Verse 2 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word, that by it you may grow unto salvation.” Born through regeneration (1:3, 23), the believers become babes who can grow in life unto further salvation, and that for God’s building, by being nourished with the spiritual milk.
“Guileless” in verse 2 does not mean unadulterated, in contrast to less pure teachings; instead, it is guileless in contrast to the guile in verse 1. Guileless milk is milk without false purpose, without any other goal but to nourish the soul.
The Greek word rendered “of the word” is logikos. This word, in Romans 12:1 translated reasonable, is derived from the noun logos—the word; hence, of the word; having the sense of pertaining to the mind (in contrast to the body), to the rational faculties; hence, rational, logical, reasonable. The milk of the word is not milk for the body, but is milk for the soul, the inner being. It is conveyed in the word of God to nourish our inner man through the understanding of our rational mind, and it is assimilated by our mental faculties.
As far as grammar is concerned, verse 1 is a modifier of the subject of verse 2. As we have pointed out, “guileless” in verse 2 is in contrast to “guile” in verse 1. The Recovery Version may be unique in using “guileless milk” in the translation of verse 2. Other versions have “pure milk” or “sincere milk.” It may be that Peter intended guileless to include the meaning of pure and sincere. However, the purpose of Peter’s writing here is to show a contrast between guilelessness and the guile that proceeds out of malice.
What can swallow up, or eliminate, our guile? The nourishment contained in the guileless milk of the word is an antibiotic for guile. In the Word of God there is a nourishment that is milk for our inner being. Just as our physical body is nourished with milk, so our inner being, our soul, needs to be nourished with the guileless milk of the word. This milk contains an element that can eliminate our guile. Therefore, the milk of the word is guileless milk.
In 2:1 and 2, Peter indicates that, as newborn babes, we need to practice putting away all guile, and we also need to desire the guileless milk of the word. The purpose of putting away the evil root of malice is that we may long for, desire, the milk of the word. I believe that Peter wrote this not according to doctrine, but according to his spiritual experiences. If we do not have adequate experience, we shall not be able to understand what Peter is saying.
If you are full of malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking, you will not have any appetite for the Word. You will not be hungry or thirsty for the Word of God. You will not have the longing, the desire, to drink the pure milk of the Word. If you want to hunger and thirst after God’s word, that is, if you want to desire the drinking of the milk in the word, you need to hate your malice and abstain from speaking evil things about others.
Suppose for quite a long period of time, perhaps more than a year, a particular brother has been filled with malice. Certain brothers, especially the elders, he does not like. Because he is full of malice and also full of guile, hypocrisies, and envyings, spontaneously he begins to speak negatively about others. He may speak evil concerning both brothers and sisters, both older ones and younger ones. This evil speaking has its source in the malice within him. To be sure, a brother in that condition will not have any appetite for the Word. From experience I know that he would neither hunger nor thirst for the nourishment in the Word of God.
However, let us suppose that this particular brother receives the mercy of the Lord one day to realize his sinfulness. Realizing his need of Christ as the sin offering and the trespass offering, he repents, confesses his sins, and prays, “O Lord, forgive me. For a long time, I have been filled with malice, and I have spoken in an evil way about others. Lord, this shows me that sin is within me. Lord, even though I have been regenerated, I still have sin in me, for my fallen nature is sinful. O Lord, I need You as my sin offering. I take You and apply You as my sin offering. Oh, may the blood of the sin offering cleanse me, Lord! I realize that my evil speaking concerning the brothers and sisters is an offense, a trespass. Lord, I am full of trespasses! Forgive me and cleanse me. I take You not only as my sin offering, but also as my trespass offering. All day long, Lord, I want to enjoy You.”
If the brother prays in this way, soon he will begin to have an appetite for the milk of the word. He will desire to come to the Word for nourishment. He will come to the Bible not to gain the knowledge of doctrine, but to drink nourishing milk. Spontaneously as he is reading the Bible, he will be drinking the guileless milk of God’s word. Eventually, this milk will get into his inward being and function as an antibiotic to kill the germ of malice. Furthermore, this brother will begin to love all the saints. He may say, “Oh, I love the brothers and the sisters. I love all the elders. All the saints are good, and all of them are better than I am.”