1 Peter 2:1-3: Growing Up into Salvation

1 Peter 2:1-3: Growing Up into Salvation

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Peter, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Peter 2:1-3. It says,1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, your Word is more to be desired than gold and sweeter also than honey. So help us to see its value, taste its sweetness, and experience its power this morning through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.Whenever someone has a baby, one of the expectations they have is that their baby will grow. And that’s obviously a very reasonable expectation. If you’re a parent and your baby’s not growing, you’d be entirely justified in being very concerned about that. And you’d undoubtedly be relentless in your pursuit of an answer—“Why isn’t my baby growing?” You’d go to doctor after doctor in an attempt to find someone who could correctly diagnose the problem and offer appropriate treatment. It would be such an urgent issue that everything else in your life would essentially come to a screeching halt as you tried everything you could to get your baby to grow in a normal and healthy way. 

So, there’s an expectation that babies will grow. And that expectation continues throughout their childhood. That’s why we have growth charts, right? We tell our kids to stand against the wall so we can measure how much they’ve grown in the past year. It almost goes without saying that, if a child isn’t growing, something’s terribly wrong. 

And that’s the way it is for a Christian as well. Something’s terribly wrong if we’re not growing spiritually. A lack of spiritual growth may even be an indication that we’ve never experienced genuine conversion in the first place. Now, our growth might be very gradual and consist of a pattern of two steps forward and one step back. That’s totally fine. In fact, it’s normal. The important thing, though, is that there’s still at least some observable growth over a period of time. 

And this growth isn’t just something that happens to us automatically. It’s something we have to pursue. And that’s the central truth we see in our main passage of Scripture today of 1 Peter 2:1-3. God expects his people to pursue spiritual growth. If you’re taking notes, feel free to write that down as the main idea. God expects his people to pursue spiritual growth. 

And as we look at these verses here in 1 Peter, we can observe four truths about spiritual growth. They include the hindrances to our growth, the means of our growth, the goal of our growth, and finally the motivation for our growth. And we’ll spend the rest of our time this morning talking about these four truths. 

The Hindrances to Our Growth

So, first, let’s look at the hindrances to our growth. We find these listed in verse 1. Peter tells his readers, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” These are five examples of character qualities that will keep us from making spiritual progress and becoming more like Jesus. And, really, the same could be said of all sins, but Peter singles out these five in particular. 

He first identifies “malice” as a sin we need to forsake. Even though the English word “malice” refers to desiring that harm come to someone else, the original Greek word Peter uses is more general and is often simply translated as “wickedness.” After that, “deceit” is a word that literally refers to a fisherman baiting his hook. It speaks of falsehood and dishonesty. Then the word translated as “hypocrisy” originally referred to an actor in ancient theater who wore a mask. It refers to someone who projects a certain image of themselves but who, in reality, is someone much different. Next, Peter speaks of “envy,” which refers to resenting the blessings that others enjoy. And lastly, Peter mentions “slander,” which is essentially speaking lies about someone and defaming their character. 

So, these are the things Peter says we’re supposed to “put away.” That phrase “put away” is also translated as “lay aside” or “rid yourselves of.” It was often used of someone stripping off dirty clothing. For example, a couple of weeks ago, when we got a little snow, my kids were ecstatic and went outside and—even though there was only a thin layer of snow on our grass—tried sledding down the small hill next to our house. They actually did that for a few hours. And a lot of the time they didn’t even use the sleds but instead just rolled down the hill. And since there wasn’t really that much snow on the ground, they ended up getting quite muddy. So, their first task when they came back inside was, of course, to peel off their muddy clothing. And that’s the kind of thing this phrase in verse 1 refers to. Peter commands us to “put away” or “lay aside” these sins the way someone might do with filthy clothes. 

And if you consider this verse in context—specifically in light of the verse that comes right after it that speaks about spiritual growth—I believe it’s clear that the reason Peter tells us to “put away” these sins is because of the way they hinder our spiritual growth. Just like, if you, let’s say, purchased a property that had an old building on it that was falling apart and had been condemned and you wanted to build a new building on that property, the first step would be to clear the land, right? You’d have to demolish the old building and haul away the debris before you’d be able to start constructing the new building. The old would have to be removed before the new could be built. Likewise, if we want to grow, the first step is for us to forsake the sins that would otherwise keep us from growing. 

And notice the word “all” here in verse 1. Peter actually uses it three times, doesn’t he? He says to “put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” By using the word “all”—and using it not just once but three times—Peter’s emphasizing the need for complete repentance. He knows that our tendency is often to forsake some sins but quietly tolerate others—usually the sins that are more subtle and easier to hide. So, Peter tells us not just to forsake some of the manifestations of sin in our lives but to forsake all of them. So, what about you? What sins do you need to forsake? 

The Means of Our Growth

Then, after Peter addresses these hindrances to our growth, he moves on to identify the means of our growth. Look with me at verse 2. Peter writes, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.”

So, Peter compares his readers to “newborn infants.” And this seems to be a continuation of the metaphor that Peter just used at the end of the previous chapter. In 1 Peter 1:23, he spoke of those who are Christians being “born again.” Just like, in a physical birth, a new person enters the world, that’s what happens spiritually when someone becomes a Christian. A transformation takes place within their heart that’s so radical that they’re basically a different person from that point on. A new person has just entered the world. And here in verse 2 of our main passage, Peter continues that metaphor of a baby being born into the world by referring to us as “newborn infants.”

And if you know anything about a “newborn infant,” you know that they only think about one thing. They have one all-consuming obsession that dominates their thoughts just about every waking moment. And that is their desire for milk. That’s literally all they think about. And according to Peter, that’s the way we should desire the pure spiritual milk that God’s provided for us—which, as the context of this verse indicates, is the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word, perfectly preserved for us in the pages of the Bible. The intensity of desire that a newborn infant has for its mother’s milk is a picture of the intensity of desire we should have for God’s Word in the Bible. 

This is because, as we see in the second part of verse 2, it’s the milk of God’s Word that’s the means and the instrument of our spiritual growth. Peters tells us to “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” At the end of the previous chapter, we learned that it was God’s Word that caused us to be “born again” in the first place. And we now see that it’s likewise this same Word of God that brings about all of our subsequent spiritual growth as well. 

So, do you have this longing Peter describes for the “pure spiritual milk” of the Bible? It seems like, many times, unfortunately, our desire for the Bible is somewhat lacking. And I think one key reason for this is that we’re constantly being distracted with other things. And most of these other things can be summed up in one thing, and that would be this “thing” right here [holds up cell phone]. And no, I’m not talking about your Bible app. I’m talking about the endless TikTok videos, the endless Facebook or Instagram posts, the endless news feeds, and the endless other forms of media that are constantly calling out for our attention and that often end up crowding out the habits that are most critical for our spiritual growth—such as reading and studying the Bible. 

You know, it’s often interesting to view things in light of historical realities. And one historical reality is that, for the first 1500 years of church history, the vast majority of Christians didn’t have a copy of the Bible that they could just read whenever they felt like it. Before the invention of the printing press, Bibles had to be copied by hand and were therefore extremely expensive—way beyond anything an average person could afford. Not only that, all of the Bibles were written in Latin, which was the language of scholars. So, even if there was a Bible somewhere around town, the vast majority of people wouldn’t be able to read it anyway. It seems so strange for us today to think about, but that was the reality for the vast majority of Christians for most of church history. 

Of course, nowadays, things are drastically different. We have the Bible at our fingertips pretty much wherever we go. Not only that, there are literally dozens of translations of the Bible now available in the English language as well as more study tools than we know what to do with. 

Yet something very strange has happened. It seems as though the more access we have to the Bible, the easier it is for us to take the Bible for granted. It seems as though the more convenient studying the Bible becomes, the less inclined we are to actually do it. And then, when you add in all of the other distractions we battle, our level of devotion to reading and studying the Bible drops even lower—actually, a lot lower. So, in a twist of tragic irony, we end up being in a place that’s not all that different from Christians before the 1500’s—only our access to the Bible is hindered not by it being unavailable or inaccessible but rather by the unrelenting barrage of distractions and forms of entertainment that so often pull us away from any serious engagement with the scriptures.

So, maybe one change you need to make in your life is to place some firm limits on the amount of social media and entertainment and even news that you consume. For me personally, I’ve had an app on my phone for a few years now, called the “Stay Focused” app, that measures the time I spend on certain other apps and actually prevents me from spending more time on them than I’ve told it to let me spend. And the time limit I’ve set is 15 minutes. So, I get a cumulative total of 15 minutes per day to look at news and social media and everything else like that—and once I hit that limit, the app interrupts me and doesn’t let me spend any more time on those kinds of things.  

So, maybe that’s something for you to consider implementing as well—deliberately limiting your intake of various apps that don’t really have much value at all and instead using the time you’d otherwise spend on those apps to dig into the Bible and engage in other habits such as prayer that will help you grow. I appreciate what John Piper wrote a few years ago. He said that, “One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” Think about that. “One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness [and, we might add, a neglect of Bible reading] was not from lack of time.” So, there you go. Social media is useful for at least one thing. 

And of course, as I mentioned, the point isn’t just to avoid unprofitable things but to use that time instead to do something profitable—namely to get serious about immersing yourself in the Bible. Hopefully, if you’re a Christian, you have a desire to do that. Hopefully, you have an appetite for the “pure spiritual milk” of God’s Word.

I love the way Job says it in Job 23:12 when he states, “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.” In other words, Job says, “I have more of an appetite for God’s Word than I have even for physical food.” I also appreciate what the psalmist says in Psalm 1:1-2: 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. So, according to the psalmist, reading the Bible isn’t a duty—it’s a delight. 

Moreover, David writes this of God’s Words in Psalm 19:10: “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” And Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” And finally, the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, is all about value of the Bible and how much the psalmist delights in it. For 176 verses, he goes on and on about how he just can’t get enough of God’s Word. So, hopefully we can all seek to cultivate a deeper hunger and desire for the “pure spiritual milk” of God’s Word. 

And hopefully we can also go beyond that actually set a specific goal for our Bible reading—especially if being consistent in Bible reading has been a struggle for you or if it simply hasn’t been a part of your life. A good foundational goal would be to read the Bible every single day. And you might find it helpful to know that, if you read just a chapter a day, you can actually read through the entire New Testament in a year. And if you read four chapters a day, you can read through the entire Bible in a year. And there are plenty of plans out there for doing that. Just Google “Bible reading plans,” and you’ll see plenty of options. 

The Goal of Our Growth

Then, returning to our main passage, Peter speaks not just of the hindrances to our growth and the means of our growth. He also, number three, identifies the goal of our growth. And the goal of our growth is actually right there in what we already read in verse 2. Peter writes, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” 

The word “salvation” refers to us being saved from something—namely from our sin and the eternal consequences of our sin. There was a time when we were in a terrifying predicament. We were in a state of rebellion against a holy and righteous God. Instead of honoring God as the one who had provided us with every good thing we’d ever enjoyed, we had no gratitude whatsoever and were actually quite insistent on defying God’s authority and living a life of active rebellion against God. That’s essentially what sin is. And it’s so outrageous and appalling that it deserves nothing less than eternity in hell. 

But in an act of extraordinary mercy, God sent his own Son Jesus to come into this world in order to save us. Jesus became a real flesh-and-blood human being, lived a life of sinless perfection, and died on the cross as our substitute—in order to suffer the penalty for our sin. All of the punishment our sins deserved was poured out on Jesus so that it wouldn’t have to be poured out on us. Then, after Jesus died, he rose from the dead and now offers to save everyone who will put their trust in him for rescue. That’s the “salvation” Peter speaks of here. 

And we experience some aspects of this salvation immediately—at the point in time when we put our trust in Jesus and become Christians. Right at that moment of conversion, we experience forgiveness of sins, a radical transformation of heart, adoption into God’s family, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. However, there are other aspects of our salvation that we don’t experience immediately—at least, not in their fullness. One of them is what the Bible calls “sanctification,” which is the gradual process of a Christian growing in godliness throughout their life. It’s more or less what we’ve been calling “spiritual growth.” And that’s what Peter’s referring to when he expresses a desire for us to “grow up into salvation.”

The way he phrases it makes me think of parents deliberately purchasing clothes for kids that are slightly too big for them. The idea, of course, is that their kids will grow into those clothes over the next several weeks and months. That way, the parents don’t have to buy clothes quite as often. And just like a child might grow into an article of clothing, Peter expresses a desire for us to grow into our salvation. Every aspect of our salvation—including our sanctification—has already been purchased at the cross. However, we still need to grow into it. In a sense, you might say that we need to obtain what’s already ours. Salvation in its fullness is ours. Yet we still need to grow to the full experience and enjoyment of our salvation. So, hopefully that’s happening in your life. 

And understand that I’m speaking here not just to newer Christians but also to those who have been Christians for quite some time. Hopefully you’re growing to enjoy more and more of the salvation Jesus has purchased for you and not just trying to live off of yesterday’s gains—you know, the prayer life you had a decade ago, the Bible verses you memorized when you were a teenager, the habits of Bible study you had when you were first saved. Hopefully you’re seeking to grow beyond what you obtained and experienced in previous years and are experiencing greater heights of worship, deeper levels of insight, and a closer relationship with God than you’ve ever had before. 

In fact, with us still being pretty close to the beginning of the New Year, this might be a good opportunity for you to look back at your life over the course of this past year and consider whether or not there’s been any observable growth. Have you experienced greater worship? Have you acquired deeper insight? Have you come to have a closer relationship with God? Are you more like Jesus than you were a year ago? Have you made progress in overcoming the sins that are a frequent struggle for you? Is your heart more filled with love for God and delight in God than it was a year ago? Is the fruit of the Spirit more present and prominent in your life? 

Consider this warning from the nineteenth century theologian J. C. Ryle. He writes, “Believe me, you cannot stand still in the affairs of your souls. Habits of good or evil are daily strengthening in your hearts. Every day you are either getting nearer to God or further off.” In other words, it’s not really possible to be at a spiritual standstill. You’re either actively growing closer to God or you’re passively drifting away from him. Hopefully you’re growing. In the words of Peter in our main passage, hopefully you’re experiencing more of the “salvation” that Jesus has purchased for you on the cross. 

The Motivation for Our Growth

Then, finally, having addressed the hindrances to our growth, the means of our growth, and the goal of our growth, Peter speaks of the motivation for our growth. He does this in verse 3, but let me begin reading again in verse 2 so that we can get the flow of the sentence: 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 

So, the motivation for our growth is that we’ve “tasted that the Lord is good” and desire more of him. Kind of like when you taste a food and can’t seem to stop eating it because it’s just so good. Last month, someone got our family a nice big box of Sarris chocolate-covered cherries for Christmas. And since my wife Becky is allergic to chocolate and I didn’t want the kids to have too much junk food, the responsibility was clearly on my shoulders to eat those chocolate-covered cherries. So, in an act of sacrificial love, I ate all of them. And again, it was a big box—like 3 or 4 dozen. It took me 8 days, but I ate them all. Yet, if I were to be totally honest with you, I’d have to admit that it wasn’t actually sacrificial love that led me to do that. The fact is that I just really liked those chocolate-covered cherries and found it difficult to stop myself from eating them. I tasted that first morsel, experienced its sweetness in my mouth, and just had to have more. 

And that’s the kind of thing Peter’s talking about here in verse 3. Those of us who are Christians have already “tasted that the Lord is good.” And so, because we’ve tasted his goodness and found him to be so good, we desire more of him. Like, we can’t stop ourselves. We just have to have more of God. 

By the way, this language of “tasting” God’s goodness is a reference to Psalm 34:8, where David exclaims, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” In other words, don’t just take someone else’s word for it that the Lord is good. Don’t even just believe it in the Bible when you read that the Lord is good. Instead, taste and see for yourself how good he is!

And returning to our main passage, this should be the motivation for our growth. According to Peter, we’re supposed to “long for the pure spiritual milk” of God’s Word with the goal of “grow[ing] up into salvation” and out of a desire to taste more of God’s goodness. 

Now, perhaps you’re wondering what exactly it means to taste God’s goodness. The best way I can describe it is perceiving—through faith and based on what’s revealed to us in God’s Word—how glorious and sweet and lovely and desirable God is and recognizing that he’s perfect in every way and being altogether satisfied in him. It’s not just that we understand God’s attributes intellectually but that we’ve actually seen him—again, with the eyes of faith—and become captivated by who he is. Tasting really is a wonderful metaphor. It’s not just that we’ve heard the food is good or that we see it and it looks good or even that we smell it and it smells good. Instead, we’ve actually tasted it for ourselves and can confirm from our own personal experience that the food is good. 

So, when you think about tasting God’s goodness, it’s not just about knowing things about God. It’s about experiencing for yourself who God is and beholding his glory and sensing his presence and being captivated by him. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” David says, “Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Perhaps we should make it our prayer that, with every single day that goes by, we’d taste more of God’s goodness than we did the day before.