Vincent Mercado Supporter Skeptic turned believer, Catholic, father of 3

1 Peter 1 is a long chapter. I will try to do my best. 

Sprinkled with his blood - meaning sanctified or made holy, or set apart for the Lord. Blood is sprinkled on doorposts, animals, men, garments, for the same purpose - to be set apart from common use and given exclusively to the Lord for worship.

New birth - meaning new life, not by entering a second time into their mother’s womb to be born, but by being baptized. He becomes a new person, the old is gone. 

Live out your time as foreigners here - meaning our home is Heaven, this earth is a transition place. Therefore, do not be attached to anything in this world, e.g. fame, fortune, glory.

Did I miss anything?

August 21 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

I think that seed is one figure of speech in 1 Peter 1:23.
"The Word of God is the instrument God uses to produce new birth (cf. Matthew 13:20; Luke 8:11). This 'seed' shares the character of its Source. It never passes out of fashion nor does it become irrelevant.
"All the way from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, to "Babylon the Great" in Revelation 17-18, man's great attempts at unity are destined to fail.
"If we try to build unity in the church on the basis of our first birth, we will fail; but if we build unity on the basis of the new birth, it will succeed." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:399.]"

Also, Dr. Wiersbe lists "Seed/Sowing" in his inciteful INDEX OF BIBLICAL IMAGES 	book as a figure of the Word of God, citing 
Mark 4:14
Luke 8:11
1 Cor. 3:6
1 Cor. 9:11
2 Cor. 9:10
1 Peter 1:23

In this section, 1 Peter 1, Peter emphasized spiritual unity by presenting four vivid pictures of the church.

We Are Children in the Same Family (1 Peter 1:22-2:3)

When you consider the implications of this fact, you will be encouraged to build and maintain unity among God’s people. 

We have experienced the same birth (1 Peter 1:23-25). The only way to enter God’s spiritual family is by a spiritual birth, through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:1-16). Just as there are two parents in physical birth, so there are two parents in spiritual birth: the Spirit of God (John 3:5-6) and the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23). The new birth gives us a new nature (2 Peter 1:4) as well as a new and living hope (1 Peter 1:3). 

Our first birth was a birth of “flesh,” and the flesh is corruptible. Whatever is born of the flesh is destined to die and decay. This explains why mankind cannot hold civilization together: it is all based on human flesh and is destined to fall apart. Like the beautiful flowers of spring, man’s works look successful for a time, but then they start to decay and die. All the way from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, to “Babylon the Great” in Revelation 17-18, man’s great attempts at unity are destined to fail. 

If we try to build unity in the church on the basis of our first birth, we will fail, but if we build unity on the basis of the new birth, it will succeed. Each believer has the same Holy Spirit dwelling within (Rom. 8:9). We call on the same Father (1 Peter 1:17) and share His divine nature. We trust the same Word, and that Word will never decay or disappear. We have trusted the same gospel and have been born of the same Spirit. The externals of the flesh that could divide us mean nothing when compared with the eternals of the Spirit that unite us.

April 13 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report