The resurrection of our blessed Savior has an obvious impact upon us when we face the final enemy of death (1 Cor. 15:26). This gives us extraordinary hope of eternal life and a “joy unspeakable” as we suffer through the trials of this fallen world (1 Pet. 1:8). However, what we may not know is that His resurrection also helps us understand the nature of our salvation. The purpose of this article is to show that our new birth in Christ, according to 1 Peter, is in fact a resurrection from the dead.
Very early in his epistle the apostle Peter said that “in His great mercy he caused us to be born again” (1 Pet. 1:3, ESV translation). The phrase “he caused us to be born again” is a wordy translation of a single word in the Greek text, the word anagennēsas from the verb anagennaw. It occurs here in 1:3 and once again in verse 23. This verb does not occur in any other book in the New Testament, nor does it occur in any Greek translations of the Old Testament. In fact, as far as scholars can tell there is no attested use of this verb in extrabiblical texts. This suggests that the Apostle Peter himself coined the term.
Due to its very limited uses, the precise meaning of the verb is elusive. Many preachers have suggested that this should be seen as the father’s act of “begatting” rather than the mother’s act of “begetting.” Although possible, there is nothing in the immediate context of 1 Peter to lead to this conclusion. In fact, if that is what this verb means, then how is this to be reconciled with our doctrine of “adoption?” I personally find such an interpretation odd since the uses of the regular Greek verb gennaw (as well as the Hebrew verb yalad) can be used to describe either gender activity. Is there another way to understand why Peter uses this verb? I believe so.
The prefix ana– often accompanies as a prefix to Greek verbs to give a sense of repeating an act, which is why the notion of a “second” birth or a “rebirth” is the common understanding. With that consideration, the immediate literary context of 1 Peter offers additional exegetical clues. Notice the phrase “living hope” where hope is personified with the human trait of life. We often speak of “living” as a characteristic of organisms, not abstract concepts. The word “hope,” however, is given this sense of life. The reason for this is due to the “resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” The Greek word of “resurrection” is anastasis. We have a “living hope” because we focus our faith on a living Christ, a “resurrected” Christ. The apostle stresses this resurrection theme in 1 Pet. 2:4-10, where it says Jesus is the “living stone” (v.4). In our union with Christ, Peter also says we are also “living stones” (v.5). As the “living stone,” Christ is the central foundation for the constructing the temple of the New Covenant, that being the church, where we are described as the raw material (“living stones”) used to build this holy dwelling. It is truly a wondrous thought if you ponder the magnitude of what is being said in this passage. That privileged blessing that was limited to only the high priest of the Old Testament, only after making atonement for his sins, is now given to all of God’s people in light of our union with the resurrected Christ.
However, it is not only hope that is qualified by Jesus’ resurrection, but it is also our birth. Whereas our hope is given adjective parallels, our new-birth has a lexical parallel. In Christ, we have a “new-birth” (ANA-gennaw) because of Jesus’ resurrection (“ANA–sTasis).” I suggest then that the birth in mind in 1 Peter 1:3 is to be understood as a “resurrection-birth.”
Such a notion of a “new birth” is not limited to Peter. In fact, the source of new birth theology in the New Testament comes from the teachings of Christ Himself in John 3:3, 7. Jesus, in answer to Nicodemus’ question about how one gains eternal life, says that one must be “born again,” (gennēthē anōthen), a Greek phrase that can also be interpreted as “born from above.” In other words, this is a spiritual birth. In that light, John 3 and 1 Peter 1 are saying the same thing in regards to the theology of “new-birth.” 1 Peter gives us the historical redemptive source of our being “born from above,” namely the redemptive event of the resurrection of Christ.
What this means is that our new birth in Christ is both the death to our old sinful nature as well as a new life as a new creation in Christ. This is exactly how Paul understands this birth imagery in 2 Cor. 5:17 where he states that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Those then united to Christ in His death and resurrection have already experienced this newness of life.
As a newly born people, we also have a new identity. In 1 Pet. 2:4-10 Peter goes on to provide a parade of glorious titles that the church can claim for herself in light of the accomplished work of Christ. He says that believers are now a holy temple where the Glory presence of God dwells (2:4-8), a “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Pet. 2:9). He goes on to allude to the writings of the Old Testament prophet Hosea when he says in 2:10 that we were once “not a people” but now we are “the people of God,” that we were once a people without mercy but now we have received mercy. Hosea was called by the Lord to give rather eccentric names to his children that reflected divine acts of pending judgment against the Israel for their violation of the Mosaic code. Thus, Hosea’s daughter was named Lo-Ruhamah meaning “No mercy” and his son Lo-Ammi meaning “Not my people.” But, because of the amazing grace of God, Israel will not remain as people who received covenant curse; rather they will receive the blessings of the New Covenant; they will be called “Mercy” and “My people.” In alluding to this prophetic text, the apostle Peter seems to be providing a similar type of name change upon the church. As rebellious sinners we also were once “No mercy” and “Not my people,” but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our name has been changed! We can now be called “Mercy” and “My people.”
The identity of the church is indeed a blessing. As we meditate upon our new status, it is truly a source of great comfort and joy to believers. For the apostle Peter, we are who we are because of what God has done for us in Christ. He says “He has caused us to be born again” (1 Pet. 1:3); therefore, because we are now born anew, we are called to live by the specific moral standard that is consistent with our new identity as citizens of a “holy nation” where Christ is seated as the King. For example, he calls believers not to feud amongst each other in our Christian communities, but rather to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (1 Pet. 1:22). According to Peter, the reason we can have such a godly love is because “you have been born again” (1 Pet. 1:23), where he uses the verb anagennaw again. Our old self is dead and raised anew in Christ, so we can now do what was impossible before – love one another earnestly from a pure heart. In light of this new identity of the believer, what is not to mark their lives are the values of this world; therefore, he calls us to put aside “all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander (1 Pet. 2:1).” We are called to live a life of humility to various authorities and institutions in society (1 Pet. 2:13-3:7). The old ways are dead to us because we now have a resurrection-birth.
This resurrection-birth, however, comes with a price. That price is hostility from the world that sees us with the same hatred as they saw our Savior. As Jesus taught, “the world has hated them because they are not of the world” (John 17:14). Yet we are encouraged to remember that the world only hates us because “it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). His suffering now becomes our suffering. The only other possible alternative to facing antagonism with this world is to have peace with it. “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own” (John 15:19). In other words, if they see the “believer” as a like-minded friend, then they would not be hated by the world. Instead they would be welcomed as an ally who is in allegiance with their own sinful agenda. As pleasant as this may be for now, it ultimately would end with facing the wrath of God. Jesus then sets up the following contrast: follow Christ and be in conflict with the world, or follow the world and be in conflict with Christ. Both the Apostle John and the Apostle Peter reiterate this teachings of Christ. God has chosen us from this world. We who were once rebels against the will of God are now born anew into a world that conforms perfectly to the good and pleasing will of God. Because of this new identity as disciples of Christ who join in His condemnation of the values of the fallen world, that world now sees us in the same way that it perceived Jesus! The end result – we are persecuted and rejected by this world. That is the price that we pay. BUT, when compared with what we have gained in Christ, everything else is loss (Phil 3:7).
Peter continues to describe the impact of the resurrection upon our spiritual blessings in Christ. He continues and says that in Christ we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:4). Our inheritance is invincible because of the resurrection. Although the fullest reality of our inheritance will be revealed in the “last days,” in a real sense it is something that we have now. We have life now! This raises a serious question on how we speak of deceased loved ones in the Lord. What tense do we use? According to John 11:25, Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (Jn. 11:25). Because of the resurrection, we can speak of about deceased loved ones in the Lord in the present tense. In Christ, they are alive! They are blessed! They no longer are suffering! They are rejoicing! Yet, this is a resurrection-birth, meaning there is a part of them that is dead. They once were sinners, but no longer. They once battled with the flesh, but no longer. They once endured the pains of a fallen, sinful world, but no longer. There is only resurrection birth, hope and life for them because Jesus was raised from the dead. This same blessed reality is also for us by faith in Christ.
Praise God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Redeeming Chillingworth 