“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” -1 Peter 2:2-3
In his commentary on 1 Peter, Ed Clowney wrote the following on these two verses:
The goal of our growth is salvation, the full salvation in Christ that the gospel proclaims, and for which we are kept (1 Pet. 1:5). Again we see the alpha and omega of our hope. Peter writes to those who have already been given new birth by the word, who have already come to the Lord and tasted that he is good. Theirs is a sure hope, for their inheritance is kept for them and they are kept for it. Yet their hope is also future; they do not merely wait for it, they grow toward it, like flowers toward the sun. Faith is purified, love is intensified, grace is tasted as we are tested. (The Message of 1 Peter, pg. 80, emphasis mine)
Ponder the words of Martin Luther that compliment well what Clowney has written. Luther said:
We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way; the process is not yet finished, but it has begun; this is not the goal, but it is the road; at present all does not gleam and glitter, but everything is being purified. (quoted in Diehard Sins, pg. 66)
These words describe well the Christian life as we, by God’s grace, grow in holiness…as we grow up into what He has declared us in our justification, righteous. As we press on, remember our hope:
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” -Philippians 1:6
Written by Matt Baker