Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Peter 2:1-2

"Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation;" — 1 Peter 2:1-2 (ASV)

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: Have we not constantly declared that our faith, if true, is always practical?

Here, again, we have the precepts of God's Word. Here we are told that there is much for us to lay aside, as if it were natural to us in every case, and must, therefore, be carefully laid aside. "Malice" — we are all inclined to return evil for evil: the Christian must not do so. "All guile" — everything like craft and cunning — this is unbecoming in a Christian. "Hypocrisy" — seeming to be what we are not; all sorts of mere seeming we must lay aside. "And envy" — how easy it is for us to envy one man his wealth, or another his health, or another his talents; but "all envy" the Christian must have done with. "And evil speaking" — it is painful to reflect how much evil speaking there is among people who we still hope are good people.

They are very fond of repeating stories to the disadvantage of their fellow Christians. Now, whether you are the author of it or not, do not be the retailer of it, for we are told here to lay aside all evil speaking.

But then the religion of Jesus Christ does not consist in negatives: it is not merely what we are to lay aside; there is something to be taken up. We are told that as we are born again, we are to consider ourselves as newborn babes and are to desire the unadulterated milk of God's Word, that we may grow by it. It is not enough to be alive: we should desire to grow. To be saved is a great blessing; we ought not, however, to be content with being barely saved: we should seek after the graces of the Spirit and the excellent work of God within us.