1 Peter 1 Part 6: The Necessity of Love
1 Peter 1:22-25; John 3:1-21 - Obedience comes from being born again and love flows from that obedience.
“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All flesh is like grass,
And all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
And the flower falls off,
But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.”
1 Peter 1:22-25 NASB1995
Peter concludes the first chapter of this epistle by noting that those believers who are in obedience to the truth, purifying their souls, should fervently love one another from the heart. They have been “born again” of the imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. He then goes on to quote from Isaiah 40:6-8, on the perishable nature of flesh, which is like grass and flowers.
So what does it mean to be “born again”? Believers who regularly read their Bibles should be very familiar with John 3:1-21, because Jesus lays out the essential requirement of being “born again” in spirit:
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.””
John 3:1-21 NASB1995
In 1 Peter 1, Peter is using a phrase in verses 3 and 23: “for you have been born again”. This phrase comes from the Greek word ἀναγεννάω or anagennao and these two verses are the only ones in the New Testament to use this passive perfect verb, indicating that the work of making us “born again” is from God. It is defined as follows:
to produce again, be born again, born anew
metaph. to have one's mind changed so that he lives a new life and one conformed to the will of God
When we accept Jesus as our redeemer through His death on the cross and His resurrection, we are “born again”. This is a profound change in our hearts, not the devalued term that is used in our culture to describe a materialistic reawakening or rebirth, like a newly invigorated sports team with new players or a company that rises from the ashes of bankruptcy. The word “love” has also been devalued through catchy phrases and many things that we say (“Love is love”, “I love pizza”, “I love New York”). Our new spiritual birth is marked by a faith that is obedient, which leads to love from the heart for our fellow believers. We can’t say we believe and love Jesus and carry on in the exact same way we did before we were born again, which is disobedience.
God’s word endures forever! When God’s word is preached, anywhere in the world, many people receive it and are born again, through an inward transformation from God’s power and not through any self-improvement exercise. We are taking an evangelism training course from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The late Reverend Graham and his colleagues would tell anyone who would listen that they can extend the invitation and give the reasons to follow Jesus, but God does the work! When researching this passage, I also really enjoyed a sermon by Steven Cole on this passage in 1 Peter. I am borrowing a story from that sermon that points out the enduring power of the Word:
A skeptic once told Gaylord Kambarami, the General Secretary of the Bible Society of Zimbabwe, “If you give me that New Testament I will roll the pages and use them to make cigarettes!” Gaylord replied, “I understand that, but at least promise to read the page of the New Testament before you smoke it.” When the man agreed, Gaylord gave him the New Testament and that was the last he saw of him for 15 years.
Then, while Gaylord was attending a Methodist convention in Zimbabwe, the speaker on the platform suddenly spotted him, pointed him out to the audience and said, “This man doesn’t remember me, but 15 years ago he tried to sell me a New Testament. When I refused to buy it he gave it to me, even though I told him I would use the pages to roll cigarettes. I smoked Matthew and I smoked Mark and I smoked Luke. But when I got to John 3:16, I couldn’t smoke anymore. My life was changed from that moment!” That man is now a full- time evangelist, preaching the Word he once smoked! God uses His Word to bring the new birth!
What a great story to end 1 Peter 1! My next devotional will examine 1 Peter 2:1-3 - Longing for the Word like a Newborn.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I am eternally grateful for being born again by accepting Jesus as my savior! Please help me to walk in a path of obedience to you and your eternal word. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org