“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (I Pet. 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” (I Pet. 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” (I Pet. 1:25).
The Word of God takes root in one’s heart only as one believes the gospel, the good news, about Christ’s redemptive work (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Peter himself proclaims this wonderful gospel: “…ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ…” (I Pet. 1:18,19).
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” (I Pet. 3:18).
BY BELIEVING THIS GOOD NEWS, DEAD SINNERS ARE “BORN AGAIN”. source