1 Peter 2:2

As newborn babes . The words look back to 1 Peter 1:3 , 1 Peter 1:23 . God begat them again; they were new-born babes in Christ, they must remember their regeneration. The rabbis used the same metaphor of their proselytes; but the apostle was doubtless thinking of the Savior's words. Desire the sincere milk of the Word. Desire, long for it eagerly ( ἐπιποθήσατε ) , as babes long for milk, their proper food, the only food necessary for them. It seems that in the adjective λογικόν (paraphrased in the Authorized Version "of the Word," rendered "spiritual" or "reasonable" in the Revised Version) there must be a reference to the Word of God ( λόγος θεοῦ ), mentioned in 1 Peter 1:23 as the instrument of regeneration, and called by our Lord ( Matthew 4:4 , from Deuteronomy 8:3 ) the food of man (but the Greek in Matthew is ῥῆμα , as in 1 Peter 1:25 ). The paraphrase of the Authorized Version gives the general meaning; but the adjective means literally, "reasonable" or "rational." The apostle is not thinking of natural milk, but of that nourishment which the Christian reason can regard as milk for the soul—spiritual food, pure and simple and nourishing, capable of supporting and strengthening those newborn babes who not long ago had been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the Word of God. The adjective occurs only in one other place of Holy Scripture— Romans 12:1 , τὴν λογικὴν λατερείαν ὑμῶν , where it means the service of the sanctified reason as opposed to the mechanical observance of formal rites. It is explained by Chrysostom as ebony ἔχουσαν σωματικὸν οὐδὲν ταχὺ οὐδὲν αἰσθηνόν Thus it seems nearly to correspond with the use of the word πνευματικός , spiritual, by St. Peter in Romans 12:5 of this chapter, and by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:3 , 1 Corinthians 10:4 . St. Paul also speaks of milk as the proper food of babes in Christ ( 1 Corinthians 3:2 ; comp: also Hebrews 5:12 ), though the thought is somewhat different; for St. Peter's words do not convey any reproof for want of progress. This spiritual milk is ἄδολον , pure, unadulterated. That ye may grow thereby ; literally, therein, in the use of it. All the most ancient manuscripts add the words, "unto salvation." The soul which feeds upon the pure milk of the Word groweth continually unto salvation.