What is the meaning of 1 Peter 1:23? For you have been born again • Peter is speaking to believers who have already experienced the “new birth” promised by Christ. • Jesus declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). • This new birth is: – A spiritual rebirth that makes us “a new creation; the old has passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17). – A work of the Holy Spirit, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). – An act of God’s will, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth” (James 1:18). not of perishable seed • Earthly life begins with a seed that dies, decays, and ends in death. • Peter earlier contrasted earthly things that “perish with use” (1 Peter 1:18) with the eternal. • All fleshly beginnings share the same fate: “What is sown perishable, is raised perishable” (1 Corinthians 15:42) until God intervenes. • Any hope built merely on human lineage, good works, or religious heritage will fade like grass. but of imperishable • God’s seed never decays or loses potency. • This is the same imperishability promised for our inheritance: “an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4). • John affirms, “No one born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him” (1 John 3:9); the divine life implanted remains forever. • Eternal life is therefore guaranteed, not by human effort but by God’s own indestructible nature. through the living and enduring word of God • The channel of this new birth is the Word, described as: – Living: “For the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). – Enduring: “The word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8), a verse Peter quotes in the next lines (1 Peter 1:24-25). • The gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). • Faith springs up when the Word is proclaimed: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). • Because the Word itself is alive, it continually nourishes and sustains the life it creates (Matthew 4:4). summary Believers are spiritually reborn by God’s power, not through fragile human means but through God’s imperishable life. This miracle is accomplished as the living, enduring Word is heard and believed, planting a seed that can never die and guaranteeing an eternal inheritance. |
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