VERSE OF THE DAY
1 Peter 2:2-3 (New Living Translation)
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Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
Verse Thoughts
Jesus came to earth as the best example of how man should live. He was the perfect pattern; the matchless measure and exact representation of ideal humanity and Jesus lived His life the way that God had intended all men to live. He was God’s ideal standard Who came to earth to illustrate the way that God had determined man should behave towards Himself and His creation – from the very beginning.
Jesus demonstrated throughout His earthly walk, a life that was well-pleasing to the Father, for He walked in spirit and truth, depending on the guidance of the Spirit and entrusting His life into God’s keeping, moment by moment – but He had to do this in a fallen world.. with a race of men, whose nature was corrupted by sin; who were at enmity with God and had the kiss of death on their soul.
The goodness and purity that was inherent in Christ exposed the ugliness and evil that is inherent in man and so He was despised and rejected of men – a man of sorrows Who suffered and died at their hands. But while being reviled Jesus did not retaliate.. and while suffering, He uttered no threats – but kept entrusting Himself to the One Who judges the hearts.
Jesus suffered wrongfully at the hand of sinners as an example to us. He endured the grief and pain with patience by entrusting Himself to God, Who judges all things righteously. And we are to follow His example. We too are called to suffer for righteousness sake and we are to patiently endure the unjust treatment that we receive at the hands of sinful men in this fallen world – for this is acceptable to God and well-pleasing in His sight.
But we cannot do this in our own strength for our nature is fallen and incapable of carrying out Christ-like righteousness in our own strength. For the righteousness of Christ to be manifest in our lives.. we are to die to self and keep that old fallen nature nailed to the cross. For the life of Christ to be shown in our lives when beset by difficulties.. the old sin nature must remain in-operative as we submit to the inner workings of the Holy Spirit and trust God to deal righteously in our lives no matter who or what we are facing.
The reaction of unsaved men or the carnal Christians to unjust treatment in this fallen world is to demand immediate vindication here and now – but God works from an eternal perspective in the lives of His children – so that when we truly entrust our lives into His hands we know that the judge of all the earth will do right.. but it will only happen at His appointed time and in His appointed way.
Let us die to self and live to Christ knowing that:- when He suffered, He . . . committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.
Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/1-peter-2-23
What does 1 Peter 2:3 mean?
The previous verse includes a command from God to Christians: crave “pure spiritual milk” as a newborn baby craves milk, so you can grow up in your salvation. This verse concludes that thought by referencing Psalm 34:8. Depending on the translation, the verse either starts with the word “if” or “since.” Some choose “since,” assuming that Peter’s readers had indeed tasted that the Lord is good. Still, the word “if” encourages us to think about our answer to the question.
How have we tasted that the Lord is good? Have we received comfort and confidence in knowing that God has caused us to be born again into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3)? Have we experienced joy in believing in Him (1 Peter 1:8)? Have we found great purpose in the ability to set ourselves aside and give genuine love to each other (1 Peter 1:22)? Peter assumes those things to be true of his readers and of all Christians. Having tasted that the Lord is good should increase our appetite for Him. It should make us even hungrier for the Word of God.
Don’t be confused, though. Peter is not suggesting that we “taste” the circumstances of the moment to see if the Lord is good. He has already written that his readers may be suffering greatly (1 Peter 1:6). In fact, we all suffer. We “taste” the goodness of the Lord in and through our suffering and in His promises that our suffering will end as we continue on with Him forever.
Context Summary
1 Peter 2:1–12 describes the spiritual house God is building. Jesus is the perfect foundation stone God has chosen for the house. Those who trust in Him are also living stones used to build the house. In addition, we individually serve as both the priests and the spiritual sacrifices, our lives offered to the builder. Thus we must live good lives, as strangers in the world preparing to go home to be with our Father, engaged in battle against our desire to sin.
Chapter Context
Peter gets specific about what it means to live as God’s set-apart people. Christ is the foundation stone of the spiritual house God is building. We must engage in battle with our selfishness and desire to sin. This includes submitting to human authorities, no matter how evil or harsh. It means enduring suffering, as Christ did for our sake when He died on the cross. Our role is not to fight a physical war for justice here; we will be going home soon
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