1 Peter 1:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Having said that Christians have been regenerated not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living word of God that abides forever, the Apostle shows the nothingness and extreme frailty of human glory. By this he urges the hearer to hold more firmly to the teaching previously handed down. That teaching is constant and extends forever, while earthly things quickly decay by their very nature. To confirm this, he cites grass and the flower of grass, which is still weaker in being than the grass. David also likens our life to it (Ps 102:15). Having shown the low worth of our glory, the Apostle again returns to explain what precisely regenerated them by the word of God, living and abiding forever. He says: this is the word that was preached to you. He affirms that this word abides forever, because the Lord Himself also said: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Mt 24:35).

For the Gospel says: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Lk 21:33), says the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as the value of the Lord's Passion, by which we were redeemed, is incorruptible, so also is the mystery of the sacred font by which we were regenerated. These are so closely bound together that one without the other could not bring us salvation. During His Incarnation, the Lord by His holy Blood undoubtedly redeemed us all together in such a way that, in our own time, each one of us must come individually to participation in this regeneration through rebirth in baptism. Of this regeneration it is well said: it is accomplished not from corruptible seed, but from the word of God, living and abiding forever. Thus there is a union here, just as from corruptible seed comes flesh that is subject to corruption.

Children are born from their father's seed. Christians are born by water and the Spirit, by the word of God and by faith. "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth" (Jas 1:18). "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Pet 1:23).

"By the word of the living God, which abides forever." Birth from the word of God is the acceptance with faith of the preaching concerning Christ (Jn 1:12-13). Here it is indicated as the foundation of true and constant love for one's neighbor. Even birth from corruptible human seed serves as a foundation for brotherly love among men and for their union into one great family. But as human seed is corruptible and mortal, so love founded only on blood kinship and on the unity of the origin of the human race is unstable and quickly passing without union by spiritual kinship. Thus God in Christ has made us His sons and united us into one eternal and indissoluble brotherhood.

Here the cause of regeneration into new life is presented as the word of God. It is contrasted with corruptible, male seed (Jn 1:13), which produces corruptible life from itself. But the word of God both abides incorruptibly forever in itself and grants eternal life through itself. Yet the question arises: how is this life given to us through the word of God? Is it only by reading, hearing, and assimilating it, as Shtundism thinks? Or is it still more by the action of the Spirit of God upon us, Who regenerates us according to the unfailing word of God: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" (Jn 3:5)? We are regenerated not only by receiving the word of God, but also by the Spirit, Who acts according to this immutable word.

"As those regenerated," and so forth. This expression indicates both the basis, or motive, for such love and the condition that makes such love possible and easier to attain. They are regenerated (see the note on 1 Pet 1:3), not of corruptible seed, through the word and teaching of man, who is subject to corruption and death according to the flesh, but of incorruptible seed. This word denotes the invisible power of the Holy Spirit, by which man is regenerated to new spiritual life in Christ (see the notes on Jn 1:12-13; Jn 3:3, 5-6). "From the word of God," more precisely, "through the word of God." The means used by the Holy Spirit for this spiritual regeneration is the word of God, or the word of truth (cf. the note on Jas 1:18), or the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 4:15).

Regeneration (1 Pet 1:23-2:3). Christians must lead a new, pure, and holy life on the foundations of brotherly love, "as those born again, not of corruptible seed," meaning by descent from Adam, "but of incorruptible. Through the word of God, living and abiding forever." The Apostle calls the word of God the means of regeneration because it leads to faith, and faith leads to baptism and repentance. "Having laid aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy," which belong to those who have grown and become hardened in evil, you, the Apostle urges, "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word," that is, the Gospel teaching. Desire it "so that by it you may grow unto salvation; for you have tasted that the Lord is good." This means that you have experienced in yourselves the action of God's grace in the Christian Mysteries.

Cf. Isa 40:6-8. After general motives for a virtuous life, the Apostle now exhorts us to uproot from ourselves everything that defiles our soul. He urges us to be enriched with particular forms of good works. These are wholehearted obedience to the truth, brotherly love, and especially mutual brotherly love, free from every admixture of guile, changeability, and inconstancy. Among other things, the Apostle bases his teaching on love upon the teaching concerning Christians' regeneration. They are not regenerated from earthly human seed, in which self-love is an inborn property, but from the word of God. Through this word man's calling to new life in Christ has been and is accomplished. This life is founded on love, which abides forever.

"Having purified your souls in obedience to the truth through the Spirit unto sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, being born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Through the word of the living God, which abides forever." With faith and hope in God, of which the preceding words spoke, love for one's neighbor must be joined: sincere brotherly love from a pure heart. Christian brotherly love can exist only in souls purified from self-love through obedience to the truth, that is, to the Gospel teaching. This teaching commands us to look upon our neighbors as brethren and to love them as ourselves. Success in assimilating this teaching is achieved with the aid of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

By the name of regeneration and restoration he designates the introduction of one generation after the destruction of the former generation has been completed. How should it not be destroyed, though it was subject to corruption, so that afterward, having come as incorruptible, it might remain eternal, saving completely and without any deceit the lives of those born from it? For there is a first generation, after Adam, mortal and therefore subject to corruption. The later generation is from the Spirit and the Word of the ever-living God.