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Living as a Christian

First Peter 2:1 begins with “therefore,” meaning that what follows results from what came before. First Peter 1, we saw, was a tour de force in regard to what Christ has done for us and how we should respond to what He has done for us. In the next chapter, Peter picks up this theme and takes it further.

Read 1 Peter 2:1-3. What is Peter telling us about how we should live?

Peter uses two separate images to show that Christians have a double duty. One is negative, in that some things are discarded; the other is a positive, in that we should seek to do something.

In his first image, Peter urges Christians to rid themselves of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking (1 Pet. 2:1, NKJV). In doing this, Christians will conduct themselves differently than do many of those around them. Because they have discarded malice, they will not desire to harm others but, instead, will seek their good. Because Christians have discarded insincerity, they will not act to deceive others but will be straightforward and honest. Christians will not envy those who have more than they do. They will be content with their life and flourish where Providence has placed them. Nor will they make statements that deliberately damage another’s reputation.

The second image that Peter uses-that of a baby hungry for milk (1 Pet. 2:2)-provides the positive side of his instruction. Christian life is not merely a matter of giving up bad things. Such a life would be empty. No, it is a matter of seeking spiritual nourishment but with the same intensity that a hungry baby cries out for milk. He points readers to the source of that spiritual nourishment (see also Heb. 4:12, Matt. 22:29, 2 Tim. 3:15-17), the Word of God, the Bible. It is in the Word of God that we can grow spiritually and morally, because in it we have the fullest revelation possible, at least to us, of Jesus Christ. And in Jesus we have the greatest representation of the character and nature of the Holy God we are to love and serve.

How are these two ideas related to each other: that is, why would seeking spiritual nourishment from the Word help us lay aside the bad actions and attitudes that Peter is warning us about?