1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
“A strange 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.” (Simeon Horae) “Having in the former chapter mentioned the new birth, 1 Peter 1:23, and exhorted to brotherly love, as agreeable to it, 1 Peter 1:22, he begins this chapter with a dehortation, wherein he dissuades them from those vices which are contrary to the state of regenerate men in the general, and brotherly love in particular.” (Matthew Poole)
Here is another call to duty to be answered with all of the means of grace. “The apostle here continues the admonitions which he began in chapter 1, placing the old evil life of the unconverted in opposition to the sanctification of the believers.” (Paul E. Kretzmann) We are to put off the old man. “Therefore, laying aside” denoting “an action on the part of the individual, instead of expecting it to be done for him by the Lord.” (Zerr) — “all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,” “as inconsistent with that [fervent] pure love [of the brethren]” (John Wesley)
“Malice means illwill or the disposition to injure another [here a brother or sister in Christ]. Guile is an effort to deceive another by some kind of trickery. Hypocrisies are the pretensions that one makes which he knows are false. Envies denotes a feeling of spite against one who is more favored in some way than himself. Evil speaking is that which would injure the good name of another.” (Zerr’s N.T Commentary)
These temperaments are frequently spoken against in the NT church. “Christianity can never admit of such; they show the mind, not of Christ, but of the old murderer.” (Adam Clarke)
“Howsoever we otherwise fail, let us not in these be found faulty at all. These are not the spots of God’s children, Deuteronomy 32:5. They are without gall, without guile, children that will not lie: they do not wallow or allow themselves in any kind of these evils.” (John Trapp)
How then is this duty to be performed? Jesus said: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63)— “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word,”— “constant instruction in the principles of religious truth and duty,” (Abbott) often by the examples of the disobedience our forefathers as found in Scriptures. "The idea of milk as representing God’s life-giving word to men may well be taken from Isaiah 55:1-2, where drinking wine and milk represent avidly hearing the word of the Lord in order to find and sustain spiritual life. Compare also Joel 3:18... Compare how the commendation of Canaan had been that it was a land flowing with milk and honey for all [inhabitants]." (Peter Pett)
— “that you may grow thereby,”— "many of the best copies read, ‘grow thereby unto salvation’; that is, grow up, through the spiritual nourishment of the truth, into a state of [final] salvation.” (Edwards), —“‘if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”... dying with Him in water baptism by faith in His goodness to forgive past sins.
Concerning the "pure" or sincere milk of the word: "The Greek word here (adolon) means, properly, that which is without guile or falsehood; then unadulterated, pure, genuine.” (Albert Barnes) “A new life needs suitable food. Infants desire milk, and make the best endeavours for it which they are able to do; such must be a Christian's desires after the word of God.“ (Matthew Henry)
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” [Isaiah 28:16]
“For if they have truly tasted that the Lord is gracious they will come to Him as the One Who is the ‘living’ cornerstone described in the Scriptures, ‘rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious’, the One Who is the ‘living’ stone around which their lives are to be built, the One Whose Words provide a solid foundation (Matt 7:24; 16:18). They are to become one with His life and to share with Him in a holy union. The basic picture is taken from Isaiah 28:16 as cited in 1 Peter 2:7...” (Pett)
“You also, as living stones,”— “each being instinct with the principle of life, which proceeds from Him who is the Foundation” (Clarke)— ‘are being built up a spiritual house’— a spiritual temple, not made of perishable materials, like that at Jerusalem net composed of matter, as that was, but made up of redeemed souls - a temple more appropriate to be the residence of one who is a pure spirit. (cp. Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 6:19-20 )— 'an holy priesthood’ - In the temple at Jerusalem, the priesthood appointed to minister there, and to offer sacrifices, constituted an essential part of the arrangement. It was important, therefore, to show that this was not overlooked in the spiritual temple that God was raising. Accordingly, the apostle says that this is amply provided for, by constituting ‘the whole body of Christians’ to be in fact a priesthood. Everyone is engaged in offering acceptable sacrifice to God. The business is not entrusted to a particular class to be known as priests; there is not a particular portion to whom the name is to be especially given; but every Christian is in fact a priest, and is engaged in offering an acceptable sacrifice to God. See Romans 1:6; ‘And hath made us: kings and priests unto God.’ The Great High Priest in this service is the Lord Jesus Christ, (see the Epistle to the Hebrews...) but besides Him there is no one who sustains this office, except as it is borne by all the Christian members.” (Barnes) Those who believe on Him “will by no means be put to shame” [Isaiah 28:16] on Judgement Day.
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,”[Psalm 118:22] 8 and “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” [Isaiah 8:14]They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious...” These expressions are a combination of Scriptures. The rejected Stone is Christ and the builders were the OT Jews. The leaders had rejected the chief cornerstone of their faith. And He had thus rejected them as the people of God. The ministry now belongs to Gentile believers and the temple is spiritual. “The idea is, that what God said of the literal Israel under the old economy, holds good of ‘the Israel of God’ under the new, embracing all of every nation who believe in Christ.— that you may proclaim “the praises” of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” rather than “the praises”, it is better rendered “proclaim the virtues”, “meaning the glorious attributes of God.” In an age when the character of God is blasphemed, especially in the church, it is the job of God’s people to rightly portray Him, according to the Scriptures. This is “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, who by one offering of Himself obtained eternal life for all who put their trust in Him.” (Justin Edwards)
“who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” (10) This is a reference to Hosea 1-2 is also referenced in Romans 9:25-26. “There is many a verse of Scripture which no commentary save that of personal experience can satisfactorily interpret.” (A. W. Pink) Yahweh told Hosea to marry a harlot named Gomer, because the northern kingdom had gone after other gods—which are no gods. God wanted Israel to know how He felt about their wicked behavior. So He made the prophet to understand through his own experience so that he could tell it to the people.
Yahweh named Hosea’s three children. The first, a son, was named Jezreel (God plants). (Hos 1:4) Indeed, it is He who planted the remnant of Israel in each of their generations. He told Hosea to call the second child, a daughter, Loruhamah (no more mercy), because He said: “I will no longer show love to the house of Israel.” (Hos 1:6) And finally, He then told him to name the third child, a son, Loammi (not my people), because he added: “You are not my people and I am not your God.” (Hos 1:9) Here was a reversing of fates. Gentile believers had become the people of God, babes sustained by the pure milk of the Word. "O taste and see that Yahweh"— my God— " is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8)
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
In many analogies, Peter had shown that in our generation, members of the church are the elect of God. The gospel of Christ had gone to the Jews first, during their days of Jesus’ visitation in the flesh. And the apostles continued that ministry for 3 1/2 years. But then the time of the Gentiles began, regardless of race or national origins. There were first appearances in the flesh. Paul spoke of it; after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, He declared that “He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once… After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”(1 Corinthians 15:5-8) Secondly and more common today, Jesus appears to people by His Spirit and His Word. This have I seen Jesus, high and lifted up, sitting on His throne. Therefore,. I believe and have been called to proclaim His Lordship through the ministry to the Gentiles, though I have Jewish ancestry.
Here is “again, the language of choice and freewill” (Mark Dunagan) In the arena of sanctification of those who have already believed, as a sort of first fruits to God.
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims", on this earth— ones who profess to seek a heavenly country— “While others spend all their time, and employ all their skill, in acquiring earthly property, and totally neglect the salvation of their souls; they are not strangers, they are here at home; they are not pilgrims, they are seeking an earthly possession: Heaven is your home, seek that; God is your portion, seek Him. All kinds of earthly desires, whether those of the flesh or of the eye, or those included in the pride of life, are here comprised in the words fleshly lusts— “which war against the soul” -…This is the object and operation of every earthly and sensual desire. How little do those who indulge them think of the ruin which they produce!” ” (Clarke)— “having your conduct"— your “general course and conversation” (Burkitt)— “honorable among the Gentiles that when they”— unbelievers— “speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation; “the time when the gospel is accompanied by the Holy Spirit” (Trapp)— "when God calls them by the gospel to the knowledge of Christ, Luke 1:68,78 7:16 Luke 19:44…” (Poole), that He may be glorified in their conversions to the faith.
When they took up stones again to kill Him, "Jesus answered them, 'Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?'" (John 10:32) Likewise, when we are hated or reviled… or perhaps ignored as irrellevant, we are not to respond in kind, but rather return to good for evil. "It is by the loveliness of our daily life and conduct that we must commend Christianity to those who do not believe.” (William Barclay) “The life of self restraint in the heart of corrupting heathen associations is to be a life so honest, or rather (with Wycliffe and the Rhemish) so good, so fair and honourable, that even the Gentiles may confess its attractiveness.” (Phillip Schaff) “Justin Martyr says of himself, that he was led to believe the Christians falsely accused, by the apparent impossibility of people who lived so blamelessly being guilty of the unnatural vices imputed to them. So St. Peter exhorts these suspected and closely-watched brethren, to live so purely that their very detractors should, upon the closest scrutiny of their good behaviour, be led to glorify God, giving him praise and honour.” (Daniel Whedon)
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Consider the issues that you oppose and the ways in which you bring political opposition in just causes. The kings and rulers mentioned here, under whom these believers lived, "were heathen and idolators. Yet they were to obey [them] and to manifest patient submission” (Gaebelein) “Be not turbulent in the cities where you live, vociferating in public meetings till you are marked and disliked, as aliens from the Lamb of God, who when he was reviled, reviled not again.” (Sutcliffe)
“‘Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake’ — In every settled state, and under every form of political government, where the laws are not in opposition to the laws of God, it may be very soundly and rationally said: ‘Genuine Christians have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them.’ Society and civil security are in a most dangerous state when the people take it into their heads that they have a right to remodel and change the laws. See the whole of this subject fully handled in the notes on Romans 13:1, etc., to which I beg every reader, who may wish to know the political sentiments of this work, to have recourse.” (Adam Clarke)— “whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.”
“For so is the will of God — that is, it is in accordance with the divine will— ‘that with well doing’ — by a life of uprightness and benevolence — ‘you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men’ -The reference here is to men who brought charges against Christians, by accusing them of being inimical to the government, or insubordinate, or guilty of crimes. Such charges, it is well known, were often brought against them by their enemies in the early ages of Christianity. Peter says they were brought by foolish men, perhaps using the word foolish in the sense of evil-disposed, or wicked, as it is often used in the Bible. Yet, though there might be malice at the bottom, the charges were really based on ignorance. They were not thoroughly acquainted with the principles of the Christian religion; and the way to meet those charges was to act in every way as became good citizens, and so as ‘to live them down.’ One of the best ways of meeting the accusations of our enemies is to lead a life of strict integrity. It is not easy for the wicked to reply to this argument.” (Albert Barnes)— “’as free’… from sin, and not from righteousness, not from obedience to God’s law, which requires subjection to magistrates, for they were still the servants of God— ‘yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice’; not using your liberty to cover or palliate your wickedness, excusing yourselves from obedience to your superiors by a pretence of Christian liberty, when, though ye be free from sin, yet ye are not from duty. ‘But as the servants of God’; and so still bound to obey Him, and your rulers in Him.” (Matthew Poole)
“Honor all people."—"as made in the image of God, as capable of heaven, and as having some special talent to trade with.” (Trapp) “Love the brotherhood.” “with the special and congenial affection that you ought to feel to brethren, besides the general love to all men.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “Fear God.” By heeding these injunctions. “Honor the king.”… even those who seek to destroy the liberty of the people. Do not defend your liberty, but glorify God in persecution.
“It is remarkable, that they are required to honour the emperor, though so great a persecutor, and of so abandoned a character as Nero himself. But St. Peter did not mean that they should obey any of his wicked and unlawful injunctions; (Acts 5:29.)” (Coke) He intimated that when persecuted for righteous deeds, they should give up their just rights and privileges, if expedient to good. They should go willingly as a lambs to the slaughter, if they could but win one soul for the kingdom.
1 Peter 2:18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; [Isaiah 53:9] 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
“Servants— literally, household servants.” (Wesley) “The Greek word used here (οἰκέται oiketai) is not the same which is employed in Ephesians, (δοῦλοι douloi). The word here means properly ‘domestics’ - those employed about a house, or living in the same house... These persons might have been slaves, or might not.” (Albert Barnes)— “be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.” (18) "The fact that instructions were given to household servants/slaves would have been startling to the ancient world. The general view was that it was masters who should be instructed on how to behave towards their servants, not slaves towards their masters. Slaves and servants had no say in the matter.
But the Gospel turns things upside down. Peter, like Paul, gives the servants status, and puts them in the position of being those who could make a choice, thus increasing their own self-respect, and enabling them to recognise that they did have control over their own lives, even if they were slaves or menial servants.” (Peter Pett)
This is not about slavery but submission to those over you. You can apply it to your workforce or household. We are to serve God properly in whatever station of life we find ourselves. In these arenas, we often suffer for sin, but this pertains to suffering for doing for good, for believing in Jesus and confessing Him to others. There will be that eminity of old. (Genesis 3:15). Others will not understand you.
"For to this you were called etc..." "The disciples of Christ are called upon to endure sufferings for His sake. (Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:17; Phil. 1:29; 2 Tim. 3:12.) Jesus does not require His followers to bear any burden that is greater than He carried himself, hence He set an example by going through the severest of sufferings. Now the disciples are called upon to follow His steps in that they cheerfully accept the trials that are forced upon them for His sake.” (E.M. Zerr)
In contrast to us Jesus “committed no sin” (Isaiah 53:9a)— "Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; [Isaiah 53:9b] (22) 'There was no guile in His mouth'; it is a Hebraism; to be found is the same as to be, and not to be found the same as not to be, Genesis 2:20 Isaiah 39:2: see Romans 7:10. This signifies Christ’s absolute perfection, in that He did not offend so much as with His mouth, James 3:2. The sense is, Christ was free from all manner of sin, and yet He suffered patiently; and therefore well may ye be content to suffer too, though wrongfully; seeing, though ye may be innocent in your sufferings, yet you come so far short of Christ’s perfection. 'when He was reviled,' —By Christ’s being ‘reviled’, we are to understand all those injurious words, reproaches, slanders, blasphemies, which His persecutors cast out against Him. '[He] did not revile in return'; therefore when He told the Jews they were of their father the devil, John 8:44, that was not a reviling them, but a just accusation of them, or reproof of their devilish behavior. 'When He suffered’; when He was affected not only with verbal but real injuries, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, crucified;— ’He threatened not’; He was so far from avenging Himself, or recompensing evil for evil, that He did not so much as threaten what He would afterward do to them. 'But committed Himself’;… the sense is, Christ did not retaliate, nor act any thing out of private revenge, but so referred Himself, and the judgment of His cause, to his Father’s good pleasure, as rather to desire pardon for His persecutors, than vengeance on them, Luke 23:34; ‘to Him that judgeth righteously’: the apostle adds this of God’s judging righteously, for the comfort of servants to whom he speaks…” (Matthew Poole)
“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. (24) Here is a vicarious sacrifice for man. He bore our sins in His own body: his humanity suffered, and suffered for sin, the Just for the unjust. — What love is demonstrated by His death, what perfection of propitiation from all dead works, that we may draw near to God. What a complete removal of guilt, and what a gift of righteousness. This is the grand argument for all moral and relative obligations named here...” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
“Precious Jesus! thy people is a chosen generation;... They are from the same source, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people!
And will not the same grace which hath so distinguished them, cause them to be distinguished also as lights in the world, among whom they shine in a crooked and perverse generation? That grace must be from thee, for all grace is in thee. Enable them, 0 Lord, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, and to adorn thy doctrine in all things. And while rejoicing in being delivered from sin, and all its tremendous consequences, by thy blood, may they follow, through the sweet influences of Holy Spirit, thy example!”
(Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)