1 Peter 2:1

Expositions

Wherefore laying aside. Those who would wear the white robe of regeneration must lay aside the filthy garments ( Zechariah 3:3 ) of the old carnal life. So St. Paul bids us put off the old man and put on the new ( Ephesians 4:22 , Ephesians 4:24 ; Colossians 3:8 , Colossians 3:10 ; comp. also Romans 13:14 , "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." The metaphor would be more striking when, at baptism, the old dress was laid aside, and the white chrisom was put on. St. Paul connects the putting on of Christ with baptism in Galatians 3:27 , and St. Peter, when speaking of baptism in 1 Peter 3:21 , uses the substantive ( ἀπόθεσις ) corresponding to the word here rendered "laying aside" ( ἀποθέμενοι ). All malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings. The sins mentioned here are all offences against that "unfeigned love of the brethren" which formed the subject of St. Peter's exhortation in the latter part of 1 Peter 1:1-25 . St. Augustine, quoted here by most commentators, says, "Malitia malo delectatur alieno; invidia bone cruciatur alieno; dolus duplicat; adulatio duplicat linguam; detrectatio vulnerat famam" (comp. Ephesians 4:22-31 ); the close resemblance between the two passages proves St. Peter's knowledge of the Epistle to the Ephesians.