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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:1-4, 6-8
First Peter chapter one is a complete section of this book. This section clearly reveals that the Triune God operates upon His chosen people to carry out His economy and to bring them into the full participation of Himself so that they may enjoy Him as grace. When God’s chosen people enjoy the Triune God as grace, they have peace. Peace, therefore, is the result of the enjoyment of grace. The first point covered in chapter one is the operation of the Triune God upon His elect to bring them into the enjoyment of Himself as grace so that they may have peace.
Chapter one goes on to reveal that the operation of the Triune God produces full salvation. First we have God’s operation for His economy, and this operation brings forth God’s full salvation. God’s full salvation includes the Father’s regeneration, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s sanctification. This is the full salvation carried out by the operation of the Triune God.
The full salvation of the Triune God issues, results, in two matters: a holy manner of life for the expression of God, and unfeigned brotherly love toward all the saints. These two matters, a holy manner of life and unfeigned brotherly love, are a picture of the genuine church life. On the one hand, in the real church life we see the expression of God; on the other hand, in such a church life there is unfeigned love for one another. Therefore, holiness and love are the result of the full salvation carried out by the operation of the Triune God upon His elect. This is a clear and complete summary of chapter one.
First Peter chapter one is a complete unit that stands by itself. If we have a bird’s-eye view of this chapter, we shall love it very much. I can testify that in these days I have come to love Peter’s writings more than ever before. I hope that all the saints will come to appreciate Peter even as they appreciate Paul. Furthermore, I hope that all of us will come to love chapter one of 1 Peter and the three major points revealed there concerning the operation of the Triune God for His economy, the full salvation carried out by the operation of the Triune God upon His elect, and the result of this full salvation in a holy manner of life to express God and in unfeigned brotherly love toward the believers. In the church life we need to live a life to express our holy God and to love all our brothers.
In the church life we have a very large family. Our Father has generated us, and all His children are our folks, our brothers and sisters. The church family is universal. This is the church without division or denomination. In the universal family of the church there is not any discrimination. We may say that this is the genuine catholic church. We, of course, have nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church, but we are the genuine catholics. Furthermore, in our locality we have the practical expression of this unfeigned catholic church, a church where we express the holy Father and love all the saints.
In 2:1 Peter goes on to say, “Therefore, putting away all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings.” This verse begins with “therefore.” This indicates that the exhortation in 2:1-10 is based upon what is unveiled in chapter one. Three main things accomplished in the believers by the Triune God are emphasized in chapter one: the Father’s regeneration (vv. 3, 23), the Son’s redemption (vv. 2, 18-19), and the Spirit’s sanctification (v. 2) to make the believers a holy people, living a holy life (vv. 15-16). Based upon this, Peter charges the believers to grow in life (2:2) for the building up of a spiritual house (2:5).
Although chapter one is complete in itself, Peter, according to his experiences, still has more to say. Therefore, with chapter one as his basis, he proceeds to give the charge found in chapter two. He begins by telling the saints to put away all malice, guile, hypocrisies, envyings, and evil speakings. Of the hundreds of sinful things, Peter selects five: malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. I would ask you to spend some time to consider what these are.
According to the sequence of these five matters, malice is the root, the source, and evil speaking is the expression. We may have malice as a root within us. Then there will eventually be evil speaking as the expression of this malice. The development from malice to evil speaking includes guile, hypocrisies, and envyings, three downward steps from malice toward evil speaking. If we have guile, we shall also have hypocrisies; and if hypocrisies, then envyings as well. Hence, the root is malice, the development includes guile, hypocrisy, and envy, and the final expression is evil speaking.
Not even a verse such as 2:1 should be read in a careless way. We should not take any verse for granted or neglect to study it seriously. Rather, we should study every verse with the goal and expectation of getting into the depths of it. Actually, the depths of the Word are the reality of the Word. This reality is the truth. If we consider verse 1 carefully, we shall see the root, the development, and the expression. In the light of this verse we see that all malice needs to be uprooted.
Verse 2 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word, that by it you may grow unto salvation.” Born through regeneration (1:3, 23), the believers become babes who can grow in life unto further salvation, and that for God’s building, by being nourished with the spiritual milk.
“Guileless” in verse 2 does not mean unadulterated, in contrast to less pure teachings; instead, it is guileless in contrast to the guile in verse 1. Guileless milk is milk without false purpose, without any other goal but to nourish the soul.
The Greek word rendered “of the word” is logikos. This word, in Romans 12:1 translated reasonable, is derived from the noun logos — the word; hence, of the word; having the sense of pertaining to the mind (in contrast to the body), to the rational faculties; hence, rational, logical, reasonable. The milk of the word is not milk for the body, but is milk for the soul, the inner being. It is conveyed in the word of God to nourish our inner man through the understanding of our rational mind, and it is assimilated by our mental faculties.
As far as grammar is concerned, verse 1 is a modifier of the subject of verse 2. As we have pointed out, “guileless” in verse 2 is in contrast to “guile” in verse 1. The Recovery Version may be unique in using “guileless milk” in the translation of verse 2. Other versions have “pure milk” or “sincere milk.” It may be that Peter intended guileless to include the meaning of pure and sincere. However, the purpose of Peter’s writing here is to show a contrast between guilelessness and the guile that proceeds out of malice.
What can swallow up, or eliminate, our guile? The nourishment contained in the guileless milk of the word is an antibiotic for guile. In the Word of God there is a nourishment that is milk for our inner being. Just as our physical body is nourished with milk, so our inner being, our soul, needs to be nourished with the guileless milk of the word. This milk contains an element that can eliminate our guile. Therefore, the milk of the word is guileless milk.
In 2:1 and 2, Peter indicates that, as newborn babes, we need to practice putting away all guile, and we also need to desire the guileless milk of the word. The purpose of putting away the evil root of malice is that we may long for, desire, the milk of the word. I believe that Peter wrote this not according to doctrine, but according to his spiritual experiences. If we do not have adequate experience, we shall not be able to understand what Peter is saying.
If you are full of malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking, you will not have any appetite for the Word. You will not be hungry or thirsty for the Word of God. You will not have the longing, the desire, to drink the pure milk of the Word. If you want to hunger and thirst after God’s word, that is, if you want to desire the drinking of the milk in the word, you need to hate your malice and abstain from speaking evil things about others.
Suppose for quite a long period of time, perhaps more than a year, a particular brother has been filled with malice. Certain brothers, especially the elders, he does not like. Because he is full of malice and also full of guile, hypocrisies, and envyings, spontaneously he begins to speak negatively about others. He may speak evil concerning both brothers and sisters, both older ones and younger ones. This evil speaking has its source in the malice within him. To be sure, a brother in that condition will not have any appetite for the Word. From experience I know that he would neither hunger nor thirst for the nourishment in the Word of God.
However, let us suppose that this particular brother receives the mercy of the Lord one day to realize his sinfulness. Realizing his need of Christ as the sin offering and the trespass offering, he repents, confesses his sins, and prays, “O Lord, forgive me. For a long time, I have been filled with malice, and I have spoken in an evil way about others. Lord, this shows me that sin is within me. Lord, even though I have been regenerated, I still have sin in me, for my fallen nature is sinful. O Lord, I need You as my sin offering. I take You and apply You as my sin offering. Oh, may the blood of the sin offering cleanse me, Lord! I realize that my evil speaking concerning the brothers and sisters is an offense, a trespass. Lord, I am full of trespasses! Forgive me and cleanse me. I take You not only as my sin offering, but also as my trespass offering. All day long, Lord, I want to enjoy You.”
If the brother prays in this way, soon he will begin to have an appetite for the milk of the word. He will desire to come to the Word for nourishment. He will come to the Bible not to gain the knowledge of doctrine, but to drink nourishing milk. Spontaneously as he is reading the Bible, he will be drinking the guileless milk of God’s word. Eventually, this milk will get into his inward being and function as an antibiotic to kill the germ of malice. Furthermore, this brother will begin to love all the saints. He may say, “Oh, I love the brothers and the sisters. I love all the elders. All the saints are good, and all of them are better than I am.”
This understanding of verses 1 and 2 comes from experience. Peter wrote these verses according to his experience. It was also through experience that I have come to understand Peter’s writing. More than fifty years ago, when I read this portion of the Word, I could not understand it, because I did not have adequate experience. But through the years I have had much more spiritual experience, and now I understand what Peter is saying. I believe that many saints also have this understanding of 2:1 and 2 according to their experience.
We should never read the Word in a natural way or in a careless manner. However, many Christians read the Bible in a natural way and take it for granted. But if we get into the depths of the Word, we shall be enlightened. Then we shall have a lot of inner feeling and also have the utterance to speak what we see.
According to Peter’s word in verse 2, we should long for the guileless milk of the word so that by it we may grow. To grow is a matter of life and in life. We received the divine life through regeneration, and we need to grow in this life and with this life by being nourished with the milk conveyed in the Word of God.
We should desire the guileless milk of the word not only to have a spiritual antibiotic, but also to receive nourishment so that we may grow. The guileless milk of the word nourishes us, and by this nourishment we grow.
Many Christians think that to grow is to gain more knowledge. After a new believer has been baptized, others may encourage him to attend some kind of Bible class. He may be encouraged to get more knowledge. However, he may not hear a word that helps him to realize that through regeneration he has received the divine life and that now his need is to grow in life. He may only be helped to learn the stories in the Gospels and then the stories in the Old Testament. Gradually, he may pick up more Bible knowledge, and some may regard this as growth. This concept of growth, however, is altogether contrary to that in the New Testament. According to the New Testament, growth is the genuine increase in the measure of life. Knowledge does not help us to increase in the measure of life.
How do children grow? They grow by receiving nourishment. If an infant has a healthy diet and daily is given nourishing food, gradually he will grow. This growth is the increase from all the food taken into him. Eventually, as a full-grown adult, this one will be a composition of what he has eaten. Perhaps at birth he weighed only six pounds. But when he is full-grown, he may be a man weighing one hundred eighty pounds. He has experienced the real growth in life, the growth that comes from eating healthy food, digesting it, and assimilating it into his cells so that it becomes the very fibers of his being. This is an illustration of genuine growth in life.
We need to desire the guileless milk of the word so that by it we may have real growth in life. True growth is the increase of the measure of life. If we are growing in life, the life element within us will increase, and there will be an increase in our spiritual stature (Eph. 4:13).
