Born Again Through the Word of God
We have devoted three messages to this text. It is so important. But this time our question is different: What does the reality of the new birth imply for our witness to unbelievers? Here’s a very quick overview of what we have seen. If you want to see all the arguments for these conclusions, you’ll have to go back and look at those old messages.
Verse 22: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” The purification of your soul in verse 22 is what happens in the new birth. The obedience to the truth refers to faith in the gospel. The truth is the gospel of Christ, and obedience to the gospel is faith in Christ. For a sincere love of the brothers is the outcome and fruit of the new birth. Therefore, Peter says: Now that this has happened to you, “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” In other words, since you are born again through faith in the gospel with a view to a transformed life of love, now live it out. Love each other.
Then in verse 23 he uses the very language of new birth: “Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” This is probably the most important verse in the Bible concerning the relationship between the new birth and your role in how it comes about in other people. The key statement is: You have been born again … through the living and abiding word of God.”
You Are God’s Midwife for the New Birth of Others
April 6, 2008
1 Peter 1:22–2:3
John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014).
We have devoted three messages to this text. It is so important. But this time our question is different: What does the reality of the new birth imply for our witness to unbelievers? Here’s a very quick overview of what we have seen. If you want to see all the arguments for these conclusions, you’ll have to go back and look at those old messages.
Verse 22: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” The purification of your soul in verse 22 is what happens in the new birth. The obedience to the truth refers to faith in the gospel. The truth is the gospel of Christ, and obedience to the gospel is faith in Christ. For a sincere love of the brothers is the outcome and fruit of the new birth. Therefore, Peter says: Now that this has happened to you, “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” In other words, since you are born again through faith in the gospel with a view to a transformed life of love, now live it out. Love each other.
Then in verse 23 he uses the very language of new birth: “Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” This is probably the most important verse in the Bible concerning the relationship between the new birth and your role in how it comes about in other people. The key statement is: You have been born again … through the living and abiding word of God.”
You Are God’s Midwife for the New Birth of Others
April 6, 2008
1 Peter 1:22–2:3
John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014).
