Grow Thereby: The Forgotten Command

One of the greatest dangers facing society today is that of a stagnant Christian culture. Too many of the late-twentieth century preachers focused on the initial point of salvation, yet moved on too quickly after that. This created a culture within the church to move away from discipleship and personal spiritual growth, and focus on an “evangelize and move on” mentality.

Although Scripture is clear that once you are saved you cannot lose your salvation (John 10:28-29), Scripture commands us to continue to grow in our relationship with Christ. This is referred to as our sanctification. Many people today would answer yes to the door-to-door evangelist knocking at their door asking, “Do you know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?” but their lifestyle and actions would actually point to a Laodicean-esque lifestyle. Many Christians today claim Christ, but not follow His commands. The clearest command we have to counter this lukewarm culture is found in the First Epistle of Peter.

1 Peter 2:2 – “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby.”

The Apostle Peter is writing to Christians who were scattered throughout Asia Minor facing immense persecution, pressure, and uncertainty. Peter’s response to this unfortunate environment differs from the way many modern American churches respond. The majority of conservative churches in the United States would encourage their congregation to “endure” the hardships and “tough it out” until it’s over. Instead, Peter gives a slightly different command. Instead of telling them to stay in the position they are in, and deal with it, Peter points them to a place of spiritual growth: God’s Word.

“As newborn babes…”

This is one of the most common illustrations of Christians in the New Testament. Those who are new to the faith (“new” being fairly broad terminology) are as literal infants when it comes to the Christian life. An infant cannot depend on itself, or else it would perish. An infant cannot feed himself or even move himself. All an infant can do is express basic, involuntary needs: hunger, thirst, dependence, etc. A healthy Christian should have an unending hunger for God’s Word, regardless of the circumstance he is in.

“...desire…”

This is stronger than just reading your Bible. The Koine Greek word that Peter used here is ἐπιποθέω (epipotheó), meaning “to intensely crave possession.” This is the fullest extent of desiring that one may have. When you’ve been working in the sun, you desire water to quench your thirst. When you’ve been fasting all day, you desire food to quench your hunger. When you’ve been active all day, you desire your bed to give you rest. When you’ve been in the World all day, you should desire the Word to strengthen you.

“...the sincere milk of the Word...”

Peter is not insinuating that Christians remain babes in Christ forever, because that would be contradictory to the rest of Scripture, but Peter emphasizes the need for God’s pure and nourishing Word. Christians should have a continual reliance on Scripture to sustain them in all areas of their life. Christians should desire the Word of God and a relationship with God producing fruits just as infants desire milk from their mother.

“...that ye may grow thereby.”

This is the number one forgotten command in Scripture. It is the one that church culture today has overwhelmingly forgotten.

Peter doesn’t emphasize that listening to Christian podcasts, reading more commentaries, attending more church conferences, or even reading Christian articles are what you need to grow. (Although all of these outlets are great tools to support the command that Peter gives.) Peter points directly to the Word of God to be the number one tool to help Christians grow in every aspect of their lives. Once a Christian starts to depend on a supporting outlet rather than the source, their growth begins to halt even if they don’t notice.

In the first century, the obstacles to growing in a relationship with Christ were very different than in the twenty-first century. In the United States, Christian culture does not deal with the state breaking into our houses and dragging us out for professing our faith in Christ, nor do we face a lack of access to the Scriptures.

The most prominent obstacles to our sanctification as Christians are due to the convenience culture we live in and submit to. We wake up early to get ready to snag the deals on Amazon Prime Day, or we rush to the mall to get the new iPhone upon release, yet our Bibles collect dust on our bookshelves. We scroll TikTok and Instagram Reels, consuming Bible content and never apply the Truth to our own lives. We gloat about knowing more verses than others, yet we do not hide His Word in our hearts. And when someone asks us to pray out loud, we sheepishly treat it as an obligation rather than an opportunity.

You cannot measure Christian growth by how many verses you know, or else the Pharisees would be the holiest of all. You cannot measure Christian growth by how long you have been saved, how many days a week you attend church, or by how many premium Bibles you own. The only Biblical way to measure whether or not you have Christian growth is by how much you reflect Christ on a day-to-day basis! Do you have love? What about joy? Peace? Longsuffering? Gentleness? Goodness? Faith? Meekness? Temperance? Do you have a desire to learn more about and become more like Christ?

Every Christian is faced with three choices: to backslide, to remain stagnant, or to grow in God’s Word. No one can make the choice for you. Backsliding in one’s faith is a terrible thing to happen, but arguably, an even worse position is to stay stagnant. A Christian should have a burning, unquenchable desire to grow in sanctification by utilizing the Holy Scriptures that God has given them. Peter’s command from two thousand years ago is as relevant today as it was then: desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.