As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Ver. 2. Desire the sincere] αδολον, as in children all speak and work at once, hands, feet, mouth. See David's desire,Psalms 42:1; Psalms 119:20; Psalms 119:40; Psalms 119:131. The Greek word επιποθησατε signifieth vehemently to desire. See Romans 1:11; 2 Corinthians 5:2; Philippians 1:8; Philippians 2:16 .
The sincere] Gr. Guileless, unmixed milk, not sugared or sophisticated with strains of wit, excellency of speech, &c., 1 Corinthians 2:1 .
That ye may grow thereby] After regeneration, 1 Peter 1:23, augmentation. That word which breeds us, feeds us; as the same blood of which the babe is bred and fed in the womb, strikes up into the mother's breasts, and there, by a further concoction, becometh white, and nourisheth it. And as milk from the breast is more effectually taken than when it hath stood a while, and the spirits are gone out of it; so the word preached rather than read, furthereth the soul's growth. Let it be our care that we receive not the grace of God in vain; that we be not like the changeling Luther mentioneth, ever sucking, never batling; lest God repent him of his love and dry up the breasts; or send in the Assyrian to drink up our milk, Ezekiel 25:4; that we be not always learning, and never to know the truth, 2 Timothy 3:6, as ants run to and fro about a molehill, but grow not greater. A Christian should go from the word, as Moses did from the mount, as Naaman did out of Jordan, or as the woman of Samaria came to the well peccatrix, sinful, went away praedicatrix, preaching, saith Ambrose.