Peter pointed out that obedience to God demonstrates the truth in our hearts and explains that this is an appropriate response since we were all born perishable, but now we are imperishable through the Word of God. Peter validates this statement by quoting Isaiah 40:6, 8.
1:24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
Isaiah chapter forty is something I feel every Christian should read regularly. I know most Christians are aware that Romans chapter eight and the Book of Philippians are great places to go in the Bible when looking for comfort, I am sure after reading Isaiah chapter 40 you will add it to your “when-I-need-comfort” reading list as well. The chapter even begins by the words “comfort, comfort.” In reading the Bible it appears that God repeats words that are of particular importance. We might not see how our lives being compared to a blade of grass as being comforting until you realize that even though we might not be significant in our own eyes, we are in God’s eyes. Isaiah makes the case that God is bigger and more powerful than anything we can possibly imagine and knows everything, yet He has you on His mind!
1:25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
Peter concludes his quote from Isaiah with, “but the word of the Lord remains forever” (from Isaiah 40:8b). The Greek word that is translated here as ‘word’ is not the usual term used to refer to the Word of God; it is the word ‘rhēma’ referring to a specific message that is spoken[1] (same word found in the Septuagint). Peter adds clarification, “And this word is the good news to was preached to you,” in other words, the specific message is the gospel (see Matthew 24:35). Peter then repeats a word he used earlier (from verse 12) that is translated here, as “the good news that was preached,” it is the Greek word where we get the English word ‘evangelism’ from. Peter once again points out that we all received the “good news” of salvation from someone else, something we are instructed to do for others (remember Matthew 28:18-20).
2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Chapter two begins with the word ‘so’, or in some Bible translations, ‘therefore’. Peter, by using this word is referring us all the way back to verse three of the first chapter. In a quick breakdown of chapter one we see that in verses 3-12 Peter spoke about our salvation and how God did all the work for us, in verses 13-21 he outlined what our response to God for providing us this salvation should be, and in verses 21-35 we see that we should also love others with a love that was made possible through the ever-living and never-ending Word of God that was proclaimed to us. In summary, chapter one tells us that we should be placing the Word of God center stage in our lives. The Word of God should be a priority in every Christian’s life (see John 8:31-32; Job 23:12; Psalms 119:97-104; Isaiah 55:10-11 for just a few examples of the importance of the Word). So how do we make the Word a priority, or how do we apply the Word in our lives? Peter now offers guidance on how to apply the Word of God in our everyday living.
To begin with, Peter says we need to be sin-sensitive. In verse one Peter identifies five things that will interfere in our relationship with God (see also Colossians 3:8-9; Romans 6:3-7; Ephesians 4:22-25; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:21). Peter begins his list of things that needs to stop in our lives with ‘all malice’, the desire to harm someone (see also Romans 1:29), we need to love each other, not wish them harm or trouble. Next is ‘all deceit’, we are to stop being dishonest (the word in the Greek gets its root from the word for ‘bait’.)[2] Followed by the need to stop being hypocritical, this can refer to a number of issues in life where we pretend or extend a false sense of compassion, etc. Perhaps the worst hypocrisy would be spiritual insincerity (see 1 Timothy 4:2). Peter next lists ‘envy’, that of resenting someone for something they have (it really doesn’t matter what the issue or situation is, see Titus 3:3), and then finally ‘all slander’, referring to things like gossip, backbiting or just speaking ill about someone (for a Christian one should not be involved speaking poorly about someone whether true or not, see James 4:11).
2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
The second thing is something that we need to do, we need to make the Word of God a priority in our lives and that is done by consuming the Word. Peter uses the analogy that like newborn babies that crave milk for food we are to read and grow in God’s Word. We are to actively seek and obtain Spiritual nourishment. Peter refers to the Word as pure spiritual milk, which speaks of the Word’s unadulterated, uncorrupted and unspoiled nature. So that through the Word, we may grow into salvation. This verse doesn’t mean that by simply reading the Word that you will automatically receive salvation, it means the Word of God will grow you Spiritually, bring you closer to God. It is vital to our spiritual growth, our sanctification, just like when we don’t eat physical food we get weak and demonstrate signs of malnutrition, it’s the same with the Word of God, we need spiritual food to live (see also Philippians 2:12-13; 3:7-14), otherwise we will be vulnerable (see Ephesians 4:11-14).
We also see that the author of Hebrews used a similar analogy of milk when talking about Christians that should be mature, but sadly, are not (read Hebrews 5:11-14). As Christians we need to always crave the Word of God (see also Nehemiah 8:1-12; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3). Reading and studying the Bible should not only be a priority for a Christian, it should be part of their ‘identification’ (perhaps the song should have an additional lyric, “They will know we are Christians by our love and our desire to know God and His Word.”
2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Peter adds a conditional statement in verse three, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good”. In the same line of thinking regarding food, Peter says if we have tasted God, or experienced Him, we will know that God is good (see Psalm 38:8; Hebrews 6:5). The sad truth is for those who ’tasted’ God’s Word and did not like the taste (heard about and rejected Jesus), they will not be saved.
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[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers. Strong’s Greek No. 4487
[2] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers. Strong’s Greek No. 1388