1 Peter 2:3

The apostle does not express a doubt, but affirms that these good Christians had tasted the goodness of God, and hence argues with them. "You ought to lay aside these vile sins (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Particular directions are given how subjects ought to obey the magistrates, and servants their masters, patiently suffering in well doing, in imitation of Christ,

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious - Or rather, as Doddridge renders it, “Since you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The apostle did not mean to express any doubt on the subject, but to state that, since they had had an experimental acquaintance with the grace of God, they should desire to increase more and more in the knowledge and love of him. On the use of the word “taste,” see the notes at Heb 6:4.

I THINK there can be very little doubt that Peter is here quoting from Psalm 34:8: "O taste and see that the LORD is good." As I read you the chapter just now, I could not help observing the constant traces of Old Testament language. It endears Peter to us when we see how he prizes the ancient Word of the Lord and, at the same time, it puts honor upon the Old Testament itself when we see the Holy Spirit in the New thus quoting from the Old.

Peter alludes to Ps 34:8. The first "tastes" of God's goodness are afterwards followed by fuller and happier experiences. A taste whets the appetite [BENGEL]. gracious--Greek, "good," benignant, kind; as God is revealed to us in Christ, "the Lord" (1Pe 2:4), we who are born again ought so to be good and kind to the brethren (1Pe 1:22).

There is no spiritual favor which may not be a matter for heart-searching. At the very summit of holy delight, we meet the challenge of sentinel "IP—"Ifyou, then, are risen with Christ," and at the very bottom, even at Repentance Gate itself, he meets us with a warrant of arrest until he sees whether our sorrow is the godly sorrow that needs not to be repented of.

There is no spiritual favor which may not be a matter for heart-searching. At the very summit of holy delight, we meet the challenge of sentinel "IP—"Ifyou, then, are risen with Christ," and at the very bottom, even at Repentance Gate itself, he meets us with a warrant of arrest until he sees whether our sorrow is the godly sorrow that needs not to be repented of. "Ifyou are the Son of God," is not always a temptation of the devil but often a very healthy enquiry most fittingly suggested by holy anxiety to men who would build securely upon the Rock of Ages. If at the Lord's Table, itself, it is proper for us to say, "Lord, is it I?" when there is a Judas in the company, and if after the most intimate fellowship, Christ exclaimed, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?"—let no enjoyment of ordinances, let no high and rapt fellowship which we may have known, exempt us from the great duty of proving ourselves whether we are in the faith. But, Beloved, albeit this should be a matter of heart-searching, I take it that no man ought to be content while there is any such thing as an "if about his having tasted that the Lord is gracious. I can understand Believers saying— But I do not understand their being comfortable while their souls are under such suspense. I can comprehend the doubts which arise from jealousy and holy distrust, but I cannot understand the continuance of those doubts, without a desperate struggle to clasp the Savior with the hands of faith, and say, "I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him." Do not rest, O Believer, till you have a full assurance of your interest in Christ. Let nothing satisfy you till, by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you are certified that you are a child of God. Oh, trifle not here.

I THINK there can be very little doubt that Peter is here quoting from Psalm 34:8: "O taste and see that the LORD is good." As I read you the chapter just now, I could not help observing the constant traces of Old Testament language. It endears Peter to us when we see how he prizes the ancient Word of the Lord and, at the same time, it puts honor upon the Old Testament itself when we see the Holy Spirit in the New thus quoting from the Old. It is noteworthy that in Psalm 34:8 the Lord God is spoken of. The passage actually runs—"O taste and see that Jehovah is good" and Peter does not hesitate for a moment to apply the passage to the Lord Jesus. The word, "Lord," is here used in its utmost fullness of meaning as the equivalent for Jehovah and it is applied to our Savior Jesus Christ. That Peter is here speaking of Jesus we are sure from the context: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious." The chosen foundation stone is, beyond question, the Lord Jesus and Peter uses words concerning Him which were written by Inspiration concerning Jehovah Himself. Evidently to Peter the Lord Jesus was Lord and God. He remembered the voice which he heard in the holy mount, when he was an eyewitness of His majesty: "For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent Glory, This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Let us continually pay Divine honor to our Lord Jesus Christ! If He is not God, our faith is vain and our hope is gone. But His Deity is no cunningly devised fable. His own works, as well as the Holy Scriptures, attest to His Godhead—the whole Church of Christ believes in Him as very God of very God and on this Rock we build our everlasting confidence.

If so be ye have tasted - Ειπερ εγευσασθε· Seeing ye have tasted. There could be no doubt that they had tasted the goodness of Christ who were born again, of incorruptible seed, and whose hearts were purified by the truth, and who had like precious faith with the apostles themselves. That the Lord is gracious - Ὁτι χρηστος ὁ Κυριος· From the similarity of the letters, many MSS. and several of the fathers have read, Χριστος ὁ κυριος, the Lord is Christ, or Christ is the Lord. This seems to refer to Psa 34:8: O taste and see that the Lord is good; Γευσασθε και ιδετε ὁτι χρηστος ὁ Κυριος, Sept. And there is still a reference to the sucking child that, having once tasted its mother’s milk, ever after desires and longs for it. As they were born of God, and had tasted his goodness, they would naturally desire the same pure unadulterated milk of the word.

This feeling for expressing a fresh solidity by the image of eating is really a very old one. So far from being a paradox of perversity, it is one of the oldest commonplaces of religion. If any one wandering about wants to have a good …