THEREFORE: oun: (1 Peter 1:18-25)

The next few verses are literally replete with a mixture of interesting metaphors which make for fascinating meditation -“putting off clothes,” “long for milk,”  “tasting” the goodness of the Lord,  “stones” and “spiritual houses.”

Why therefore? (Always ask "What's it 'there for'?") This term of conclusion takes us back to the new birth (first mentioned in 1 Peter 1:3 - note) and then reiterated in (1 Peter 1:22 - note). Because now that we are in Christ (in union with Him, identified with Him, in covenant with Him, one with Him) Sin no longer has a power over you...you do not have to obey Sin or let it reign in your mortal body...but now if you listen to Sin and commit personal sins this represents a choice you make (see notes Romans 6:10; 11; 12; 13; 14). But to commit personal sins is now a choice you did not have in your unregenerate, depraved state in Adam, when Sin was your master, your sovereign king and you had to do what it demanded. But now you have been born by imperishable seed (Word -see note 1 Peter 1:23) which abides forever (see note 1 Peter 1:25). If this living and abiding Word of God saved you, it is the same "seed" that will sanctify you (Jn 17:17) and cause you to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (see note 2 Peter 3:18).

Guzik comments that...

Peter has just demonstrated the glory and eternal character of God’s word. Now, therefore, in light of what God’s word is to us, we should receive the word, and receive it with a particular heart. (1 Peter 2 Commentary)

Pritchard writes that...

This is a passage with huge implications for our church at this particular moment in our history. Peter’s words are rich with insight and deep with meaning. If you have any interest in growing spiritually, pay attention to what Peter says because he is speaking to you. And if you haven’t been growing as you would like, pay even closer attention because Peter connects two things that we often keep separate.

You can see those two things quite clearly in verses 1 and 2. Verse 1 speaks of five wrong attitudes that must be put out of the Christian life. When Peter says “rid yourselves,” he uses a verb that was used for stripping off dirty clothes. If you are a Christian, you must strip these five things out of your life: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Becoming a Christian means changing you wardrobe. These five attitudes went out of style when you were born again...These rotten attitudes have no place in the Christian life. There is no room for them in the Christian wardrobe. And there should be no room for them inside the Christian church. These are all relational sins. You might call them horizontal sins because they touch on how we relate to others around us. And by definition, they deal with how we respond to the difficult people we rub shoulders with every day....

Let me put these two thoughts together:

1) We are to lay aside the rotten attitudes that hinder our brotherly love. That’s verse 1.

2) We are to earnestly crave God’s Word so we can grow spiritually. That’s verse 2.

We can say this in a slightly different way:

Verse 1 describes certain horizontal sins that we need to put off.

Verse 2 describes the vertical reality of spiritual growth and a closer walk with God.

Here is Peter’s whole point: The way we treat one another has a direct impact on our relationship with God. As long as we harbor these relational sins and wrong attitudes, we will never grow spiritually. These relational sins are like junk food of the soul. They choke off our craving for the Word so that instead of growing, we stay just as we are.

You can treat people unkindly and gossip about them and harbor bitterness, you can have a sharp tongue and a critical spirit and you can look down your nose at people who aren’t like you. As long as you do that, you will never grow spiritually not even if you come to church four times a week and go to Bible study every other day. Those relational sins will choke off the Word of God in your life. That explains why some people can come to church for years and never get better. They’re harboring a relational garbage pit on the inside. They make excuses for their envy, they ignore their gossip, they make light of their cutting comments, and they justify their meanness toward others. And they don’t grow because they can’t grow.

When your horizontal is messed up, your vertical will never be right.

God has wired us up so that the horizontal and the vertical go together. John says it very plainly in his first epistle:

If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

We cannot say, “I hate you” to a friend or family member and then say, “Lord, I love you. Please bless me right now.” God says, “No deal.” It doesn’t work that way....

The horizontal is the key to the vertical, and the vertical is the key to the horizontal. It’s all about God.

Growth is impossible without pruning away the diseased wood. And growth is also impossible without nourishment.

SIN in the LIFE
destroys
SENSITIVITY (appetite) for the LOGOS (Word).

The Christian who tries to find satisfaction in the husks of the world, has no appetite left for the things of God. His heart is filled with the former and has no room for the latter.

A healthy infant is a hungry infant.
A spiritually healthy Christian is a hungry Christian.

This explains the problem of why so many so-called children of God have so little love for the pure Word (Corollary: Is it possible they aren't true babies?)

This verse has the form of a “vice list,” a form of writing found in the NT and in ethical writers in the ancient world. Such lists can be used to describe the sins of the pagan world (see notes Romans 1:29; 30; 31 Titus 3:3) and also sins that might carry over into the lives of Christians (Gal 5:19-21; see notes Colossians 3:5; 3:6; 3:7; 3:8).

PUTTING ASIDE (note emphatic position first in sentence): Apothemenoi (AMPMPN) oun: (1 Peter 4:2; Isa 2:20; 30:22; Ezek 18:31,32; Ro 13:12; Eph 4:22-25; Col 3:5-8; Heb 12:1; Js 1:21; 5:9)

Spurgeon says believers should be...

Putting off (659) (apotithemi from apo = away from, marker of dissociation, implying a rupture from a former association, separation, departure, cessation, any separation of one thing from another by which the union or fellowship of the two is destroyed + tithemi = place, put) (Click for in depth note on apotithemi) means literally to put or take something away from its normal location and put it out of the way. Luke uses it to refer to laying aside clothes in Acts 7:58.

And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Apotithemi literally referred to the laying aside of clothes or taking off one’s clothes, even as did the runners who participated in the Olympic Games . The runners ran in the stadium nearly naked.  Figuratively apotithemi meant to cease doing what one was accustomed to doing. Stop doing it, "throw it off" and be done with it.

Note the preposition "apo" is a marker of dissociation, implying a rupture from a former association. This truth helps us picture what a believer is to do. The idea is that he or she is to "place some distance between" the old life (the former lusts which were ours when we were ignorant of salvation see notes 1 Peter 1:14; 1:15).

The verb is a participle but in this verse conveys an imperative force (sense of a command). In view of the fact that divine life has been imparted to the believer (all through 1 Peter chapter one we have this wonderful truth explained), it is imperative that he or she “put away once for all” (aorist tense conveys the idea of effective action) any and all of the sins listed that might be in one's life. We are adjured to throw these off like a filthy, soiled garments, loathsome to touch, (spiritually) "noxious to the nose" (of God).

Peter is picturing the putting off of dirty, defiled clothing and is using the aorist tense is saying in essence "do it now". The middle voice is  reflexive which can be paraphrased "you yourself initiate this action and you participate in the effects thereof". When we were in Adam you could not carry out this discipline of godliness, "for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." (1Cor 15:22)

In James 1:21 the verb apotithemi  is also in the  aorist tense, middle voice that as

Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

As in 1 Peter, James indicates that the putting off precedes the taking in of the word of truth (James 1:18). Both Peter and James are calling their readers to make a definite decision (enabled by grace, empowered by the Spirit Who's desire is that they be holy - see notes 1 Peter 1:14; 1:15) to cast off these evil attitudes and actions. The order is important for only after having cast these sins aside will one have a God given appetite for "the living and enduring word of God" (see note 1 Peter 1:23)...only then do we desire the Word's teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness (see notes 2 Timothy 3:16; 3:17).

How's your spiritual appetite?
Are you hungry for the pure milk of the word?

If your appetite for God's Word is a bit "dulled", it may be you are "wearing" some "dirty clothes" of malice or envy or slander, etc. Peter says take them off and throw them away.

Jon Courson sums up the thrust of Peter's exhortation writing that...

The degree to which those attributes exist in our lives will be the degree to which our hunger for the Word will be diminished. No matter how good the meal my wife, Tammy, prepares for me, if I stop off at McDonald’s on the way home and score a couple of Quarter Pounders with large fries—and super-size the whole deal—when I get home, I won’t be interested in what she’s made. When people stop reading or studying the Word, it’s because they’re eating the junk food of the world. That’s why Peter says, “First lay aside the junk and then you will desire the milk of the Word.” (Courson, J. Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Page 1552. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson)

ALL MALICE: pasan kakian: (1 Peter 2:16 -note; 1 Cor 5:8; 14:20; Eph 4:31 - note; Titus 3:3-5 - note) (Torrey's Topic "Malice")  

Matthew Henry notes that...

Whereas it is said all malice, all guile, learn, That one sin, not laid aside, will hinder our spiritual profit and everlasting welfare. (4.) Malice, envy, hatred, hypocrisy, and evil-speaking, generally go together. Evil-speaking is a sign that malice and guile lie in the heart; and all of them combine to hinder our profiting by the word of God.

How much are we to discard? All without exception for all are utterly inconsistent with the “love of the brethren,” that is to characterize those who have “purified your souls” (see note 1 Peter 1:22).

Spurgeon...

Malice (2549) (kakia - click word study) describes wickedness which comes from within a person. It refers wickedness of every kind, but especially having it in for someone.

Kakia in a moral sense means depravity, vice or baseness. It is the opposite of arete (note) and all virtue and therefore lacks social value.

Malice is a vicious intention, a feeling of hostility and strong dislike including desire to do harm. This sort of malignant act breeds further evil in and of itself. It includes a desire to harm other people, (see note Colossians 3:8, James 1:21) often hides behind apparently good actions (see note 1 Peter 2:16). Malice is often irrational, usually based on the false belief that the person against whom it is directed has the same intention. It speaks of a smoldering resentment that causes you to lash out at others.

Aristotle defined malice as

taking all things in the evil part.

Webster says malice

desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another and implies a deep-seated desire to see another suffer.

Malice for believers belongs to the old life (see note Titus 3:3) and yet all believers still need to heed the exhortation to ‘clean it out’ (1 Cor. 5:7f.) and strip it off (Ja 1:21; see note Colossians 3:8). Christians are to be ‘babes in evil’ (1 Cor. 14:20), for Christian liberty is not lawlessness (see note 1 Peter 2:16).

AND ALL GUILE: kai panta dolon:(1 Peter 2:22 - note; 3:10 - note; Ps 32:2; 34:13; Jn 1:47; 1Th 2:3 - note; Rev 14:5 - note)  (deceit in Torrey's Topic)

Spurgeon defines all guile as...

Guile (1388) (dolos from delo = to bait) (Click word study on dolos) literally refers to a fishhook, trap, or trick all of which are various forms of deception. Dolos is a deliberate attempt to mislead, trick, snare or "bait" (baiting the trap in attempt to "catch" the unwary victim) other people by telling lies. It is a desire to gain advantage or preserve position by deceiving others. A modern term in advertising is called "bait and switch" where the unwary consumer is lured in by what looks like an price too good to be true!

Pritchard notes that...

As a fisherman, Peter would have understood the word deceit, which really means to “bait the hook.” It’s what you do when you play a trick in order to get your way. You are deceitful when you tell a lie or omit the truth in order to gain a personal advantage. Deceit is a clever form of deliberate dishonesty.

Dolos  means a snare, bait, trick, deliberate dishonesty. Deliberate attempt to mislead other people by telling lies, conspicuously absent from behavior of Christ (see note 1 Peter 2:22).

Guile or deception has to do primarily with words. When a person wants something, he tries to get it... by flattery, false promises, false tales, suggestive talk, off-colored suggestions, enticing words, outright lying

Beloved, do you have ulterior motives when you communicate with others? If you do you are guilty of guile!

AND HYPOCRISY: kai hupokriseis: (Job 36:13; Mt 7:5 - note; 15:7; 23:28; 24:51; Mk 12:15; Lu 6:42; 11:44; 12:1; Js 3:17)

And hypocrisy - In the Greek it is actually in the plural so more literally "hypocrisies". The preceding two negative traits are in the singular and the following two are also in the plural ("envyings", "slanders"). Notice how this wrong behavior dovetails with the previous attitudes -  if we are guilty of malice and guile, we will try to hide it and this hiding who we really are inside produces “hypocrisy.”

Spurgeon...

Hypocrisy (5272) (hupokrisis/hypokrisis from hupo = under + krino =to judge) refers literally to delivery of a speech, along with interpretive gestures and imitation. The word hypocrisy comes from the Greek theater and referred to the practice of putting on a mask and playing a part on stage. It originally conveyed the idea of playing the playing a part on the stage and described the actor's art. The NT gives hupokrisis only a negative connotation referring to hypocrisy, duplicity (the quality of being double - belying of one’s true intentions by deceptive words or action), insincerity, dissimulation (hiding under a false appearance; hiding or disguising one's thoughts or feelings - don't we all do this from time to time?!). The idea is to pretend, to act as something one is not and so to act deceitfully, pretending to manifest traits like piety and love. It means to create a public impression that is at odds with one’s real purposes or motivations, and thus is characterized by play-acting, pretense or outward show. It means to give an impression of having certain purposes or motivations, while in reality having quite different ones.

Vincent commenting on related word hypocrite (Greek noun = hypokrites -  one who acts pretentiously, a counterfeit, a man who assumes and speaks or acts under a feigned character) writes that it is derived from...

hupokrino, to separate gradually; so of separating the truth from a mass of falsehood, and thence to subject to inquiry, and, as a result of this, to expound or interpret what is elicited. Then, to reply to inquiry, and so to answer on the stage, to speak in dialogue, to act. From this the transition is easy to assuming, feigning, playing a part. The hypocrite is, therefore, etymologically, an actor.

Webster defines hypocrisy as

"a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially  the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion"

Hypocrisy is the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more laudable beliefs than is the case.

There are only 6 uses of hupokrisis in the NT...

Matthew 23:28 "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Mark 12:15 "Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at."

Luke 12:1 Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

1 Timothy 4:2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,

Thayer summarizes hupokrisis writing that it is...

1. an answering; an answer (Herodotus). 2. the acting of a stage-player (Aristotle, Polybius, Dionysius Halicarnassus, Plutarch, Lucian, Artemidorus Daldianus, others). 3. dissimulation, hypocrisy:

Wuest adds that this Greek word

is made up of hupo “under,” and krinō “to judge” and referred originally to “one who judged from under the cover of a mask,” thus, assuming an identity and a character which he was not. This person was the actor on the Greek stage, one who took the part of another. The Pharisees were religious actors, so to speak, in that they pretended to be on the outside, what they were not on the inside...Our word hypocrite comes from this Greek word. It usually referred to the act of concealing wrong feelings or character under the pretence of better ones." 

In another note Wuest explains that

"The Greek word for “hypocrite” was used of an actor on the Greek stage, one who played the part of another. The word means literally, “to judge under,” and was used of someone giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask.... The true identity of the person is covered up. It refers to acts of impersonation or deception. It was used of an actor on the Greek stage. Taken over into the New Testament, it referred to a person we call a hypocrite, one who assumes the mannerisms, speech, and character of someone else, thus hiding his true identity. Christianity requires that believers should be open and above-board. They should be themselves. Their lives should be like an open book, easily read." (Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)

Hupokrisis describes a kind of deceit in which persons pretend to be different from what they really are, and esp that they are acting from good motives when in reality they are motivated by selfish desire. Jesus warns hypocrites, severely warns them. Believers must, therefore, strip off any semblance of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is one of the sins that God hates above all others. Hypocrites shall receive the greater damnation (Mt23:14ff). A hypocrite has God on his tongue and the world in his heart.

William Barclay writes that the related word

Hupokrites (hypocrite) is a word with a curious history. It is the noun from the verb hupokrinesthai which means to answer; a hupokritēs begins by being an answerer. Then it it goes on to mean one who answers in a set dialogue or a set conversation, that is to say an actor, the man who takes part in the question and answer of the stage... It then came to mean an actor in the worse sense of the term, a pretender, one who acts a part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different....it comes to mean a hypocrite, a man who all the time is acting a part and concealing his real motives...one whose whole life is a piece of acting without any sincerity behind it at all. Anyone to whom religion is a legal thing, anyone to whom religion means carrying out certain external rules and regulations, anyone to whom religion is entirely connected with the observation of a certain ritual and the keeping of a certain number of taboos is in the end bound to be, in this sense, a hypocrite. The reason is this—he believes that he is a good man if he carries out the correct acts and practices, no matter what his heart and his thoughts are like. To take the case of the legalistic Jew in the time of Jesus, he might hate his fellow man with all his heart, he might be full of envy and jealousy and concealed bitterness and pride; that did not matter so long as he carried out the correct handwashings and observed the correct laws about cleanness and uncleanness. Legalism takes account of a man’s outward actions; but it takes no account at all of his inward feelings. He may well be meticulously serving God in outward things, and bluntly disobeying God in inward things—and that is hypocrisy....There is no greater religious peril than that of identifying religion with outward observance. There is no commoner religious mistake than to identify goodness with certain so-called religious acts. Church-going, bible-reading, careful financial giving, even time-tabled prayer do not make a man a good man. The fundamental question is, how is a man’s heart towards God and towards his fellow-men? And if in his heart there are enmity, bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward religious observances in the world will make him anything other than a hypocrite... The hypocrite is the man whose alleged Christian profession is for his own profit and prestige and not for the service and glory of Christ." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos)

Beloved, how does your behavior on Sunday compare with your behavior Monday through Saturday? if you are inconsistent between how you behave at church and how you behave at home, work, school, etc, you are guilty of  hypocrisies.

AND ENVY: kai phthonous: (1 Sa 18:8,9; Ps 37:1;