The Seed That Does Not Die

"(You) having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.."

1 Peter 1:23 NKJV

The apostle is writing to Christians scattered throughout the provinces of present-day Turkey—strangers viewed with suspicion, who have lost their sense of security and are questioning the value of faith when life is so fragile. Peter reminds them that God has brought them to new life through a living hope, thanks to the resurrection of Jesus. He calls them to holiness, to a different way of life, and to sincere brotherly love. And precisely when he speaks of this purified love, he explains that it all stems from regeneration. Peter writes, “you have been regenerated”—it is something God has already done, once and for all, with an effect that endures over time—and he uses an agricultural image that everyone understood: the seed. There are two kinds of seeds. The perishable seed is everything that a person does to give meaning to their life or to please God: a good upbringing, religious tradition, morality, commitment, even membership in a church. These are good things, but they are perishable—that is, they carry within them the seed of death. Over time, they cannot withstand suffering, temptation, and above all, death. A perishable seed can produce a decent person, but not a child of God. Then there is the imperishable seed, which has no death within it, does not decay, and does not lose its power. This seed is the Word of God: living and enduring.

The Word is living because it is not a dead letter or a memory of the past; it contains the life of God within it. When it is preached, it does not merely inform; it produces life where there was once death. “Permanent” means that it remains; it does not pass away. Peter quotes the prophet Isaiah (v. 24). We, with our strength, our glory, our youth, and our ministries, are like the mountain grass in summer—green in the morning and withered by evening. We pass away; the Word remains. “E this is the word that was proclaimed to youE ” (v. 25)—the simple message those believers had heard from an itinerant preacher, perhaps in a home or a courtyard. That message, seemingly weak, was the incorruptible seed that had regenerated their very being. If we were born of an incorruptible seed, our security does not depend on how strong we are, but on how strong the seed is that brought us into being. Many believers live in anxiety, so Peter brings us back to the source. If you had been born of yourself, you would have reason to fear. But since you were born of His Word, the very power that brought you into being will preserve you. The inheritance is imperishable (v. 4), and the seed is also imperishable.

We who teach and preach must remember what kind of seed we are handling. We are not simply transmitting values or providing a Christian education to make children better people; we are sowing the living Word. Every verse, every Bible story, is an incorruptible seed sown into a heart. It may seem like a small thing, one that does not bear fruit immediately, but that seed does not die; in its own time it will sprout, even many years later. It does not fall on barren ground (Isaiah 55:10–11). Finally, let it be clear that none of us can regenerate another. A parent cannot regenerate a child, a pastor cannot regenerate a congregant, a Sunday school teacher cannot regenerate a child. We can only plant the seed. It is the Word that regenerates, not our eloquence, not our strategies. This frees us from the pressure of having to produce results and brings us back to the faithfulness of simply sowing the pure Gospel, while remaining humble. In a world where everything is fleeting, where fads come and go, where churches sometimes chase after what is attractive, Peter brings us back to the essential: we have been born again by what does not pass away. Therefore, even though we are strangers and sojourners, we have a hope that does not fade.

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Weekly Bible Reading Plan #46

November 9, Jeremiah 46–47; Hebrews 6

November 10, Jeremiah 48–49; Hebrews 7

November 11, Jeremiah 50; Hebrews 8

November 12, Jeremiah 51–52; Hebrews 9

November 13, Lamentations 1–2; Hebrews 10:1–18

November 14, Lamentations 3–5; Hebrews 10:19–39

November 15, Ezekiel 1–2; Hebrews 11:1–19