1 Peter 1:23

Context

1 Peter is traditionally regarded as a letter from the apostle Peter to Christians living as "strangers scattered" throughout various regions of Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:1-2). Scholars hold differing views on its authorship. This verse belongs to the section 1:22-25. Verse 22 exhorts readers to "love one another with a pure heart fervently," and verse 23 grounds this exhortation in the fact that the readers have already been born again through the word of God. Verses 24-25 quote Isaiah 40:6-8, contrasting humanity, which withers like grass, with the word of the Lord, which endures forever. The passage then declares, "And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." The Greek verb translated "born again" occurs in the New Testament only here and in 1:3 of the same letter.

Interpretation

• The seed as the word: Many commentaries identify the "incorruptible seed" with the word of God mentioned later in the verse. On this view, the verse contrasts human birth, which comes from corruptible seed, with the new birth, which comes through the eternal word. This reading also connects with 1 Peter 1:18-19, which contrasts "corruptible things, as silver and gold" with the blood of Christ.
• The seed as life imparted by God: Others, drawing on "his seed" in 1 John 3:9, understand the seed as the new life God implants, or as the work of the Holy Spirit, and regard the word as the means through which that life is conveyed.

Points of Debate

• Syntax: The Greek text can be read in two ways, with "living and abiding" modifying either "word" or "God." Many translations, following the flow of verse 25, take the phrase as modifying "word," but some translations and commentaries render it "God, who lives and abides forever."
• Manuscripts: Byzantine manuscripts and the Textus Receptus, which follows them, add "for ever" at the end of the verse, and the King James Version (KJV) reflects this reading. Modern critical editions omit the phrase.
• Regeneration, the word, and baptism: The Reformed tradition cites this verse in describing regeneration as the work of the Holy Spirit, with the word as its instrument, although views within that tradition differ on how to describe the relationship between the word and the Spirit. Traditions that emphasize the sacraments, such as the Lutheran and Anglican traditions, tend to link the word and baptism together as means of grace. Baptists hold that the new birth takes place when one hears and believes the word, and that baptism is the confession of that faith. Some scholars, holding that 1 Peter contains baptismal material, also connect this passage with baptism (see Baptism).

In the Korean Church

In sermons and Bible studies on salvation and conversion, the verse is commonly cited to show that the new birth comes about not through human effort but through the word of the gospel.

Related Passages

• 1 Peter 1:3
• Isaiah 40:6-8
• James 1:18
• John 1:12-13
• Titus 3:5