Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Peter 2:3

"if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious:" — 1 Peter 2:3 (ASV)

If indeed you have tasted.—The phrase “if indeed,” as elsewhere (2 Thessalonians 1:6, Note), constitutes a strong appeal to the readers to affirm that this was so. St. Peter confidently believes that it is so.

The sense should rather be you tasted, looking back to a definite past time, probably that of the first conversion, when the taste of spiritual things is most delicious. How sad to be past the relish for evangelical truth!

The quotation, or rather adaptation, from Psalm 34:8 is undoubtedly suggested by the metaphor of “milk.” A curious little point about our translation here is that the word “gracious” has been adopted to suit the Prayer Book version of the Psalm. It is hardly suitable to the Greek word, which, originally signifying “usable” or “serviceable,” came to be used for anything mild and pleasant, such as the mellowness of old wine (Luke 5:39).

Here, therefore, the word seems to be particularly used with reference to the sense of taste. A more important point, doctrinally, is that St. Peter is here applying to Jesus Christ (as the next verse shows) a passage that we might not otherwise have thought of applying to Him in particular. It gives quite a new understanding to Psalm 34 when we see that in St. Peter’s view the Psalmist was speaking prophetically of our Lord. We will find him quoting the same Psalm in the same sense again in 1 Peter 3:10.