"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Peter 1:22-25).

In the verses above, we find that though the Spirit is mentioned, the main emphasis lies upon that which the water symbolizes—the Word of God. We have obeyed the truth by the Spirit, and thereby purification has reached us. Verse 22 views that which is accomplished from our side. Verses 23-25 view it from God's side. The purification is effective by reason of His work in us by His Word, which, as we know from John 3, is wrought by the Spirit. We are born "by" the Word, but also "of" incorruptible seed; and we must not confuse these two things. "By" indicates agency; "of" indicates origin.

As children of Adam we were born of seed which is not merely corruptible but actually and fatally corrupted. We are born again of seed which is incorruptible, because Divine. Isaiah the prophet was given a glimpse of the Servant of Jehovah, who should die and rise again; and he predicted, "When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed" (53:10). He shall see those who take their spiritual origin from Himself. A thought akin to this seems to lie in these words in Peter. As born again we have a new origin which is incorruptible in nature; and the Word by which we are born again, "liveth and abideth for ever." That which is produced as the result of new birth is characterized by these wonderful things—life, eternity and incorruptibility.

From all that we have seen it is very evident that new birth is that work of the Spirit of God in us which is necessitated by the corruption of our nature through sin. It was not enough that a work should be wrought for us which should bring us justification and reconciliation; there must also be this work of moral cleansing, this lifting us out of the corruption of our nature. No external work of cleansing would meet the case; nothing short of our becoming possessed of a new nature springing from an incorruptible source.

—F.B. Hole