being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by [the] living and abiding word of God.
Peter has just told his readers to love one another. Here he gives the reason. They have a second birth, and its source is not the perishable kind behind their first birth. So what is this seed? What does the word do? And why does "living and abiding" matter for the person born from it?
The language of birth is not a figure for improvement. One writer takes it at full strength:
It is really the bringing into existence of a new being. When you were born into this world, a being was born into it that had not existed before. If you are born again, you are born a second time; born of God, you are a child of God now, which you were not before.
So what exactly is new? One writer starts by setting aside a common description of it:
Some describe the new birth as a change worked in a man by the Spirit through the word of God on his faculties, so that they no longer serve self and Satan but serve Him. But that describes the effect rather than the cause. Scripture is abundant and clear that God gives a life to the believer. Christ is this life, as the old life is from Adam fallen. That life acts through our faculties on objects revealed by God, objects far beyond those of natural life.
Peter's first readers had a proud family line, and this phrase strikes at it. Older translations render "perishable" and "imperishable" as "corruptible" and "incorruptible":
Israel boasted in their natural family line, but this was corruptible seed. New birth is of incorruptible seed, the word of God — a seed filled with life, pure, vital, and eternal, abiding forever. Of course God is the source of it, yet the believer obeys it in the very fact of being born again by it: he is a child of obedience.
The contrast also settles what this birth secures. Natural descent brought blessings that could run out:
The believer is not born of the flesh to enjoy temporary rights and blessings, as a Jew was. He is born of an incorruptible seed, a principle of life as unchangeable as the word of God Himself.
Peter pictures the new birth as sowing. The picture shows who acts first:
Here the New Birth is like a seed falling into the ground. The seed has life in it. The power of life in the seed lays hold in the soil. The soil does not lay hold on the seed. The word of God in the power of the Spirit lays hold of the man.
Why does the word carry such power?
The word is the revelation of what is in God, in His nature and character, His love, His ways, in short all that He communicates. And this is what God uses to quicken.
Those two words describe the child as well as the seed:
That which is born partakes of the nature and character of that which gives its birth. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is equally true that what is born of incorruptible seed is incorruptible. And what is born by the living and abiding Word of God is living and abiding. That enduring Word of the Lord has reached us in the gospel message we have believed.
Peter is drawing on the prophet Isaiah, who levels every human distinction:
The Jew was grass, the Gentile was grass — all flesh was grass. And "the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Nothing on earth abides but the word of God. It is living and abiding... What comfort, to know we are the children of what is living, incorruptible, and abiding!
The verse begins with "since." The new birth is the ground of Peter's call to love:
They are our brothers. So let us love one another earnestly from a pure heart. But this rests on another principle, vital at its core. It is a new nature that acts in this love.
- Source — Birth, not repair. A being exists now that did not exist before, and God gives it a life the old one from Adam never had.
- Seed — What Peter rules out is as pointed as what he affirms. Natural descent is perishable seed, and no family line survives the sowing.
- Means — The word carries life into a person as a seed carries it into soil. The seed lays hold of the ground, not the ground of the seed.
- Nature — A child takes after its source. A living and abiding word gives a living and abiding life.
- Result — All flesh is grass, and only God's word abides. Children of that word love one another out of the new nature it gave them.
Because all flesh [is] as grass, and all its glory as [the] flower of grass. The grass has withered and [its] flower has fallen;
Peter has just said that new birth comes from a word that lives and lasts forever. Now he proves it with a line from the prophet Isaiah about grass. If everything human is this short-lived, what will still be standing when the grass has withered?
The verse says "all flesh." That covers every person, and it exposes something people admit less easily than sin.
The grass grows up in the morning and flourishes; in the evening it is cut down and withers. The flower attracts the eye. It charms us for a moment, then fades away forever. That is what man is — all men, without exception; for "all flesh is like grass." Man is not only sinful, unclean, and corrupt; he is also weak and does not last, for he passes away. Rich or poor, high or low, in this there is no difference... Many will freely admit that they are sinners, and still try to hide from themselves how frail they are by nature, and how weak they are toward the things of God.
Grass and its flower are not the same thing. The flower stands for what people most admire in each other.
Yes, "all flesh is as grass, and all its glory as a flower of grass." There is a difference. Some people are much finer than others: refined, tender, generous, brave, affectionate, and religious in a natural way. There is not only the grass in general, but also its flower. And people are quick to admire, and even adore, what is so pleasant to their eyes, their imagination, and their feelings. But nothing is truly right where God does not have His rights.
This verse is not a stray thought about how short life is. It stands next to the previous verse to show that the believer's life has a different source than his first birth did.
If the precious blood of the spotless Lamb has redeemed us, then we are born of the incorruptible seed of the word of God. That word lives and abides forever. For the flesh is only grass, the glory of man like the flower of grass... The believer is not born in a natural way, to enjoy temporary rights and blessings, as a Jew was. He is born of incorruptible seed — a principle of life as unchangeable as the word of God Himself. The prophet had told them so when he comforted the people of God. All flesh — the nation itself — was only withered grass.
This line is God's estimate of man. One writer calls it the starting point of gospel preaching — the thing a person must first agree with.
The question between God and every soul is this: is man as bad as God's testimony says he is? Gospel preaching starts from God's own declaration: "All flesh is grass." Take man at every level of moral and intellectual improvement, and he is still grass.
The same writer points to a man God Himself commended, and to what he said when he saw God:
By God's own account, Job was a man of remarkable integrity and uprightness... But when he comes to stand before God, he says, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Here Job learned that as flesh he was grass.
If nothing human lasts, what does? And can a person share in it?
The passage here is from Isaiah 40, and everything there is grass... Israel grass, the Gentiles grass, all of us grass; all perishable, none abiding at all. Is there anything on earth that will last? Yes, the Word of God will last; it will stand. If you are born of that, you will abide forever; if not, you will perish away from the presence of God altogether.
The same test applies to arguments raised against the Bible:
If all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass, then what are the arguments of unbelievers worth? They are as worthless as withered grass or a faded flower. The men who put them forward, and those who are swayed by them, will find that out sooner or later.
- Grass — the verdict covers every person: rich or poor, high or low, refined or not, "all flesh" withers.
- Flower — the flower is man's glory, the part people admire most; it charms the eye and then fades.
- Start — gospel preaching begins where a person accepts God's estimate of himself. Job learned it only when he stood before God.
- Seed — this verse stands beside new birth to sharpen the contrast: a natural birth that withers, a birth from incorruptible seed that lasts.
- Abides — nothing on earth lasts except the word of God; born of that word, you abide with it forever.
but the word of [the] Lord abides for eternity. But this is the word which in the glad tidings [is] preached to you.
Peter ends his opening chapter by setting two things side by side. Everything human fades. The word of the Lord does not. And that lasting word is not shut away in heaven: it is the very message his readers heard preached.
Peter borrows the picture from the prophet Isaiah. One writer traces it back there and lets no group escape it:
The passage here is from the fortieth of Isaiah, and everything there is grass. Israel grass, the Gentiles grass, all of us grass; all perishable, none abiding at all. Is there anything on the earth that will abide? Yes, the Word of God will abide; that will stand. If you are born of that, you will abide for ever. If not, you will perish away from the presence of God altogether.
This sweeps in the finest people too, the ones others admire most:
Some people are much finer than others: refined, tender, generous, brave, affectionate, and religious in a merely human way. There is not only the grass in general, but its flower. And people tend to admire, and even adore, what is so pleasant to their eyes, their imagination, and their feelings.
Isaiah first spoke these words while God was comforting His people. One writer calls that remarkable:
Do you think you have a better nature than your neighbour, or your neighbour than you? God says all flesh is grass, and He says this when comforting His people. It is not the way you and I would comfort each other, to tell each other that we are utterly worthless. That is the way, however, that God takes to comfort a repentant people. It is an immense comfort to discover that God knows I am worthless, and that He expects no good out of me.
Isaiah wrote of grass that withers. Peter writes of grass that has withered. Not every translation keeps that difference, but one writer marks it:
The words concerning the grass and the flower of the grass are a quotation from Isaiah. But the quotation is changed a little. In Isaiah we read: "The grass withers, the flower fades." Here it is, "The grass has withered and the flower fallen." That is how faith must look at the world and all its glory: withered and fallen, with no attraction left for the heart that knows God. But those who are born again are joined to what abides for ever — the Word of the Lord, preached in that ever blessed Gospel.
Peter says the word "remains forever." One writer tests that against the collapse of kingdoms and the end of the world itself:
Consider God's special care to preserve His truth; whatever is lost, God looks to His truth. Kingdoms have been overturned, and churches too. Through all these great revolutions and changes, God has still preserved His truth. Think of that great and dreadful burning of heaven and earth. The elements will melt with heat and the world will come to its fatal end. Even then truth will not suffer the least loss.
What survives the fire is the message the preacher handed you. So the life it produced in you carries its character:
That which is born partakes of the nature and character of that which gives its birth. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In the same way, what is born of incorruptible seed is incorruptible. What is born by the living and abiding Word of God is living and abiding. And that enduring Word of the Lord has reached us in the gospel message that we have believed.
This is why Peter presses the point so warmly on people scattered and under pressure:
This is the very word that was preached to them with all its glad news, that they might know that they had through it received a new nature as incorruptible and everlasting as His word Who communicated both. He would have his brethren know it theirs now without a shade of uncertainty.
The verse also sets the shape of gospel preaching — the hard half first, then the half that saves:
Gospel preachers, we have our work to do, and let us not shirk it. We must cry out, even when the message is unwelcome. All flesh is as the grass, passing and withering. All the glory of man is as the flower of the grass. The best is no better than the worst, for at the great test of the cross we plainly see that there is no difference: the rulers of this world crucified the Lord of glory. We must proclaim this. But our work and words would be hopeless if they ended there. Thank God, we have something else to tell. The word of God lives, it throbs with life, and abides for ever, it is imperishable. And that word is about Christ.
- Grass — every human distinction withers, Israel's included. Even the flower, man at his finest, falls.
- Comfort — God says this while comforting His people. It is a relief to learn He expects no good from you.
- Withered — Peter puts it in the past tense. Faith already sees the world's glory as fallen, not fading.
- Abides — nothing has worn the word out. The final burning of heaven and earth will not cost the truth the least loss.
- Preached — that same imperishable word reached you as good news about Christ. The life it gave is as lasting as the word that gave it.
Laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings,
The word "therefore" points back to chapter 1 and the new birth. Then Peter names five things that must go. What ties these five together, and why must they go before a believer can grow?
(Some quotes below use an older translation. There "deceit" is "guile," and "slander" is "evil speakings.")
The list is not random. It grows out of the new birth, and it looks ahead to Peter's picture of believers joined in one house.
The closing verses of chapter 1 have shown us that the new birth of each believer has a purifying effect. So the first verse of chapter 2 takes it for granted that we lay aside those ugly features which belong to the flesh in us. Of the things named, malice, envy and evil speaking touch our dealings with other people most of all. Peter names them because he is about to show us the believer in close relation with all his fellow believers: as a stone in a spiritual house, and as one of the priestly family. In such connections, nothing goes right unless we lay these evils aside.
The word Peter uses matters. It does not describe a slow programme of improvement.
The English reader, and anyone who does not know the original language, should keep in mind the force of the opening word. It means an act done once for all. That is what the aorist tense implies: a tense of fact, not of gradual process. The verb is also in the middle voice, not the active. With verbs that take an object, the middle voice turns the action back on the one who does it.
The five faults are linked. One leads to the next, and the trail runs from the tongue back to the heart.
We are to lay aside malice, which holds evil thoughts about others, and guile, which hides what we are. We are to lay aside hypocrisy, which pretends to be what we are not, and envy, which leads us to slander the person we envy. Guile and hypocrisy always accompany malice. A person may speak evil of his brother and then try to hide the malice, claiming he acts for his brother's good. That is guile. Further, he may claim that he has nothing in his heart but love for his brother — this is hypocrisy. Behind malicious words there is envy, which is the real motive for evil speaking.
Envy has a target: the good that is really there in someone else.
Hypocrisy springs from claiming a good we do not have. Envy is the other side: it tries to deny and blacken the real good in others. Thank God that He still works here and there in ways of love, devotion, patient grace, zeal for the truth, delight in His glory, and compassion for the wretched and the unworthy. Those who show none of these qualities have plenty of room to run others down. It galls them to see others credited with something so good.
Two of the five are inward and three are outward, and the verse deals with both.
Guile, hypocrisy, and evil speaking are the outward expression of malice and envy working within. So God goes to the root. The inward working and the outward works are alike revolting to God. Only the practical laying aside of both root and branches clears the way for what follows: an eager desire for what God has provided for the growth of the soul.
Of the five, the last is the one most easily excused.
Lastly, and fittingly, comes the warning against "all evil speakings," for what a variety of shapes this wears! And how readily it cheats many a person under the plea of care for the Lord's honour and just censure of what is wrong!
Laying it aside is something you can act on the moment someone brings you a bad report.
But what if another believer comes to us with an evil report about a brother or sister? Ask that person to stop speaking this way. How much evil speaking would die in its tracks if we did this. Remember: even when real sins have been committed, there is no blessing in telling others details they do not need. Keep the circle of information as small as possible — only those who can deal with it righteously.
Notice what Peter does not list here. These are not the crimes a court would punish.
As pilgrims we are to grow, but there are two essentials for growth: one is laying aside, and the other is feeding. Do you notice the things the apostle tells us to lay aside? He does not say lay aside stealing, and murder, and the various outward immoralities. It is the guile, the hypocrisy, the malice. It is that tongue, that evil speaking, so sadly common among God's people. If we are to grow, we are to lay aside these things.
- Born, therefore put off. The new birth of chapter 1 purifies. So verse 1 assumes we lay aside what belongs to the flesh.
- Once, not gradually. The word means an act done once for all. The verb turns the action back on the one who does it: a decision, not a slow process.
- Five links, one chain. Envy is the motive, malice the thought, guile the cover, hypocrisy the pretence, evil speaking the outcome.
- Root and branch. Two evils work inside; three show outside. Both kinds are revolting to God, so He goes to the root.
- No growth without it. These are not gross crimes but common faults among believers. Growth takes two things: laying aside first, then feeding.
as newborn babes desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word, that by it ye may grow up to salvation,
Peter has just said that God's word gave his readers new life. Now he tells them to crave that word — but what is this "milk," and who is it for?
The desire Peter commands has a precondition. Verse 1 lists the evils to drop: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. One writer sorts them into root and branches.
Deceit, hypocrisy and slander are the outward expression of the malice and envy working within. So God goes to the root. The inward working and the outward acts are alike revolting to God. Only the practical "putting away" of root and branches clears the way. What follows is an earnest desire for what God provides to grow the soul.
A mother's milk is the one food suited to the child she has just borne. Peter's point is the same: the word that gave new birth is also its food.
No one can doubt that it is the milk of the word that nourishes the believer. God's word gave him new birth, and the same word now feeds him... Here the Spirit of God dwells on how well the food suits the baby once born. Everyone is encouraged to long for the pure nourishment God supplies in abundance. It is milk for the believer's mind. A mother's breast feeds her baby's body; God's word feeds our spiritual understanding.
Many read "milk" as beginner's material to be outgrown. One writer argues the opposite. The whole Bible is the milk, and the picture is the newborn's hunger, not a low grade of teaching.
The Word itself is milk, the whole of it, and we are to be not simply like babies, but like newborn babies in our desire for it. To a newborn baby, what is milk? Its very life, we may say. And that is what God's word is to us... The highest and most advanced truths, so called, only expand, illustrate and confirm the gospel itself. No truth is more wonderful, deeper or higher than the gospel.
Commentators differ on how far to press this. Another sees milk and solid food as two supplies, both drawn from the same source:
If we feed on the Word we grow up. But even then we still need the Word, for it is meat for those of full age as well as milk for babies, as Hebrews 5:12-14 tells us.
Peter does not command hunger out of nothing. The next verse gives the reason: "if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."
All true desire for the word is the outcome of having tasted that the Lord is gracious. The more we enjoy the company of the Lord, the more eager we shall be to sit at His feet and hear His word. Seeking Christ in all the Scriptures keeps a loving interest in God's word alive. It makes many a hard passage plain and simple.
Growth here has a goal. Salvation is not only something already received. It is finished when Christ comes.
More and more, we should be saved from everything that holds back our spiritual progress. At last, when Christ comes, we will be saved completely. Then our body of humiliation will be changed into the likeness of His body of glory.
One writer puts the cost of neglect plainly:
A Christian who does not know his Bible has almost no defence against the world, the flesh, and the devil. He is a spiritual dwarf, for he cannot grow without the pure milk of the Word.
- Clear — put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander first. Allowed evil kills the appetite.
- Crave — the point is not your maturity but your hunger. Want Scripture the way a newborn wants milk.
- Feed — the word that gave you new life also feeds it. Nothing else feeds spiritual understanding.
- Taste — desire grows out of tasting that the Lord is good. Enjoy Christ, and the appetite follows.
- Grow — the aim is not information but growth. It is complete only when Christ comes.