1 Peter 2:2

as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation;

As newborn babes ... Paul used this same figure in 1 Corinthians 3:2; but Peter here, using the same figure, stresses, not the contrasting diet of infants and adults, but the appetite which all Christians should have in order to grow. All Christians should have a constant and intense longing for the word of God.

Long for the spiritual milk which is without guile ... There are two changes from the KJV in this verse: (1) the addition of the words "thereby unto salvation," which is a very wholesome change, and (2) the substitution of this clause for "desire the sincere milk of the word," which in no sense improves the meaning; for as Hunter pointed out, "belonging to the word" is a thought surely contained in the Greek.[5] In fact, he said, "The King James is preferable, the milk of the word, the word being the gospel.[6] This is the first of a number of instances in this chapter where the KJV is definitely superior to the subsequent versions.

That ye may grow thereby unto salvation ... The doctrinal force of this is significant. This indicates that salvation is a mature state, not something achieved "per saltum" (at a leap) at conversion.[7]

Without guile ... This is rendered "sincere," which is true, but one of the meanings of it is "unadulterated."[8]

Spiritual ... Paul used this in Romans 12:1, where it means "reasonable," or pertaining to the reason. It should be noted that it is not the word of God mixed with human additives that enables people to grow unto salvation; but it is the pure word of God. As Macknight put it, "The milk of the word will not nourish the divine nature in those who use it, if it is adulterated with human mixtures."[9]

[5] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 106.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Stephen W. Paine, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 973.

[9] James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, 1Peter (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprint, 1969), p. 450.