by Scott Rossy
The new birth marks the beginning of the spiritual life in a child of God, without which there is no salvation. This miracle, which is called “regeneration” or being “born again”, is solely the work of God. He, the Creator of all physical life, is also the Creator and source of this new spiritual life. It is the sovereign work of the Father that “has caused us to be born again” – (I Peter 1:3.) whereby He imparts spiritual life into us who are by nature spiritually dead.
Source and Means
In Peters first Epistle he reveals that God is not only the source of this new birth but also the means that He uses to bring about this new birth. The means that He uses to bring about the new birth is the Word of God. ”In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth.” – James 1:18 That is, His imperishable, eternal Word. “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” – I Peter 1:23. The Word of God is the seed that has been planted in us, giving us spiritual life. This seed is eternal. This seed is imperishable. Just as the Father is eternal and imperishable, so is His Word which He sends forth to bring about the new birth in His children. As His children, we now have His eternal, imperishable seed abiding in us. Peter also describes this eternal Word of God as “the living” (I Peter 1:23) word of God as does the writer to the Hebrews when he says “For the word of God is living and active” – Hebrews 4:12.
Peter quotes from Isaiah concerning the eternal nature of God’s Word, saying:
Peter quotes from Isaiah concerning the eternal nature of God’s Word, saying:
"All FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL IT’S GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER " – I Peter 1:24
And then he states, “and this is the word which was preached to you.” – I Peter 1:25
The Lord Jesus spoke of the life giving power of the Word when He said: “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” – John 6:63
Through the perishable seed we receive our temporary physical life passed to us from our fathers, but through the imperishable seed of the word of God, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, we receive our eternal spiritual life. We have His seed, His Word abiding in us. This is what the Holy Spirit uses to bring about the new birth. “the Spirit gives life” – II Corinthians 3:6. Through the imperishable word of God, the Holy Spirit gives us this new spiritual life. We have now been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. We’ve now been regenerated, indwelt, baptized and sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Grow in Respect to Salvation
As those who have now experienced this new birth he just described in chapter 1, Peter now goes on to address in chapter 2 how we as Christians “may grow in respect to salvation” – 1 Peter 2:2. As those who now have Gods seed abiding in us, as those who have been given The Holy Spirit to dwell in us and have been given a new nature, how are we to make progress in this new life? What is necessary for growth and progress in the new life? What nourishes this new life? How is this new life sustained?
The living and abiding eternal Word of God that is used as the means of the new birth, is also the same means the Holy Spirit uses to feed and nourish our spiritual life and cause us to grow in respect to our salvation. But first, in order for the Word of God to work its effect in our lives, we are commanded to remove all sin which will hinder our growth in sanctification. Peter lists 5 sins which must first be removed. We are to put aside, rid ourselves of “all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” - 1 Peter 2:1. We are to have a definite break with sin. The word “malice” is an all encompassing word meaning “wickedness”. Sin and wickedness can hinder the effectiveness of the word of God in our lives. James also speaks of this laying aside, putting aside, ridding ourselves of all sin when he says: “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” – James 1:21
We as Gods children may choose to sin, but if we do, we will hinder the power of the word of God to work in us. It’s been said that “sinning keeps us from reading the Bible and reading the Bible keeps us from sinning”.
Once these hindering vices have been removed, we must engage in a definite, active effort to grow in our faith. The command given to us is to “long for the pure milk of the Word” – 1 Peter 2:2. We are to long for, to crave, to intensely desire the pure milk of the Word. As stated, this is given as a command. We are to long for, to crave the Word as a newborn baby does for mother’s milk. Peter states it this way “Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it you may grow in respect to your salvation” – 1 Peter 2:2. The craving that a newborn has for milk is an inborn desire that comes naturally to them. They crave and long for it instinctively. It is an intense longing and hunger within them. That is all that can satisfy them. They desire nothing else to fill that craving. This is what is necessary for them to nourish and build up there physical bodies. This will sustain them and cause their growth as humans. We as Christians are to be “like” them in our desire to intensely crave what it is that will nourish, sustain and build us up in our spiritual life. Only the living and active word of God can feed, nourish and sustain our new spiritual life. Concerning the living, active nature of God’s word, Paul told the Thessalonians that the word of God “performs its work in you who believe.” – I Thessalonians 2:13. The pure spiritual milk of the word is the only spiritual food able to feed our souls. By first removing all known sin, then prayerfully feeding on the word of God and obeying it, the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is able to cause us to grow in respect to our salvation.
Pure, Unadulterated Milk
What type of milk are Christians to constantly be feeding on? Pure milk. The word “pure” means “unadulterated”, without mixture of any kind. We are to be craving the pure, unadulterated, uncorrupted, unmixed, untainted, uncontaminated spiritual milk of the word of God. If we add anything to the word, we invalidate its power to work effectively in our lives. We no longer have the pure word, but instead a weak mixture.
If we mix the teachings of men, the traditions of men, the philosophies of the world, with the word of God, we adulterate it. During Paul’s ministry there were many whom he said were “peddling (corrupting) the word of God” – II Corinthians 2:17. Not just a few but many. Paul, however stated concerning his ministry “we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” II Corinthians 4:2. Our day is no different. There are many teachings and philosophies that many are constantly trying to integrate with the scriptures. Many such teachings have infiltrated into the church and have had a major impact on Christian thought. Among them in our day are psychology (whether it calls itself secular psychology or “Christian” psychology, it doesn’t matter, they’re both the same thing), feminism, traditions, mysticism, Roman Catholicism, evolution, postmodernism, gnosticism, extra biblical revelations, experience theology, etc. Those who try to integrate the scriptures with these other thoughts will tell us they are not discarding the scriptures, they are just trying to be helpful, giving Christians something more that will help them in their Christian walk. Or they claim they are just trying to make the church more “relevant” or acceptable to our culture. But by mixing the teaching of man with the scriptures, they are now offering an impure corrupted, mixture. This is very subtle. They start out with the presupposition that what they are offering is true and necessary and helpful. As a result, they then have to reinterpret the scriptures from their presuppositions. For instance, a psychologist will start with the belief that what he’s studied in psychology is true. He then interprets the scriptures through the lens of his psychological presuppositions to try to make the scriptures and psychology compatible. It can’t be done. The word of God becomes (or the mixture he has come up with) adulterated and to no effect. The purity of the word is corrupted and weakened. An example of this in the “Christian psychology” realm, is this: Through his study of psychology, a Christian psychologist has come to the conclusion that mans greatest problem is a lack of self love or self esteem. He doesn’t come to this conclusion from studying the bible but from studying psychology. He starts with the assumption that what he’s learned in psychology (self love) is true and absolutely necessary for man. Since he’s a Christian and wants to “use” the bible in his teaching/counseling/therapy, he now begins to integrate the self love teaching into his interpretations of the bible. The bible is interpreted through the eye of psychology. The self love idea is now imposed upon the bible, and as a result Jesus clear teaching in Matthew 22:36-40 is given an entire different meaning than what the Lord really said. Other parts of scripture are also given new interpretations thus making the biblical authors original meaning invalid, thus corrupting the purity of the word. A lot could be said of this. It goes a lot, lot deeper and is widespread. This type of teaching also puts a new twist on the very gospel itself. Instead of the gospel focusing on the Lord and being seen as “to the praise of the glory of His grace” – Ephesians 1:6 and causing the redeemed to be in awe of His amazing grace, it now focuses on man and his infinite worth. Christ’s death on the cross is now seen as a way to validate mans self love. The teaching becomes widespread like gangrene, throughout the Christian community, even by those who aren’t psychologists, but who have allowed this adulterating of the word to contaminate their thoughts. When someone integrates with the scriptures the philosophies and teachings of the world they adulterate, contaminate and corrupt the Word and it loses all its effectiveness. They multiply theirs, and their hearers’ problems and retard their spiritual growth. Someone else who’s starting point is that evolution is true but doesn’t want to totally discard scripture will now attempt to understand the first 3 chapters of Genesis from an evolutionist’s point of view. He now comes up with an impure mixture of scripture/evolution and develops “theistic” evolution. As a result, nowadays, the belief in a literal 6 days of creation is very, very rare among Christians. This new belief now creates more interpretive problems with other parts of scripture. It doesn’t stop. Whenever someone attempts to integrate outside teaching with the scriptures they inevitably end up imposing their beliefs on the scriptures and force it to say what they want it to say. The outside teaching takes precedence. Scripture ends up being used to support their presuppositions. Our starting point should always be the presupposition that the scriptures alone are completely true and anything that contradicts the clear teaching of scripture is to be discarded as an adulterating, contaminating influence. We need to be very careful to preserve the purity of the word from any mixture and to “ examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. “ –I Thessalonians 5:21-22. God is just as concerned with maintaining the purity of His word as He is with the proclamation of His word. What good is it to proclaim an impure, adulterated, ineffective word? It is staggering that so much of scripture speaks about the influence of false teachers on Gods people. God knows of the dangers and He constantly warns us. Unfortunately we as 21st century Christians by and large have very little discernment and will accept anything, as long as the teacher says he loves or believes in Jesus. The danger with a person that wants to adulterate the word of God is that they will say many things that we agree with. That’s the hook that pulls us in and we find the church feeding on a corrupted, poisoned mixture of the word of God. We would never tolerate or be duped in this way in the physical world. “Long for the pure milk” If someone sets before us a pitcher of milk, and tells us; “It’s o.k., I only put a tiny drop of poison in it, so go ahead, drink up!”, we’d never allow ourselves to be duped into drinking it. We know it’s not pure. It’s an impure, contaminated, dangerous mixture. This should be our same attitude when it comes to feeding on the word. We must crave only the pure, unadulterated, untainted word of God.
"Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."- Mark 4:24.
Who’s it for?
Some erroneously teach that Peter is referring here only to new converts, to babes in Christ. That it’s only the newborn Christian who is commanded to feed on the pure milk of the word. This can’t be. It doesn’t fit with the whole of scripture. I believe it is clear that Peter is speaking to not only those who are new in Christ but to all Christians, no matter how long they’ve been in Christ. The purpose he gives for the need to constantly long for the Word is so that we may grow in respect to our salvation. All believers are to be constantly growing in their salvation. No matter how long they’ve been in Christ. It doesn’t matter if someone’s been a believer for a short while or if they’ve been in Christ for 70 years. No matter what their level of spiritual maturity is, they are to never stop growing. We never outgrow the Word. We never reach a level of growth or maturity where we will no longer need the constant intake of the Word. It will always be the means with which the Holy Spirit uses to feed and nourish our spiritual life. It will always be our spiritual food. The point of what Peter is telling us is not WHO is to crave the spiritual milk but HOW we are to crave the spiritual milk. How, meaning in what manner. The manner is “like” newborn babes or “just as” newborn babes do with mother’s milk. We, as the ones who have been born into God’s family, who have His Spirit indwelling us, need to cultivate within us an intense craving and longing for the unmixed purity of His word. That same, intense, natural craving that an infant has for milk should be ours as well. The word, is the God ordained means by which He chooses to bring about our growth in sanctification. As the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth” – John 17:17.
The process of sanctification is a lifelong process and there are no shortcuts. It’s not a matter as many teach, of us not having “enough” of the Holy Spirit and us needing to receive more of Him in a newer, special way. Everyone who has been born into God’s family has as much of the Holy Spirit as every other Christian. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” – I Cornithians 12:13 and ”if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” – Romans 8:9. The scriptures do not teach that in the church age the Holy Spirit is given out in intervals to God’s children. A brand new born again Christian has as much of the Holy Spirit as someone who’s been a believer for 50 years. We are not “zapped” from above with another baptism of the Spirit that will cause us to attain a higher level of spirituality. We grow in sanctification. It’s a process. Just as humans, we progress from one level of growth to another, so it is in our spiritual growth. Humanly, we progress from level to level. We begin as infants and continue to toddler, child, teenager, adult and finally to seniors. The same can be said of our spiritual development.
Contradictory Verses?
Those who teach that Peter was only referring to newborn babes in Christ point to two portions of scripture to support their position. The writer to the Hebrews says:
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” -Hebrews 5:12 - 6:2
And the Apostle Paul says at the Church at Corinth:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.” – I Corinthians 3:1-2
However, these verses are not teaching that newborn babes in Christ are the ones who are to feed on the milk of the word and the rest who are more mature in their faith are to graduate on to a more solid food. The progress from milk to solid food that Paul and the writer to the Hebrews are talking about is the growth in knowledge and understanding of the word. They were not growing in their understanding from the elementary, basic principles (teaching) of scripture which is the milk (in these verses), to the more weighty ”solid food” teachings of the word. They were still stuck at the basics. To their shame they never developed beyond the basic elementary teaching of the word. They should have progressed in their understanding and should have begun teaching others. Instead they themselves needed someone to teach them again. It’s not that we as Christians grow to be weaned off the pure milk of the word and progress on to a more mature spiritual food. What would that food be? The word is always our spiritual food.
As we read, study, memorize, meditate on and obey the word, we will make progress in our spiritual growth. But what about the opposite? What if we don’t actively develop that craving? What if we don’t continually feed on the pure milk of the word? Humanly speaking, what if a newborn stopped feeding on his necessary milk, what would become of him? Wouldn’t he become malnourished, sick and weak? In the same way, what happens to us as Christians if we stop our daily intake of our spiritual milk? If we are not “constantly nourished on the words of the faith.”? – I Timothy 4:7. It stands to reason that we will stop growing, retard our growth and become weak in our faith, if not worse. As the Lord Jesus said: “"It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"- Matthew 4:4.
This is our spiritual food, the Word of God , and prayer is our oxygen. Let us reach the point where our hearts and our minds so completely saturated with the Word of God that it just can’t be contained anymore, and the word will spill over into all our thoughts, and through the constant reading of the Word, we find ourselves automatically meditating on it continually. This is the place of blessing: Meditating and thinking on the Word.
“How blessed is the man whose… delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2.
Meditating on the Word, both in the day and in the night. May we strive to reach the point where we can also say “O how I love Thy Law! It is my meditation all the day” – Psalm 119:97. “My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Thy Word.” – Psalm 119:148.
Jeremiah spoke of taking in, eating the word of God and the joy and delight it brought him. “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart.”–Jeremiah 15:16.
The work of the Holy Spirit within us can give us the ability to experience the power and joy of the word of God burning inside of us. The burning of the living and abiding word in the heart. The burning that the two disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus spoke of, after the resurrected Christ walked with them, explaining to them the Old Testament scriptures regarding Himself. After He left “They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"- Luke 24:32. Jeremiah spoke of the burning of the word, that if he didn’t let it out, it became like a fire within him that just couldn’t be contained. He just had to speak Gods words. “The word of the LORD has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. But if I say, "I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, "Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.” – Jeremiah 20:8-9.
If we find ourselves lacking in that longing and craving for the pure milk of the Word and it is not our joy and our delight, we need to seek the Lord, and ask Him to give us that intense craving and desire. Ask Him to fan the flame!
However, these verses are not teaching that newborn babes in Christ are the ones who are to feed on the milk of the word and the rest who are more mature in their faith are to graduate on to a more solid food. The progress from milk to solid food that Paul and the writer to the Hebrews are talking about is the growth in knowledge and understanding of the word. They were not growing in their understanding from the elementary, basic principles (teaching) of scripture which is the milk (in these verses), to the more weighty ”solid food” teachings of the word. They were still stuck at the basics. To their shame they never developed beyond the basic elementary teaching of the word. They should have progressed in their understanding and should have begun teaching others. Instead they themselves needed someone to teach them again. It’s not that we as Christians grow to be weaned off the pure milk of the word and progress on to a more mature spiritual food. What would that food be? The word is always our spiritual food.
Joy and Delight
As we read, study, memorize, meditate on and obey the word, we will make progress in our spiritual growth. But what about the opposite? What if we don’t actively develop that craving? What if we don’t continually feed on the pure milk of the word? Humanly speaking, what if a newborn stopped feeding on his necessary milk, what would become of him? Wouldn’t he become malnourished, sick and weak? In the same way, what happens to us as Christians if we stop our daily intake of our spiritual milk? If we are not “constantly nourished on the words of the faith.”? – I Timothy 4:7. It stands to reason that we will stop growing, retard our growth and become weak in our faith, if not worse. As the Lord Jesus said: “"It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"- Matthew 4:4.
This is our spiritual food, the Word of God , and prayer is our oxygen. Let us reach the point where our hearts and our minds so completely saturated with the Word of God that it just can’t be contained anymore, and the word will spill over into all our thoughts, and through the constant reading of the Word, we find ourselves automatically meditating on it continually. This is the place of blessing: Meditating and thinking on the Word.
“How blessed is the man whose… delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2.
Meditating on the Word, both in the day and in the night. May we strive to reach the point where we can also say “O how I love Thy Law! It is my meditation all the day” – Psalm 119:97. “My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Thy Word.” – Psalm 119:148.
Jeremiah spoke of taking in, eating the word of God and the joy and delight it brought him. “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart.”–Jeremiah 15:16.
The work of the Holy Spirit within us can give us the ability to experience the power and joy of the word of God burning inside of us. The burning of the living and abiding word in the heart. The burning that the two disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus spoke of, after the resurrected Christ walked with them, explaining to them the Old Testament scriptures regarding Himself. After He left “They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"- Luke 24:32. Jeremiah spoke of the burning of the word, that if he didn’t let it out, it became like a fire within him that just couldn’t be contained. He just had to speak Gods words. “The word of the LORD has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. But if I say, "I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, "Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.” – Jeremiah 20:8-9.
If we find ourselves lacking in that longing and craving for the pure milk of the Word and it is not our joy and our delight, we need to seek the Lord, and ask Him to give us that intense craving and desire. Ask Him to fan the flame!
