What is the context?
The new birth and sincere love described at the end of chapter 1 now lead to putting away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. These habits damage the very shared life the readers are called to cultivate.
The newborn’s appetite for milk gives the positive picture: crave nourishment that will bring growth in salvation. The word behind spiritual describes what nourishes the soul. The image follows Peter’s description of the enduring word through which they have received new life.
The appeal rests on having tasted the Lord’s goodness, recalling Psalm 34:8. Growth is a response to the One whose goodness they have begun to know.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley identifies the milk with God’s word nourishing faith, love and holiness. Calvin gives the picture a wider emphasis on the sincere, God-shaped life fitting the new birth. Both read the call as ongoing growth, rather than permission to remain immature.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Psalm 34:1–10 joins tasting God’s goodness with refuge, praise and fear of the Lord. Peter draws the readers into that continuing life of dependence.
Ephesians 2:19–22 describes believers growing together into God’s dwelling place. The move from newborns to living stones in Peter’s next paragraph likewise places growth within a people being formed together.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.