Sermon Tone Analysis

*Exhortation to Spiritual Growth and Unity, Based on the New Birth and the Position of Living Stones in God’s Temple (2:1-10)*

Our heading is indicative of the composite character of this section, which contains elements apparently so disparate as to require a break between the third and fourth verses.

Yet the two segments seem intended to coalesce, however discrete /milk/ and /stone/ appear to be.

Peter passes without a pause from food to fellowship, making Christ the key to both.

How closely allied the concepts of growth and unity can be may be seen in Ephesians 2:21, 22, “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Peter is about to describe the new order of which Christians are a part, a divine society so wonderful as to require the heaping up of epithets for its delineation, a fellowship possessing such a holy dynamic that the world is bound to feel the force of its testimony to the God who called it into being (vs.

9).

To attain this goal, every factor hindering the corporate development must be recognized and put away, hence the exhortation with which the chapter begins.

The difficulty confronting the church is not simply that of achieving progress in spiritual things by advancing from a lower to a higher level, but also of meeting antagonistic elements in its own life and gaining the victory over them.

Fully matured and ripened fruit is worthless if it be worm-eaten.

A similar statement of the case is found in Paul’s letters, notably in the Ephesian epistle, with which First Peter has such marked affinities.

In 4:13 we have the goal-“till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

Farther on in the chapter, attention is paid to the things which hinder fellowship with other believers and which grieve the indwelling Spirit.

These things are to be put off (ἀποτίθεσθαι), which is Peter’s admonition also.

James, too, employs the word in a similar connection (1:21).

The second chapter of First Peter opens in such a way as to give clear evidence of its dependence upon what has preceded, since /newborn/ (ἀρτιγέννητα) looks back to ἀναγεγεννημένοι in 1:23, and the final appeal of chapter one, dealing with brotherly love, finds an echo in 2:1, inasmuch as the sins there enumerated are those which prove most injurious to love of the brethren.

This observation serves as a hint that the emphasis on the unity of the church which is patent as the paragraph unfolds, is latent here.

It is the central teaching throughout.

The first sin to be labelled is /malice/.

This is a superior rendering, in this passage, to /evil/, since the word is coupled with specific rather than with general shortcomings.

“In malice be ye children” (1 Cor 14:20).

Its running mates are guile and hypocrisy.

The latter is particularly repugnant when it involves an appearance of love which is not actually present, for the pretension is reprehensible in proportion to the sacredness of the thing assumed (cf.

1:22).

The list is concluded with envy and evil speaking of all kinds (cf. 2 Cor 12:20, Rom 1:30 for this word), two things which logically belong together, since envy leads to depreciation of another whenever there are ears willing to hear.

Such are the sins which blast brotherhood-not gross sins of the flesh which chiefly injure oneself and advertise their folly, but subtle moods that rankle and ever and anon burst forth from under cover with devastating effect, and yet are so readily excused or even denied.

These are “little foxes, that spoil the vines.”

We observe, in passing, that of these five terms, the last two and possibly the middle one also, concerning which the manuscript testimony is divided, are plurals.

Probably the words which occur in the singular indicate dispositions, fundamentally, whereas the plurals denote overt acts.

The putting off of these sins is prerequisite to profitable feeding upon the Word (vs.

2).

As long as they are present, Christian growth is hindered and the spiritual appetite is dulled.

Moody used to say that the Word keeps one from sin, and sin keeps one from the Word.

Leighton, in his delightfully quaint way of stating the truth, says, “Would we know the main cause of our fruitless hearing of the Word, here it is: men bring not meek and guileless spirits to it, not minds emptied and purified to receive it, but stuffed with malice, and hypocrisy, and pride, and other such evils: and where should the Word enter, when all is so taken up?

And if it did enter, how should it prosper amongst so many enemies, or at all abide amongst them?

Either they will turn it out again, or choke and kill the power of it.”

*Such a list of sins in a letter intended for Christian readers suggests the presence or at* least the possibility of the presence of such things among believers generally.

There is a thoughtless and superficial notion to which expression is sometimes given, to the effect that when people act at times in ways which are obviously unchristian, they cannot truly be Christians at all.

This is to confuse action with relation.

It is to ignore the power which sin can exert, even in a believer.

“Every renewed man has in his flesh his unrenewed nature,-the evil heart,-the seminal principle of every species of moral evil; and I do not know what is the sin which, if he is unwatchful, unprayerful, exposed to temptation, and unrestrained by divine influence, he may not commit” (John Brown).

The address to the readers as /newborn babes/ is fitting after mention of the new birth in 1:23.

Being now recipients of divine life, they need to be instructed as to its proper nourishment.

The agent is the same in both cases; that which gave life will nurture life.

In its former capacity, it is the living Word, guaranteeing everlasting life; in the latter, it is pure, insuring spiritual health and growth.

The word ἀρτιγέννητα is regarded by some (Huther, e.g.) as providing proof that the readers of the epistle were recent converts.

Lacking independent corroboration of this, we can

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scarcely adduce it from this one word, since there is no appeal here from immaturity or backwardness to a more advanced stage, but rather an appeal equally befitting a believer many years in the faith.

As Hort observes, there is no prospect held out here of a change to a stronger diet later on, as in 1 Corinthians 3:2, but rather, what lies ahead for the milk-fed child of God is nothing short of perfect, full, final salvation.

In comparison with what stretches on before him into eternity, the Christian’s course of life thus far is but a few days of infancy.

Peter seems to be pleading with his readers to be children in guile, ἄδολον being evidently introduced with special reference to δόλον in verse 1.

For their spiritual nourishment, they are bidden to long with ardent desire.

“There is nothing more guileless than a new-born babe, and there is nothing more intense than its longings for the breast” (Thornley Smith).

We encounter difficulty in handling λογικόν.

Our common version renders it as though it were του̂ λόγου-“of the Word.”

The Revisers retained the adjectival form of the original, rendering it /spiritual/, in agreement with their wording in Romans 12:1, the only other New Testament occurrence.

Other attempts are /reasonable/, /rational/, etc.

These would lay emphasis on the contrast between milk which nourishes the body and that sustenance which God provides for the soul.

Such renderings leave the milk undefined, but the recipients of the letter would hardly be in doubt as to the meaning.

The very similarity in form between λογικόν and λόγου (1:23) could easily be a reminder to them of the Word.

This milk is guileless (ἄδολον) and therefore specially adapted to produce the guileless temper enjoined in verse 1.

There is probably no warrant for thinking of the word as meaning /unadulterated/ here, though this is linguistically possible (cf.

Moulton and Milligan, /The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament/ for this word as well as λογικόν).

The sentiment is not doctrinal-free from error, but practical-producing growth.

What ἄδολον does suggest is that the sins of verse 1 must be put off as a condition of

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growth, for God’s pure Word cannot do its work where these abound.

On overwhelming manuscript authority, the words /unto salvation/ should be admitted into the text of verse 2. It is impossible for unsaved persons to grow unto salvation, but it is both possible and normal for believers, those who enjoy life from God which is capable of developing indefinitely until reaching its perfected state in glory (cf.

1:5, 9).

Appropriately, the apostle introduces at this point a quotation from the Old Testament-“if ye tasted that the Lord is kind.”

The full statement in Psalm 34 is “taste and see,” but the tasting alone is required by contextual necessity.

We learn once more the lesson that the closest possible relation exists between the Lord and His Word.

To come to the Word with longing is to find and taste the Lord Himself.

We learn that He is kind (χρηστός).

God’s kindness was both manifested and epitomized in Christ (cf.

Titus 3:4).

We tasted of Him at conversion; we continue to feed upon Him as our daily supply; we never tire of Him as did the Israelites of the manna.

He always satisfies.

But He will not have us resorting elsewhere for our nourishment.

He is jealous of His prerogative.

And as for ourselves, when feeding here, we should lose all appetite for other fare.

“All delights imply repulsions.

All likes necessitate dislikes.

A strong taste for God implies a strong distaste for the ungodly.

The more refined my taste, the more exacting becomes my standard.

The more I appreciate God, the more shall I depreciate the godless.

I do not wonder, therefore, that in the chapter before us the ‘tasting’ of grace is accompanied by a putting away of sin” (Jowett).

In verse 4 it is made plain that the Lord of Psalm 34 is being thought of as Christ.

A like application of Κύριος in the Septuagint to our Lord Jesus Christ is observable in Paul.

For Jews, steeped in monotheism, to make this transference was a difficult step which could only have been taken by the light of revelation.

That it was taken is proof of their unconditional ascription of deity to Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter now presents his Lord as the living Stone, and

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believers as infused and energized with His life.

The difficulty of associating life and energy with stone as we commonly know it only enhances the distinction of the Lord Jesus and exalts the supernaturalism of His person.

There may be a personal reason for the fascination Peter found in contemplating Christ under this figure.

“It is not unnatural to suppose that the signification of the name which had been given by the Lord to the apostle himself made this particular figure interesting to him; and as we see into what prominence he puts the one divine living Stone, and how entirely secondary and dependent he evidently considers his own standing and office as a πέτρος to be, one cannot but contrast apostolic Christianity and mediaeval superstition” (Johnstone).

Peter had heard Jesus prophesy the demolition of the temple in Jerusalem, stone from stone, a fitting picture of the coming desolation of a Judaism which had rejected its Messiah.

He also heard from his Master’s lips two other prophecies-one, that the temple of His own body, sundered by death, would be raised up, and the other, that He would build upon the rock-foundation of His deity His own church, to endure for ever.

No wonder Peter was engrossed by the subject of Christ the Rock.

When he writes, “to whom coming,” we are apt to think, no doubt, of people coming to Christ in the initial act of faith, taking their places as stones, new converts, in the edifice of the true church.

We are safe in saying, however, that the teaching here is rather different, for the reason that the participle προσερχόμενοι is in the present tense, signifying a continued or repeated coming, and because the word itself is characteristically used, especially in Hebrews, for approach to God in prayer, fellowship and worship.

Consequently we are to think of believers here, those who enjoy access to Christ as their perennial privilege.