Regeneration in I Peter 1:23

(I)

Rev. Herman Hoeksema

[Source: “Reformed Dogmatics,” vol. 2, pp. 29-31]

The apostle Peter speaks about regeneration as the fount and cause of the purifying of the souls of believers, whereby they obey the truth and are able and called to love one another with unfeigned love: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (I Pet. 1:23).

Those who emphasize the doctrine of a mediate regeneration and who understand the rebirth to be preceded by the calling appeal to this word of the apostle Peter as a ground for their view, but unjustly so. They emphasize that the apostle here clearly teaches that regeneration takes place though the everlasting and abiding Word of God, while in verse 25 he adds that this is the same Word that is being proclaimed among them. They conclude that regeneration occurs through the means of the preaching of the gospel. But for this interpretation of verse 23 there is no ground in the text itself.

It is true that here the apostle presents regeneration as taking place through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever, and also that he adds that this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto the church. But this does not imply at all that the apostle contends that regeneration occurs through the preaching of that living Word of God. The living and abiding Word of God and the proclamation of that Word are two different things. And when the apostle teaches here that regeneration takes place through the living Word himself, that is, through Christ, it certainly is not proper to replace this living Word simply by the preaching of the gospel.

It is true that the preaching of the word stands in connection with regeneration in the broader sense, because without the proclamation of the gospel it is impossible that regeneration will ever become conscious in the people of God. That the apostle here also speaks of this regeneration in the broader sense, as it concerns our conscious life, is clear from the context, as we hope to indicate presently. But this does not remove the fact that even in this broader sense regeneration does not take place through the preaching of the word, but through the living and abiding Word of God himself.

Further, it is evident that the apostle speaks of regeneration in the narrower sense, in its very first beginning, when he says that we are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.” Theologians who favour mediate regeneration have tried to avoid this difficulty by contending that in both expressions, “out of the seed” and “through the word,” the same truth is meant and that the apostle in the first expression uses a figure, while in the second he speaks more literally. But this avails nothing to defend the view of mediate regeneration, since the Word and the proclamation of the word cannot be identified. Further, there is no ground in the text for the interpretation that identifies the seed of regeneration with the abiding and living Word of God.

The contrary is true. The apostle makes a very careful distinction here. This is especially plain from the use of the different prepositions. We are born again, “not of [ek] corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,” and we are born again “by [dia] the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” By this distinction the apostle means to describe carefully the mode of regeneration. The seed of regeneration, that is, the principle of the new life, is implanted by the Holy Spirit in the heart. From that seed or principle sprouts forth the life of regeneration.

However, this sprouting of the seed of regeneration is not realized except through a working of the living and abiding Word of God, through a working of the living and abiding Word of God, through which he calls the quickened sinner efficaciously, and gives him ears to hear and eyes to see. This, therefore, is the efficacious calling through the Word of God. This efficacious calling receives content for our consciousness through the fact that this living and abiding Word of God is also proclaimed among us. Although we will not deny that in a certain sense regeneration may be presented as taking place mediately through the word, nevertheless as maintain that the appeal to I Peter 1:23 contains no ground for this presentation.