“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (IPet.1: 23).

We are prone to think of death as following birth. People are born to live their lives and then die.

Spiritually, however, it is the other way. St. Peter, by divine inspiration, says that we must be “born again” because: “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 forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (IPet. 1:24,25).

This new birth is a spiritual matter, necessitated by the fact that by nature men are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Thus believers are not born again in the same way as they were first born, but are born again — given new life, by believing the Word of God.

God’s Word, in this passage, is called “incorruptible seed”— seed that cannot die. Once the Word takes root in one’s heart, once it is believed and received, it never dies, but produces “everlasting life”.

“The Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (Verse 25).

The Word of God takes root in one’s heart only as one believes the gospel, the good news, about Christ’s redemptive work. Peter himself proclaims this wonderful gospel: “…ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ…”(IPet.1:18,19).

“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree…” (IPet.2:24).

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” (IPet.3:18).

BY BELIEVING THIS GOOD NEWS, DEAD SINNERS ARE “BORN AGAIN”.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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