I remember reading a story when I was a boy about a bird whose egg dropped from its nest. When the baby bird hatched it had no identity because its mother wasn’t around for it to bond to. As a result, it spent the duration of the story looking for its mother. It asked everyone and everything it came into contact the question, “Are you my mother?”
Many Christians are like that baby bird. They know enough about Jesus Christ to get them out of the egg of sin, into the light of the Lord but go through the rest of their life questioning their existence. As the bird of this story went through hours of peril and pain because he wasn’t acquainted with his mother, Christians go through years of uncertainty because they aren’t acquainted with Christ and have no sense of their own identity in Christ.
In 1 Peter, the apostle writes to a group of Christians who were scattered away from their homeland and were in need of assurance concerning their identity in Christ. Just as the baby bird found peace in the knowledge that he was indeed a bird, just as he found peace and security under the wings of his mother, these Christians because of their suffering, needed to experience the peace and security knowing their position in Jesus Christ.
Background
(1 Pet 1:1 NKJV) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
The Apostle Peter is addressing Jewish Christians who have been persecuted and as a result have fled their homeland. These people were called the Christians of the Dispersion and lived in the Asian provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 1 Peter was a circular letter to be read and passed on to these Christians who were scattered.
Peter wrote this letter to encourage these Christians in the midst of their suffering.
Historians note that although no sweeping persecution by Rome had yet plagued these Christians, the fury of the neurotic Nero was about to be unleashed in a localized persecution. Also, local persecutions at the hands of the Jews and others, not to mention enormous misunderstandings of early Christian communities, were causes of heartache and sorrow among these believers.
In this letter, Peter attempts to provide an explanation for and encouragement in the "fiery trial" (1 Pet. 4:12) which harassed his Christian readership. The epistle corresponds in theme to the Old Testament Book of Job in that Peter views the suffering of Christians through the agonies of Jesus, and recognizes both divine purpose in, and one's proper response to, Christian suffering in light of the atonement of Christ. In other words, Peter wanted his readers to know that Christians suffer so that they might become more like their Savior, Jesus Christ.
By the time we get to chapter two where our text is found, Peter has already encouraged his readers in many areas.
In 1:2, he has called them the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God."
In verse 3-4, he writes to them about a “living hope” that they have been begotten to through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and an undefiled and incorruptible inheritance which has been reserved and is being protected for them in heaven.
In verse 5, Peter conveys to his readers truths about their eternal security. He writes that they are “kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
In verse 6 through 12, Peter encourages them to rejoice in spite of the trials that they are undergoing. He says that they can rejoice because one day their Savior Jesus Christ will be revealed from Heaven and He is going to remove them from their pain and reward them with the final phase of their salvation—the glorification of their bodies.
Verses 13 through 17 begins with a "therefore." Peter is insisting that because of the promise of the rapture of the redeemed ones and their future glorification, they should be living a certain way (as God’s obedient children) while awaiting Jesus' return.
(1 Pet 1:13 NKJV) Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
(1 Pet 1:14 NKJV) as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
(1 Pet 1:15 NKJV) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
(1 Pet 1:16 NKJV) because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
(1 Pet 1:17 NKJV) And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
The temptation to give in to the intense persecution and renounce their faith was great.
It was for this reason that Peter encourages his readers to live a separated life.
It was for this reason that Peter reminds them of the holiness or “separatedness” of God.
It was for this reason that Peter reminds them of the fact that their Father is also their judge who they should be obeying in reverential fear.
As an encouragement to holy living, Peter also reminds them of how they were redeemed. The word “redeem” or “redemption” means “to set free by the paying of a price.”
The forefathers of these Christian Jews believed that they were brought into a proper relationship with God by the keeping of certain laws and rituals. They thought that by keeping their many rituals God would be pleased and reward them with salvation.
Peter wanted his readers to know that they weren’t redeemed with corruptible things like these:
(1 Pet 1:18 NKJV) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
(1 Pet 1:19 NKJV) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
(1 Pet 1:20 NKJV) He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
(1 Pet 1:21 NKJV) who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Similar to the forefathers of these Jews, many people today think that by going to church or listening to gospel programs on the radio or television that they have fulfilled God’s requirements. They think that by having a time of prayer everyday that God is satisfied and they are spiritual. Others think that if their language is peppered with enough religious sounding jargon like, “God is good—all the time!” that everything is going to be OK. Still others think that if they do enough religious work or give generous donations of money to the church that God’s benedictions will be directed toward them.
But Peter would have them to know the truth—redemption doesn’t come with corruptible or perishable things like silver or gold or from their vain, aimless or empty way of life received from their ancestry. Redemption comes only comes to those who have been purchased from the marketplace of sin with the precious and priceless blood of the innocent Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
This is how you get in. You don’t get in through the work of your own filthy hands. You get into a relationship with God by being redeemed. You get into the favor of God by having you sin washed away with the precious blood of Christ.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh precious is that flow,
that makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is the only way to be redeemed from sin, if you been trying to make it in any other way, the Bible says you are like a thief and a robber. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
This is the true Gospel message. This is the only way to get right with God which is the point Peter makes in verse 22.
(1 Pet 1:22 NKJV) Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth…
The purification that Peter is referring to is a moral purity that comes to the Christian by means of the Gospel. The “truth” that Peter refers to in this verse is the Gospel. In this verse is nested some very important principals that we must not let escape us:
People get saved by obeying the truth. Many Christians are espousing a modern-day version of the Gospel which really isn’t the Gospel at all. They are teaching that God is begging people to get saved when in actuality, He is commanding everyone, everywhere to repent.
(Acts 17:29 NKJV) "Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.
(Acts 17:30 NKJV) "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
(Acts 17:31 NKJV) "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
People don’t get saved by merely picking Christ from a smorgasbord of alternatives, they get saved by obeying the truth. Christ is the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Him
Obedience to the truth is confirmed by a consistently purified “soul” or life. Don’t make the mistake here of thinking that I am speaking of perfection. There aren’t any perfect Christians, but there is a perfect Savior. I’m not speaking of perfection, I speaking of direction.
There is one thing that I am convinced about in Scripture so much that I will preach it over and over until the day I die—The Gospel changes lives!
The Bible teaches that the one who is in Christ has ceased from habitual sin. It says that the one who has had their sins forgiven no longer practices sin.
(1 John 3:7 NASB) Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
(1 John 3:8 NASB) the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
(1 John 3:9 NASB) No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
(1 John 3:10 NASB) By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
This is why Peter says that purifies his soul by obeying the truth. The Apostle Paul says it in another way but is essentially saying the same thing:
(Rom 6:1 NKJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
(Rom 6:2 NKJV) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
(Rom 6:3 NKJV) Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(Rom 6:4 NKJV) Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
(Rom 6:5 NKJV) For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
(Rom 6:6 NKJV) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
(Rom 6:7 NKJV) For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now, remember, Peter and Paul aren’t talking about sinless perfection here, they are talking about the direction of one’s life is that as they grow in Christ they will sin less. Sin in a Christian’s life should be incidental or occasional if there is any sin at all; it shouldn’t be lengthy patterns because he or has purified his or her soul in obeying the truth.
Let’s return to verse 22 of 1 Peter chapter two.
Now in verse 22-25, Peter explains to his readers the responsibility that they have towards one another as a result of their salvation and relationship with God the Father.
(1 Pet 1:22 NKJV) Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
I like the way the NIV translates this verse:
(1 Pet 1:22 NIV) Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
Peter is saying here that the life changing Gospel truth gives people the capacity to love one another sincerely. The word “sincere” comes from the Greek word which means without hypocrisy. Christians have the capacity to love each other with no hidden agendas and without expecting anything in return. Since we do have this new capacity, Peter says we should use it to love one another deeply, from the heart because this is characteristic of one who has been born again. Listen to him in verse 23:
(1 Pet 1:23 NKJV) having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
(1 Pet 1:24 NKJV) because "All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,
(1 Pet 1:25 NKJV) But the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
Christians are uniquely different from other people in that they have been born again. The term "born again" has been overused in our society and has lost some of its original meaning so we need to expand on it for a moment.
Born again is not merely a rebirth of thought or attitude. It is not merely a change of one's life direction. A born again person isn't merely one who has decided to join a church or adapt a new creed or philosophy of life.
Peter says that the born again does not mean a physical rebirth. The born again person hasn’t been born again of corruptible seed—that is, of human cohabitation, but of incorruptible seed through the Word of God which lives and abides forever.
John says a similar thing in John 1:12.
(John 1:12 NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
(John 1:13 NKJV) who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Peter says in verses 24 and 25 that “all flesh is as grass” which withers. There is one thing that is common among all people—we get old, wrinkle up and die. However, Peter also says that the Word of God isn't like the grass or the flower of the grass which fades away; it is eternal and since Christians were begotten through the Word, they live and abide forever too.
This is good news! It is good news because one day heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of God will never pass away (Matt. 24:35). Since Christians are born again through the Word of God, we will never pass away too.
This reality brings us to chapter two, Peter begins to build on this thought. Using “therefore” in verse one, Peter is encouraging his readers to reflect on what he has just said in chapter one and apply it to what he is about to say in chapter two. In essence he is saying:
*In view of the truth that we have been purified our souls in obeying the truth of the Gospel,
*In view of the fact that we have been born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God,
*Since we have been born again for eternity by the enduring Word of the Lord, be conducting yourselves in the following way:
(1 Pet 2:1 NKJV) Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
One cannot read Peter’s words without sensing his desire to see the Christian’s practice match their position. That is, Peter has already communicated to his readers their position in Christ—they are wonderfully and gloriously saved—“born again by the Word of God!” He has already said in verse 22 that they have “purified their souls in obeying the truth,” now he is tenderly exhorting them to purify their ways.
Peter wants us to know that since we have been “born again,” we should be ones who are “laying aside” the following characteristics:
“all malice” - kakia, kak-ee'-ah; badness, i.e. (subj.) depravity, naughtiness, wickedness.
“all deceit” - dolos, dol'-os; to decoy; a trick (bait), i.e. (fig.) wile:--craft, deceit, guile.
“hypocrisy” - hupokrisis, hoop-ok'-ree-sis; fake, false or deceitfulness.
“envy” - phthonos, fthon'-os; ill-will, i.e. jealousy (spite).
“all evil speaking” - katalalia, kat-al-al-ee'-ah; defamation:--backbiting, slander.
Did you know that infants are not wicked or deceitful? They are not hypocrites and they do not envy and slander. All babies are concerned about is drinking milk. This is the point that Peter is making in verse 2 and 3.
(1 Pet 2:2 NKJV) as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
As newborn babies need milk to survive, Christians need the pure milk of the Word of God to survive and grow. If a Christian doesn’t feed on the Word of God he or she will get weak spiritually and will become ineffective for the Lord.
Just as a newborn baby longs and craves for its mother’s milk a Christian should long and crave for the Word of God. However one reason why a person may not crave the pure milk of the Word is because they’ve never tasted its sweetness.
Peter makes this point in verse three:
(1 Pet 2:3 NKJV) if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
I don’t know about you but I’ve tasted that the Lord is gracious!
I remember what I used to do when I was lost in my sins.
I remember what I used to think when I was still in the slave market of sin.
I can recall the despicable places I used to go when I was a walking dead man.
But now I have tasted that the Lord is gracious. I’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good!
The first time I tasted was when a relative told me about God’s saving plan. She began to tell me how Jesus had given His life as an offering to God for my filthy sins.
No I hadn’t tasted it yet but I was beginning to smell its sweet aroma. It was like she had a bowl of it and was holding it in front of my face.
She continued to tell me that I was a sinner and that my sin was an offense to God and that the wages of sin was death. She told me how that God so loved me that He gave His only Son that if I believed in Him that I wouldn’t perish because of my sin but have eternal life.
That smell was making my spiritual mouth water.
She told me that if I turned away from my sin and surrendered my life to Jesus that God would cleanse me of my sin and make me His child.
I couldn’t take it any longer, I had to have me some of that milk and I tasted it for the first time and have been drinking it ever since.
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious?
Are you like a newborn babe longing and craving for the pure milk of the Word of God? Are you like some who just can’t wait to get to church and hear the Word?
Are you like the two disciples of Christ who were on the Emmaus Road and felt an inward burning in their soul when the Lord Jesus spoke to them about the events surrounding His resurrection?
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious?
Are you like the Bereans who after hearing the preaching and teaching of the Apostles couldn’t wait to get home and study the truths they heard for themselves?
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious?
If you are not craving you are not growing. If you don’t have a desire for the Word, you may not be a Christian because Christians desire the Word.
(1 Pet 2:2 NKJV) as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
(1 Pet 2:3 NKJV) if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
