaged in what is called ‘church work’ very long to
discover what a perennial source of trouble envy is.” (Barclay, W: The Daily study Bible series,
Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)

19. Slander (2636 ) (katalalía from katá = against, down + laleo = to speak) means evil–
speaking.
"Speaking against" or "Speaking down" a person, refers to the act of defaming, slandering,
speaking against another. This is evil, malicious talk intended to damage or destroy another
person. The greatest slanderer of all is the Devil, Satan, the adversary who opposes God’s
people and accuses them before God.
Slander is synonymous with calumny which refers to a misrepresentation intended to
blacken another’s reputation or the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations
maliciously calculated to damage another’s reputation. (Merriam-Webster Collegiate
dictionary) The psalmist writes "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking
deceit." (Ps 34:13 ) Solomon adds "Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your lips." (Pr 24:28 )
Barclay records that
"Katalalia is a word with a definite flavor. It means evil-speaking; it is almost always the
fruit of envy in the heart; and it usually takes place when its victim is not there to defend
himself. Few things are so attractive as hearing or repeating spicy gossip. Disparaging
gossip is something which everyone admits to be wrong and which at the same time
almost everyone enjoys; and yet there is nothing more productive of heartbreak and
nothing is so destructive of brotherly love and Christian unity." (Barclay, W: The Daily
study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)
The final sin we are called upon to strip off is making derogatory statements about others.
Clearly, God expects us to focus on the good in our fellows and not on their bad points. (Cp
2Co12:20, Ep4:31, Ja4:11, Ps101:5)
Christian believers are not to judge and speak evil of one another. The reason is clear: we are
brothers (born again into the same family) brothers of Christ and of one another, & as
brothers we have purifed our hearts for a sincere (philadelphia) love of the brethren
(1Pe1:22).When we criticize a brother or sister in Christ, we are slandering one of God’s own
children!!! Just think: we are actually slandering a son or daughter of God. This alone should
keep us from speaking evil of our brothers in Christ. Think about something else as well: there
is never a spirit of evil speaking in the humble and loving person. There is only a loving
compassion for others, especially for those who have come short and fallen. Therefore, when
we speak evil of another person it means that we are neither humble nor loving, but the very
opposite: prideful and hateful. Criticism boosts our own self-image. Pointing out someone
else’s failure and tearing him down makes us seem a little bit better, at least in our own eyes.
It adds to our own pride, ego, and self-image. Criticism is simply enjoyed. There is a tendency
in human nature to take pleasure in hearing and sharing bad news and shortcomings about
others.
John Piper writes:
"One of the ways the word of God creates desire for the milk of God's kindness is by
destroying desire for other things.
Piper goes on to give his definitions below)

20. Malice: a desire to hurt someone with words or deeds.
Guile: a desire to gain some advantage or preserve some position by deceiving others.
Hypocrisy: a desire not to be known for what really is.
Envy: a desire for some privilege or benefit that belongs to another with resentment that
another has it and you don't.
Slander: the desire for revenge and self-enhancement, often driven by the deeper desire
to deflect attention from our own failings. The worse light we can put another in by
slander, the less our own darkness shows."
Piper continues
"If you want to experience desire for God's word; if you want your desires to grow; if you
want to taste fully the kindness of the Lord, realize that as our satisfaction in God's
kindness rises, the controlling desires of malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy and slander are
destroyed. And the reverse is true: as you resist them and lay them aside, desires for
God grow stronger and more intense. Peter's point is: don't think that they can flourish in
the same heart. Desire to taste & enjoy God's kindness cannot flourish where in the
same heart with guile & hypocrisy."
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Wherefore laying aside all malice.
Malice laid aside
I. That regeneration and the low of sin cannot stand together, it must needs be accompanied with a
new life. Do vines bear brambles?
II. That there is no perfection here to be attained, for even the best have sin dwelling, though not
reigning, in them.
III. That it is no easy thing to be a Christian.
IV. That under those corruptions here named all others are included.
V. That most of those here mentioned are inward corruptions which we must as well avoid as the
outward. (John Rogers.)
Renovation
I. What is to be laid aside? “All malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, evil speakings.” These are only a few
specimens of the many lusts which are to be cast out, if we would enter the kingdom of heaven. If a
child has swallowed poison I could not expect that wholesome food would confer any benefit upon
him-the poison must be first removed; and if these poisonous evils lodge in your hearts and be not
repented of, they prevent the Word of God having its proper effect, they effectually neutralise it.
II. The special reason why these are to be “laid aside.” The fact of their being “newborn babes,” the
apostle urges as a reason why they should put away all these evils. This reason is a very efficacious one.
If you are born again, what have you to do any more with the old habits of corruption?
III. What is to be desired? “The sincere milk of the Word.”
IV. For what is the “sincere milk of the word” to be desired? “That ye may grow thereby.” (H.
Verschoyle.)

21. A catalogue of sins to be avoided
I. It is exceedingly profitable to gather special catalogues of our sins which we should avoid, to single
out such as we would specially strive against, and do more specially hurt us.
II. The minister ought to inform his flock concerning the particular faults that hinder the work of his
ministry where he lives. It is not enough to reprove sin, but there is a great judgment to be expressed
in applying himself to the diseases of that people.
III. The apostle doth not name here all the sins that hinder the Word, but he imports that in most
places these here named do much reign, and marvellously let the course of the Word.
IV. It should be considered how these sins do hinder the Word. (N. Byfield.)
Malice.-
Malice
is an old grudge upon some wrong done, or conceived to be done to a man, whereupon he waits to do
some mischief to him that did it. Anger is like a fire kindled in thorns, soon blazeth, is soon out; but
malice, like fire kindled in a log, it continues long. This is often forbidden (Eph_4:31; Col_3:8).
1. We ought to take heed of the beginnings of unadvised anger. God is slow to wrath, and so should
we be.
2. If we be overtaken (as a right good man may) take heed it fester not, grow not to hatred; heal it
quickly as we do our wounds. The devil is an ill counsellor. (John Rogers.)
The venomous disposition
There are plants which may be said to distil venom of their own accord. The machineel tree, for
example (by no means uncommon in the West India Islands), affords a milky fluid which blisters the
skin as if it were burnt with a hot iron; and indeed so dangerous has the vegetable been accounted, that
if a traveller should sleep under its shade it was once popularly believed he would never wake again.
The venomous disposition of these plants has its representative in the human family. There are
persons to be met with who are so spiteful as to cause pain the moment you come into contact with
them. Their lips distil malice, and it seems the object of their life to inflict malignant wounds. If you
trust them your happiness will sleep the sleep of death. (Scientific illustrations.)
All guile.-
Guile
It is meant of guile that is between men and men in their dealings with each other, as in buying,
selling, letting, hiring, borrowing, lending, paying wages, doing work, partnership, etc.; when men
would seem to do well, but do otherwise; when one thing is pretended, but another practised. We are
not born for ourselves, but for the good of each other; we must not lie one to another, seeing we are
members one to another, as it were monstrous in the natural body to see the hand beguile the mouth,
etc., and yet how common is this sin! how doth one spread a net for another! not caring how they come
by their goods, so they be once masters of them. (John Rogers.)
Guile in small matters as well as great to be avoided
“All”-this is added to show (lest any should think none but guile in great matters or measure forbidden

22. here) that there is a thorough reformation required. Therefore it will not serve any man’s turn to say,
“My shop is not so dark as others; I mingle not my commodities so much as such and such; I never
deceived in any great matters.” All guile must be abandoned by a Christian who cares for his soul. A
Christian must show forth the truth of his Christianity in his particular calling, in his shop, buying,
selling, etc., that men may count his word as good as a bond, that they dare rest on his faithfulness,
that he will not deceive. (John Rogers.)
Hypocrisies.-
Preservatives against hypocrisy
1. Keep thyself in God’s presence; remember always that His eyes are upon thee (Psa_16:8;
Gen_17:1).
2. Thou must pray much and often to God to create a right spirit within thee; for by nature we have
all hypocritical hearts (Psa_51:10).
3. Keep thy heart with all diligence, watching daily and resisting distractions, wavering thoughts,
and forgetfulness. Judge thyself seriously before God (Jas_4:8; Mat_23:26).
4. In all matters of well-doing be as secret as may be (Mat_6:1-34) both in mercy, prayer, fasting,
reading, and the like.
5. Be watchful over thy own ways, and see that thou be as careful of all duties of godliness in
prosperity as in adversity, in health as in sickness (Job_27:9-10).
6. Converse with such as in whom thou discernest true spirits without guile, and shun the
company of known hypocrites.
7. Be not rash and easy to condemn other men for hypocrites, only because they cross thy opinions,
or humours, or will, or practice. It is often observed that rash censurers that usually lash others as
hypocrites fall at length into some vile kind of hypocrisy themselves. (N. Byfield.)
Hypocrisy
Hypocrites are like unto white silver, but they draw black lines, they have a seeming sanctified outside,
but stuffed within with malice, worldliness, intemperance; like window cushions made up of velvet,
and perhaps richly embroidered, but stuffed within with hay. (J. Spencer.)
Hypocrisy ineffective
Coals of fire cannot be concealed beneath the most sumptuous apparel, they will betray themselves
with smoke and flame; nor can darling sins be long hidden beneath the most ostentatious profession,
they will sooner or later discover themselves, and burn sad holes in the man’s reputation. Sin needs
quenching in the Saviour’s blood, not concealing under the garb of religion. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Envies.-
The hatefulness of envy
I. Consider the subject persons in which it usually is. It is found most in natural men (Tit_3:3), yea, in
silly men (Job_5:2). This was the sin of Cain (Gen_4:1-26). yea, of the devil himself.
II. Consider the cause of it. It is for the most part the daughter of pride (Gal_5:26), sometimes of

23. covetousness (Pro_28:22), and often of some egregious transgression, such as in Rom_1:29, but ever
it is the filthy fruit of the flesh (Gal_5:25).
III. Consider the vile effects of it, which are many.
1. It hath done many mischiefs for which it is infamous. It sold Joseph into Egypt (Gen_37:1-36),
and killed the Son of God (Mat_27:8);
2. It deforms our natures, it makes a man suspicious, malicious, contentious, it makes us to
provoke, backbite, and practise evil against our neighbours.
3. It begins even death and hell, while a man is alive (Job_5:2). It destroyeth the contentment of
his life, and burns him with a kind of fire unquenchable.
IV. It is a notable hindrance to the profit of the Word, and so no doubt it is to prayer and all piety, as
evidently it is a let of charity (Php_1:15). (N. Byfield.)
All evil speakings.-
Rules against evil speaking
He that would restrain himself from being guilty of backbiting, judging, reviling, or any kind of evil
speaking, must observe such rules as these.
I. He must learn to speak well to God and of godliness. If we did study that holy language of speaking
to God by prayer, we would be easily fitted for the government of our tongues toward men: we speak ill
to men because we pray but ill to God.
II. He must study to be quiet and not meddle with the strife that belongs not to him; resolving that he
will never suffer as a busybody in other men’s matters (1Th_4:1-18; 1Pe_4:15).
III. He must keep a catalogue of his own faults continually in his mind. When we are so apt to task
others it is because we forget our own wickedness.
IV. His words must be few, for in a multitude of words there cannot want sin, and usually this sin is
never absent.
V. He must not allow himself liberty to think evil. A suspicious person will speak evil.
VI. He must pray to God to set a watch before the doors of his lips.
VII. He must avoid vain and provoking company. When men get into idle company the very
complement of discoursing extracteth evil speaking to fill up the time; especially he must avoid the
company of censurers, for their ill-language, though at first disliked, is insensibly learned.
VIII. He must especially strive to get meekness, and show his meekness to all men (Tit_3:1-2).
IX. If he have this way offended, then let him follow that counsel, “Let his own words grieve him”
(Psa_56:5); that is let him humble himself seriously for it before God by hearty repentance; this sin is
seldom mended, because it is seldom repented of. (N. Byfield.)
Pernicious and evil speaking abundant
Alas, evil speaking floods the world as some weeds cover the fields in early summer! My heart was
made sad in some journeys last year as I saw many large tracks of grain almost hidden by a yellow sea
of flowering weeds. For the time you think it is not possible that any of the corn can come to
perfection. Even there, however, a harvest is reaped; but the harvest would have been heavier if the
fields had been clean. Evil speaking, like one dominant weed, covers the surface of society, and chokes
in great measure the growth of the good seed. Christians, ye are God’s husbandry-ploughed field; put

24. away these bitter things in their seed thoughts and in their matured actions, that ye may be fruitful
unto Him. If the multitude of words spoken by professing Christians in disparagement of their
neighbours were reduced first by the omission of all that is not strictly true and fair; and next by the
omission of all that is not spoken with a good object in view; and next by the omission of all that,
though spoken with a good intention, is unwisely spoken, and mischievous in its results;-the
remainder would, like Gideon’s army, be very small in number, but very select in kind. The residuum
would consist only of the testimony of true men against wickedness, which truth and faithfulness, as in
God’s sight, compelled them to utter. (W. Arnot.)
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word.-
Christian childhood and its appropriate nourishment
I. The similitude by which Christians are here represented.
1. This may relate to the commencement of the spiritual life at regeneration, as compared with its
subsequent growth in this world. Not only has this life a beginning here, after the natural birth, but
it begins like that, in a small, feeble, and almost imperceptible manner.
2. But this childhood may relate to the whole state of the spiritual life in the present world as
compared with its future manhood.
II. What that growth is which the scripture is calculated thus to promote though the whole course of
our mortal existence.
1. In knowledge. At first this principle is weak in its perception of the things of revelation. It begins
with those parts of Scripture which lie nearest to human observation, and in which the Bible most
accommodates itself to human ignorance. It proceeds to those passages suited to an awakened and
quickened state of feeling.
2. In purity. The mind naturally conforms itself to the sentiments with which it is conversant.
3. In heavenly mindedness. To that world from which the Scriptures Came, and about which they
frequently treat, they insensibly draw the devout peruser. They facilitate the withdrawment of our
minds from this world by the transitoriness which they attach to all earthly excellences, and by
making them to stand for signs of others, yet greater and better, in the celestial economy. Hence
our elevation is effectively promoted.
4. In peace and tranquillity of mind, amidst all the disturbances and ills of life. What book is, or
can be, like the Bible, for its perpetual reference of all things here to a Divine superintendence?
5. In fine, the Scripture is calculated to promote the growth of every grace of the Spirit necessary to
complete the Christian character. It feeds repentance by the evil it discloses in sin; it feeds Divine
love by the excellence it portrays in God, rectifying the misconceptions of the carnal mind; it feeds
faith by the representation of its objects, and by the impression it makes of its innate majesty and
authority on the devout peruser of its pages. In like manner it feeds hope, patience, resignation,
zeal, and every other grace which branches out of the principle of spiritual life, and completes the
character of the man of God.
III. What that state of mind is which Christians are required to cultivate in order to secure this great
benefit from the Scripture.
1. There must be the removal of what would otherwise prove fatal impediments. James inculcates
the same duty under a different metaphor (1Pe_1:21). He compares the Word to a fruit bearing
plant, requiring a clean and friendly soil for its growth. The weeds of evil dispositions must be
eradicated, or its roots will not spread, nor its virtue disclose itself. “Purify your hearts,” therefore,
he adds elsewhere, “ye double minded. Be ye doers of the Word,” etc.
2. These impediments being removed, we must cherish and promote the spiritual appetite. The

25. appetite of the infant for its appropriate supply is natural. The spiritual appetite, to be analogous to
it, must have several properties.
(1) It must be earnest. The child cries, is impatient for its designed support; and it is not an
idle, cold, sluggish desire after the aliment provided for spiritual growth that will subserve our
growth. “My soul breaketh,” says David, “for the longing it hath to Thy statutes.”
(2) It must be specific and suitable. No toys and gew-gaws, no gifts of gold and silver, no, nor
even of the most delicious food, will compensate the infant for the absence of its natural
support. Thus we must take heed not to substitute for the truth of Scripture the sentiments of
men, though set forth with all the advantages of learning and eloquence.
(3) It must be constant, The infant tires not of its proper food, but finds in it all it wants both
nutritive and delicious. Nor must we tire of the Word of God, nor seek for a greater variety than
it presents. It contains within itself all that is necessary for life and godliness, for comfort and
improvement. (J. Leifchild.)
God’s newborn babes and their food
I. Our condition as God’s little ones. “Newborn babes.” This world is but the nursery in which the heirs
of God are spending the first lisping years of their existence, preparatory to the opening of life to full
maturity yonder in the light of God.
1. This word should teach us humility. Our best pace and strongest walking in obedience here is as
but the stepping of children in comparison with the perfect obedience of glory, when we shall
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. All our knowledge here is but as the ignorance of infants,
and all our expressions of God and of His praises but as the first stammerings of children, in
comparison with the knowledge we shall have of Him hereafter. It becomes us, therefore, not to
exercise ourselves in great matters, or in things too high for us, but to quiet ourselves as a child
that is weaned of its mother. Not surprised, if unnoticed or unknown; not angry, if treated with
small respect; not discouraged, if face to face with incomprehensible mysteries.
2. This word should also teach us hope. There is no young thing so helpless as a babe. But He who
has appointed the long months of babyhood has also provided the love and patience with which
mother and father welcome and tend the strange wee thing which has come into their home. And
shall God have put into others qualities in which He is Himself deficient? Shall He have provided
so carefully for us in our first birth, and have provided nought in our second? Your weakness, and
ailments, and nervous dread, and besetting sins, and hereditary taint of evil habit and dulness of
vision, will not drive God from you, but will bring Him nearer.
3. This word should also teach us our true attitude towards God. Throw yourself on Him with the
abandonment of a babe. Roll on Him the responsibility of choosing for you-directing, protecting,
and delivering you. If you are overcome by sin, be sure that it cannot alienate His love, any more
than can smallpox, which has marred some dear tiny face, prevent the mother from kissing the
little parched lips.
II. Our food. “Long for the spiritual milk which is without guile” (R.V.). There is nothing which so
proves the inspiration of the Scriptures as their suitableness to the nurture of the new life in the soul.
As long as that life is absent, there is no special charm in the sacred Word: it lies unnoticed on the
shelf. But directly it has been implanted, and whilst yet in its earliest stages, it seeks after the Word of
God as a babe after its mother’s milk; and instantly it begins to grow.
III. How to create an appetite for the Word. “Desire.” One of the most dangerous symptoms is the loss
of appetite. And there is no surer indication of religious declension and ill-health than the cessation of
desire for the Word of God. How can that appetite be created where lacking, and stimulated where
declining?

26. 1. Put off the evil that clings to you.
2. Remember that your growth depends on your feeding on the Word.
3. Stimulate your desire by the memory of past enjoyment. “If so be that ye have tasted that the
Lord is gracious.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Spiritual development
The text urges three important elements of holy living.
I. Soul mortification-“Lay aside all malice,” etc. This is a sacrifice. It does not come natural to the
human soul. It demands effort. It is not an immediate attainment, but demands a period of growth.
The series of worldly developments here alluded to are important marks of fallen men, and at the same
time are painful disfigurements to professing Christians.
1. There is malice-i.e., ill-feeling of every kind. Under malice may be ranged political animosities
which disturb the kindly relationship of men; unreasoning prejudice; the desire to injure those
whom we dislike; bitterness, etc.
2. There is guile. This includes deceit.
3. There is hypocrisy-pretending a fictitious goodness which we do not possess. I take it that this
includes cant, boasting, parade of religion, etc., for the word is not hypocrisy, but hypocrisies.
4. Envies. Again in the plural, for there are different kinds of envy.
5. Evil speakings. The failing here alluded to goes far to cause all the bitterness of worldly society.
II. Soul development. There must be not only casting out of the evil, but also the taking in of what is
good. The first requirement for development is to be brought into a state fit for growth.
III. Soul incitement-“Since ye have tasted,” etc. The first taste creates a desire for a more abundant
supply. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)
Soul evolution
I. That soul advancement is an evolution - “That ye may grow thereby.” That is, the growth of the
whole soul-all its faculties, forces, and germs of power. Growth implies-
1. Inner life. A dead thing cannot grow. Sometimes education is spoken of as if the mind were a
vessel into which a certain amount of information is to be poured until the mind is filled.
Sometimes, as if the mind were a stone, on which the instructor was to act as a lapidary, and polish
it into some beautiful form. Hence we hear so much of accomplishments, painting, drawing, music,
etc. Sometimes, as if the mind was arable land, to be ploughed and in which to plant seed to
germinate and develop. Philosophically, nothing can grow in the soul. It is the soul itself that
grows.
2. An inner life of latent power. A thing may have life, and nothing within for future development.
Not so with the soul; it has boundless possibilities.
3. A life possessing developing conditions.
II. That soul evolution involves soul hunger. “As newborn babes desire [R.V., long for] the sincere
[R.V., spiritual] milk.” Vegetable life grows without a desire; so, indeed, with animal life. But if the soul
is to grow, it must desire it intensely.
1. The hunger must be for natural nutriment.
2. The nutriment must be of the best kind-“Sincere [R.V., spiritual] milk.” What is the best kind?

27. The “truth as it is in Jesus.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The milk of the Word
I. Healthy appetite: or, in other words, an earnest desire for spiritual nourishment.
1. It is of prime importance that we have a real craving for spiritual truth, for Christ will benefit us
only as we appropriate Him.
2. We should further cultivate a discriminating taste. The babe’s taste guards it against
unwholesome food; it covets nothing but the mother’s milk. So ought we to acquire a sensitive
palate in respect of spiritual things, a palate able to discriminate between the precious and the vile.
Is not the vitiated taste of many hearers of the gospel a symptom of a long-standing disease?
3. We should further habituate ourselves to desire strong meat, to digest well the great
fundamental doctrines of the gospel. This then is the first requisite of orthodoxy, namely that we
possess vigorous, healthy digestive organs. Gospel truth must be mixed with faith in them that hear
it; that is to say, they must possess healthy organs, able to supply the spiritual secretions necessary
to convert what we read and hear into part and parcel of our spiritual life.
II. Healthy food; or, in other words, God’s truth as contained in Holy Writ.
1. The milk of the Word. The great verses of the Bible are like so many breasts, from which we are
to suck in the spiritual aliment necessary to our well-being. Do you know what it is to eat words,
and especially God’s words? The process is as real as eating bread and meat, and the results are
much more abiding. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them”: he converted them into an
integral part of his spiritual nature.
2. “The milk of the Word,” or rational milk. Rational milk in contrast to the rites and ceremonies
both of the Jewish and heathen religions. Christians are to live more by mind and less by the
senses.
3. “The sincere-unadulterated-milk of the Word,” that is to say, milk free from all deleterious
admixtures.
III. Healthy growth. “That we may grow thereby unto salvation.” In this Epistle salvation is used
technically for salvation in the future, salvation full, complete, perfect. Now what does this growth
unto salvation imply?
1. For one thing it implies growth in knowledge, for spiritual enlightenment is an essential factor in
salvation.
2. Growth unto salvation further implies growth in holiness. “Having laid aside all sin, and all
malice, and all evil speaking.” Other religions forbid particular sins; but whilst prohibiting one
class of sins, they tolerate other classes. Mahometanism, for instance, prohibits drunkenness;
seldom does a Mahometan get intoxicated. But whilst prohibiting drunkenness it licenses adultery.
And by thus flinging away sin from us our spiritual palate will gradually recover its normal, healthy
tone; we will relish the unadulterated milk of the Word more than our ordinary food and drink. (J.
C. Jones, D. D.)
The Christian life in some of its characteristics
It is agreed that religion, subjectively considered, is life. “He that hath the Son hath life.” If a man has
religion, it is life in him. But it is finite life, limited and dependent. It requires for its continuance
outside support and supply. Turning now to this life let us take note of some of its characteristics.
1. And, first, all life grows. This may not he apparent to the eye, but it is to the reason. Growth is