1 Pet. 2:1-3 - Grow to match your salvation

1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

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vs. 1 - "Therefore" - Peter has laid out the reasons why you should live for Christ in the previous verses. Your salvation was purchased with blood. You are no longer slaves to your previous ignorance. You have received the message, and God's word is pure and eternal.
Now, based on these facts: you have been born again by, and through, the word of God, and since you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ you must stop doing the following things - malice,deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. Paul is not saying that you or I do all of these problem activities. But it is clear that all of us do some of them. Any one of them, let alone all of them, is enough to damage the relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.

1. "... malice" - meaning: ill-will, desire to injure, wickedness, depravity, wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws, evil, trouble guile.
2. "hypocrisy" - meaning: stage-playing, acting, the histrionic art; hence, it came to mean acting a part in life, etc., to pretend, to feign;
3. "envy" - meaning: "to look with ill-will," etc., toward another, it is different from jealousy; "We are jealous of our own; we are envious of another man's possessions. Jealousy fears to lose what it has; envy is pained at seeing another have."
4. "slander" - meaning: backbiting, evil speaking, defamation.

These attitudes and actions are not of Christ. See Eph. 4:22, 25 - that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit ... Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.; Col. 3:8,9 - But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices.

vs. 2 - "like newborn babies, ... grow." When we become Christians we are born again. We are not born full-grown spiritually, and we must grow. See: John 3:3-8; Matt. 18:3; Mark 10:15; 1 Cor 3:1-2; see Heb. 5:12 - For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
We can only grow if we spend time in God's word - the nourishment is there. We can grow when we meet and study and pray and worship with other believers. The gospel of the New Testament does not envision a solitary Christian life. We can then grow to match the salvation we have received. See: Phil 1:6, Phil. 2:12b-13 - So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Phil. 3:20-21, 3:15; Gal. 3:2-3, 5:22-23; See Eph. 4:1 - Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.

vs. 3 - "If you have tasted..." - It probably should say "since", or "because" you have experienced God's kindness. The "if" could make us think, initially, that he is questioning their faith. Peter is not. It doesn't make sense for Peter to address the people he has been talking to in the preceding 27 verses as though they may not be Christians. In the first verses of chapter 1, he addresses them as brethren in Christ. Why, then, would he question them by saying "If you have tasted..."

Could Peter be wondering if they really experienced the kindness of the Lord with respect to living the Spirit-filled life? This is a tenuous line of reasoning. Consider, in verses 1 & 2, Peter is telling his Christian brethren to grow in respect to the salvation they received. It make more sense for him to be encouraging them to grow because they have received the mercy (kindness) of the Lord.

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