Newborn Babies and Nursing Jesus (1 Peter 2:2-3): The Petrine Metaphor’s Disruption of Patriarchal Renderings of God and the Child

Abstract

In 1 Peter 2 the author utilizes a curious metaphor: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation–if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (2.2-3). When this metaphor is disentangled from Pauline and patriarchal assumptions, it can be recognized on its own terms. This article demonstrates that here, despite repetitive obfuscation, the author invites Jesus communities to imagine themselves as newborn babies who nurse from Christ Jesus. Significant implications unfold from this first-century metaphor. While stubbornly resisted for centuries, the implications of the biblical metaphor of nursing from Jesus continue to flow with provocative challenge and sustenance.