<p>2:1 <i>Therefore, put away all wickedness, deceit, hypocrisies, envies and all evil speaking- </i>The behaviour of the exiled Jews whom Peter had once baptized in Jerusalem wasn't good. They had allowed the stress of the refugee life to lead them into unspirituality; they had now allowed free operation to the gift of Holy Spirit made available to them at baptism.</p><p>&ldquo;Hypocrisies&rdquo; recalls howPeter was carried away with the &ldquo;dissimulation&rdquo; of the Judaizers (Gal. 2:13), and he uses the same word when he appeals to the brethren to lay aside &ldquo;all hypocrisies&rdquo; (1 Pet. 2:1); he was asking them to do what he himself had had to do. He had been a hypocrite, in living the life of legalism within the ecclesia whilst having the knowledge of grace.</p><p>In Jeremiah's time, gossiping was associated with 'proceeding from evil to evil' (Jer. 9:3); it is part of a downward spiral of spirituality. Once gossip starts a quarrel, it's like water bursting out of a dam; soon the whole land of Israel will be flooded (Prov. 17:14 NIV). So it's best not to start it, not only for our own sakes, but because of the effect it will have on the rest of the body. Peter likewise points an antithesis between gossiping and receiving &quot;the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby&quot; (1 Pet. 2:1,2). Real spiritual growth is impossible if we are taken up with gossiping; and this is true on the communal as well as individual level.<b>&nbsp;</b></p>