The present paragraph, centred as it is on the instruction to “love one another,” draws out first the grounds for this instruction (1 Peter 1:22–25). then the look of this instruction (1 Peter 2:1), and finally the means for achieving this instruction (1 Peter 2:2–3). The means (“long for”) is connected to the grounds by building on the analogy of “born again”—that is, newborn infants crave milk. Similarly, the positive command to “love one another” receives an echo in the negative instruction to “put away all malice.”
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,