The word geuomai,
“taste,” is not used of an external association but of an internal taste. Some
have argued that the choice of the word “taste” means that the gift was not
really received; it was only sampled, not feasted on. Even Calvin “vainly
attempts to make the clause refer only to ‘those who had but as it were tasted
with their outward lips the grace of God, and been irradiated with some sparks
of His light.’” Farrar correctly insists, “This is not to explain Scripture,
but to explain it away in favour of some preconceived doctrine. It is clear
from 1 Peter 2:3 that such a view is untenable.”
A
contemporary writer pursues the idea of pressing a distinction between “eating”
and “tasting.” Only by “eating” does one obtain eternal life, he says, not by
tasting. But on the contrary, the word “taste” includes within its compass the
sense of eating:
He became hungry and wanted something to eat. (geuomai, Acts 10:10).
Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate (geuomai, Acts
20:11).
In both
biblical and secular Greek this verb means to eat or to “partake of” or to
“join.” One papyrus manuscript refers to a man who went to bed without eating (geuomai)
his supper, and another refers to a group who “joined in” (geuomai) the
praise of another.
Eating and
tasting can be used as synonymous terms and either verb in this case simply
believing in Christ, resulting in regeneration and eternal life. This is very
similar to Christ using “eating” his flesh and “drinking” His blood as terms
that both mean “partake of My life.” Only the particular context determines
whether this is a matter of partaking for temporal benefit or eternal gain.
Jesus was
not externally associated with death. We are told that “because of the
suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He
might taste (Gr geuomai) death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9).
He did not merely sample it, He experienced it to the full! The full experience
of death was the tasting itself and not something that followed tasting. How
does one taste death and then fully experience it after dying? Tasting is full
experience!
Tiedtke is
surely correct when he says:
The emphasis in tasting is not that of taking a sip, as Calvin
thought. In Hebrews 2:9 Christ “tasted death” in the sense that He experienced
its bitter taste to the full. The amount consumed is not the point, but the
fact of experiencing what is eaten. The Christians to whom that is addressed
have already experienced something of the future age.
Peter uses
it of the experience of Christians, of newborn infants:
Like newborn babes, crave the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you
may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted [geuomai] that the Lord
is good (1 Peter 2:3).
These are
not people who have been superficially exposed to external Christian
influences. On the contrary, they have internally experienced them through
regeneration. As Westcott insists, “Geusasthai expresses a real and
conscious enjoyment of the blessing apprehended in its true character.” He then
cites John 6:54 as a parallel.
It is often
related to the spiritual experience of the regenerate:
Tast and see that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:8).
The
regenerate to whom Peter writes have “tasted [geuomai] the kindness of
the Lord” (1 Peter 2:3). The experience of tasting is not that of those who do
now know Christ but of those who have come to know him. (Joseph Dillow, Final
Destiny: The Future Reign of the Servant Kings [2012], 633-34)
With respect to γευομαι, the author references Moulton Milligan.
Here is the entry for γευομαι in that volume:
γεύομαι 1089
For γ. with genitive, cf. the standing formula
in the libelli of the Decian
persecution (a.d. 250) τῶν ἱερῶν ἐγευσάμην, e.g. P
Oxy IV. 65812 (= Selections,
p. 116). With the acc., as in Jn 2:9 and in the LXX fairly often, it may be
cited from Preisigke 1106
(Ptolemaic), where sundry officials καὶ οἱ συμπόσιον γευόμενοι join in a complimentary monument to their entertainer. See Abbott, Joh. Gr. p. 76 f.; and on the change of
construction in Heb 6:4f. see Milligan Documents,
p. 68. The verb is used absolutely (as in Ac 10:10) in Preisigke 1944 (inscr. on a cup—Roman age) ἐκ τούτου ἐγευσάμην. The
verbal occurs, negatived, in P Giss I. 1912 (ii/a.d.) ἄ[γ]ευστος ἐκοιμώμην, “I was
going to bed without bite or sup.” The noun from a compound may be observed in
a small undated fragment, CPHerm 27 προσγεύσεως τ[ …: ἀρτοκόπῳ appears
just below. MGr has γεύομαι still, = “taste,” “eat.”