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1 Peter 1:23
23 Being born again [anagennao], not [ou] of [ek] corruptible [phthartos] seed [spora], but [alla] of incorruptible [aphthartos], by [dia] the word [logos] of God [theos], which liveth [zao] and [kai] abideth [meno] for [eis] ever [aion]. KJV-Interlinear
23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. NASB
To be born is to have a beginning. And our first birth, is our first beginning in life. For it is at the point of our physical birth, that we are first introduced to life and the many advantages or disadvantages of life.
And by faith in Christ, God gives us a second birth, or a second beginning. It is in this second beginning, that we are introduced to a second life, or spiritual life, and the many advantages, which it offers us.
In our first birth, our start came from our parents and our biological foundation. It is that foundation which has severe limits in life. Once born, we grow up all for the destiny of dying. Nothing better can come out of a physical birth.
The result of our first birth came from the will of our parents. The result of our first birth is eventual decay.
However, God in His divine will, caused us to be born again, and from His will, which is truth, which is eternal as He is eternal, then anything that God wills, will likewise be eternal and therefore permanent.
The Word of God is a living word. We have already seen that it is truth, it is the source of knowledge, as well as the doorway to wisdom, and it is love or doctrine in action. Now we see that Gods word is a living word, as opposed to a word (worldly viewpoint), which is a word pertaining to death.
The Word of God offers you something that is far more, infinitely more, than anything offered by this world. Life is infinitely greater than death.
And though it always sounds like a broken record with all of its repetition or warnings and reminders, the Bible constantly teaches, repetitively teaches, the advantages of learning doctrine and growing up spiritually, verses ignoring doctrine and embracing world views and the many disadvantages that go along with that.
Remember our study in Job. Satan was walking along on the face of the earth. Satan was both indifferent and defiant toward anything that embraced truth. Truth equals God, equals love, equals life, equals advantages.
Anyone who rejects God, Christ, doctrine, or their spiritual life, will be either indifferent or a manipulating and deceitful person. Cold is a good description of their personality.
When a person lacks doctrine, then their coldness (because cold is associated with death), will result in their being a dreamer, or idealistic, or just plain lustful for power and so forth. Their ideas and desires will always fail, and that failure will always turn them into a tyrant.
Failure breeds frustration, breeds anger, breeds violence. And especially when a leader is an idealist, then the most pleasant personality will eventually turn to force or violence, in order to get their way.
Here is the opposite of an idealist. An idealist wants things that will never be, and he will force everything in order to change this.
A growing believer wants things that will certainly be, and he need do nothing but grow up in his faith, in order to gain phenomenal success.
The idealist or spiritually negative person, will hustle and force and expend phenomenal energy and plots in order to get his desires. Satan is the perfect example of this. The next great example of this will be the anti-christ, with many world want-to-be’s scattered throughout history.
The growing believer relies on the mere word of God.
The spiritually negative person works hard, wanting everything his way, and getting nothing.
The spiritually positive believer looks to Gods work, and gains everything.
And the repetition of Gods teaching continues, until somebody, anybody, finally catches on.
