1 Peter 2:2 (NKJV)
2 AS newborn babes, DESIRE the pure milk of THE WORD, that you may GROW THEREBY.
The Apostle Peter, in the above quoted text, draws a parallel between the necessity of the Word of God for the believer and the necessity of milk for a child.
The word “desire” translates the Greek word “epipotheó” (ἐπιποθέω) which means to “long for, strain after, desire greatly, yearn for, have great love and affection for.”
This word “epipotheó” (ἐπιποθέω) was used in ancient Greek times to describe cravings (a longing for some kind of food). The believer must thus have a similiar attitude towards God’s Word, Peter says. The Christian ought to be OBSESSED with the Bible—it’s a good obsession!
The same way infants yearn for their meals, so the Christian ought to yearn after God’s Word. In God’s Word is found spiritual growth and development (“…that you may GROW THEREBY“).
The word “grow” translates the Greek word “auxanó” (αὐξάνω) which means “to progress, or to develop.” It was used in ancient Greek times to describe the gradual maturity of plants.
Our progress in the faith is therefore tied to how much of God’s Word we feed upon. The Bible thus self-attests its INDISPENSABILITY, if we are to grow into maturity. Hence, it is described as food.
It is food to the hungry soul, ” Your WORDS were found, and I ATE THEM, and Your word was to me the JOY AND REJOICING OF MY HEART; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).
This metaphor of food is used again in Hebrews 5, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need MILK and not SOLID FOOD. For everyone who partakes only of MILK is unskilled in THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, for he is a babe. But SOLID FOOD belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
In the Word is milk (rudimentary teachings) and solid food (advanced doctrine), the former for the immature Christian, the latter for the mature.
JUST LIKE humans cannot survive without food physically, so we cannot survive without God’s Word spiritually, “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not LIVE by bread ALONE, but by EVERY WORD that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus here quotes Deuteronomy 8:3.
So essential and valuable is God’s Word, that David describes the same as greater than treasure:
Psalm 19:7-11 (NKJV)
7 The LAW OF THE LORD (His Word) is PERFECT, converting the soul;
The TESTIMONY of the Lord is sure, making WISE the SIMPLE;
8 The STATUTES of the Lord are RIGHT, REJOICING the heart;
The COMMANDMENT of the Lord is PURE, ENLIGHTENING THE EYES;
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The JUDGMENTS OF THE LORD (His Word) are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they THAN GOLD,
Yea, than MUCH FINE GOLD;
SWEETER also THAN HONEY and the HONEYCOMB.
11 Moreover BY THEM Your servant is WARNED,
And in KEEPING THEM there is GREAT REWARD.
It is the Word of God that shapes and transforms a man, “Is not My word like a FIRE?” says the Lord, “And like a HAMMER that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29).
Fire and an hammer were used in Bible days to purify and shape metal (see Isai 41:6-7, Exo 39:2-3). This refining process was to rid the metal of all impurities/dross (Prov 25:4). Jeremiah 23:29 intimates that God’s Word has that same characteristic—it will purify and transform the one who encounters it to the desired shape (i.e. it would make him into all that God wants him to be).
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2022.
