Therefore, laying aside all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envies, and all evil speaking,
Truth to Learn
Since we have been born again through the word of God, our behavior should demonstrate that we are a new creation.
Behind the Words
The word translated “laying aside” is apothithēmi, which is a compound word made up of apo, meaning “from” or “away from” and tithēmi, meaning “to lay something down.” The verb is expressed here as an aorist participle. The aorist tense implies past action that was completed at a point in time. Hence, this could be translated as, “Therefore having already laid aside …”
“Malice” comes from the Greek word, kakia, which literally means “badness.” Notice that Peter says “all badness.”
“Deceit” is translated from the Greek word, dolos, which is derived from the noun delō, meaning “bait.” Hence, it means “to bait a trap” or “to trick someone.” Note again that Peter says “all deceit.”
The word translated “hypocrisy” is the Greek word hupokrisis, which is derived from hupokrinomai. This is a word used to describe a stage actor who is pretending to be someone else. Hence, it has come to mean “acting under a pretense” or “being deceitful.”
“Envies” is translated from the Greek word phthonos, which means “ill will” or “spite” or “envy.”
The words “evil speaking” are translated from the Greek katalalia, which literally means “to talk down” or “to talk against.” In other words, it refers to “speaking evil of someone, defamation, or back biting.” And, again note that Peter says “all evil speaking.”
Meaning Explained
You will recall that in the last chapter we were commanded: 1) to be holy because our heavenly Father is holy, 2) to recognize that our redemption is precious due to the precious price that was paid for it, and 3) to see that our spiritual birth came not from corruptible things but from the incorruptible, eternal word of God and the spiritual life we now have is also eternal.
Therefore, because of all of this, we should lay aside certain unholy actions, namely all badness or evil, all deception, hypocrisy, ill will and all evil speaking. This is a lot to lay down! In fact, Peter says that if we are truly saved, we have already laid these things aside.
You will notice that all of these sinful practices have self at the heart of them. If you observe carefully, you will also see that there is a progression here: deceit springs out of evil actions, hypocrisy springs out of deceit, ill will springs out of hypocrisy, and speaking evil of others springs out of ill will.
As we get into the next verse we will see that since we have laid aside these things we are to put on something else, but that’s tomorrow’s verse …
Application
Behaving like a child of God is one of the most difficult things to do with consistency. In fact, because we still have our sin nature, it is impossible to do apart from God’s Holy Spirit living in us and working through us. The secret is to get self off the throne of our life and let God have His rightful place there! Now, that’s something to think about!
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2016 Will Krause. All rights reserved