1 Peter 2

Verses 1-3 continue directly from 1:23-25, where believers are described as newly begotten through God's enduring word. The participle apothemenoi, "having put away," introduces a catalogue of communal vices: malice, deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and slanders. The main imperative is epipothēsate, "long for," portraying the recipients as newborn infants who crave milk. The imagery concerns spiritual dependence and growth rather than immaturity in the Pauline sense of infant language.

The phrase to logikon adolon gala is difficult. Logikos can mean "rational," "spiritual," or "pertaining to the word," while adolos means "pure" or "unadulterated." Because the preceding context emphasizes the enduring word proclaimed in the gospel, many interpreters hear an association with logos, although logikos is not simply an adjective meaning "of the word." Others take the expression more broadly as "pure spiritual milk." The purpose clause, "so that by it you may grow into salvation," gives the metaphor an eschatological orientation.

Verse 3 alludes to Psalm 34:8, "if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." The conditional ei ge assumes rather than seriously doubts their experience. In the Psalm, "the Lord" refers to Israel's God; in the immediate context of 1 Peter, the wording prepares the transition to Christ in verse 4. Scholars therefore debate whether the application subtly identifies Christ with the Lord of the Psalm or whether the citation retains a direct reference to God before the christological imagery begins.

First Peter 2 continues the new-birth imagery of 1:22-25 and develops the identity of the recipients as God's covenant people. Verses 1-3 portray them as newborn infants desiring pure spiritual milk, while verses 4-10 shift to temple imagery: Christ is the living stone rejected by humans but chosen by God, and believers are built into a spiritual house and holy priesthood. A dense chain of Old Testament citations presents Christ simultaneously as cornerstone and stone of stumbling, while titles originally applied to Israel are used for the Christian community.

Verses 11-25 then turn from identity to public conduct. As aliens and sojourners, believers are instructed to live honorably among Gentiles, submit to civil authorities, and use their freedom as servants of God. The final section addresses household slaves who suffer unjustly and interprets Christ's passion through Isaiah 53. The chapter thus connects ecclesial identity, social marginality, and suffering: the community belongs to God's renewed people yet lives visibly within non-Christian society, with Christ's rejected and vindicated pattern shaping its response to hostility.